Atlantis Steakhouse — Restaurant in Reno

I told my wife she could go anywhere for her birthday, since it would kind of be a late celebration this year, and she chose The Steakhouse at The Atlantis. Our servers, Forest and Torin made the night very special for her, and the food was phenomenal! Having lived in Europe and on the East Coast, I'm no stranger to fine dining, and I often wish that there were more places in Reno where I could really get that level of food and service. The Steakhouse really delivers where other places falter. Our servers were top-notch; not only were they very knowledgeable of the food, but they were very polite, helpful, and patient with us while we made our choices. They also did little things like handing us our menus at the table, taking unused silverware, and making sure our glasses were always full, which really contributed to the feeling that this was fine dining. These are things which I really don't see anymore at other establishments, even at other fine dining options around Reno. We started with the foie gras, which was served over a crispy brioche crouton, and complimented with a strawberry. The foie gras spread nicely over the brioche, and had a really gentle flavor. Just perfect, that's all I can say. The chief also brought out a small complimentary dish, and for the life of me, I can't remember what the name of the dish was, but I'll describe it: lightly seared pork with sweet goat cheese over a small slice of toasted bread. It really set the tone for the rest of the night, in terms of the quality of food we would be enjoying. High quality ingredients, cooked and put together in the perfect assortment for maximum enjoyment. Again, it was a small gesture, but one which I really appreciated. After that we had the soup du jour, which was a simple curry soup, but again, no doubt the best curry I've ever had. I would say it was a little closer to a Japanese curry than an Indian one, with the sauce being a little heavier than your standard curry. It wasn't unpleasantly spicy, and yet it was perfectly rich in flavor, as any good curry should be. Our main courses were the 28 day dry aged 16 oz Filet Mignon, and the domestic Wagyu New York Steak, accompanied by brussels sprouts and broccolini. Starting with the accompaniments. The broccolini was almost sweet with a hint of pepper, topped with a really pleasant assortment of cheese and garlic. Then there were the brussels sprouts; they came with authentic Canadian bacon, which was so smoky and delicious that it took me somewhere I had never been, the brussels sprouts were great too, I don't think they're your standard fare sprouts, as they definitely had a more savory flavor, which went perfectly with the bacon. Being at a steakhouse, I expected the steaks to be good, but my expectations were completely blown out of the water. The dry aged filet was so tender, so juicy, so amazing, with only a bit of steak butter on top to help it down (which was my choice, by the way, you can have toppings). It really surpassed any ability I would have to properly describe it. It truly stole the show in terms of what we had that night. My wife's Wagyu was perfect, and while it was domestic Wagyu, it really compared well to a true Japanese cut. I would recommend having it prepared at medium, instead of medium rare, to let that marbling really shine through. I'm very picky when it comes to fatty steak, but this dish was incredibly smooth and delicate in flavor, with the marbled fat really adding to the perfectly arranged sensations found in each bite, again, it was perfect, and too good to properly describe. Finally, the birthday surprise for my wife, a Baked Alaska. I hadn't had Baked Alaska in years, my wife had never had it. What an incredible end to the night. So perfect and fluffy, with a nice Neapolitan ice cream center which blew us both away. Thank you for making my wife's birthday so special, I will definitely be returning here, even if it is just to enjoy...

2.5 Stars. Service was wonderful. Review skews towards the effect of the most expensive item being substandard.

Food: 2.0; Service 5.0; Atmosphere 3.5

Atmosphere was okay, nice decor and lighting, but lacked character. Feels somewhat like a large banquet hall or community center auditorium.

Food was overall quite tasteful.

Bread - (7.5/10) -

Nice variety, but this is the exact same offering they provide in their lower end restaurants. Feels somewhat lazy, obvious area for improvement.

Vegetable Soup - (8.0/10) -

Delicious, complex, and seemed very scratch-made, but was quite oversalted. Yes, salt tastes good. But, oversalted food is the antithesis of fine dining. You also have a predominatly elderly clientele and it would be suitable to allow them to add their own salt though this would break fine dining norms. I would suggest you consider lowering the salt levels. It could have been a one off instance of oversalting.

