The Charcoal Room — Restaurant in Las Vegas

Update: Added new photos.

I was extremely shocked to notice that I haven't rated/reviewed this restaurant yet because my family and I have eaten here ~10 times now. When I tried this restaurant for the first time several years ago, I recall the experience being less than adequate. I didn't feel that the food quality and atmosphere were all that great; however, that experience only occurred that one time. Luckily for my family and I, we gave it another chance and the rest is history. I enjoy coming to this restaurant because you receive high quality food and service, all while having that casual feel (not having to dress up, top to bottom).

I won't go through every entrée that we've ordered at this restaurant and provide a detailed explanation of each; however, I will list all the items we've tried since our initial visit. Since our first visit, we've ordered the following items: Oysters, Shrimp Cocktail, Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp, Calamari, Lobster Bisque, French Onion Soup Gratinée, Petite Filet, Filet Mignon, Bone-in Ribeye, Bone-in New York Strip, Prime New York Cut, Grass-Fed Filet Mignon, Lamb Chops, Charcoal Room Burger, Salmon, King Crab Legs, Lobster Tail, Grilled Asparagus, Steamed and Sautéed Spinach, Mushrooms, Mashed Potatoes, Baked Potato, Mashed Yams, Broccolini, Mac & Cheese, French Fried Potatoes, and Shishito Peppers.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of every item we've ordered in the past, but I did attach pictures from a recent visit (Lamb Chops, Grass-Fed Filet Mignon, Mashed Yams, Shishito Peppers, and Chef's Special Crab Cakes). Also, during my recent visit, I wanted to try something different since I've tried basically every steak cut this restaurant has to offer, and I'm glad I did too because the Lamb Chops were outstanding. To note, my favorite menu items are (no specific order): Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp, Grass-Fed Filet Mignon, Lamb Chops, King Crab Legs, and Shishito Peppers. The one thing that was slightly disappointing was the Chef's Special Crab Cakes...although the quality was great, I didn't feel that it provided that "wow factor" to be able to charge $35 for it, especially when it's only an appetizer. I've been to so many restaurants downtown and on the strip and it's rare that you pay more than $24 for crab cakes. But hey, it's not that big of a deal...and even though I could ask the question, I would still recommend that your server advertise the price when mentioning the specials.

The service at this restaurant is impeccable. We have never received any unsatisfactory service since our initial visit, which we probably could all agree is equally important as the food quality. And, aside from the crab cake comment above, the price-to-quantity/quality ratio here is very reasonable. The décor here could use a little freshening up down the road but it's definitely not a show stopper, nor does it look old/grungy to prevent customers from eating and enjoying their time here.

Overall, my family and I love coming here. It's also great that this restaurant accepts meal comps from Santa Fe Station which regardless if you're winning or losing in the casino, you can always enjoy a great meal here, courtesy of the casino (if applicable). I highly recommend this restaurant...

Very disappointed. Went for a a significant Birthday dinner x2 close to Christmas. Ordered the 1lb King crab legs & bone-on rib eye (rare cooked) along with sides & additions. Server was nice but appeared distracted & restaurant did not appear understaffed. Both meals arrived after quite a long wait & were cold on arrival. We have never sent back food to be reheated before so this was a 1st. Felt badly but for the price (over $350), apologized to the server for the inconvenience & asked if he could have it heated a little to be warm. Waited again for a good while for food to return & did return warm. Rare Steak had become medium cooked with reheating & Crab legs became a little overcooked & less tender. Server checked that meal was warm enough & then did not return to the table to check on the meal for the remainder of dinner. We noted that other diners received the same level of service with this server & also had to wave down other staff during meal to ask for drinks/water refills & bill. There was another server working the other side of the room who appeared to check on his customers more frequently & consistently. Staff were all pleasant. Everything had a lot of salt & heavy amounts of garlic added. While this was nice on the mushrooms & ok on the steak, having every item so heavily salted + so much garlic on the sides meant a lot of the natural flavors were gone. You could see the steak was a good quality cut & would have likely been a good dish if we’re not cold (center was refrigerator temp cold) on 1st arrival. Scallops were well prepared & tasty. The 1lb crab legs main course seemed far too small to be deemed a main course & was far less than 1lb (only 4 small thin single cut distal pieces of legs with no joints). Presumably crab was cooked from frozen given how cold the crab was on arrival initially so likely the weight was calculated with shell from frozen. The gravy sent on the side with the steak was well flavored. Seared spinach side-dish was much more boiled than seared & had at least 5 large cloves of loosely chopped/boiled garlic on top which was a bit overpowering for the amount of spinach. The dish was still ok once some of the garlic was removed. Drinks, both alcoholic & mocktails were nicely prepared. Ambiance was nice & did not have a ‘casino’ feel to the restaurant which was good. We have eaten at many leading higher end steak houses in Las Vegas along with more low key local steak + seafood houses and this restaurant is sadly did not meet expectations given the cost of the meal compared to other available establishments. Funniest part of the meal was that my husband & I thought perhaps the food was sub-par due to having some birthday comp we were using towards the meal. At the end of the meal, we found that the casino customer manager had forgotten to tell the restaurant about the comp so the restaurant had been unaware. When we found out that the staff had been unaware of the partial comp during our entire meal, made our birthday dinners all the more disappointing, realizing they were thinking we were paying full price (meal was close to $400 with drinks, comp covered just over half). Unlikely to recommend this...

The worst dining experience ever for a fine dining place known for charcoal steaks cooked to perfection. My first filet mignon that I ordered medium rare was medium well. The second they brought was seared with a butane torch because all you could taste were chemicals. No apologies from management and he said it was cooked in a flat top. What? Charcoal room and the steak was cooked on a flat top? What..did they spray it down with a cleaner, fail to wipe it off and slap my 60 dollar steak on it to taste only of chemicals. I thought maybe I was nuts and losing it so I gave bites to my dining partners and they said the same. It only tasted of chemicals. So I finally got the servers attention, Diane, and asked for the manager and told her I wanted him to taste it. 10 minutes later he arrived only to say he wouldn't taste it. It was cooked on a flat top, no butane. I owned a restaurant. I know better. So, happy father's day. Ruined by a restaurant that should know better. Then I got my bill..I said I returned my dinner and I expect credit for what was not eaten because it was very bad. They credited only the steak. What? You got my whole order returned because without the meat, I'm going to just eat fries? So then they adjusted that. But still..my husband's dinner was 75 bucks, he had a salad that was 11 and I had a glass of wine for 17.that doesn't come to 115 I don't care what math class you take. No tax as I'm a chairman and no tax on the bill when you are a top tier player. Our waitress offered no apologies..nor the manager. We've been eating there for 3.7 years, ever since we moved here. It was once a great dining experience. Tonight was a total failure. It was fun and really good and for the last 2 years, not so much. Even when I told my husband I booked the charcoal room for father's day because the special was short ribs, and he loves short ribs, he said are you sure? It's sucked the last few times we went. I said we'd try again. Never again. I owned a restaurant. I'd have comped the whole thing including my wine, the only thing I wound up having for dinner, to ensure my guests were happy. I've spent many tens of thousands there. I mean, many. If you can't take care of your high rollers, your loyal customers and gamblers. What do you think will happen? They will let the public know. And I'm letting you know. It isn't worth it. It failed on every level for a fine dining restaurant and enjoyable experience. Sante fe station...you were once the rising star..the secret great steak house. You aren't any longer. And sadly, we won't be back. Nor will all the people I once boasted about you to. You failed. You should have been more consumer savvy. You could have avoided this lengthy diatribe of your inability to be what...