The Peppermill: Steakhouse and Cocktail — Restaurant in Tempe

We booked Peppermill for a work dinner of 16 people (I booked over 2 weeks ago so they had plenty of warning). Before I booked I looked at Peppermill's website and saw pictures online and thought it looked great. Lets just say the website and pictures do it justice. We arrived and sat for about 20 mins until I asked the waitress, who was lovely, if she could take out drinks order. The drinks took forever and when we looked over at the bar the manager/owner was standing chatting and not filling our drinks order. Out of 8 drinks she forgot 2 - which we had to ask for twice.We then had shared starters which were lovely, but that is where the evening went downhill. We sat with empty dirty starter plates in front of us for 25 mins. I asked for the table to be cleared - "Yes, I'm coming" and never did. I eventually cleared the table of 16 people myself and then had to ask 3 times for the stacked dishes to be taken away. Then after waiting another 20 mins I went up to our waitress who was standing (entering our dinner order into the computer) chatting to two other waitress, and asked her if she could take a drinks order. "Yes, I'm coming I am just busy right now" and continued. Not one of the other waitresses stepped in to help. They stood chatting. Again some drinks were forgotten and I had to ask for them. The table was not cleared of empty drink glasses and water glasses were not topped up. I eventually started clearing the table myself. I took the dirty glasses over to the bar and the manager/owner (I assume) just looked at me. (At that point I would have thought she would have asked one of the waitresses to come over and help....NOPE just watched me). Dinner eventually came - 50 mins (ok we were a big table and its' a small kitchen) but no one had cutlery. I asked for cutlery for the table and was told "Yes, I'm coming" (I was so sick of hearing that). Everyone got their meal (except 1) and no one could eat as we sat waiting for cutlery. The Manager/owner brought forks over - UM GREAT can't eat a steak with a fork. We sat for another 10 mins while our waitress found steak knives. I had the duck which was overcooked, , dry, flavorless and ice cold after sitting waiting for cutlery. I never ate it and when the waitress asked I said it was rock hard (over cooked) and ice cold. She said Oh and took it away (it was on the check at the end - not comped). So back to the person that never got their meal....When the manager/owner brought the forks over I said that we were short a meal. She said...."It's coming" and she walked right past the kitchen to the bar and chatted to the waitresses behind the bar. Never checked if the meal was actually coming. after another 10 mins I flagged our waitress and said we are almost finished eating and we are still a meal short. Our waitress went to check and the meal and been completely missed off the order. Now I was fuming as the manager could have had a 10 mins head start on the meal if she bothered to check on the meal! I got the check and they slapped a $245 tip on the end of the check! I suspect that is why the service was below average is because they were taking a tip for the size of the table regardless of the service we got. DO NOT BOOK A GROUP DINNER HERE! They don't care enough to give you an enjoyable evening and the manager/owner could care less what is going on around her. Such a pity as the food was actually very tasty (except the duck). My guys are super chill and easy going but at the end of the evening they said "Please don't ever book this place again". Because the service and attitude was so bad we left and went and had dessert elsewhere as no one wanted to sit in this place any longer than...

Extremely Disappointing Experience for a Group of 17 – Not Recommended We had a company gathering of 17 people at this restaurant, and unfortunately, not a single attendee left with a positive impression; everyone commented that it was not relaxing atmosphere and bad food. Here are the key issues we encountered: Poor Group Accommodation Despite making a reservation in advance, the restaurant was clearly unprepared to handle a group of our size. Only one server was assigned to our entire party. While she did her best, it was simply impossible for her to provide adequate service under those conditions. Steak Orders Were a Disaster Ten of us ordered Rib-eyes, all requested medium-well. None were cooked properly—some were undercooked, others overdone and burnt. One guest received her steak 30 minutes late, and it was nearly raw. She had to box it and take it home uneaten. Poor Food Quality for the Price For a steakhouse charging $50–$100 per entrée, the quality was shockingly poor. Appetizers were decent, but the main dishes were extremely disappointing. Steaks were inconsistently cooked, and plating was not as advertised. For instance, we were told Rib-eyes would be served with mashed potatoes, but what arrived looked like deep-fried potato chunks shaped like hush puppies. Unprofessional and Dishonest Ownership The most troubling aspect was the attitude of the owner. She was rude, unwelcoming, and failed to thank us for our business. I overheard her taking another reservation for 7:30 PM while we were just being seated at 5:00 PM. I had informed her that some of our guests might arrive slightly late, but everyone would be there by 5:30 PM. When I expressed concern about being rushed, she denied having booked a 7:30 reservation, which directly contradicted what I had just heard and what the server confirmed. Her demeanor was tense, defensive, and far from professional. (she tried to tell me the 7:30 reservation was made months ahead without knowing it was already after I her that she just took the reservation) She even told we can somewhere else, like if we can make arrangement at that point for 17 people to go to. It seems almost discrimination toward Asian(?) False Advertising The menu photos on the website and review platforms did not match what was actually served. The dish descriptions were misleading, and expectations based on photos and verbal confirmations were not met. In summary, we spent over $1,500 on what turned out to be a frustrating and unpleasant experience. Between the poor food, underwhelming service, and unprofessional management, we cannot recommend this restaurant—especially not for large groups or special occasions.

Additionally: I asked for whisky cocktail with cinnamon, cherry and orange; he put hot paper (all of us took turned and tasted; it was so burning hot, burnt our mouth, who would...

I was a server for 10 years, so I hate leaving a negative review, but my husband and I just had one of the worst experiences we’ve had in a very, very long time at a restaurant. Our server Morgan was one of the most inattentive servers we’ve ever had—we barely saw her the entire dining experience, she avoided our table and even our gaze as we looked around the restaurant or as we looked around when our entrees took a long time to come out. We waited for 10-15 minutes before even being greeted by Morgan, even though she was the one who initially showed us to the table, we had to stop her and let her know we were ready to order our entrees after an even longer time waiting for my husband’s cocktail and then our one appetizer. Morgan never came to the table to check on us, refill our water, clear our plates, nothing. After we received our entrees an hour and 15 minutes after we had been sat at the restaurant, Morgan simply dropped the food down and walked away—did not bother to ask if there was anything else we needed, did not come back at any point to check to see if everything was cooked to our liking…again, nothing. The only time she came back was to drop the check after another one of the other servers cleared our entree plates. Morgan did not offer us dessert, after dinner drinks, or anything like that—just dropped the check, clearly bothered by our existence.

Again I’ve been in the industry as a server for a long time, I get the ins and outs and I get that things happen that are out of your control, but basic care about your guests is the one thing that is 100% within your control as a server, and Morgan had so little care for us as her guests, and clearly did not want to be bothered by us. Very sad and disappointed to have dropped $140 on a date night that was supposed to be special with my husband, just to feel not only neglected, but deliberately avoided. A little communication with your guests goes a long way—if she had stopped by our table just to let us know what was going on with the food, or to make sure that our waters were full, that would have gone so far.

I do want to shout out a server who was not our server, Kelly—she was friendly, happy, refilled our waters, cleared our appetizer and entrees, and did more for us even though we...