Prime Restaurant? Not!

This used to be one of my favorite restaurants. I have purchased over $1,000 in gift certificates for Christmas and we've have looked forward to celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions at this restaurant.

But after the fiasco we were put through last night, we do not plan on returning. My husband looks forward to a great steak, but do not expect one here! Rib eye is on the menu, but don't count on seeing one anywhere nearby that's not on the hoof. Three visits over the span of thirteen months, and the waiters still have the same lame excuse-- "The chef sent them back for being not good enough." But last night was sheer madness. With early reservations, we were relieved to see "prime grade rib eye" listed as one of the evening's specials. Two of our party of four were relishing the thought of this entree and ordered.. My friend needed a bit more time to decide on the menu, but the waiter took the order. He did not return for her order for over twenty minutes, and when he did return, he claimed that the rib eyes were sold out...half an hour after we placed our orders! All of us were upset (this was the third time in a row that we had been told that we could not have what was clearly advertised) but the gentlemen disappointedly settled for the New York cut.

That would have been the end of it, but the steaks came and were terrible-- chewy tough, gristley, with poor taste. Definitely not worth the $31.00 price. I tasted my husbands and could not even finish the tiny bite. The other gentleman could not even eat half of his. I was thinking to myself that I could have bought a much better steak, even a rib eye, at Walmart.

My sea bass was wonderful, and I wondered how a restaurant could deliver one thing so good and another so bad. But what frustrated us more than anything was the waiter's cavalier, "too bad" attitude. Altogether, we felt as if we were more of a bother to him than his customers. No one seemed to be around to see if we needed anything, except when it might be an opportunity to order more food such as dessert. A sheer scrap of bread for each of us four. We felt cheated.

It also surprised us that the advertised "prime" grade steak was an oddity for the restaurant-- in other words, they usually served supermarket choice grade meat? I had assumed that for the price, they always had prime grade beef.

This is not a cheap restaurant for the region. There are few fine dining restaurants south of Reno. But for the prices, we won't be returning for a crap shoot of what's available or whether it will be good.