Gordon Ramsay Steak — Restaurant in Louisiana

So recently for Valentine's Day, my husband and I decided to eat here after saving money. I had suffered an amputation, I also had a catheter surgery for dialysis where my heart stopped and I went to cardiac arrest and was put on a ventilator for 2 days and I was in the hospital off and on for the last 2 years in houston. After being there for so long and saving the money we thought we would treat ourselves to something so elegant and refined an absolutely expensive. We got there at 4:00 for a reservation, immediately we hear club music playing in the restaurant instead of something gentle and light for this type of atmosphere. Okay no big deal. I'm in my wheelchair sitting at this elegant looking table. Our waiter was an excellent server. I'm on dialysis but was allowed to treat myself to a glass of wine. I chose Rose'. It was brought to me with a dirty strawberry placed on the glass. Pretty gross right? The wine was awful. It wasn't cold chilled just room temperature and pretty nasty. To start off, we ordered the lobster risotto. The lobster was kind of chewy, I knew that shouldn't have been that way but we just decided to eat it anyway and the risotto had little pockets of butter that was on it but we started up and ate it anyway. It wasn't awful but it wasn't great. Moving on. We ordered scallops, we got two scallops. Two! For the price of 20 something dollars. It was like chewing a balloon. Convinced by the server that that was okay we chewed it the best way we could chewy chewy and rubbery. For our entree we ordered the beef Wellington. Also convinced that it came medium rare and there was no other way. It was supposed to come with potato puree. It came with a little smear of potato and it was supposed to have some sort of sauce poured over it which it had a drip of sauce. The Wellington was difficult to cut. The Wellington was greasy and the pastry wasn't completely done it was doughy. Convinced again that's how it was supposed to be, we didn't know so we just moved on. We also ordered the mac and cheese, truffle fries and fingerling Potatoes. My husband did like the mac and cheese. The truffle fries stunk the truffle fries were greasy and had a stink smell. The fingerling potatoes were gritty kind of like they weren't washed before cooked with some sort of cheese sprinkled all over it and they weren't really soft, so they weren't good at all. Moving on from that and not happy, upstairs a band started banging and banging and banging and then started playing really loud music. I don't mean slightly loud, I mean so loud that we had to holler at each other to even slightly hear each other. It was absolutely awful the ambiance, watching people walk in and their jogging pants and this loud music playing made the entire area of the restaurant just seem really cheap but with an expensive amount for food. For dessert we ordered a chocolate mousse type dessert. It was literally each of us having one spoon of a very firm hard chocolate. Mousse I thought was supposed to be nice and fluffy and light. For this expensive amount, my husband got a spoon I got a spoon of it and that was it no more dessert it was gone. By this point I was ready to go everything was absolutely awful. I gave the waiter a generous generous tip, and left spending $400 on this first meal for our first Valentine's Day since my surgery. After finally getting in the car I cried and cried. I was so sad at depending on this meal to be fabulous. I was so disappointed, I was even more disappointed after I watched the show and realize that we were convinced wrong about the beef Wellington and other things during the meal that we could have gotten changed but we're convinced that it was supposed to be that way. I will never go to this restaurant ever again this was the worst experience, the worst food and the worst evening I've ever spent ever. I can honestly say I would have had a better meal and experience at a cracker barrel or an outback steakhouse or even Golden corral and would have certainly spent a lot less....

Upon walking up to the restaurant we were greeted by an electronic menu under the sign with an error sign, this should have been our first indicator.

The hostess was lovely, I noted in the reservation that it was our anniversary, she congratulated us. Our waiter’s name was Ted, he was the most kind, attentive, and knowledgeable waiter I’ve had in a long time.

The setting was below standard. I, myself, was very underwhelmed as I’ve seen just about every Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen episode. The layout was beautiful, the decorations throughout the restaurant were very modern, but the table appearance was that of a local mom and pop restaurant. The candles on the table were dollar store battery operated in a candle holder and the cloth of the napkin was maybe 100 thread count, if that. I have had real candle lit dinners with embroidered napkins at a restaurant that cost far less. Additionally, my table was across from the kitchen, which you think as an amazing experience, but it wasn’t. The entire meal it felt as if the kitchen were staring us down, and from previous restaurant experience, I saw a few food violations take place. I will note none were directly involving food.

