Americano Steak House & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Roan Mountain

After seeing advertisements on Facebook for several months, and considering they got the votes for best steakhouse in the Johnson City Press, my partner and I decided to make the two-hour round trip drive and give it a try on Thursday, July 27. It's located in Roan Mountain, which is a rural area with few businesses on the roadside near the state park. There's a gravel parking lot with ample room. I made advance reservations for 5:30, and we arrived about 5:25. The dining room is casual, small and noisy, as there were already a couple of large parties, and all but two small tables were filled with diners. We were greeted by the hostess and seated within a couple of minutes at a booth which was perfectly roomy for two. My partner ordered a glass of cabernet and I had merlot, both of which were good. Next came two yeast rolls for the table with a small plastic ramekin of sweet cinnamon butter. The rolls are good, but neither of us are fans of sweets to start a meal. Next came the calamari appetizer. They have food runners so every dish is brought out hot and fresh, and the staff quickly kept the table clear of dishes throughout the meal. It was fried to perfection and came with the little plastic ramekins of marinara and a spicy remoulade, which was great. We opted for Cesar salads and they were good. The romaine was chilled, croutons are homemade, the dressing is good, and there was a good sized portion of shaved Parmesan cheese on top. My partner had the Hawaiian steak (14 oz ribeye) that came with bleu cheese butter on it, which she removed and set aside. Her side was seasoned spinach. The steak was cooked medium as she ordered it, and looked nice if not a bit thin. She remarked it was good but thought for the price it should have been more tender. I had the prime rib special, which is the reason I chose Thursday to try this place. At first I was disappointed that they only offer a medium rare 12 oz cut, and the special includes mashed potatoes and green beans, which would not be my choices for a fine cut of prime rib. However, I was able to choose two alternative sides, which were the aforementioned salad and parmesan truffle fries. The prime rib was excellent, and was served with little plastic ramekins of creamy horseradish sauce and au jus. I've consumed prime rib from a lot of places all over the country, and this was one of the best I've ever had. The cut looked bigger than 12 oz, in fact it seemed bigger than my partner's 14 oz ribeye. I don't know what it weighed but it was more than enough. The parmesan truffle fries sounded like a good alternative, something different, but I really didn't care for those. They were rich, a bit soggy and limp, and covered in truffle oil and parmesan. They offer 11 different sides (plus specials), so there are plenty of other options. I was quite full and satisfied when I finished and even left a little bit of prime rib behind. Our server was adequate. She seemed preoccupied serving a large party nearby, forgot something we asked for, and we waited a while for the opportunity to ask, but overall she did ok. Our bill for two glasses of wine, one appetizer, and two entrees came to $120.18 including tax and a 20% tip. From the advertising and menu I anticipated fine dining. As it turns out it's casual, unpretentious, small and bit noisy, with good service and food, so they earned 4/5 stars from me. It seems very popular. On a Thursday it was pretty much at full capacity from the time we arrived at 5:25, with several people waiting outside when we left. The overwhelming majority of reviews are 5 stars, so I say try it for yourself because a lot of people love it, there are several great sounding items on the menu, and I can see the potential for a...

After driving past this place a hundred times, my wife and I finally made it in for dinner tonight.

With such great reviews on here, we were really excited to try it out. Sadly, we left a bit disappointed.

We bought a decent bottle of wine (Decoy Merlot,) and had spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer. It was oddly accompanied with a very small side of salsa and sour cream, served in the little (maybe 1oz) disposable plastic ramekins. Spinach dip was okay, not amazing. And the portion was maybe 2 oz, served in a wide, but very shallow bowl. Somewhat bland, salt helped.

From there, my wife had the crab cakes, with truffle fries and rice. She loved the crab cakes, rice was 'pretty good,' and the truffle fries were good, but, soggy, and on the oily side.

I had the filet, with a Caesar salad and mashed potatoes. We had requested an appetizer size of the brussel sprouts to come with dinner, so we could share, however, I received them as a side on my plate. The Caesar salad came first, and was okay. The dressing tasted jarred, the croutons had chew (instead of crunch) to them, lacked bacon bits, and only had a sprinkle of Parmesan.

The filet was actually pretty good. Cooked to a perfect medium rare as requested. It wasn't prime, or even choice, but likely angus. Still, a good steak, cooked perfectly.

The potatoes were good.

