salt cellar

last night, pere and i haddinnerat the salt cellar in scottsdale, before heading off to see the touring cirque du soleil show corteo. because the show started at 8, we figured we would need to do an early dinner, sometime around 5:30. normally i don't l

my husband & i were in town for a wedding and heard tons of great reviews., including 2 couples we met on the way in. the food on it's own would rank, at best, 2 on a scale of 10. first let me say, we have no problem dropping money on dinner. the scallops had good flavor but the dish was poorly executed. the shrimp was good, but the cocktail sauce was too hot (the intensity was in line with a quality hot wing, not shrimp). the wellington was ok, but the sauce sat long enough to have a film on it and ruin the puff pastry. as for the baked stuffed lobster, not only was it over cooked to the point of mush, but the ritz cracker stuffing, was suspiciously similar in taste to a quasi gingerbread / cornbread stuffing and there were no scallops in it, as promised in the description. it was the most poorly executed baked lobster ever. when the waiter was notified, we were offered dessert, really? cause that makes up for a $45dinnerthat would have been better prepared by hellen keller. the server was incompetent , at best. i have had vastly superior meals at red lobster for less than half the cost. on a bright note, the wine was good and not outlandish in cost.

2nd time around. it had been a while since we visited the salt cellar. on this occasion, we had a reservation at 5pm and arrived early for the happy hour.

we were the excited first ones in, we were greeted kindly and made our way downstairs to the bar. ordered a couple drinks and appetizers, the oysters and shrimp cocktail. the small bar was filling up quickly! we got our appetizers (our preference is small oysters, these are huge and only option), they were good? just wish there was more of a selection. second appetizer, shrimp cocktail. the cocktail sauce was the best thing of the night! they were good, but one wasn't cleaned properly and another had a strange black mark on it. i'll add the lemon had a bad mark on the peel. just unappealing. we didn't complain, the bartender was great, maybe a little overwhelmed at how busy it was. so...$60 later, we're off to dinner.

off to our table, be warned those with claustrophobia, this dining room is small! very attentive waiter, we ordered our meals, enjoyed the bland salads. the bread is great! we ordered the stuffed lobster and filet with crab leg. lobster not impressive, filet is a 1/4 inch thick with no seasoning whatsoever, crab leg good. broccoli cold, with something that i thought was hollondaise, but it was a weird, white, cold something stuck to it. our favorite things were the rice and baked potato. so,dinnerwas around $150 with a cheap bottle of wine.

our opinion, no, we won't be back here again. the staff is great! the nostalgia is there, the food just isn't. i'm not sure if they cater to a crowd who doesn't like taste in their food? and if the owners believe in quality or just have plain pride in the food served? we'll go to king fish or flemings instead.

we haddinnerthere last week. as always it was awesome. started out with the crab cakes and steamers. i had steak and lobster and my boyfriend had crab legs which the server cracked open for us. we have always had a great time dining here and the food has always been great. the servers are always very friendly. this is definitely one of our favorite places to go for special occasions.

i have dined at the salt cellar about 30 times. four of us went todinnerand had a couple entrees, dinner, and dessert. the service,foor, and drinks were all amazing. have the yako tuna, halibut with lemon caper butter or crab legs. all wonderfully prepared. all of the servers are nice and professional, the atmosphere is romantic, and the food awesome. keep up the great work salt cellar and we will keep coming back.

i have been going to the salt cellar for years. went last night for bdaydinnerand still loved it. had the sanremo app that was wonderfully prepared and followed with the king crab legs yum
it hasn't changed much in the 20 years i had going so maybe a little update on the decor

we went here recently using. groupon. my guy loves loves seafood so this was an opportunity to try one of the only seafood restaurants in the valley. i like their menu in that they fly in fresh fish and seafood from all over. each menu item lists where the seafood was caught. i really wanted a boston seafooddinnerwith chowder, steamer clams and lobster. but even with the groupon, it was a bit out of my price range. the couple sitting next to us got this and it looked amazing. our meal did start with chowder. i had the creamy clam chowder and he had the red based manhatten clam chowder. both were very good. the only complaint i have is that the bread was not good. if i am going to spend a lot for dinner, i expect top quality bread. i was hoping for warm, crusty rolls, maybe sourdough. but the bread was a dry, nondescript, pasty white bread. please salt celler, you can do better! for the entrees, i had the stuffed rainbow trout from idaho. it was a huge portion of fish with a generous amount of stuffing. the fish was well prepared, just cooked and moist and flaky. i did not like the stuffing but this might be a matter of personal taste, as r loved it. it came with a very good mixed green salad, steamed veggies and a pecan rice. i feel bad saying this but the rice was very disappointing. it was undercooked, chewy, lukewarm and had no flavor. r had grilled salmon and it came with the same salad and veggies, but he had a large baked potato. the salmon was a king salmon from canada and it was perfectly prepared and delicious. even though my meal was not what i hoped for, i would definitely try this restaurant again. the fish was fresh and well prepared, and that's hard to find in the desert. i personally like shellfish more, so i might have liked another dish. it's a very cute place, and they were extremely crowded from the groupon. it is pricey, and i think they could really give a better impression with a different bread and side dish (i.e. the pecan rice). next time i will go for the clams, lobster or scallops. the alaskan halibut cheeks also sounded and looked delicious and you rarely see them on a menu.

thedinnerthat saved a bad day.. we had a greatdinneron a friday night at 7:30. we started off with an oyster shooter that was fresh and delicious. we then shared 3 appetizers. the maryland soft shelled crabs were very lightly breaded, served piping hot, and cooked perfectly. the steamed clams were next. nicely salty and correctly cooked. we also tried the escargot and mushroom caps. the garlic butter sauce was great and went equally well with the steamed clams.

the salad course was competent. the salad isn't really all that special, but they do serve roquefort dressing, which was very nice.

we were in the mood for steak as well as seafood, so we ordered the petite fillet and fried shrimp. the steak was ordered rare, and it was perfect. it was accompanied by some great bread, and, for a nice change, a baked potato that wasn't the size of a babies head. i wish more restaurants returned to reasonably sized portions instead of the waist expanding, super sized, plates of food that require you to take home leftovers. there were steamed vegetables and they were nicely prepared as well. they were actually cooked instead of just being "warmed". for dessert, we shared a chocolate lava cake. wow. extremely dark chocolate sauce, and a very nice hint of raspberries rounded out the flavors. in this class of restaurant, the coffee should be very good, and i wasn't disappointed. overall, after a crappy start to an evening (see my review of lucille's) this more than made up for it.