When we entered the restaurant there was a musty unpleasant smell which was a bit off putting, but as the place was recommended we seated ourselves and perused the menu. My sister ordered the sirloin steak and my niece ordered the house specialty...can't remember the name of the cut, think it was rib eye, being a vegetarian I am not too familiar with the meat cuts. We ordered appetizers and I ordered a caesar salad.
My niece and I ordered cokes and my sister ordered a mojito, several minutes later the waitress returned to inform us that they didn't have mint for the mojito so my sister ordered a red wine. It a was Kenwood old vine zinfendel....very nice.
The appetizers arrived, we ordered an onion nest which was lightly battered fried onions, when the waitress placed it on our table it was falling all over the side of the small pan they had brought it to the table in, before long the table was covered in battered onion. We also ordered the artichoke and cheese dip, this arrived with broken pieces of dried up bread around the edge of the bowl that held the dip. Both dishes were distasteful and tasted as though they had been cooked in old fat, the dip was floating in grease from the cheese and the bread was inedible.
The steaks and the salad arrived......were shall I start....my caesar salad was made with clumps of old cheddar cheese instead of shaved parmesan, the cheese tasted as if it had been sweating somewhere before being thrown onto the salad, I'm not quite sure what kind of lettuce it was but it was not romaine.....how can you mess up a caesar salad? Oh I know...by not putting any of the ingredients in the bowl that are supposed to be in there!
My sister's steak was satisfactory to her, however the mashed potato and baked beans that came with it left a lot to be desired. My niece's steak was the place's special, she asked for it well done and it initially arrived raw...literally raw so she asked if they could cook it and make it well done, the poor girl waited about 15 mins for her steak and we were joking that they were going to burn it to a crisp because she sent it back! Well it arrived....exactly the same as how she sent it back except this time it was cold! We sent back the steak and the caesar salad and let the waitress know how we felt, she was very gracious. Our evening out to dinner was spoiled by the horridness of the food and the environment of The Cattlemans.
My recommendation to my friends, visitors and anyone I know coming to this area will be to STAY AWAY FROM THE CATTLEMANS in Santa Rosa CA, it is disgusting!
That's sad to read. I ate there several times over the period of about a month about five or six years ago, and always enjoyed the food. They must have changed the cook and/or other staff, which resulted in such an unpleasant experience for you, but why others recommended it.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show how a staffing change can result in such a poor outcome.
I hope otherwise you, your sister and niece are enjoying a pleasant visit together!