Gem Steakhouse & Saloon — Restaurant in Deadwood

Oh wow... where do I start? So a group of 10 of us can to visit deadwood and have a great time last weekend. Everything was great. Hotels, casinos, and all the restaurants great experiences until I came and visited the Gem, and it was the worst experience ever and the worst restaurant in Deadwood. Very disappointing. They were very disorganized from the jump. They could t even tell us when they could take us back to sit (like a timeline) because from them being busy before they put a hold on taking customers with a empty dining room? Then when we go back it took forever (30mins) to get drinks because the bartender was smoking. When it came to order food they claimed they were out of almost the whole menu. Then our food took over an hour to get to us And it was all wrong!!! The 2 kinds of steaks they did have were burnt and rubbery and our friends fish was raw in the middle still, so we asked for a redo, attitude from waitress from that point. One of our friends let them know that their margarita was too salty and was told very rudely “well maybe you shouldn’t get salt on it then”. An hour into waiting for our steaks to get fixed and the friends who had food finished eating and were waiting around Forever and we had plans, I told waitress to cancel our orders at this point and she said it was almost done then turned around to other guests and said “Im sorry these people are throwing me off and making me irritated!!!” Another 20 mins go by and the rest of us finally get food but it’s been like 3 hours since we sat down so at this point I barely eat. We ask for tickets and get told it will be a while but not another 45 mins!!! Tickets were not correct at all and other people’s drinks were on other people tickets and overpriced for a shrimp stick that was stale as hell. We get told “ it doesn’t matter what’s On who’s ticket as long as it get paid for...” we had enough at this point paid for over $600 in food between all of us and with the treatment we got we didn’t leave her anything for a tip and I’m usually an amazing tipper but this was a damn shame!! I always come to deadwood but I never come back to this restaurant. If you want Good steak that’s cooked right, stick to Mavericks or get prime rib at...

The hostess was wonderful. Even though they don't take reservations, she had a table ready for us upon our arrival. Everything after that was just awful. The table that got sat after us was waited on first. They had their drinks and salads before we even ordered our drinks. We had been waiting so long for our waitress that when we finally placed our drink order, were ready to order food but she darted away before we could even tell her that. The other table got served their meal meanwhile. We finally ordered and all 3 of our meals were awful. The steak fries had so much salt that the salt burned your mouth and were inedible. The veggie mix was cold and mushy. The butter tasted odd. The baked potatoes tasted old. We were charged for cheese on our baked potatoes even though the waitress made it sound like all the toppings were standard. The sirloin steak was super dry and burnt. It was a 32 oz steak and even the center of it was flavorless. The ribeye steak was cut too thin for that type of steak, so it lacked the juicy, fatty flavor it should have. I spoke to the hostess about our problems because our waitress rarely came around. The host was very apologetic and took 10% off the total bill, which was only $6. I went and spoke to the manager, saying that $6 off a $30 steak that was barely eaten and we would not be taking with us in a doggy bag was completely unacceptable. She was very upset and defensive and asked what i wanted. I told her i wanted at least $15 more off. She only gave us $15 total off on a $80 tab. We were so frustrated and disappointed in the wait staff and food quality and cook of it all....

You can do a lot better and many other places in deadwood the name is a misnomer. It is somewhere north of school cafeteria food, about what you’d get at a Vegas buffet or a good day at a golden coral.

I would come back for the food.

Service was very nice but not professional at all. No clearing, not real accurate or insightful, at least not my server.

Don’t add onions to your steak for $2 unless you’re expecting grilled red onions. No I was surprised when I saw red onions and I thought well maybe this is some sort of culinary insight let me give it a shot I did and it was just gross. You should be yellow onions or at worst white onions. The kitchen is winging it. Their “loaded” potato adds bacon… no chives / green onions, just bacon butter cheese and sour cream, even Wendy’s does better.

The filet was bacon wrapped and thank goodness, the bacon flavor gave it some interest. It was tinder, I’ll give them that, but it’s a filet so that’s hard to mess up.

The salad was something you’d get at a diner. Ice burg lettuce, Italian dressing was thick and sugary… and it came with crackers. Yeah…

The clientele should have told me what I needed to know. It did in fact, but I chose to ignore it. Anytime I see a place full of folks who can’t see, hear, or breathe, their sense of smell and taste is usually right there with it. Usually when that crowd is there, it also at least means it’s inexpensive. This place was not inexpensive, not even by non small town standards.

Lower your prices or significantly up your game or...