Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse in Vegas

[ChzHead]

Hey all! We just got back from Vegas on Monday, I just wanted to report on my visit to Charlie Palmer’s steakhouse. It was my first trip there, it was also my first trip to the Four Season’s in Vegas too. What a hotel!! IMO, it’s really different than any other hotel in Vegas……I’d love to see what they pay for flowers on a weekly basis. The hotel doesn’t have a casino, it’s true class like most other of the Four Season hotels. We were quickly wisked off to our table, the place wasn’t all the crowded for a Saturday night at 7PM.

The atmosphere is dim and somewhat quiet, although there were may other tables seated. The waiter was great, and I asked to see the sommelier to talk about wine. I told the sommelier what we usually drink and asked for a suggestion. The poor guy couldn’t really see the wine menu as he was bending at the waist to get more light on the wine menu (I mean *really* bending over at the waist). Also after a little conversation, I found that he wasn’t really talking to me….but talking to himself aloud. He was saying, “this wine is good, but it’s not really the taste that you are looking for”. This happened to the next 5 wines that he pointed to on the menu! I then caught the eye of one of friends in the dinner party, and we both had to do anything we could from laughing in the poor guy’s face. I then remarked that he probably wouldn’t have to bend over so far if he had a flashlight of some sort. He said that wasn’t allowed to use one, and he kept describing wines to me that didn’t fit the taste that I was after. We finally agreed on a wine, and he disappeared to get the bottle for us. He then showed up with the bottle opened and a cork on a gold plate (strange….that’s what I thought). He then poured a bit for me, and it was OK…………but a little too cold. I then noticed that all wines were served this way at the steakhouse. The sommelier opens the bottle away from the table and tests it out to see if it meets approval, if it does he’ll serve it to the table. I’ve been to many fine restaurants, but this is the first time that I have ever seen this. If I were ordering a very expensive bottle of wine, I’d have to say that I’d be pretty upset if it was opened away from the table. The only thing that I can think of why they do this is because something is wrong with their wine cellar…..can anybody else explain this to me??

After the strange interaction with the sommelier, the food started to come out. The salad, a prawn over spinach in a mustard vinaigrette, was great! The steak was also amazing, and had a great flavor to it. The one thing that was very unexpected was the asparagus! I was served with a citrus butter that was very tasty. The waiter explained that it was a little orange juice with lemon zest on top. I thought that there was a little crack cocaine in there too……because we just couldn’t get enough! We didn’t have much room for dessert, although we managed to polish off a chocolate treat between 5 of us.

The best steak I’ve ever eaten? No way. The sides and salad were very good though. It also was an experience to check out the Four Seasons. I would recommend the place, but the experience with the sommelier soured me. I just hope that it was the ‘B’ team!

[tanabutler]

What do you usually drink? What did you pay? What were your courses?

What exactly was the offending wine that was too cold?

[ChzHead]

tanabutler, sorry I didn't get too into the description of the food.....still the whole experience with the wine there is still puzzling. For the life of me, I can't remember the wine now. It was an Italian white, dry with a hint of floral in the nose and a little oak in the taste. The taste of the wine really opened when it warmed up a bit. It wasn't the best wine that I've had, but it was something different. If I like the wine, I usually try to swipe the cork so I can log it........but the cork didn't have anything on it.

I'm a big fan of a buttery chard, and I mostly drink from small vineyards in California since my business brings me out there so much. Please don't get me wrong, I really not all that difficult to please. I've had great experiences with other sommeliers, and I thought that giving the some basic parameters (like what I usually drink and to get a bottle for under $100) he could pick out something that I wouldn't have thought about......that's their job, right? Maybe by bending over he was getting a better look at my new shoes?

The courses that we had weren't anything else than I already wrote. Although they also offered a olive bread that was pretty interesting too. In all our party of 5 got outta there for under $700.

[Schneier]

In Europe it's not uncommon for the wine to be opened away from the table. Unless you seriously think that the restaurant is sneaking wine into empty bottles to fool customers, what's the difference?

I'd rather the sommelier taste the wine elsewhere, and get another bottle if he thinks it's bad.

Bruce

[tommy]

Unless you seriously think that the restaurant is sneaking wine into empty bottles to fool customers, what's the difference?

there's probably little difference, assuming that you'd still refuse the bottle if it wasn't the right vintage, it was off, etc.

if that's standard at this restaurant then i tend to agree that there's no big deal. when it happens at a restaurant where that practice *isn't* standard, it would seem to be a misstep, or it might lead me to believe that something's fishy. did another diner send back an open bottle and now i'm getting?, etc.

[ChzHead]

Bruce,

Thank you so much for shedding a little light onto this for me. I've asked a lot of people in the resteraunt biz that I know, and nobody had ever heard about a bottle of wine not being opened at the table.

After a lot of thinking about my dining experience, I think that I'm now a part of crowd that thinks the best steak is made on thier own grill. But, I still intend to keep Prime and Creaksteak on the list of my 'to try' places in Vegas.

THANKS!