Bourbon & Bones Chophouse | Bar — Restaurant in Gilbert

I took my wife to Bourbon & Bones for a special date night which is something we don’t get to do very often. I chose B&B because it appeared to be a higher end dining experience. Oh boy, was I wrong. The poorly prepared and severely undercooked food we received literally made me sick. In this review, I will outline our entire experience, both the good and the bad of it.

I made a reservation for a Friday evening and requested a booth. When we arrived at B&B, the hostess was friendly and immediately seated us in a booth without having to wait. Our booth was big enough to accommodate four people, so it was nice having so much room for the two of us. The restaurant was VERY loud, louder than most others I’ve ever visited. This was because there were so many people crammed into a small building. Our waitress came by a few moments later to take our drink and appetizer order. Our crab cakes appetizer came out quickly and were tasty. So far, everything is wonderful.

My wife ordered the broiled chicken with a baked potato and I ordered a medium rare 14oz NY Strip with a side of fries. I also asked for a bottle of A1 to come out with our food but out waitress told me that they don’t have A1 (seriously?!?). She recommended that I get their “house steak sauce” and said it’s very similar to A1 so I said that was ok. This is where things start to go south. About 10 minutes later, the manager comes to our table with a menu. He explains that their baked potatoes are “rock hard” and asks my wife to choose a different side.

Out food eventually came out. My wife’s broiled chicken was good. My steak however, well, it was clearly prepared by someone who doesn’t know how to cook steak. I dipped a piece of it in their “house steak sauce” and was absolutely disgusted. Medium rare is 135 degrees in the center of the steak. Mine was so undercooked that the center was cold. Seriously, it's not hard to cook a steak so how did B&B get it so wrong? Furthermore, the “house steak sauce” was nothing like A1 as the waitress claimed. I don’t know what it was made from, but it was gross. My fries were not fresh either. They were luke-warm and soggy like they had spent the evening sitting under a heating lamp.

I sent my steak back to get cooked some more. When it eventually came back cooked to a more acceptable level, I ate some more of it. The meat was pretty dry and lacked flavor. Since their “house steak sauce” was so gross, I ate my $64 steak with ketchup so I could at least have some kind of flavor. My $14 French fries sucked just as much. To add insult to injury, the “house steak sauce” was delivered in a tiny dish which can be seen in the attached photo. It wouldn’t have even been enough to finish the steak. I was charged $4 per side of sauce. Charging someone for side sauce is ridiculous to begin with, but overcharging THAT much is just flat out unacceptable.

I wound up eating less than half of my dinner and our special date night was essentially ruined. But wait, there’s more! A few minutes after leaving B&B I became ill. My stomach began to hurt. It felt like I had been punched in the gut. I continued to get more and more ill. By the time we made it home, I had to run to the bathroom where I spent the next 3 hours on the toilet. The raw meat that I bit into made me very sick. I’m writing this review 18 hours after my visit to B&B, and I’m STILL sick.

The staff was very friendly through everything which was nice, but the careless and dangerously prepared food ruined the experience and ruined a date night that I was looking forward to. I strongly encourage that anybody reading this find another...

First let me say that I visit Bourbon and Bones often- it’s one of my top favorite restaurants. The most recent experience that I encountered there on New Years Eve was a bit frustrating.

I booked a reservation for 4 (@7pm) a little over a month ago. We had some friends from out of town and I really wanted them to enjoy B&B. We get all dressed up get to the restaurant early and are told are table will be ready right at 7p. Not a problem we wait outside until the hostess tells us to follow her. As we are walking further and further to the back of the restaurant she sits us literally at the last table that is the absolute closest to the restrooms. As we are sitting there the amount of restroom traffic and waves of bathroom odors made this less than acceptable. As soon as I noticed, where we are sitting, I asked the hostess if she can, please relocate us. I voiced my concern, and she said that all tables are currently full, but that she will try to find us another table. Again, not a problem, we told her we’re more than happy to wait at the table that we are sitting at until another table becomes available.

About 10 minutes later, she comes back and lets us know another table is getting cleaned off for us closer to the front and to follow her, as we are walking, I told her I apologize about her, having to move us, and she says “we get complaints about that table all the time”.

We get to the front and wait to the side, and another party is seated at the table that was supposed to be for us. She explains that she didn’t realize that was a VIP table and that will have to wait for another table. Also while we were waiting numerous other tables were seated.

We stand in the crowded front area, and wait for another 10-ish minutes before I walk to the hostess stand and speak to the general manager. I tell him about our situation and my current frustration and he ultimately told me… “A table is a table, and next time I need to check the modification box on my reservation and explicitly say that I do not want to sit next to the restrooms.”

Not sure how this turned in to being my fault, but the general manager made it that way. Then my husband stepped in a bit more aggressive, and the general manager seem to respond way better to him than he did to me. He got us seated a few minutes later. At this time it was about 740ish before we were seated No we were not comped anything for our experience.

I can ultimately say, I did not expect to be treated like that, by the general manager, to where he turns the tables on me, so just for future reference for anyone that is wanting to visit this establishment according to the general manager, you need to explicitly make a note that you do not want to sit next to the restrooms or you will, because in his own words… A TABLE IS A TABLE!

All in all the biggest issue was getting seated; other than that the food was...

Note that Open Table asked my opinion but would not let me post this.

The Wagyu NY Strip was tough...no joke. This was a poorly marbled dark red meat. I would have assumed Bison Strip Loin not a Wagyu strip cut. It was poorly trimmed with connective tissue on the outer round. This was NOT a $100 piece of beef folks. I received a 12" wide white plate with the steak lonely in the middle. I understand a la carte, but plating is a wonderful key to the pallette. Again not a nice experience like I would expect at this level of restaurant.

The grilled octopus tasted well, but was on the tough side, very edible, but not at the level this restaraunt presents itself.

The tomato and mozzarella salad was very nice, and tasty, but it certainly was short on the white balsamic, and a finishing salt would have put it over the top.

The scallops were seared to perfection, very tender, and very tasty, but again I see a miss for this level of restaurant. The scallops were plated directly in the sauce, and piled with micro-greens, by the time they hit the table they had mostly lost that wonderful crisp that the station chef had so clearly accomplished. Overall nicely plated for looks, but the saucier took the scallops a step down from perfect.

The brussel sprouts were leathery, I assume not cooked through? Great taste, but when you have to chew the leaf several times it is a total failure in mouth feel.

Potato au gratin was wonderful, excellent taste and not over baked. Very nice!

Our server did well, but where service failed was the delivery of the meal. The grilled octopus and tomato/mozz salad showed up, great timing, but the server "re-established" my table by moving drinks and plates with the service plates, pushing drinks to the edge of the table top. We finally moved everything ourselves to allow him to deliver. They went a bit over-the-top with an attempt to be a five star. Delivery of the knives in a wooden box, a man describing each knife, and then you have to pick one.... Really?

The a la carte shows up with the protein, well timed, but two servers dance around the table providing service of each side, dropping the protein from the Brussel Sprouts on the empty chair, and just plain crowding the table.

Overall, an excellent whiskey bar and cellar, but the restaurant does not rise to the level of the bar. I see a mix of professionals in the kitchen and on the floor, some providing incredible food and service, with others getting in their way. The biggest miss was that Wagyu steak...that was not worth the time to slice it, and I cannot believe that Wagyu is applicable to the meat.

A New York minute - things change quickly and my experience may be one off, but folks if you claim this level of value, a one off experience can expand quickly and cause you great pain. Don't ignore what I...