Raindancer Steakhouse — Restaurant in West Palm Beach

I took my husband here for his birthday dinner and made our reservation 4 days before on Open Table. This did not turn out to be the stellar dining experience we remembered it being in the past.

Our reservation was made for 6:00 pm Superbowl Sunday. I requested a booth if available, also to be notified if they planned any Superbowl activity as we are not football fans and figured it would be safe scheduling a special, quiet dinner there and to please notify me if this were not the case as we would reschedule for another evening. After hearing no response for two days, I resent the message again with no response. We went anyway.

We arrived at 6 and were promptly seated at a table bordered by the bar on one side and the kitchen and service door on another side. Every person in and out of the kitchen had no choice but to pass by our table. We were also privilege to conversations that transpired between the floor staff and what I can only assume was management. They were only 2 or 3 feet away, we couldn't help but hear. That is, untill the television in the bar put the game on. It was in another room, but positioned directly above a pass through between the bar and dining room and only about 9 or 10 feet away. There were also 2 open booths in the dining room. Why did I even make a reservation?

After being seated our server, Ted, arrived and informed us of key menu items and took our drink order. Then came a roll each and the equivalent of a single pat of butter for us to split! Really? Ted returned with our drinks and let us enjoy them and converse for a while. Ted returned to answer any questions concerning the menu and took our orders. I had the porterhouse steak, house salad with Blu cheese dressing and loaded baked potato. Hubby had the cowboy Ribeye, house salad and baked potato. Ted informed us that we made good choices.

The salads arrived and were generous, fresh and accompanied by good size boats of very delicious, house made Blu cheese dressing.

Salads were followed by the steaks and potatoes. The potatoes were good and well dressed. The steaks were large and cooked to perfection. While struggling to cut my steak I thought that the knives were just dull as I wasn't cutting the steak, I was sawing it! The flavor was good, however, it was quite tough. I only ate half as I wanted to take it home and do something that might make it more enjoyable to eat. Hubby's steak was tender, delicious and also cooked perfectly. Both dinners were served on wood cutting boards which considering how dull our knives were, was an absolute necessity. We could not have cut our steaks on plates, it was that difficult. Sharpen your knives or get new ones, dull knives are dangerous! Anyone who works in a kitchen or with food will tell you this.

We topped off dinner with a creme brulee. It was good with a nice heavy caramelized sugar topping.

The only thing that salvaged the evening for us was our server, Ted. He was friendly, attentive and seemed to genuinely appreciate our being there. It also appeared that he was enjoying his work. Having worked in food and beverage for 15 years of my youth for two country clubs in Texas and Hilton Hotels in Houston and Atlanta, it was comforting having a professional take care of us while there. It certainly helped us overlook the multitude of errors, irritations and shortcomings that plagued the evening.

One last item of note is the dress code. We dressed for dinner, as did maybe half of the other patrons, the other half were dressed for Denny's or IHOP wearing shorts and t-shirts. We saw no evidence of their dress code being enforced.

All in all, this was an over-priced, subpar dining experience with no consideration whatsoever to our reservation requests. Ted, our server, was the only redeeming feature of the evening. This was not the Raindance we remember...

Arrived at 8:05 for an 8:15 reservation. Upon entering the hostess was not at podium but standing to the right in entrance way to dining area. She did not make contact or acknowledge us for two -three minutes so I started to wonder if she was the hostess. Finally she said “ I will be right with you”, something she should have done when we entered. She then came to us and said there were a couple of tables ahead of us and pointed us to the lounge and said “ enjoy our lounge while we get you table ready”. That wasn’t the case but we ordered a cocktail each and waited until 8:50 when the hostess came over and said that our table was ready. From that point on we were rushed through the process. We hadn’t even looked at the menu before the waitress came over and asked if we wanted a drink and some starters. We each order a drink and while she retrieved them we took a look at menu and decided on our starters. Our waitress then asked if we had decided on our dinners yet to which we told her “not yet”. Within 2 minutes our starter was on the table, bread came a short time after and we placed our order fur Delmonica steaks , both medium. After having some appetizer and bread we were told that our dinners were coming soon. After an extended period of time the waitress came over and said it would be just a few more minutes. Again after another few minutes she came back to tell us there was a problem with computer but our steaks were on their way shortly. It sounded like they forgot to put our main course order in. When they finally arrived it appeared as though my wife’s potato had been sitting around all day. My mashed potatoes were dense and seemed as if they had been made earlier in the day. The roasted garlic halves we received were dry and also had been sitting around. I am sure we did not get Delmonca steaks but were given standard cut Ribeyes. I know my steaks. We ordered coffee and one desert which the waitress offered for no charge. Keep in mind, we never once gave any indication that we were unsatisfied so the staff knew what was going on. Our waitress was clearing items from our table while we were still eating. They took the butter and our cream without even asking if we were done with it. While we’re eating our meals, the staff was vigorously setting tables and cleaning the restaurant , giving us another sense of being rushed. It was our first time at this restaurant and it was not a good...

Food was absolutely astounding. The price for a dry aged 24oz ribeye was very respectable and the flavor was perfect with my side of seasoned, marinated mushrooms. I think the only thing they could do to make the steak the best I've ever had is by giving a tiny side of some sort of balsamic wine sauce (just enough to compliment the nuttiness of the steak) and I wish they rendered the fat a little more to a golden yellow crust to give that nutty, almost cheesy quality.

Definite 5/5

However, the service was a bit weird. Came in and I was the only one up front for a good 5 mins. Then an older gentleman, that reminded me of Jeeves with a Latin accent, told me someone would be right with me. He proceeded to argue with a lady, who I assumed to be the hostess, about something. 5 mins later she came up to me and greeted me. I told her it was just me that would be dining. She recommended the lounge and bar as it's full service, however, I'd rather sit at a table with guaranteed service if I'm paying for an expensive dinner and paying a tip. Also, I don't really like bars with huge molded wood ledges. Makes it hard to bring the food to your face without making a mess, also my legs don't fit in bar stools. She requested I sit over at this side table.in the lounge while I wait. She came back over a minute or two later and said it was gonna be a few before they can get a table and recommended the lounge again and I said "it's okay, I'll wait". And she seemed a little defeated for a moment (or maybe I'm reading a little too much into her facial expressions). 5 minutes later, Jeeves came back and brought me to the table and said "it's now safe to remove your hat". And I assumed he meant "please take your hat off sir", so Took my hat off. It didn't seem like there was a dress code. If there was, I didn't see any signs for one. My friend later told me he doesn't go here because he said there is a dress code, but I can't confirm that. I ordered, but for some reason they wouldn't allow me to switch out my potato for a side salad? Whatever. Food was good, so I didn't care at the end. Either way, My waiter was prompt, constantly checked on me, and was friendly.

Service 4/5

Atmosphere was your average old school steakhouse. Dim with yellow lighting and comfy booths and tables. Not crazy, they had a neat red neon sign out front...