I would give this place a 4 out of 5.
We went to Sam's for Mike's birthday. He wanted steak. We were seated in the "Piano Bar" section of the restaurant. Since the full title of the restaurant is Sam's Steakhouse and Piano Bar I guess they believe most people want to be in the piano bar part of the room. Mike said he wished we would have just been in the regular dining room. I'll have to remember and ask for that the next time.
At about 6:30 (we arrived at 6:15) a guy began singing (not overly loudly) in a corner to music coming from a computer...so I don't even think that really qualifies as "piano bar." LOL It is louder in this part of the restaurant because there are quite a few people crowded around the bar.
There were 2 bartenders who also were the wait staff for this section of the restaurant. Ava, our waitress was nice, but also had to constantly rush back to the bar and do her bartender duties.
We had cocktails and Mike ordered the sampler appetizer. I ate the crab cake (it was very good and full of crab) and Mike ate the rest (cajun shrimp and toasted ravioli.
When we order wine we used to order more worldly wines...French, Italian, Australian, South African. But in the past 10-15 years or so, we've really honed in on only American/Californian cabernets. Years ago we were fascinated by a wine called Chateauneuf du Pape and the whole story behind it. It was when the Pope's residence moved years ago (for a short time) to the Rhone Valley in France. That is why they can call it that name. Fifteen or more years ago we couldn't afford this wine, so we always passed for something cheaper. Well, tonight we saw it on the wine list and it was about the same price as the cabernet we would have ordered. So, we ordered it.
It was fine, but it wasn't as good as the cabernets we've been drinking recently. It has a nice taste, but it has no complexity and absolutely no finish. It was nice with dinner, but not worth the price. Oh, well, now we can say we've had this wine and go back to our cabernets.
We each had a salad. They were nothing exciting. The croutons were house made and a little greasy. They also didn't have a very wide variety of salad dressings. Mike wanted honey mustard and ended up with plain old Ranch.
For dinner Mike had the filet with a baked potato. He said the filet was nicely cooked but it was awfully small for the price we paid.
I had the sea bass. It must have been lightly floured and then seared as there was a crust on it. I was afraid that it would be dry because you have to cook it for a few minutes to get that crust, but it wasn't. It came on a bed of tasteless spinach. I, too, had baked potato.
Obviously we like this place as we have returned 6 or 7 times over the years. It is not perfect and the food is a little overpriced, but it is a nice steakhouse if that's what you are looking for.
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