Arthur's Prime Steakhouse — Restaurant in Little Rock

It pains me to write this review after having established Arthurs in my mind as the go to steakhouse in Central Arkansas, but in fairness to other diners, the story must be told. Having made three visits within four months, we are 1/3 with what I consider a premium experience at what should be a premium destination given the prices, location, and furnishings. After we sat, it took a few minutes before we were greeted by the server who took our drink orders, then an even longer (excessive) period of time before we received our cocktails and wine. The bar wasn’t busy, so it wasn’t a problem there. Slow and inattentive service would be the calling card of the evening. The timing between courses wasn’t even a consideration. We received out appetizer which was a crabcake, that may have been the highlight of the evening…thirty seconds AFTER our salads arrived. More drinks ordered…more waiting, and waiting. When the entrées arrived, I enthusiastically took a pic, oriented the plate so that I would be cutting across the grain, capturing a small portion of the fat with the first bite. Much to my surprise and chagrin, what I got was a portion of a perfectly cooked NY strip with a gummy, tasteless piece of fat that should’ve been trimmed down to about an eighth to quarter of an inch…and it was barely above room temperature. I did order the steak rare however, but the exterior should have been hot or very warm and it was neither and it was sitting on a cold plate. The meat was seasoned properly and cooked perfectly but it must have been plated well before it was served. My dining partner had the halibut which was good, but I thought from the sample that she provided me, lacked enough seasoning. I would’ve been much happier with the halibut, but that’s not why I go to a steakhouse. During the service my dining partner asked me if I noticed one characteristic about the staff that evening and I made the comment to the point that they seemed to relatively young and possibly inexperienced. We didn’t order dessert, but instead shared our disappointment at the experience, but still expressed the sentiment of being thankful for the opportunity to get out together. Readers of reviews often ask “did you say anything to management?” No, what were they going to do? Recook the steak? Seat us with a different server? Start over? The owner was present, but unlike some of our past experiences, did not stop by the table. I understand that isn’t always possible, nor expected, and perhaps they were understaffed. I try to be sympathetic especially with the labor crunch that most businesses are experiencing these days, but with a mid $300 tab (two diners), I am less forgiving. I think that Arthurs is missing the attention to detail that is quintessential to a “fine dining” experience (even for Little Rock, which is a relatively small market), but one that could easily support the ideal of what Arthurs should and could be. I will give them another chance, but it’s going to be a while. They will either get better or worse, and time, which I am willing to give...

My Husband and I had reservations on Saturday (2/15/2020). It was a Horrible experience. We arrived on time and we were seated upon arrival. Once we sat down the waiter poured our water without ever saying a word to us. No welcome, No introduction. He didn't even look at us as he was pouring the water. My husband I thanked him and he still failed to speak.  Now, I thought this was strange but, I let it go. He walked off (the waiter) and we took time to look over the menu. 15 minutes had passed EVERYONE in the dining room that we were seated in were being helped EXCEPT us. The candle on our table had not even been lit. I kept quiet and starting  watching around the room to make sure that I wasn't getting the wrong idea but I quickly learned that even the people sitting next to us had realized that we were the only people not being helped in the entire room. Moments later a group of  about 5 or 6 people came in and they were immediately serviced. At this point I can see my husband getting upset because we were completely being ignored. I look to him and ask, "what is happening?" My husband then lets a waiter walk by us at least three more times before he stops him to ask for  a manager. The waiter says sure and walks away but never returns with a manager. At this point he comes back and says the person who poured our water should have been taking care of us. Now, that's all fine and well but the area that we were sitting in was crawling with waiters and NO ONE NOTICED THAT WE WERE NOT HELPED! NOT A SOUL!!!! I can't stress enough that we were the ONLY couple not being helped! It's bad when then other customers noticed as well. Mind you we are the absolute only people of color in this  "dining area" that we are sitting in. Now, I don't want to make this a race thing but I am not sure what to assume here. We never got to speak with a manager. We never really got an apology and when someone finally decided to take our order 25 something minutes later, we most definitely were not about  to spend one red cent with this establishment! I could've been the one to cause a scene but I just politely let the waiter know that we were leaving. He just simply said, "ok!" No, We are very sorry, let's make this right...Just, "ok!" Now, after all of this I wasn't going to eat there anyway put at the very least, he could've pretended to care! This was supposed to be a special date night for us and instead we left there with a million different emotions! I have never experienced anything like this in my life and feel very hurt and disgusted with this type of  behavior! Again, I don't know if there was an issue because we are people of color but I just can't think of any other reason as to why we were treated this way! I'm not here to tell anyone how they should spend their money but I do feel as if I should share my experience for the next African American couple who may be thinking of spending money at this establishment!...

First experience at Arthur's. Everything was good but good isn't "good enough" for a restaurant that is this pricey. Sides were excellent but the steak was very lacking. The quality of the steak was great and it was cooked to perfection, but was nothing more (flavor-wise) than a steak I could have bought at the store and cooked at home. I would expect a steak from an establishment, such as this, would excite your senses with some kind of seasoning (like Ruth's Chris). In any case, I will save my money going forward and just buy steaks to cook at home as my wife does a way better job than Arthur's. Sorry Arthur's, not trying to be negative, just being truthful.

I got talked into going back with a large group and I'm glad that I did as this visit was much better and deserved a 5 star review. However, keep reading for why my review is a 1 star.

Today, May 23rd, 2023, I have called four times now to make a reservation for Saturday evening. I was told that I would be called back twice but that never happened. The third call I was forwarded to a phone that the voicemail picked up with the message, "this voicemail has a mailbox that has not been set up yet", and so I called right back. They are willing to make the reservation but only if we agree to everything being on a single check with an automatic gratuity of 20%. This is a no-go and they won't budge. My family normally tips better than 20%, so the gratuity isn't the issue. It is the single check. I explained that we are six couples and prefer to pay individually. The response was, "No, the manager says he won't do it. We don't have enough staff to handle individual tickets." My response was to ask, "So if six individual couples come to eat, you can't check them out without combining their tickets?"

Let me explain something to the owner(s) and especially the manager who is obviously too big for his britches... if you don't care to accommodate your customers with a completely reasonable request, then I hope you lose a lot more business than just my family's.

Good riddance!

Update: The owner apparently had no idea of the situation and resolved the issue (Manager apparently needs training in proper management). In any case, the owner had Jim take care of us and he was one of the best wait staff we have ever had! Thank you to the owner for being a stand up guy, thank you Jim for your amazing service and personality.

Side note: ALL of the food was top notch! I don't think we could have asked for better!

Update: 12/28/2024 - Oh boy... here we go again. They are trying to make everyone pay on one ticket with an automatic 20% gratuity. Let's see about that.

Even though they tell you, when making a reservation for 8 or more, that all parties will be on one check, you can have your wait staff split it up amongst couples, etc.

As far as the food, it was great but not $120 per...