Saltgrass Steak House

Had a hankering for steak tonight, so I stopped at Saltgrass. It's a casual dining chain, but maybe a bit pricier than other restaurants operating in that zone. It's got kind of that "corporate marketing shabby decor" thing going on, where someone has studied and focus-grouped the perfect 'homey restaurant' look, down to the fake weathered paneling, and the carefully curated 'Texas decor' on the walls. But, you know, I don't really care about all that. The place was clean, looked decent enough, and ultimately, it's about the food and the service. I had a 6oz sirloin, salad, fried mushrooms and a baked potato along with a "Ranch Water" (Topo Chico sparkling water, tequila and lime juice). The Ranch Water wasn't crazy boozy, but it had a nice mild tequila and lime flavor floating underneath the sparkling water. It was nice and refreshing. The steak was well seasoned and perfectly done--on one side. You can see from my pictures, the bottom half was much more on the rare side than medium rare. I don't absolutely require my steaks to be 100% perfect--I like a wide range of done-ness (so long as it's not way over done), so I didn't send it back, and it tasted just fine. But it's something to be aware of if you're a bit more finicky than I am. The bread was warm, squishy soft and tasty. The potato--well, it was a potato. It wasn't shriveled from sitting all night in a warm drawer somewhere, which is my biggest complaint when I get baked potatoes from a restaurant. You know they're precooked, because nobody has time to sit for an hour for a potato to cook. But, at some point, the kitchen manager has to declare the potatoes a loss when they've sat there too long. This one was fine. I especially liked the fried mushrooms. So often, they're soggy. These were crisp and tasty, with a good amount of flavoring in the coating. The only thing that really kept this from being a great meal was the ambience. They had the music up *way* too loud. Like "sports bar" loud. Which means everyone around me had to raise their voices to have conversation. This made for a somewhat irritating and unpleasant atmosphere.

Restaurant was clean and inviting. Hostess immediately greeted us and took us to a table. Waiter was quick and attentive. Full menu with plenty of steak and chicken choices. They provide a loaf of bread and tasty butter as appetizer. We shared a ribeye with salad and loaded mashed potatoes. Salad was cold and crisp but the dressing or croutons were very salty. Steak was cooked as ordered and had good flavor and tender. Mashed potatoes were good. They have a full bar with specialty drinks that we did not partake in this trip. Overall, a great experience for chain steak restaurant.