The food is very, very mixed review. The Lobster Risotto was the star of the dinner, I would eat it a million more times and never grow tired. However, this is where the reviews begin to mix. The Beef Wellington is something I have nearly dreamed of eating at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, when I think of him, I think of the Welly. This Beef Wellington was so crispy perfect on the exterior, the interior of the pastry was wet mush mixed with the rare beef that had the texture of leftover meatloaf. I could hardly eat one half of it, understandably if I didn’t like it that much, I likely could have raised awareness and received a new meal. Although, I did not follow through on speaking out as I am too astounded that I didn’t love it. The New York Strip, was very nice, although not the best. The night prior, Brandy Cream Coulette, Wagyu Coulette cut, was served at Tableau by Dickie Brennan & Co. (NOLA, LA) and was exceptionally better for a third of the cost. The Seared Scallops were nicely cooked, but better have been had at Aquarium (Houston, TX) and the portion being only 2 scallops was surprising. The Fingerling Potatoes were equally as disappointing as the Welly. I, personally, have cooked better fingerlings. Additionally, these were greasier than a pizza slice and tasted as if they were prepared too early and stuck in the frier to reheat.

Therefore, to conclude my review, I will give the food a 3.5/5 and the experience a 4/5. I would again like to mention that the waiter was perfect, which is hard to come by. Would I ever come back? No. Would I ever go to another Gordon Ramsay restaurant? Likely not. The final bill with tip was $300, which is around what I expected to pay for a Ramsay restaurant, but not something with quality of an...

This place is...wow! My husband and I have been waiting to go here since the word first dropped about it coming to Lake Charles, so we decided to try it out while down for vacation. From the moment we walked in the door, we were treated like VIPs. Karen, our host, was incredibly welcoming and made sure to treat us with a personal touch, making us feel welcome and exciting us for what was yet to come.

We sat at the bar, given we didn't make reservations and the tables were booked for the next 5 hours. For drinks I had the La Diabla, and I can't quite remember what he had, but both were perfectly balanced and had nuanced flavors - every ingredient shined through.

The bread and butter they serve is incredible, being both fluffy and hearty at the same time, with a hint of lemon zest.

We shared the Louisiana Blue Crab Cake appetizer. Having grown up in Southwest and South Central Louisiana, I have had some damn good crab cakes, but this one topped them all. Huge pieces of lump crab meat, with an airy and tasty bread mix, and TONS of flavor. The grilled asparagus and lemon remoulade garnishes blended perfectly with the crab cake.

For my entree, I had the Lamb Rack. OMG. This was so good! The presentation was breathtaking, living up to the Gordon Ramsay standard in every way. The lamb rack was nested atop perfectly tender braised lamb stew with Demi glaze and was crispy on the edges, but melted like butter, and was perfectly seasoned and slightly smoky. The roasted sweet potato and parsnip hash, chimichurri, and micro greens paired perfectly with the rest of the plate.

My husband had the Beef Wellington, and was highly impressed. The beef was cooked to a textbook-perfect medium-rare, wrapped in mushroom duxelles, prosciutto, and perfectly-golden puff pastry. The mashed potatoes were creamy and smooth, and were amazing with the red wine and roasted carrots.

The dessert was the star of the show. Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake with Brown Butter Ice Cream. Just WOW! Try this immediately. Velvety, sweet, and a perfect pairing of hot and cold.

This place is BEAUTIFUL and the service is beyond reproach. Our server (I have forgotten her name, sorry) was incredibly attentive, responsive, and conversational. Management "touched the table" at least once just to make sure we were fully enjoying our experience, and even the bar back was striking conversation to make sure we were okay. Service was WAY faster than I expected, and the hospitality here is incredible. Highly recommend for your...