Louisa M.
Yelp
I dined at Chart House for the first time last week and while I didn't love my experience, I will probably return. Located in the Golden Nugget downtown, Chart House is easily identifiable by their showpiece: a giant saltwater fish tank! The restaurant surrounds the tank so you can watch the fish swim around while you dine. It's really cool.
The rest of the restaurant is not. The atmosphere feels extremely dated, in a "contemporary" style that feels like it came out of a mid-1990s time capsule. The decor needs an update badly and, considering how pricey the food is here, I would expect the dining room to be a bit more upscale.
Our waiter was a little uptight, especially when we didn't order bottled water or alcohol. He got a bit more casual when we ordered several of his recommendations from the menu.
We were served a pitiful bread basket with just three small selections. The bread was warm, but had either been held too long in a warming tray or had straight up been microwaved. The bread was TOUGH and had that wrinkly exterior texture that bread gets when it's not fresh. Epic fail on the bread basket.
I had the crab cake appetizer and my husband had the ahi tuna. Neither of us liked our appetizers that much. There was nothing "wrong" with them, it's just that neither knocked our socks off. In fact, we both agreed we would not order either of these dishes again. The crab cake was astoundingly mediocre for a seafood restaurant, and the soft shell crab was deep fried with too much breading. It tasted both fishy and like old oil, and that was quite unappealing.
For dinner, he got the prime rib with a side of mushrooms, while I opted for fresh grilled halibut with a side of Asian spiced green beans. Both of our entrees were excellent. The beef was perfectly cooked and tender, and he couldn't stop raving about the mushrooms. I had requested my halibut be cooked more on the medium-well side, and the chef did a fantastic job. The doneness was exactly how I like it. I was surprised to see a very large portion of seasoned rice with my fish, and it was so tasty! The green beans were good too.
We had so many leftovers because we knew we wanted to save room for dessert! We chose the ice cream flight to share. The flavors of the day were fresh strawberry (sooooo good), chocolate s'mores (equally delicious), and fresh watermelon (this would've been great as a sorbet, but creamy watermelon was just...gross). The ice cream is all made in-house and the flavors change frequently. Get this if you love cold, sweet treats.
Speaking of leftovers, I was surprised when we were given styrofoam containers to box up our own food. Usually at a nicer restaurant, you get sturdy plastic containers that are microwaveable or at least the waiter will take your plate back and box it up for you. I found this strange and kinda awkward, especially as the styrofoam boxes were very flimsy and a bother to handle.
The service was good, but one thing really irritated me: the bussers who would literally stand around watching us eat. The second (and I mean the very SECOND we were done, or it looked like we were done), one of the ladies would run over and snatch the plate right off the table. This made me feel stressed and rushed, and one time she tried to grab my plate before I was even finished.
It's worth mentioning that the restaurant was a ghost town when we were there, like maybe two other tables the entire time. Not sure if it's always this slow, but it was a little weird.
If you are a Landry's Rewards member, make sure to put in your number. You can rack up major points here because the prices are quite high. We dropped a couple hundred dollars here, and it would be easy to spend much more if you ordered cocktails or wine. The cocktail menu was very appealing, by the way.
Chart House would get a 3 star rating if not for the main course and ice cream, so now I know to skip the appetizers and go straight for the big plates (and dessert).