Morton's The Steakhouse — Restaurant in Charlotte

We have been to Morton’s before in other cities (DC and Austin) and have NEVER Had such a terrible experience.

First off - I have allergies we made VERY clear : gluten, dairy and beef.

We did a reservation for 845 - it was dead - probably no more than 6 tables in the restaurant.

Our service was extremely slow - our son was starving as he played in a lacrosse tournament all weekend.

We chose seared scallops for me and our son decided to try the lobster Mac and cheese for an appetizer

We chose two salads.

Made it clear my salad to have no cheese (I was going to split with my son) - I did not tell the waitress she overheard it .

Then ordered asparagus, Brussels and pork chop.

My husband got filet My son got the way filet and truffle fries

We also got a bottle of wine and cocktails.

So:

Round 1: ordered cocktails and they took the drink menu (first no no- as we knew we wanted a bottle of wine) - didn’t realized it was taken until we went to look.

Round 2: scallops come out with a little side of greens with cheese all mixed in- have to ask a. Random person as we could not find our waitress. And then the scallops come out - burnt . And not nearly as juicy looking the second time. They could have made the greens on the side again (just fresh with no cheese.) -as they were set down the manager said “I didn’t try to make these look as fancy - just wanted to get them out to you”

Round 3: we need the bottle - have to ask another random person for the cocktail and wine menu … they only brought cocktail and we didn’t even know the price of wines

Round 4: manager comes out and we ask what the price is of the wine and he said “whatever the glass is times 4 - so like 60 bucks… fyi- one glass is 26- we just rolled our eyes- and still got it knowing - he was clueless”

Round 5: salad comes out and they split my wedge into two (usually would be nice) however they added blue cheese on my son’s Portion (while not Allergic - he HATES blue cheese) - plus they never asked what he wanted for dressing … and they messed up on my dressing - I wanted balsamic and citrus vingerette on the side. They didn’t bring dressing for my husband on his chopped salad They brought one citrus, one Italian and red wine and vinegar

I asked for balsamic and extra citrus

My son wouldn’t eat the salad (he tried to pick off the blue cheese) - they ran out of balsamic …

Round 6: we are ready to just get our meals and be done.

Porkchop was fine , steaks were fine - son said his fries and cream brûlée was good.

Brussels - soggy and cold Asparagus - no flavor and not good

Here is the final round and kicker -

The bathroom - was so beyond gross. 3 out of the 4 stalls unusable !

I was pissed by this point and took a photo of this - and will add.

We have been to STK in charlotte - staff is better and so is the food -

Usually Morton’s is a hit -

AVOID CHARLOTTE MORTONS at all cost -

Makes me worried to try a Morton’s again…. 500 bucks with tip for 3 people - you expect good service and good food - and the bare minimum - somewhere you can use the restroom and NOT feel dirty...

Dined at Mortons Charlotte last night, party of four, 6:30 reservations. A bit surprisingly, the dining areas looked maybe 15-20% occupied. We were seated promptly. By the time we left at 9 PM, from our upper floor table it appeared the restaurant was maybe 30-40% occupied. On a Saturday night no less. Hmmm. Valet parking was efficient but we wondered about the "pay now or pay later" question from our parking attendant. Isn't it usually pay after? It's not like it's tedious to "pay later". Or might this scheme allow a patron to pay one attendant and hours later, with very possibly a different attendant retrieving the vehicle, deliver a second little tip out of conscience?

Re the dining experience. As is always the case if there are no parking issues, it comes down to ambience, cost, service, and of course food. Cost is appreciable when you have a drink or two, appetizer, salad, entree (the steak enhancements are extra of course...for example, Bernaise sauce is extra, and if you want a little more than what is served, no problem, you'll be charged again), and dessert, but for the most part you should expect this, as this kind of restaurant is more a "special occasion" eatery (or the place to go with an expense account:-) The food we ordered was on the whole very good, steaks done as requested. Lobster bisque had commendably nice chunks of lobster rather than microscopic bits, same for the lobster mac and cheese. Caesar salad had too much dressing over some wilted romaine but was OK. After dinner specialty coffees were good. The interior ambience befits the level of restaurant, zero complaints. Most notably, the background music is not loud, a wonderful surprise, and the music selections were more relaxed as well, so plus points there.

For our party, the stumbling block came where it often comes in fine dining establishments: the level of service. If God is in the details, this is an improvement area for Charlotte Mortons. We should not have had to ask for water refills, or bread refills, and soda refills. Finished plates were not removed promptly. At this dining level, either our server or someone should be looking at our table and making more proactive decisions. One member in our party brought her own wine bottle (we were celebrating a birthday) and while a corkage fee was expected, never did our server mention this fee amount to be sure we understood the house policy, which is (maybe obviously) not advertised on the Morton website. When our checks were later presented, the corkage fee was 50 bucks, a bit of a sting. Two couples made up our party of four, so we told our server how to prepare the bills. When the two bills were presented, items on one bill should have gone to the other, and vice versa, and while this was not a huge deal, it's just another of the small details that Mortons can work on to bring the service level commensurate with everything else.

Will we return to Mortons? I think the other couple will not. We might, but we might also try other fine dining steakhouses in the city or...

I'll start by saying that the steak was delicious...one of the most flavorful filets I've had. Overcooked, but good flavor. The part that was really lacking was the service. We were seated without menus. When they came back to give us menus, they had half sheets of paper cut and said, "Are you here for Restaurant Week?" I was thirsty, so I took it upon myself to ask for a drink menu. lol First of all, if you're a participating restaurant then you are most likely trying to up-sell during a discounted promotional week so why not just give us both menus and tell us about what Restaurant Week is rather than assume we are all here for it?

Our first waiter came to the table and didn't even introduce himself. After he took my bread plate (which I asked him to return w my bread on it), he made a sarcastic comment asking my friend if she wanted to keep her soup with her entree...I mean maybe some people would overlook, but it was just rude and truly not funny. I get that you work in the service industry where you don't always have pleasant people, but we are pleasant...I'll even go as far to say we are more than pleasant, but down right friendly and also happy to give generous tips for good service. I actually hate that I felt like no one cared about even asking how we were doing while we are at the restaurant and I felt it necessary to get online and write a negative review. When the 2nd of 3 total servers that we ended up having this evening came, we found out his name was Bill.

It was all very awkward. No real dedicated server, nothing personable at all, the manager was hanging out at the end of the bar most of the night and I didn't see him doing any table touches (which is odd to me). I frequent Del Frisco's, Fleming's, Eddie V's and Capital Grille and have always had a manager stop by to see how our meal and service were. Had he stopped by my table, I probably wouldn't be writing this review.

The experience was so jaded that we ended up getting our dessert to go. The overall vibe just felt like the staff was ready to clear out and didn't care about putting any effort in because they clearly thought everyone was there for "Restaurant Week".

Keep in mind, it's a Tuesday night, so it's not like a busy Saturday when everyone is totally exhausted and could have an excuse for laziness and distasteful service. (not that there is every an excuse for those things in this industry, but I'm just saying) I have honestly had better service at an Outback Steakhouse and for a $200+ meal, I would gladly save the money and join them "down under". Feel free to credit me Amex ending 1007 back, and I do hope that others will benefit from this review by the GM encouraging his staff to make more of an effort to please their patrons. We are, after all, your legit bread and butter. I know I worked hard for the $200 I just dropped on this...