TENDER steakhouse + lounge — Restaurant in Paradise

Honestly, this was my first "fine dining" experience and it was a train wreck. The place was dead, no ambiance whatsoever and the tables weren't in great condition.

We tried a ton of different food options, and I'll walk you through how they went.

Start things with the complimentary bread/butter. The bread was fine, the tray of butter was very cold still, not easily spreadable at all, so it made it difficult to want to indulge.

I ordered the Filet Mignon, Cheesy Potatoes, and the Lobster Risotto. Let's start with the appetizers. The cheesy potatoes were good, that's about all I can say for them. Nothing spectacular, but they were pretty good. The Lobster Risotto lacked salt, and severely lacked lobster. I am not exaggerating when I say I would have rather heated a faux rice bag mix in the microwave, it was seriously underwhelming. The Filet Mignon was cooked pretty good (although I asked for medium, it was absolutely medium rare - which is ok, I ask for medium for that very reason, in case it's a tad under cooked I'd rather have medium rare than rare). Again, it lacked seasoning. The steak was soft, easy to eat, and the cook on it was good, just really really lacked seasoning. Not worth the $59 or whatever it was tagged at.

My girlfriend ordered the Halibut. She was somewhat happy with it. I tried the fish, it was cooked well and very moist and seemed well seasoned throughout. The noodle dish that was below the halibut was average at best. It felt reheated and not fresh by any means.

Next the dessert.

We tried two desserts.

I tried this weird chocolate egg thing, and it was the worst dessert I've ever had in my life, not kidding. It was this big white chocolate egg with a scoop of mango ice cream inside. It comes with this hot marmalade or something that the waiter is supposed to pour on top of the egg to then melt it and expose the ice cream and other things that are inside. He forgot and had me do it instead (ruining the cool "oooooh" and "ahhhh" experience you are supposed to get for that). After I did that, I exposed the ice cream and also what appeared to be basically just a fruit cup that had been opened and plopped down on the plate. The mixture of fruit was terrible and not at all complimentary to any of the dessert flavors. The other perplexing thing is this random addition to the dessert that was two large (stale) sticks of bread and some sort of white dipping sauce (that had no flavor that I could distinguish, and appeared to be ranch or something?). I don't know if the intent was some sort of sweet and savory combo, but it was absolutely terrible, like the worst thing I have ever had from a restaurant literally ever.

Then comes the cheesecake. Nothing to really say about it. It was dry and chalky, with not a ton of flavor. It was average at best.

Then to close out the meal we get some lady coming over to us and insists that we take pictures She takes all these random photos of us and makes us to all these stupid poses. Comes back about 40 minutes later and hands us the photos and insists that it will be $60 for the one photo, or $350 for all the photos.

This was the worst dining experience that I've ever had, honestly. It was terrible. Don't waste your money, don't use the stupid coupon, don't let anyone trick you in to going to this restaurant. I wasted $240 on an absolute terrible terrible meal and pictures that I was told I had to purchase because I "agreed" to the photos.

Oh, and I had a comp for $75 off the meal - and wouldn't you know it, the waiter forgot to take it off before running my card....so they had to charge me twice to get it right.

I want a refund so bad. Let's see if the establishment gives a damn and reaches out...

Where do I begin.... my wife and I were supposed to be eating with a relatively large group of people (12) before we went to the George Strait concert at the T-Mobile Arena. We made our reservation in plenty of time to eat and make the show. We walked in and the place was virtually empty, which should have been our sign to take off, but we stayed given we already had reservations. The waiter was very nice, but you could tell it was probably one of his first nights on the job and he was nervous. After we ordered, some random photographer wandered up and interrupter our dinner in the rudest fashion and insist we all stand up and get a group photo, which we reluctantly did. We waited probably 45 minute to an hour for our food. My wife ordered the filet mignon medium rare. It was overcooked and came with some kind of orange (carrot?) paste smeared on the plate, which was a shame. My steak was good, but was not medium rare either. The prices were high, but if the food matched the price, I would not have had a problem paying it. While we were eating the photographer came back and bothered us again to talk us into purchasing her prints of our group picture. She got mouthy with one of the members of our group when he slid his credit card across the table, so he asked for it back. In the process, she threw it in his sour cream and proceeded to blame it on him somehow....... Horrific woman.... After the photographer incident had come and passed, the waiter told us he was going to go ahead and get our checks ready because he knew we were in a hurry to get to the concert. 15 to 20 minutes later, he came back to the table and had gotten everyone's orders mixed up so he did not know who's food went on which ticket. After this was painfully straightened out, he disappeared again with our credit cards. 20 minutes later he came back with the manager, apologizing because he had now mixed credit cards up with the tickets as the manager explained to him he need only match the names on the tickets with the names on the cards. He disappeared again with the cards. By this point everyone is frustrated and we are facing being late for the concert as he has been trying to check us out for the last 40 - 45 minutes. We ended up being late for the concert by the time all of this was over. On top of it, mine and my wife's meal was over $150.00 before tip (we did not drink, I had an ice tea and she had a water and no dessert) for not very good food. I will NEVER be back here again. I could possibly excuse this kind of service if the restaurant was full, but as previously stated, it was EMPTY. And any steakhouse who lets a rude photographer like her in their restaurant, does not know anything about respecting their guests. Needless to say, none of our group will ever go back there nor will we forget...

I tried to get reservations for tender for about four days could never get a return phone call the phone just rang and rang. Finally through an employee that works at the front desk. I was able to make a reservation for Friday night. They only had availability early at 5:30 so we made a reservation for two. When we arrived to be seated, there was only three tables in the room that we were sat in. I realize there was at least three other dining areas. Lots of service help running around, but not very many customers. Appetizer I ordered the crabcake Joe ordered the lobster soup. The lobster soup was like Campbell’s cream of tomato cooked for three days brown in color and there could’ve been some lobster water in it and one half teaspoon of a piece of lobster meat. Not very good don’t recommend the crabcake. I would give it four stars I’ve had better, but this was not bad, the pickled vegetables did nothing for the crabcake. We ordered the bone in Tommy Hawk steak. It was cooked correctly, but it was full of gristle, not as flavorful as I’ve had before, and a little chewy. The steak came with three sides of sauces. One was a peppercorn, And a horseradish sauce in the last one was a Tarragon Bernese sauce. They were a nice compliment to the steak. Joe ordered the lobster Mac and it was very dry not very flavorful. I ordered the cheese grits and they were excellent. For dessert, we shared a piece of huckleberry cheesecake that was one of the best cheesecakes I’ve ever had. Our service was good the place mostly empty. I don’t understand why we couldn’t get a reservation for four days. Our bill came to $390 for two people, old fashion decor, which I do enjoy that it was beautiful inside with the woodwork and burgundy red tones. I called several times to speak to the hotel manager of the restaurants and never received a phone call back. I think they need to improve a few things. I know when I choose a hotel to stay at I look to see which restaurants are close and I would like to try. I think they need to improve the food...