Elegant Bull — Restaurant in California

Not so elegant food was bull. We went in on a Friday night at approximately 8:00 p.m. we were told that they were closing at 9:00 p.m. and we felt like we were being rushed because they wanted to get out of there. We ordered two prime rib dinners and the escargot for an appetizer. When the escargot go arrived we were excited because we had heard so many great things about the restaurant. The meal started out good and the escargot was absolutely delicious it was served in a dipping sauce with bread and we ate every last drop. Next we were served salad but we're a little disappointed because the lettuce looked old. We picked through our salads and stopped eating them once the soup arrived. They served us cioppino. Which honestly was disappointing. Cioppino is one of my favorite soups. But this cioppino seemed like it had been on the heating pad for too long. It was served with a small shrimps that were like rubber. We took one or two bites and decided not to finish the soup. We ordered our prime rib dinner to be cooked medium rare and a baked potato as a side. When we were served our food it was definitely overcooked. The prime rib was cooked more like a steak. In my opinion a prime rib should melt in your mouth. We were actually having to chew to get through the steak. The waitress who was training because it was her first night was very kind. She was trying really hard to do a good job. She offered the box up our food for us and we went home. After thinking about the meal we decided to call the restaurant the next day and let them know that we were disappointed with our food. After all when you spend $160 on a dinner for two people it should be edible. The waitress remembered us and offered to replace our meals. so we decided to go back the following week and give them another chance. When we went in we ordered the potato skins with linguica. The potatoes were extremely dry. They were served with cheese and linguisa only. They could have used some sour cream or something to help with the dryness of the potato. I ordered a lobster Thermador and my boyfriend ordered the halibut. The lobster thermidor was extremely overcooked. Lobster is one of my favorite meals and this was rubbery which was a huge disappointment. The fish was also overcooked and very hard. Neither of us finished our meals again. I don't mind paying a good price for a good meal. But it really irks me to pay a good price for overcooked and poor quality food. I don't know if they were just having an off couple of weeks. But it's definitely not worth the price. I appreciate the wait staff but they need to get the cook a thermometer or some more training. The waitress did admit to me that she knew that our steaks were overcooked the first time we came in but she didn't want to say anything. I like to keep my money local. But in this area if I'm going to go for a prime rib dinner I'll definitely go back to Texas Roadhouse...

We went to Elegant Bull while attending a wedding in Winston and on the advice of several people that said it was excellent. I don’t know if we just caught them on a bad night or because we were their last customer on Sunday night. We made a 7:30 reservation and when we arrived, there were only 2 other tables, both left within 20 minutes of our arrival. We were seated at a table at the front door, when the rest of the restaurant was wide open. I’m not sure where the name Elegant came from, because it was not appropriate. Very outdated and very dark. We hade to use our phone flashlight to read the multiple menus we were given. Very cheap American Flag decorations I guess were for the holidays. We were given a photocopied piece of paper with updated prices for meat and fish. Our wine menu was missing pages and we had to ask for a complete one. Our waitress was nice but kept making mistakes. No napkins on the table and forgot the take our choices for side dishes.We had to remind her. $9 Martina was served in a very small glass that wasn’t even full or cold. Our friends had recommended to try their 6 x 6. 6oz steak and 6oz lobster. They no long had that and instead offered a 8 x 8. When I asked why, she said due to the inability to get cold water lobsters. Since they only offered Filet or New York as meat options, we choice to get a Ribeye entree and a Lobster entree and split them. Ribeye was bone-in and choice of 16oz or 2 lbs. The waitress suggested we order the 2lb. We ordered it medium rare. Lobster was choice of 6, 8, 10 or 12oz. We chose 12oz. Dinner includes Soup, Salad and Portuguese bread. Soup was Clam Chowder. The soup was more of a Potato and Chicken cream soup. Never did taste a piece of clam. Dinner arrived in a timely manner and that is when the night continued to go down hill. The meat was very rare. I can eat it that way, but my guest could not. I cut off a piece of meat to send back to the kitchen to re-fire. Our Waitress took the lobster out of the shell so we could split it. It was overcooked, rubbery and had little flavor. We did not finish it. The re-fired meat came back in a timely manner. I cut into my steak. No marble, just gristle. One of the worse steaks I have had and definitely not worth $79. Mashed potatoes and vegetables were lukewarm and had no flavor. My guest and I have both owned fine dining restaurants and he is a graduate from the California Culinary Academy and the Napa Cordon Bleu. I say this only to let you know that we know what fine dining is and what was wrong with our dinner. I do not mind paying $200 for a meal for 2 when the ambiance and food quality is worth it. This was worse than an Applebee’s dinner for $25. I doubt we will...

I've had experiences at this restaurant at young ages (7-8) and then as an adult in recent years. The atmosphere is what you would come to expect from a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, central valley establishment. It's a single building tucked away next to a large wall that borders 99 close enough that you can feel the rumbling of high speed highway traffic and big rig trucks driving by. The inside is dim and neatly decorated setting a unique mood for romantic dinner dates or for a dinner out with friends.

They always have attentive waitresses due to the restaurant being so small (which in this case, you've chosen quality over other chain establishments.) The chefs in the kitchen certainly know their job when it comes to preparing a full rack of pork ribs or a moist, mouthwatering steak. Even if you are served a plate that came out not as you expected, your waitress will be more than happy to take it back to the kitchen for the chefs to fix. The menu has a lot of options for a main meal from caught that day seafood, to poultry, beef, lamb, and even frog. They also offer a decent selection of red wines and desserts.

As a whole, The Elegant Bull is an evening restaurant with great consumer service, awesome dishes, where you can "pig out" all while being classy.

*Call in advance to place reservations because this place can fill up fast due to it's popularity...