Crab Cake - (7.5/10) -

Very tasty, herbacious with a good amount of meat. Well garnished, albiet a bit underdone. The center was falling apart and overly soft, outside crust was a bit underdeveloped; little to no Maillard reaction.

16oz Prime NY Steak [Allen Brothers] - (3.0/10) -

Quite tasteless and very obviously corn fed. Quite tendonous and chewy, though the internal cook was fairly acceptable. I've had much better steaks which were USDA Choice, dare I say it, some USDA Select beef is better than this iteration of USDA Prime. The sear was not hot enough, did not develop an appropriate crust. Many other steakhouses do a much better job in this department. Their (Allen Brothers) wet brine process achieves very little to improve flavor. I am somewhat concerned that they (Atlantis Steakhouse) are not dry brining (or at the least pat-drying) and are just throwing the meat on after seasoning. This would be a major mistake, but would explain the issues with crust development. Snake River Farms or even Harris Ranch are significantly better, cheaper, and are comparatively local. I consumed about 4 ounces and kept the remainder to my pets.

Cocktails - (5.0/10) -

Uninspired and overpriced.

I think they could earn 4 stars if I had tried anything but one of the mail-order steaks from Chicago. But, I was very dissapointed with the beef quality. It was akin to a vaccum sealed mail-order Omaha steak, because that is essentially what it is. I wish that the steakhouse's executives were more invested in providing the best possible product at a fair price. They are overpaying for subpar meat based on branding and passing the expense on to the customer.

Wonderful service. They offered a refund/nonpayment for my dissatisfaction. But, I do not want that. I am happy to pay for what I ordered. I was however dissatisfied and did not believe that any refire or re-make would help the situation as the beef itself was fundamentally the issue.

I'm not interested in another meal, or contacting customer service.

Edit: as stated above I'm not interested in free or discounted food, nor discussing further. My verdict is final. Can't blame you for trying! If I see that the meat purveyor changes I'd give it another try. Not interested otherwise; it literally and figuratively left a bad taste in my mouth. I enjoy your other amenities this is just not your...

I absolutely did not want to go this route, but we gave them a chance to rectify this and didn’t. My boyfriend and I are from out of state and visited for our anniversary. We visited this establishment on August 3rd. I grew up in Reno and had always wanted to come here. When we got there, all was fine. However it took over an hour and a half of being seated to actually receive our main dinner.

When it came out, our server was so engrossed in a personal conversation, our food sat on a tray in front of our table waiting to be served. The busser looked uncomfortable just waiting for the server to wrap up his personal conversation. After several minutes, the busser took it upon himself to finally serve our steaks. He was great, and attentive. I’m seriously disappointed with the server we had, he couldn’t be bothered to break off his personal conversation about Tahoe real estate to assist us. I’m not sure how long our meal sat in the back before it was brought out, but it wasn’t very warm. We ate anyway, and finally left after more than 2 hours. We left a $30 cash tip for the busser on a $318 tab because of the disappointment.

Immediately upon getting back to our own hotel on the row, my boyfriend had stomach cramps and I got a crazy headache. My boyfriend was sick through the night and all the next day. We had to run through the lobby for him to only vomit in the parking garage, he could barely move without being sick.

Fast forward, I notice my card was charged for $378. I tried to get answers, nothing. So I charge it back with my bank, because I just paid $400 for bad service, and for my boyfriend to be violently sick the rest of our trip.

11 days later I get a call back from someone with food and beverage asking why I charged it back. I explained the extra $60, and also my disappointment with our experience. He said we tipped $60 on the card, which I most certainly hadn’t. So the server (thicker balding man, maybe 38-40) gave himself a $60 tip. I didn’t get any apology, he called us liars, and said he would not look into the $60, in fact they were going to push to win the dispute.

I work in the service industry. I am the General Manager of a hotel in Oregon. I would never call to disrespect someone who had a bad experience, and I would certainly get to the bottom of someone quite literally stealing $60 from a guest. Instead, they are encouraging it. I’m so disappointed with how this was handled, it’s actually insane. I apologize for the puke-jump scare to anyone reading this, but I would like for Atlantis steakhouse to see some sort of representation of our $400 dinner, and where...