The brussel sprouts were good, not great. But there were only four brussel sprout halves. Granted, there was a mistake (which I didn't call attention to) and we didn't get a full order. But the upcharge was still $5. For four brussel sprout halves.

We chose to not have a dessert, which was offered to us via a small stand up printout menu, opposed to showing us a display plate, or even having the waitress talk to us about them. The hostess just kinda awkwardly dropped it off and talked to us about their weekly specials, such as their ladies night and tequila Tuesdays.

Our bill came to $190, without gratuity. Which honestly, we were expecting somewhere around this, due to the reviews and menu.

We can't really complain much about the food. Could it have been better, especially for the price? Absolutely, without a doubt. Were we happy with our food? Meh, for the most part.

But for the price, there are a lot of things missing.

It's noisy in there. Really noisy. Hard surfaces everywhere meant LOTS of background noise.

There was something brown and sugary (?) left on our table, that got on the sleeve of my shirt. I'm really hoping it comes out in the wash.

Every small item came out on disposable plastic. Truffle fries came with a little plastic cup of ketchup, which was weird to begin with.

The restrooms were a bit on the scary side. Very basic fixtures and fittings. But also, someone absolutely destroyed the men's room, leaving stain and splatter marks seemingly everywhere.

Silverware had water spots.

Our (water) glasses ran, and stayed, dry a few times.

I get what they were trying to accomplish with the restaurant. And again, by large, the food was good.

But it wasn't $230 (with gratuity) for two people good.

There's definitely an identity crisis going on here. Upscale menu, staff uniforms, selections, PRICES. But they fail to match that with their cafe like atmosphere, fixtures, and service items. Throw in a gimmicky "tequila Tuesdays" style promotion flyer, and there's just no ying to their yang.

From the menu, and pricing, we were just expecting a nice, more intimate, less rowdy spot for dinner... And we ended up getting more of an... Outback steakhouse...

I know this wont accomplish anything because the owner will leave a very passive aggressive response, as he does with all negative reviews, and nobody reads the bad reviews unless they, like myself have had a bad experience. My family, party of 5, have eaten here once before. My food was amazing, my girlfriends was sent back twice before just being comp'd, and the kids food was kids food. The service was good enough the price wasn't outrageous so we thought we would give the restaurant another go. We showed up tonight for my girlfriend's birthday. I asked the hostess (which is apparently the owners mother) how long the wait would be for a party of 5. She asked if a chair on the end of a booth would be ok, I told her that would be fine. We were seated at a 4 top table with an extra chair crammed on one side. The waitress (very polite and respectful) came to take our drink orders. We asked if we could pull the small 2 top table behind us to our table so that we could all comfortably sit and eat, the waitress said "I don't see why that would be a problem but let me ask." The waitress returned and politely said "I'm sorry but I am unable to do that." We then asked if we could sit at a booth with a chair on the end, as we were originally told we would be seated and there were at least 2 vacant booths available, the waitress again said "yes, that's no problem at all." The hostess(the older lady that is apparently the owners mother)then came to the table and told us that since we did not have a reservation that seating could not be rearranged. The lady then got into a very passive argument with us about the inconvenience of switching tables and wait staff around to accommodate our party and acted as though she could not hear/understand my girlfriend when she simply asked for the booth we were told we would be sitting at initially. After a little back and forth the lady threw her arms up and said "sure, fine you can pick wherever you would like!" At this point we decided that we would rather dine elsewhere. We packed the kids up and headed for the front door when I hear the hostess talking to the owner (her son) she says "she came at me with an attitude.." at which point I interrupted her conversation and said "ma'am she did not have an attitude, she simply asked to be seated at an appropriate sized table for our party." The owner and his mother then engaged my girlfriend in an, what appeared to be a heated, argument. As I was outside with the kids. After all was said and done the owner shouted at us "there's a nice Mexican restaurant down the road, maybe you should try it!" With this said I have never been treated worse than I have today, This was a special day, a special occasion that we wanted to celebrate at a dining establishment we VIEWED as "upscale," if you will. I will NEVER step foot back in this restaurant after the way me and my family were treated, no matter how much I do like the food. I sincerely feel pity for the staff that work for the monster (and his mommy obviously) that run this place. I'm sure he treats them equally as poor, or worse, than his customers. Next time I drive 30 minutes to celebrate a special occasion I think I'll stop at the "nice Mexican restaurant...