06-18-2018, 01:40 PM
(06-18-2018, 01:26 PM)robdrimmie Wrote: I went to Wildfire for one of my parents' birthday in January or February. It was supposed to be a bit of a call back to the times we'd go to Ali Baba for important family dinners. It was fine, but not remarkable. For upscale steak, you have to do better than the Charcoal which doesn't seem like it should be too difficult, but for my money no one else in KW comes close for reliability of food and quality of service for a steak house. There's almost certainly confirmation bias at play in that assertion though.
I feel like Wildfire lined themselves up for a Mad Men-inspired lounge/steak/martinis renaissance that never hit Waterloo. Upscale dining in this area are places like Janet Lynn, Bhima's, Nick and Nat's. Charcoal has changed to follow them, steakhouses in the classic sense (dark, u-shaped booths, large piles of cow and one salmon offering, wait staff in formal wear) don't seem to do great around here.
Those three also feature much less floor space than Wildfire. It felt vast and empty, and the prior iteration (I can't remember their name) did the one time I ate there as well.
It would be hard to argue that The Charcoal hasn't done well.... 60 years service and still going strong...