Max Dale's Steak Chop House — Restaurant in Mount Vernon

LAST MEAL! (written with Chelsi Pennington) We have been through some tough times as I am a career Chef who has been diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer in his blood, lungs, and nerve clusters in his back. We wanted to make my last meal before Chemo extra special as I have eaten at some renowned restaurants around the world. So she called 1 week in advance for reservations, talked with a manager and explained we were coming to celebrate his birthday as well as celebrate the opportunity to taste some food that I thought would actually satisfy my palette since it was his last meal before I started Chemotherapy. From the photos and reviews online, we thought it would be a pleasant meal. We said we would submit to the Chef for his expertise on suggestions and cooking an exquisite meal. The manager said the Chef did not do special plates but would be happy to join us on our arrival to say hi and make suggestions on the menu.

Overall, I was not impressed with the food, the staff and the service. We spent $50 on appetizers and drinks during happy hour, and over $100 on just two dishes for dinner. We barely had two bites of our meals. Everything was overcooked or under cooked.

After we put the money with the bill, we were ignored by our waiter the rest of the time. Even when we explained to our server in a very polite manner of the quality of the food presented, we were completely ignored.

Appetizers: The Ahi Tuna was overcooked. Even though the exterior of the Ahi Tuna had a decent taste to the toasted sesame on the exterior. The sauce with it was a spicy salty fusion of soy that needed no Wasabi, even though it was served with it. The pot sticker Buffalo was indistinguishable by most by any other form of meat that you would put into a pot sticker. I was hoping for something canny and robust in the interior and moist. Instead we had split open pot stickers that were dry and felt as if the noodle was under cooked. The sauce tasted as something that came out of a grocery store. The chili prawns were decently sized shrimp in a thai sauce. And again, it tasted right off the back of a Cisco truck. I was hoping for something that met with the flavor and unfortunately it was overcooked.

Dinner: After drinks in the lounge and sitting down at our table in the back restaurant, the chef was not quite available. We come to find out from one of the busboys it was an extremely slow night so the Chef obviously had the time to come greet us as promised but the Chef never came. We found that our food tasted like rubber. Our scallops were very difficult to stomach being under cooked. The sauce tasted as though it sat under the heat lamp (as it had that film on it. See pictures!).

The steak had not a single point of perspiration or blood as it has been cooked on the exterior of it like it have been sitting in the sun of Miami for an hour. The interior had no moisture whatsoever and in no way even at a proper resting temperature. It wasn't even close to edible. No flavor whatsoever. The only flavor was burnt overcooked meat. He ordered the Oscar sauce as he felt that Oscar sauce when tasted can really deliver an expression of the ability of the Chef. We thought the Oscar sauce would have been much better if the Oscar sauce was to proper temperature and then warm when it came to the table. The plates were all served cold with hot food or mid-to-warm food at best.

The potatoes had the same film as the scallops sauce. Looked and tasted like it sat under a heat lamp. The scallops dish didn’t seem to have much of a melding flavor. The asparagus had the exact same flavors of the steak -extremely chard.

Overall, the food was either overcooked or under cooked. Very disappointing. It states on their website, “Max Dale’s continues the traditions of offering the best steak in the Skagit Valley. Serving delicious food with impeccable service since 1951.” This is a complete lie! We called multiple times after our visit and were blown off my management each time. Do not be fooled by their star rating. This is a 1-2 star...

When we first walked in to this restaurant we thought we were going to have a great experience. The place was large, clean, it was quiet and the lighting was dim. We were seated and already knew what we wanted to order since I had planned our trip days in advance. It was my birthday and we were coming from 3 hours away to attend an event and we wanted to end the day with a nice prime rib dinner. We were informed that they had run out of prime rib AFTER they seated us and brought us our drinks out. If a business primarily sells Prime Rib to the point that they run out, it might be wise to make sure customers know this prior to sitting down and ordering drinks. Especially when you see small children. Because now we have to pack our kids up and go to another place? We could have avoided all of that hassle if we knew at the door they were out. This is steak and chop house so I was unpleasantly surprised that they were out of prime rib....Upon expressing my displeasure the waitress just said she would give us a minute. We decided to order the rib eye because we didn't want to load up our children in search of another place with Prime Rib. Our salads were brought out promptly but the kids plates were held back. Consequently we had a very fussy and hungry 3 year old the entire stay. When we finally got our steak I was extremely disappointed. For $23 I got a small portion that had about as much flavor as a cardboard box. I could have made this at home for a much better price with a lot more flavor. I honestly don't even think it was salted. Next, our server never came back to inquire how the meal was or if we needed anything. NEVER. I was very thirsty and needed a drink but never got to ask for one. My family never got any refills on their drinks, and no one asked us if we needed anything. In addition...most places will offer something for someones birthday. They did nothing. I was completely dissapointed that I had to spend $70 for this sorry excuse for a steak dinner. Please dont waste your time or money. Take your money to Outback. I am pretty sure they wont run out of Prime Rib and they will be attentive to you as a guest. I wont be returning to...

Max Dale's Steak &Chop is a throwback to an earlier time in my life, when I went to a chain of restaurants called Stuart Anderson's Black Angus.

From what I understand the owners of both establishments knew each other and the owner of Max Dale's used the layout and floor plans of a Black Angus for his restaurant. Even if this story isn't true, the end result is exactly the same. Going to Max Dale's is EXACTLY the same experience as going to a Black Angus from my childhood.

Specifically, high backed booths that create a sense of isolation while you eat. The large lobby with the Martini bar. The wall to wall carpet and the wood paneling that is everywhere. It is indeed a trip back in time for me.

Ok, the service. Wow, we waited a LONNNNNG time for service. It took twenty minutes to simply get a glass of water. It was about thirty min after being seated that we finally spoke to our server. There was talk of leaving sure to the wait. However, by this point, I needed to see how long this would take.

When the server arrived she had a large bandage on her hand and explained that she had been injured on the job. Although we were both concerned for her, it was a large bandage and we both wondered whether or not she should still be at work. Regardless, she was there and ready to serve us.

I ordered a moscow mule and my fiancee had a raspberry lemon drop. Both were fine. The server brought us a $4 basket of bread as a way to compensate us for the 40 minute delay in finally getting something other than water.

The food: I ordered the filet mignon, 8oz with mashed potatoes and asparagus. My fiancee had the 16oz. Prime rib. Both were good, not great.

The overall experience was average, not exceptional and the bill of $99 was more than I felt comfortable with given the long wait to even get a glass of water. When you wait as long as we did, I feel there should be more consideration given than a $4 bread appetizer. Also, consider moving staff around to compensate when someone is injured.

It has been three years since my last visit and it'll be at least that long...