Cabernet Steakhouse — Restaurant in Alpharetta

My wife and I have not gone out much since Covid, but now that we are vaccinated, decided to go to Cabernet for dinner on Saturday March 20th. I like a good cigar so we sat in the bar area where they have booths that allow smoking. We had a great meal and enjoyed a great cigar. We have been going to Cabernet Steakhouse in Alpharetta since we move to Atlanta over 15 years ago for both business dinners, retirements and personal dining. Cabernet is not an inexpensive place to go. It has great food and a very nice atmosphere, but you will pay for it. We have been doing at least 3 fairly large business dinners a year there, and have always had a great time topping the night off in the bar with a cigar. When the bill came Saturday, (over $200 with tip) there was a $10 cigar cutting fee on there. Surprised to see it, I questioned the server. She said that they instituted it during Covid. She went on to say that since they sell cigars, the manager instituted this charge for people that do not buy one from them. There were no visible signs or notifications. Nothing was mentioned when I asked for an ash tray and nothing on the menu. She did say that there used to be signs but none were out at that time. I found it strange that such a nice restaurant would nickel and dime its customers under the guise of Covid when they never charged for it before. I asked to speak with the Manager Jason Zaleski. We have talked with him many times over the years about food and wine – he is very knowledgeable. I questioned him about the charge restating the things I said to the server. He said that there were signs and after telling me that I was acting rude said he would take the $10 off this time but would never do it again. Based on his attitude and reply I told him to keep the $10 and we would never be back. This could have been such a different conversation but he chose to treat his customer with much disrespect and dismissiveness. With customers hard to come by – especially on weekends and during this pandemic, I was really shocked by his attitude toward us. When explaining this to some of my friends, they said they have also had similar experiences there. There are a log of great places to eat in the Alpharetta area that don’t come with a General Manager treating his customers with such distain. I will make sure to tell everyone I meet about this experience and I am sure they will go elsewhere. Next time, we will just go to the cigar bar up the street after a great meal – a meal that will not be at Cabernet. Maybe Ray’s Killer Creek – they have...

I booked a reservation for 6/25 for my boyfriend’s and I’s one year anniversary. I marked on open table that it was an anniversary and I also saw the hostess print out the ticket to be handed to the server. Our server was nice but gave us horrible service. We probably saw him a total of four times. It wasn’t that it was jam packed for being a Friday. He was too busy with his large table in the back. He was constantly there, making sure they had drinks, clearing their plates, opening their bottles of wine. It got to the point when we finished our first round of drinks it was before the entree came out and we didn’t hear or see from him until after we were done with our entrees. Mind you we had appetizers and we put our drinks and appetizers in at the same time, when he first came up to our table. By the time he finally made his way around back to us we placed another drink order, he went back over to the big party in the back and we waited over 20 minutes for our second round of drinks. It was such a noticeable amount of time that the back server or serving assistant noticed and even apologized to us. Once our drinks arrived my boyfriend’s jack and coke was a light brown and watered down because it was sitting at the bar for so long. Never once did we get a happy anniversary (which isn’t the end of the world) or even the complementary dessert. As soon as the desserts hit the table, I asked for the check with a full martini because I knew it was going to be a minute and the night just kept going down hill. We were there for almost two hours, not by choice a lot of the time we just sat around waiting for a server or any employee at that point to acknowledge us. Also a manager never touched our table to see how everything was. If the food was awful and the service was amazing we would definitely come back. Good service and a good experience is key for repeat customers. I’m not going to name his name on here because I think that’s a cruel thing to do. The filet was excellent though! It melted right in your mouth. Cooked perfect my boyfriend loved it! The New York strip was decent I wish I went with the filet. I think that if you want to give your undivided attention to a large party that’s fine but you should give your smaller tables to other servers. Before tip the bill was $256 for the two of us. We left him a 20% cash tip, it wouldn’t sit right with me if I left anything less than 20%. If the service was good it would have obviously been more. All in all not a great experience I wish we went to Oak, Hal’s or any other...

I picked Cabernet Steakhouse to celebrate my retirement dinner with my family on 4/3. My husband and I had enjoyed the restaurant in the past but it had been a couple of years. First, I never write a review. If I have a bad experience at a restaurant, I give it the benefit of the doubt, off night, etc. This was over the line disappointment. My biggest complaint was the waiter. Right off the bat he was rude, impatient, and disappeared for long periods of time. I would have to wave him down if he was anywhere near us. For a party of nine who had reservations for over a week, you would think he would be more attentive. He would get an order for one drink, run off, and others would sit there with empty glasses, etc. He never took drink orders for my kids. I will say he gave me a complimentary piece of pie but even that was weird because he brought it out and was leaving before we stopped him to say others wanted a desert. My sister ordered a desert he claimed they were out of then said she could have it as he would take it from another large party’s order. My mother in-law did not hear they were out, ordered the same thing and he said he would take two from the other party. Sucks for the other party, right? That could not possibly be true. All of his answers to our questions were snarky, argued my steak would be burnt if I ordered it medium well, on and on. I think everyone enjoyed their dinner but I know they would not complain. My steak was good but the potato cold.

After we had finished and I was opening my gifts he stood against the wall next to our table and stared at us. NOW he can be present when he wants us to leave. My mother in-law whispered to me how he was staring, I looked up and it was more like glaring at us. He gave us a few more minutes then came over and said it was nice to have us and basically goodnight. We all looked at each other and gathered our belongings and walked out. As we left we passed many other diners enjoying their night out. I mention this so say we were not those rude folks that are the only ones left, making the wait staff stay late. I understand waiting tables is a tough job but after all the shutdowns you would think they would be glad to have a large party choosing their restaurant for a special night. Anyway, I felt compelled to write this because the dinner was a gift from my company after 27 years and this was my night to celebrate. I wished I had picked a place...