Today I am going to be going down a different road here on The Desert Wine Guy wine blog. I will still be doing a review but this review will be a Restaurant review. To be more specific, today's review is of the Las Vegas location of Texas Roadhouse (
https://www.texasroadhouse.com/). My Family and I first heard about this restaurant was when we took a trip to the Lehi area of Utah about a year and a half ago. We wanted a good steak restaurant so we asked around and the overwhelming consensus was to go to the Texas Roadhouse. My Family and I went to Dinner there and we were very impressed to say the least. When my Wife and I inquired of the Manager if there was going to ever be a location in Las Vegas we were informed that there was going to be one in the near future and that they were currently looking for a suitable location. Well, about a year later a location did open in Las Vegas and my Wife and I went to Dinner there however neither one of us were impressed. Yesterday (Jan 13, 2019) we decided to give the restaurant another try but this time I would do a review on the restaurant. So......here is that review.
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| Cactus Blossom |
My Wife used the company's cell phone app that she had downloaded a few months ago in order to check in for a table. We were allowed 45 minutes to arrive which was more then sufficient. By the way when you download the app you also get a free appetizer to use the next time you go to the restaurant. We arrived at the restaurant at 4:20 PM and were seated at 4:30 PM, not bad at all. The restaurant was pretty busy and Employees were running around the place doing their jobs. We weren't at our table very long when our server, Mercedes, came to the table, greeted us properly and took our drink orders. I thought Mercedes was rather pleasant and seemed to enjoy her job.
My kids ordered Lemonade and my wife ordered a water. I of course
ordered a 6 oz glass of the 2016 Louis. M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon. I
was not informed at the time that for $2 more I could get what they
call the "Texas Pour" which is 3 oz more wine for $2 more. Fresh rolls
and butter (see photo) were brought to the table almost right away and
they were hot and very good. At the table was also a medium size bucket
of Roasted Peanuts in the shell. These Peanuts are also available to you
in a large Oak barrel just to the right as you walk in. This is one of
those places where you can throw the shells on the ground, the kids love
that.
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| Fresh Rolls & Butter |
Before I go on I would like to remind you that this is a steak
restaurant and they serve a lot of meat. They also make a big deal about
the meat they sell. As a matter of fact, when you first walk into the
restaurant you will see the different cuts of Steak they sell on display
(see photo). The Steaks look like they are of high quality and appear
to be appetizing. Now knowing this I took another look at the wine
selection which was available for purchase. I assumed for a second that
either I had missed something or that there was a separate wine menu, I
was wrong, there was not and consequently, I was not at all impressed.
There were a total of four (4) red wines with one of them being the 2016
Louis. M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon. As for the white wines, there
were 5 to choose from. All wines were available by the glass or bottle.
Perhaps it's me but I expected more red wines to be available at a steak
restaurant. The wines which were available were the run of the mill
type wineries with nothing special worth mentioning being offered. By
the way, as I said earlier, the restaurant offers two different wine
pours with one being the standard 6 oz pour and for an extra $2 you get
the 9oz pour ($8.99) which they call a "Texas Pour".
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| Kids Macaroni & Cheese |
Overall there
seemed to be no attention paid to wine although Beer and Tequila based,
sugary drinks were heavily pushed. If you look at their on-line menu you
will see no mention of them selling wine at all. If you search out
comments on the wine aspect of the restaurant you will see comments from
Customers on TripAdvisor such as "Although they do have a bar, I have
never seen a printed wine list." I think that ownership needs to
re-think their Liquor marketing strategy that allows this to continue as
this is a Steak House and by the way, the prices are not exactly cheap
so they do get the Clientele to be able to afford higher priced and more
diverse wines.
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| Meat On Display At Front |
Let's get to the food section of this review now. My Wife chose the
Cactus Blossom that came with Cajun Horseradish Sauce as her free
Appetizer. The Cajun Horseradish Sauce was not at all spicy and yet had
good flavor to it. My Wife also ordered a Water, I ordered a glass of
the 2016 Louis. M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon and the kids ordered
Lemonade. The drinks and the Cactus Blossom came out about five minutes
after being ordered . My Family and I enjoyed the Cactus Blossom as it
was not overly greasy or oily as these dishes can normally be. As we are
eating our Appetizers our server was checking in with us to see if
everything was going well and she even refilled the kids drinks without
our prompting which showed that she was paying attention to us. My Wife
and I were also asked if we wished any more drinks.
