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Dining - Reviews
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| Review: Mastro’s City Hall Steakhouse expensive, but worth it | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| By Jess Harter, Get Out | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| January 16, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
He’s joking about the richness of the wonderful meal we just consumed, but he just as easily could have been referring to the type of clientele that can afford to dine regularly at the restaurant across the street from Scottsdale Fashion Square, where a typical dinner for two runs north of $200. I’m an imposter here, of course, a lowly dining critic masquerading among the well-dressed attorneys, advertising executives and professional athletes packed elbow-to-elbow into the glowing red dining room. But I’m male, in my 40s and dining on a company expense account, so I blend in perfectly. The expansive room is boisterous and loud (click here to view a slideshow), but neither the noise nor a glass partition keep the strains of “Copacabana” from wafting in from City Hall’s piano bar, where pretty, young women are looking for a sugar daddy, or at least another $16 martini. This hybrid hangout — part swanky steakhouse, part nightlife hot spot — was launched in 2002 by Scottsdale restaurateur Michael Mastro and club owner Mark Drinkwater, son of the city’s late mayor. It went by the moniker Drinkwater’s City Hall Steakhouse until New York investors bought out the pair last year. Fortunately, the real stars remain. Those are the steaks, cut in-house, wet-aged for 21 to 28 days, broiled, brushed with clarified butter and served on 400-degree plates. If you can get past the sticker shock — for example, $42.95 for the small (12-ounce) bone-in filet — you’ll discover they’re worth every penny. If beef’s not your bag, try the double pork chop ($32.95), a 2-inch-thick slab of tender white meat accompanied by a sweet brandy-cinnamon sauce with diced apple. Know you can’t go wrong with any menu item. Be aware that the steep prices are for meat alone. A la carte side dishes are similarly expensive, but most are large enough for several people to share, whether it be a skillet of Gorgonzola mac ’n’ cheese ($10.95), a dish of spinach in heavy cream ($8.95) or a basket of fist-sized onion rings ($8.95). With such a feast, you easily could make a case for forgoing appetizers. But then you’d miss out on steak sashimi ($12.95), thinly sliced beef that’s seared and served on a bed of wasabi mashed potatoes, or oysters on the half shell ($15.95), elegantly presented on an elevated silver platter with “atomic” horseradish. About the only thing “iffy” at City Hall is the service, which can range from impeccable to questionable, depending on the evening. On one visit, a substitute waiter appears mid-meal to explain our original server has unexpectedly left because “he’s a whiny (expletive.)” Another time, a waiter accidentally elbows me in the head as he tries to squeeze behind me. But these are hiccups during otherwise memorable meals, a small price to pay, I would say — if there were such as thing at Mastro’s City Hall Steakhouse. >> Mastro’s City Hall Steakhouse Where: 6991 E. Camelback Road, Scottsdale (southwest corner of Camelback Road and Goldwater Boulevard) Open: 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday Prices: Appetizers $9.95-$26.95, steaks/chops $26.95-$83.95, seafood $27.95-$78.95, sides $7.95-$10.95 Info: (480) 941-4700 or mastros.com Contact Jess Harter by email, or phone (480) 898-5690 |
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