Sullivan's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Palm Desert

As you prepare to read this review of Sullivans in Palm Desert CA, let me preface this by stating I am not one to embellish when writing a review. My wife, my closest friends, and I are visiting Palm Desert to attend a concert. The concert was on my wife's bucket list for over 20 years and all four of us were looking forward to the event. We chose Sullivans after experiencing a nice moment in the bar area the day before. That led us to the decision to have our special dinner for her birthday at Sullivan's the next day. We preselected the table for the next night and were excited. The next evening upon arriving for the special dinner, the DISASTER began. They assigned us the wrong table, but at least placed rose petals as requested. In defense of the staff, she did ask if we wanted to switch tables, but being time-limited, we declined. Once seated, we were asked about our appetizer selection, upon which we requested Oysters. The server stated we were out of Oysters (we were the first seating for the evening). We then requested Caviar topped Deviled Eggs. Since there were four in our group and the appetizer consisted of 6 Eggs, we asked if we could have 8 eggs. The server replied he could not do this. Later, I realized he had done us a favor. The eggs were bland and dry, and no hint of a truffle or any other flavor whatsoever. The server then asked for our wine selection and main course. We requested a Silverado Cabernet and ordered three filets - two medium and one medium rare, along with one NY strip, medium rare. It was a typical wait time for the main course and just before it arrived the server came to our table and stated "We can't FIND the Silverado Cab. Please choose something else. Meanwhile the steaks are arriving and the server from the kitchen "lets the NY Strip slide off the plate and onto the floor behind our seat"! It only gets worse from here. Another staff person comes to our table to apologize for the steak mishap and requests permission to filet a NY steak to speed up the cooking time. Not sure what steak came back out of the kitchen (old or new), but it was done in five to seven minutes. Meanwhile, two of three of the filets were done as requested. The third, medium rare, was served completely rare (almost tartare), and not even a steak knife could cut a piece of meat that can normally be sliced with a butter knife if done properly. We were so frustrated with the whole experience by this point, we declined desert. The saddest part of this whole fiasco is the lack of concern, let me correct that, I should have said the completely apathetic culture of the management staff of this restaurant. In fairness to the restaurant, they did offer to compensate for two of our steaks. To put it politely, they just don't get it. The four in our party have dined at the finest restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Napa, and San Diego. I certainly was not expecting the French Laundry, but I hoped for something far above the Sizzler level. We won't be back and if the owner doesn't take action soon, judging from the small number of tables occupied while dining, they will have...

We reserved for a party of 9 and were seated right away as they were not all that busy on a Sunday evening. We had two servers and an assistant who made immediate arrangements for beverages and bread. About the time we were served our second round of beverages, the loaf's of fresh baked bread were served and with a bread cutting knife. The crust was crisp enough that the supplied cutting knives weren't serrated enough to cut past the crust without smashing the loaf. We sent the loaf's back asking for the kitchen to slice them, which they did. We got our sliced bread and ordered our meals and sides. In about the usual wait time, we were then served our sides but no entre yet. The servers had disappeared it seemed and a good 20 minutes later we had to hail down the servers for our main meals but by this time our appetites were dulled by the side dishes that would have accompanied the main dish. The servers were sorry but said the orders would be ready soon.

We finally were served. The beef that everyone had wasn't as expected as it didn't seem tender like most steak houses and the flavor was not quite as expected. Most of us couldn't finish our meals as by the time we got the main dish we had already been munching and waiting for the main.

We mentioned our concern with the manager there, Scott, who responded to our concern about the beef and said "We don't serve Prime Beef, we don't advertise that we do". We figured they did but had to find out after, they didn't. Considering the menu prices, most folks would expect prime grade beef but all they serve there is Choice grade beef. The steaks we prepare at home tasted better even though we purchase Choice grade beef from Costco.

The management there didn't fully seem to understand our expectations and simply responded with "We don't advertise Prime Beef" and "It's no where listed on our menu". I guess he forgot all about the kitchen delaying the meal which ruined our experience. Our tab was $1,100+ so you'd have thought the manager would have been more forthright in seeing the issues as more than Choice vs. Prime beef. They ruined our experience all while most of us had leftovers, no one asked for doggie bags. There's better service...

This is my first experience here. We arrived early for happy hour drinks and waited....and waited... until the time happy hour was almost up. Then our waitress apologized but could not take an order and honor the happy hour even though we were there 15 minutes with no service. She said there was nothing I can do. The waitress finally brought the silverware and placed all the silverware in the middle of the table and told us to help ourselves. We asked her, like family style? She laughed and said yes. That is very strange for a restaurant that's supposed to be white tablecloth, dining room. One of the sides was forgotten about (sweet potato casserole) and never delivered to us and went asked about it twice. She says that they were going to fire it immediately and then we asked when and she said we're going to fight right now as we are eating the meal. When the food finally arrived The salads and the lobster bisque were delicious and the steaks were done just right. Very tasty. When we were done with our steaks the waitress said. do you want the bill now and totally forgot about desserts. However, it would have been better if she did forget about the desserts because they were old and stale.. when she asked us about it, she said sorry about that... with no interest righting the wrong. Kind of a disappointment.. with our friends visiting from LA. I took the time to talk to the manager (Hillary Tollette) afterwards and to her credit, she did listen to what happened, and apologized for not training for people well enough. She went on to explain that all the waiters and waitresses working double shifts because of the holidays, but she realizes that wasn't an excuse and hopes that we would visit again. I'll try another time in up coming future to give them an opportunity to redeem themselves. I think they need to empower their wait staff, to be more customer oriented and to have options available when things go wrong at the table and also to be aware of when things are actually wrong. Our new little waitress was a little oblivious to the concerns or needs...