Cholla Prime Steakhouse & Lounge — Restaurant in Scottsdale

One of the best meals I’ve had. Little tucked away location inside Casino Arizona. It’s right off the gaming floor but very quiet inside. Great place for a date or group dinner. We had excellent service and food. The pacing of service was remarkable, where we weren’t rushed or sitting waiting. The busboy/assistant was very personable and made sure we had plenty of water. Our waitress was efficient. We were served little steak bits after we were seated as a recommendation opportunity. We ordered the chateaubriand for 2, reasonably priced and included 4 sides. Bread basket items were all good. There was also a little tasty sherbet palette cleanser. The chimichurri sauce that came with the calamari appetizer seemed to be a small batch item. Very fresh, tangy, delicious. I think we were most taken with the sauces, like the bernaise, as they were all very well executed and clearly freshly made. The steak was perfectly cooked. They also gave us a chocolate birthday cake that was really nice.

The most surprising thing to me is that although I’d been in that casino for events, games, and the other restaurant, I never noticed this place. Looks like it seats about 50 and has curtains on its windows so it doesn’t really look like an open restaurant. The manager told us they’d been there for 25 years, which is about as long as that casino has been there. Highly recommend this. Also recommend reservations since it’s fairly small. We were there on a Monday night and it was about half full.

Update: Ate there again on Saturday night for my birthday. Food still good, service still good! Great value for the money. We ordered the tomahawk for two this time and our companions ordered the porterhouse for two. Perfectly cooked. French onion soup was delicious. My chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting was awesome and they made it birthday style for me. My companion had the crème brûlée and liked it. He’s picky since he makes an excellent version of his own. Such nice people and we’ll...

Companion and I had reservations for dinner at 5:30. Upon our arrival our waitress tried to seat us at a small table for two. Upon asking for a regular four top she quipped that we would have to leave by 7:00 because the table had a reservation for that time. We assured her that we would leave by then. Foodnote: When we left more than half the tables were still empty!

Our busser quickly brought out a nice basket of assorted breads including a wonderful whole grain cranberry walnut? bread along with sweet butter and pesto. We were off to a good start.

We shared a starter of Maple and Honey Glazed Pork Belly which was wonderful.

House Caesar Salads were next and were ice cold and served with shaved Parmesan cheese on top. Very good.

We were next brought a strawberry sherbet palate cleanser, which was delicious and reminded me of dining at Jean-Georges in New York by MOMA.

For the main course, we shared a huge (32 oz) Porterhouse Steak which was perfectly medium rare and came with a cup of Demi and a cup of Bearnaise Sauce. The Bearnaise was one of the few dings in the meal, as it had little flavor and nary a tarragon flavor to be found. The Demi was a nice touch and graced the top of the steak nicely.

We opted to purchase the Prime Sides, one of which was Lobster Mashed Potatoes which had nice chunks of lobster along with (I think) parmesan cheese. It was excellent. The other Prime Side was the Sweet Corn Casserole which I could have eaten all night and into the next day. It was fresh and devine!

Desserts were a weak area with a limited menu. Companion ordered the Chocolate Caramel Bar, and left most of it on the plate. I ordered the Crème Brulee which was properly made and literally covered in assorted fresh berries which I shared with companion.

A glass of Grahams finished off the dinner.

The table was bussed as needed and everything was immaculately clean.

5 stars for excellent food, reasonable prices, and a good busser that...

Haven't been here in years. Decided to go for our anniversary. Shared the chateaubriand for 2. I remember when it was $40 --4 years ago or so?? Now it is $110. Includes 2 salads and 4 accompaniments (sides) still a decent value for 2 people. We did upgrade to the lobster mashed potatoes. Probably would not do that again. Didn't love them. We also started with the charcuterie board. I would probably not order that again. It was too big.... wish they offered a half portion. Although it was a lot of food, the 2 meat(s) seemed to be the same, and way too thickly sliced. Wish they had a few other meat options maybe some prosciutto? They had 2 HUGE wedges of blue cheese - enough for 10 people, who would eat that much blue cheese? the other cheeses were too similar to each other. Maybe something creamy? They were nice enough to hold the left overs in their refrigerator until we were ready to leave the casino. The dessert was great - creme brulee was delicious and beautiful presentation. We did tell our server that we were not in a hurry because we were seeing a show, but I felt like they left the dirty plates in front of us too long- where we had to ask them to remove them. Overall had a nice time. Love the intimate setting of the restaurant. Love that the casino is not full of...