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| Sirloin
Combo |
As for our Dinner Entrees, my Wife ordered the Dallas Filet which is a 6
oz Filet Mignon which she ordered cooked extremely rare. Her dish came
with two sides and she opted for the Mashed Potatoes and a Salad with
Ranch Dressing. My Wife was offered Grilled Onions and Mushrooms on her
Steak to which she declined both. The price for this plate was $18.99. I
opted for the 6 oz Top Sirloin which I ordered Medium rare and the
Grilled Shrimp which was 5 medium sized Shrimp on a Skewer (the Sirloin
Combo). My two sides were Baked Potato with Butter only and Seasoned
(Brown) Rice. I was also offered Grilled Onions and Mushrooms to which I
chose the Onions. The price for this plate was $17.99. One of my kids
ordered mini cheeseburgers (2) and the other the Kraft Macaroni &
Cheese. Both kids meals came with one side and the kids both chose
Applesauce.
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| View Inside |
So how did the food taste? My Wife's Salad came out about five minutes
later and she said the greens were fresh and the Salad tasted very good.
As for the quality of my Wife's Steak she said that it was undercooked
although I did say that she ordered it "extremely rare" as these were
her exact words and I know that this term can be very subjective. My
Wife did say that the Steak was soft and she did enjoy it however it was
room temperature. As for my food, my rice was hot and flavorful however
my Shrimp was only room temperature and my Steak was cold as well.
Flavor wise the Shrimp was slightly on the Salty side yet not overdone
and was spicy as well but once again, not overdone in that area either.
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| Cocktail Napkins |
All in all, I enjoyed the Shrimp and thought they were overall very good. The
Steak unfortunately was only slightly warm and certainly not Medium Rare
as I ordered it. My Steak was also very fatty and tough to chew. The
Baked Potato which I ordered was not on my plate but was however, on my
Wife's plate. Once I retrieved the Baked Potato I thought it was cooked
to perfection and I enjoyed it. The Onions of my Steak were rather
greasy but did have good flavor. My Daughter who ordered the
Cheeseburgers said they were good as they were juicy but could have been
cooked a bit longer. She also said that the Buns were really soft. My
other Daughter said that the Macaroni & Cheese was delivered at room
temperature but the Pasta was served at the perfect texture however the
amount of Cheese was not sufficient. The portion size for the Adults
and the Children's meals were sufficient.
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| Kids Cheeseburgers |
Did we have any other concerns during our visit? This concern may sound
weird until you really think about it. All of our items came very
quickly and in a couple of instances such as the Steaks, rather too
quickly for our liking. This prompting my Wife and I into believe that
the food was not freshly cooked but either cooked half way and finished
up or simply re-warmed as it was ordered as there was no way that Steaks
as thick as these were such as we ordered could cook that fast. We had a
couple of issues with the Server that I wanted to talk about as well
which I thought was really weird. I had dropped my red dinner napkin on
the floor that a Busboy noticed and picked up a couple of minutes later
but when Mercedes checked in on us one time I asked her for another
napkin and she pointed to some cocktail napkins on my table and said
that I had some.
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| Sauted Onions |
I sort of looked at her in disbelief for a second. Here
I am paying all this money for some items which I felt were
sub-standard and you want to give me a hard time over a Napkin? I told
her once again that I wanted another dinner napkin and felt forced to
tell her what happened to my other Napkin before she finally agreed to
provide me with another one, I think this was very rude. One other issue
that we had was when we needed to go boxes. My Wife and I had food
leftover and when we asked for to go containers Mercedes simply dropped
them off at the table without even a request if we wished her to pack
the food, she didn't even provide a bag in order for us to carry the
containers. I think it should be a given as well as a nice touch for the
server to pack the leftover food for the customer rather then the
Customer be left to do it for themselves. I understand that you you may
feel differently and this is just my opinion but it does reflect in the
tip.
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| House salad |
There are a couple of things that I would like to bring to your
attention prior to ending this review. One item is something that I
always dislike and find very annoying in a restaurant is that this is
one of those places where the wait staff stop doing their job and begin
to Line Dance. Why do I have an issue with this? I feel that it is very
rude to be talking to staff and they break away to dance. I also feel
that at least on this occasion perhaps if wait staff were not dancing,
my family's food would have been hot, how is that for a thought? One
other comment about the bill which ended up being $73.54. When I was
handed the bill to pay it was one price but when it was rang up and
re-presented
for my signature it had gone up as my first glass of wine was added,
this I believe is unacceptable without the server bringing it to my
attention.
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| Dallas filet |
My overall thoughts here are that the restaurant which takes supposed
pride in the quality of its meats needs to do a much better job either
in cooking those meats or choosing the meats it does offer because I was
not impressed. The cooks or Kitchen Manager also need to ensure that
all the food which leaves their Kitchen is hot and their food orders
properly arraigned.To me this restaurant is just another Outback Steak House only more expensive. I thought the Dallas Filet as well as the kids Cheeseburgers plates were very bland in appeareance and could have used some Garnishments to spruce their presentation up quite a bit. The bottom line for me as well as my Family is, with all the Casino restaurants available here in Las Vegas my family and I will be looking elsewhere for a good Steak in the future.
The Desert Wine Guy
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