Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak — Restaurant in Paradise

I saved all my pennies for a fancy, reputable dinner and what I got was a meal of disappointment and regret. We made a reservation and were able to get a table at our requested time without difficulty. This was nice. This place was a little bit hard to find. It's located in MGM and there aren't really great signs directing you. We ended up using google maps and walking the route that came up. It was a good walk from the main entrance.

The servers were nice. We had like 4. The server who passed out the menu informed us that Tom Colichio was in town. "What here? Tonight? To cook for us?" I asked eagerly. "Oh. No," replied the server, "he's just in town." Ok. Thats nice. Don't care.

The prices ranged from normal expensive steak prices to really expensive steak prices ($50- and up to 275 for wagyu). We decided to try a sampler, the wagyu steak which was about $160 per person. Service was soooo slow. So slow. All that anticipation and for naught.

First course: Rolls- nice and buttery Caeser salad- nothing unique. Huge cuts or romaine lettuce lightly dressed with croutons. I would say there were too many croutons. 16$ regularly priced is not worth it. You might as well get a better caeser at red lobster- true story Market spinach- this was weird. It's a salad tossed with peaches. It was not a cohesive dish. The peaches were no particularly pretty to look at and my friend thought they were beats. It did not enhance the salad or make it better. Not worth it at all. Wild arugula- way over seasoned. Mouth full of dressing. Also not impressed. charcuterie- meh Shrimp cocktail- pretty good. Plump shrimp. Large size.

Second course Wagyu New York strip- what a shame. This beautiful slab of meat was totally over cooked. It was like chomping on beef jerky. This was the least enjoyable and most disappointing Ribeye- this was good but not particularly unique Skirt steak- better. Juicy and flavorful Filet mignon- this is what wagyu need should be like. Melt in your mouth delicious. Scallops- these were good. Plump and juicy.

Sides Mashed potatoes super silly and creamy. This was good Risotto- this was well cooked, slightly al dente very creamy Cauliflower medley- too salty, not good Mushroom assortment- total disappointment and a shame since the mushrooms were varied and some exotic. So so disappointing

Third course dessert Sorbet- this came with like 6 different flavors. It was fresh and the fruit ones you could tell were made with real fruit. This was the best Monkey bread- also very good. Has this caramel toffee flavor Chocolate cake- not impressed. Cloying sweet Strawberry shortcake- also not impressed. It's shortcake so it's dry but no unique spin nothing.

I rarely give upper level restaurants two stars but the disappointment was too much. If this reputable establishment is going to charge so much money, everything better be perfect. I should've saved my money for Gordon Ramsey. Tom colichio will continue to live in obscurity in my book. Sigh. So...

We have dined at Craftsteak several times over the past few years. I think its one of the "best kept secrets" in Las Vegas Steakhouses. The restaurant is located just before the food court at MGM Grand, slightly tucked away without anything too prominent noting it from the outside.

When you first enter, you pass by the bar into the main dining room. We were seated in this area once, and its good for a drink, but the main dining room is a much better experience. There are TVs all across the bar that ruin its atmosphere.

The main dining room is modern classy, with just the right amount of lighting. You will notice that its fairly loud, not so much that it detracts from your own conversation, but we couldn't hear the hostess as she made quick chat taking us to our seat. One of the cautions I do have is that the chairs are not padded at all, and after 2 hours, my rear was numb. Try to get a seat at one of the booths.

On our recent trip, the wait staff was attentive, keeping drinks full and addressing all our concerns. Our waiter was knowledgeable and checked in on us at a good pace. He recommended a good bottle of wine that was in our budget.

We ordered a green salad to split. The portion is quite large for one person. The salad itself was good, nothing really noteworthy and not in a bad way. The lettuce was tender and fresh, nicely dressed with a ranch style salad, and sweet heirloom grape tomatoes. It was missing a crunch from nuts or croutons, and I could have used a few twists of black pepper.

I ordered a bone in aged ribeye with 1/2 lobster add on. The wife had the prime filet mignon. Both steaks were cooked to a perfect medium rare, and had a deep beefy flavor. The seasoning was perfect, with confit garlic cloves and a bordelaise sauce included with every steak. The steaks were perfectly tender. We shared carrots, potato puree, and sauteed mushrooms. The carrots were my least favorite, but the potatoes and mushrooms were excellent.

We finished the meal with a coffee, that came to us in a french press. The coffee was some of the best I ever had, perfectly fruity with zero bitterness. we ordered a monkeybread to go, but we had the ice cream at the table. The ice cream was a good quality vanilla, creamy and not too sweet. The monkeybread we enjoyed the next day at home and it had a nice toffee/caramel and nuts.

Overall, Craftsteak delivers on food quality. It is a pricey meal, but most everything else in Vegas is expensive. Its a more laid back atmosphere than something like Prime at Bellagio, but the food and service are on...

Its been some time since our visit here and just haven't had a moment to share the horrible dining experience we had here. As my wife watches Top Chef religiously, we were reminded of our visit at Tom's Craft Steakhouse in Las Vegas. So here it is. My wife and I took my parents, it was my Dads birthday and we wanted to bring him to a fine dining experience. Instead we received such a horrible experience, from the service to the meal, specifically my Dad's. I ordered the Japanese A5 Ribeye for my Dad as it should have been a phenomenal steak and he would never spend $300+ on a steak EVER. But, It was his 80th birthday and I wanted my Dad to experience that. Cut to the chase, everyone's plates came out except my Dad's. I was figuring maybe it was a special prep for the A5 Japanese Wagyu. Finallu, out comes my Dad's plate 10-15 minutes after ours... it was the wrong steak not the A5 that was ordered!! We mentioned it to the server and the manager comes to the table and asks what the problem was. I explained to the manager what was ordered versus what was brought out and so the Manager viewed our order and looked at the steak that was brought and agreed it wasn't the A5. He then said "We'll get this corrected and brought out" never an apology or a word of concern. We continued to eat our dinners as my Dad's dinner was being corrected or so we thought. Our concern grew even more as we were almost finished with our dinner and my Dad still hadn't gotten his A5 yet. I then mentioned to the server that my Dad still hadn't gotten his meal (steak).The server then went to check on it and out comes the manager, coat and tie with the $300 Japanese A5 Wagyu, overcooked, cut into strips, on a tiny saucer. Literally the meat was nearly falling of this little plate. The sides that were left at the table were cold at this point. He ate the steak even though it was overcooked as he insisted he didn't want us waiting longer since we were done eating. My wife later said she truly wished we hadn't paid for his steak. There was never an offer of a discount or even an apology for ruining what should have been a special meal. I definitely do not recommend this restaurant. Mistakes happen. But its how the mistake was handled that is...