Mastro's Ocean Club, Scottsdale AZ

On our first night in Scottsdale, after having flown in and golfed, was a tiring one. We decided as a group to just walk from our hotel, the Westin Kierland Golf & Spa Resort, over to the shops across the street to find a place for dinner. There are a lot of places to choose from and right in front was Mastro's Ocean Club. Jeff & Dana had eaten here before and thought it was pretty good.

It's a big place with a welcoming, warm decor; live music in the bar and dim lighting. The crowd spanned all ages but with very few kids present. Seemed more like a date night place than a family restaurant.

The menu is mostly seafood, of course and looked great. We decided to order a bunch of different appetizer sized dishes in lieu of entrees. To start off with Alan got the Escargot. I chose the Dungeness Crab Cocktail. Jeff ordered the Lobster cocktail. Dana ordered as many dishes as we did but for some reason, they didn't bring out one for her during the first round which always feels a bit awkward.

My crab cocktail had large chunks of Dungeness served with lemon, creamy tartar sauce and a cocktail sauce and was fresh and chilled and tasted exactly as expected; quite good. Jeff's lobster looked pretty good though he had the added step of needing to de-shell his before digging in. Alan's escargot was hot, buttery and with lots of garlic. Also good. The bread, by the way, was served warm with a wide variety of types in the basket.

Second round...Alan ordered the Boston clam chowder; Jeff & Dana ordered lobster bisque and I got the Ocean Club iceberg wedge with bacon, tomato and ranch dressing. I tried Alan's chowder and thought it was lacking any distinguishing flavor. My salad was pretty basic but that's one of my favorite combinations so I was happy.

For the last round...Alan got the beef carpaccio served on an enormous plate with mixed greens in the middle, shaved parmesan and drizzled balsamic. Looked pretty but didn't measure up to the likes of say the carpaccio at Todd English's Olives in Las Vegas. Jeff ordered the seared Ahi tuna. Dana ordered a crab cake and I got the steamed mussels. The mussels were a bit on the bland side. Having just had fantastic mussels at the Mussel Bar in Atlantic City with a broth you wanted to slop up with spoon & bread, this one missed the mark. Once again everything was pretty good, just got great. Dana's salt & vinegar fries showed up around this time as well with good flavor but being a very thin shoestring variety she wasn't loving the combination.

The price tag for dinner was hefty leaving us feeling like the price to quality ratio was off. Next time I think we'll skip Mastro's and try one of the other restaurants in the immediate area.

Jenn's Rating: 76
Zagat: 26-25-25