salt cellar

went this evening and had a more than terrible experience. ws really looking forward to a great night for our anniversarymaria was able to get us a reservation at the last minute. thanks. arrived and was seated. ordered drinks with my husband. martinis. only one was brought. asked for blue cheese stuffed olives. they didn't have them but we're able to bring us the cheese (charged us) and the olives. we could stuff them ourselves. had 2 orders of rockefeller. average. then salad. one came with mushrooms (soggy) the other none. but the other had some of the core of the lettuce and some brown lettuce. told tim the waiter. not too concernedmain courses arrive. florida grouper and friedlobsterwith grits and a small filet. grouper rubbery but then raw in the middle. manager tells me they don't cook their fish all the way. at this point i'm done. was offered a replacement but declined. asked for the bill. grouper removed. gave payment to server who then responds. oh i see it's your anniversary. are you sure you don't want desert? leaving restaurant one of the hosts asked how it was and i said terrible and he chuckled and i said "no seriously " terrible. no one was even concerned. on drive home my husband tells me hislobsterwas overcooked and no seasoning on the filet. he never uses salt and pepper out but did tonight. one of the worst meals ever.
if you are reading this and thinking of going. think 2 or 3 or even 20 times before going there. bad food. bad service. no customer service

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 bakedlobsterever. when the waiter was notified, we were offered dessert, really? cause that makes up for a $45 dinner that would have been better prepared by hellen keller. the server was incompetent , at best. i have had vastly superior meals at redlobsterfor 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 stuffedlobsterand filet with crab leg.lobsternot 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, dinner was 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 were here on vacation and came here based on reviews. two of us had the ribeye steak. the worst we've ever had. dry and tough. our wives hadlobsterand filet mignon. thelobsterwas tough(over cooked) and filet taste-less. absolutely worst meal for the money. do not recommend this place.

we had dinner there last week. as always it was awesome. started out with the crab cakes and steamers. i had steak andlobsterand 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.

not worth it.. my husband and i went there for our anniversary. it was our first time there and we had heard good things from friends. the server was wonderful but the food was not! i got the king crab and my husband got the 3 lb. lobster. when we got out dinner, thelobsterwas clearly over-cooked (white shell instead of bright red). we tried it anyway... mistake. it was chewy and definitely over done. also, bother dinners was cold! when the server checked on us we told her of the issues and she was going to see what she could do. she came back telling us the manager/owner was not willing to do anything. unacceptable customer service on behalf of the restaurant!

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 seafood dinner with 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,lobsteror scallops. the alaskan halibut cheeks also sounded and looked delicious and you rarely see them on a menu.

needs an update!. the meal was fine, but the restaurant has shoe-horned more table since the last time we visited, making it crowded and uncomfortable. my fish was cooked perfectly, my companionslobsterslightly over-cooked. but the vegetable medley accompaniment look and tasted frozen, and not in a good way. with the other good choices in phoenix, we'll think twice before we go out of our way to go back.

one last thing to add to my previous review, i thought there was a slight smell of amonia with my lobster, it tasted ok, claws fine. i shared claw with wife and she didn't notice smell. i had been sick and thought it was me. i did some research and found out that if alobstertail has amonia smell it died before being cooked, beware! i was lucky not to get sick!


-----02 dec, 2010-----

our service was excellent. down hiil from there. i was expecting a really cool neat underground experience with great food. nothing jumped out at me and i would equate the meal to redlobsterwith a much bigger price tag. very small inside so don't expect any privacy while dinning there. the waitress was excellent but the rest of the deal was rather dull. there are better choices around at this price.