There isn’t a huge selection of locally owned restaurants in the Vail area, so when one of them doesn’t meet expectations, it seems like an even bigger disappointment—and unfortunately, dining at the Vail Steak House Café and Diner was a subpar experience on almost all counts.
The historic building, purchased and revamped by the current owners in 2008, needs a décor update—the interior is dingy and feels like it hasn’t been changed since the early 1980s.
The décor wasn’t the worst of it, though. On both of our visits (lunch and dinner), we were the only people in the restaurant by the end of our meal, and it’s no wonder.
If “steakhouse” is in your name, then steaks should be a key part of the menu; at the Vail Steak House, there are seven steak selections on the massive four-page menu. I ordered the 12-ounce rib-eye ($21), because it’s my favorite cut—it’s generally tender because of the fat marbling throughout the meat, and it is a pretty forgiving steak when it comes to cooking.
This was the worst rib-eye I’ve ever eaten. The steak was a very thin cut of meat and was so tough that cutting through it with a steak knife was a challenge. There were two large veins of gristle, and although it was cooked medium-rare, as ordered, it was pretty much inedible. The side dishes were no better. My baked potato was still hard in the middle; the cowboy beans never even made it to the table; and the vegetables were cooked so long that they disintegrated the moment they hit my tongue.
Ted’s entrée didn’t fare much better. The half-slab of pork baby-back ribs ($19.95) was unimpressive. The first two ribs on each end of the slab were chewy and dry, and the ribs in the middle were greasy. There wasn’t much in the way of sauce or dry rub on the ribs (the menu doesn’t specify if they are cooked in a dry-rub style or a sauce style)—or, for that matter, flavor. His sides were just as terrible as mine—the mashed potatoes tasted like they came out of a box; the gravy was unbearably salty and came to the table with a thick skin on it, like it had been sitting around untouched for a while. Ted didn’t get his cowboy beans, either, and the vegetables suffered the same fate as mine.
On both of our visits, the appetizers were, in a word, unappetizing. They are also expensive for the portion size and quality. The potato skins consisted of four tiny skins topped with cheddar cheese and two or three small chunks of bacon for $6.75. The portion of fried mushrooms ($6.75) was large, but they were mush inside a fried shell. The jalapeño poppers (six to an order for $7.25—that’s a $1.20 per popper!) were still frozen on the inside, and the jalapeños were not even remotely spicy.
Lunch entrées were, thankfully, slightly better, though not great. My mushroom burger ($8.50) with fries, ordered medium-rare, featured a mediocre, dry patty, and was way past well-done. The mushrooms were cooked into oblivion and topped with “Swiss” cheese. I use quotation marks, because it was obviously a processed cheese product that happened to be white instead of yellow. At least the tomato and lettuce were fresh.
Ted’s cheesesteak sandwich ($8.50) was the best of all the dishes we tried, though a bit on the bland side, and with too much bread in the bread-to-filling ratio. The accompanying steak-cut fries could have used some seasoning and another minute or two in the fryer.
If nothing else, the service was friendly—not always prompt, but friendly in that typical roadside-diner kind of way, where the waitresses call everyone “Hon.”
In addition to the vast lunch and dinner menus, Vail Steakhouse Café and Diner has a large breakfast menu available until 3 p.m., daily. Perhaps that’s where the magic is. But after having lunch and dinner there, I won’t be finding out.
This article appears in May 17-23, 2012.
It is nice to know that some things never change. I ate there about 15 years ago, and could have written this exact same review.
“Vail Steak House, Cafe and Diner” come on, this is a joke right? Like Trillin’s “La Maison de la Casa House”.
But thanks for a good no-pulled punches review. The restaurant scene in Tucson gets a pass far too often, “Oh, but the water was fresh.” Put these miserable places out of their misery, and there will be more revenue for the better places. The survival of the fittest.
The Vail Steak House Cafe & Diner is one of my favorite restaurants. I eat there several times a week with my family. I have always had a good experience there and think the food is great. I’ve had delicious omelettes with real home fried potatoes at breakfast, luv the triple deckers at lunch and have had good cuts of juicy, well-cooked steak for dinner. It is nice to see a family-owned restaurant surviving in this economy. There are so few of them today. They give you a lot of food at a great price.
The owner has been in the business for years, his previous restaurant was Georges Country house. Having said that it makes it even more puzzling why the food here is mediocre at best. I’ve eaten at the Vail Steak House three or four times over the past two years. My experience has been all around bland food and yes I tried salt and pepper at the table but you need to season as the food is cooking to develop flavor.
The portion sizes are OK but at his menus price point I expect food a lot better than I can cook at home. We’ve never tried the steaks as I’d be really pissed to get ripped off for that expensive an entree.
Its sad in a way because the dining options out here really are non existent.
The cuisine here in Vail consists of a biker bar, bad pizza shop and Nico’s.
You need to drive five or six miles to Rita Ranch for restaurants that produce quality food
There you will find good Vietnamese at Chinese combo and some of the best Thai food
at Saing Thai. Buddy’s grill is a little expensive but the food is always good.
We need some one to open a great place to eat in Vail!!!
Based on this negative review, I won’t waste my time or money on this steak joint. I’d much prefer going to the relatively new Texas Roadhouse on Irvington & I-19: huge portions, reasonable prices & consistently good food; full rack of fall off the bone ribs ($18) & a huge 20 oz bone-in ribeye for $20. Ice cold draft beers & free salted peanuts – what’s not to like…
I have ate there three times and the food has been awful each time. I found the other diners and the owners rude. The place did much better as a dive bar.
I have been to the Vail Steak House Cafe & Diner lots of times. The food is always good and the owners and servers are always friendly. It is one of the few places I can take my entire family without breaking the bank. It is one of the few places where you can go today and get a steak dinner with vegetables, potatoes, bread and soup or salad all for one reasonable price. Most other steak places charge a la carte so you end up paying extra for everything you have besides the steak. They even have a great kids menu too that my kids love. It works for me and my family and I’ll be going back again next week.
My boyfriend Jack and I went on a date here last week. We sat in a comfy booth side by side. I had the BBQ Ribs and Jack had the T-bone. We shared the choc cake which was out of this world. Jack and I left happy and full.
My wife and I ate there about ten years ago. Food was terrible, atmosphere was dark and dingy, and there was a creepy country guitarist/evangelist who was dressed in a black suit with a large cross sewn it singing on a tiny, dark stage. We felt like we had been transported into a David Lynch movie. Highly recommended if you are into unforgettable, haunting memories.
If you’re going to drive that far ….drive on to Sonoita hiway keep on going to the crossroads in Sonoita…the Steakout is there and their steaks and ribs are worth the drive.