Durant's Phoenix

One of the best steaks I had in the city. The short cake was also delicious. The fries were great. The cheesecake and the salad were just okay. The atmosphere is very nice. Perfect for a date night.

Durant's is a long-standing fixture of the Arizona steakhouse circuit. This place has a history and definitely feels like a throwback to a different time. If you're like my wife and me, you might be thrown off by the entrance that passes directly through the kitchen with no obvious signage, but once you find your way to the dining area, you'll be met with something of a speakeasy vibe. Rather than conforming to the popular European-style fine dining style of modern steakhouses (think white table cloths and French brigade-type service), Durant's maintains a genuine American flare, with its red leather booths, red velvety wallpaper, and exposed wooden tables. There is a nice balance of no-frills attitude and old-fashioned comfort. We were there near Christmas and were treated with a fun table-side caroling quartet performance of Feliz Navidad. But the most important thing at any steakhouse is, of course, the steak! Here, Durant's does not disappoint. The ribeye I had was tender and juicy, cooked precisely to order (medium-rare), and seasoned perfectly. My wife's NY Strip cooked medium was also super juicy. This is what puts Durant's up there with the best steakhouses in the Phoenix metro area. The spinach dip with chips and toast, Caesar salad, spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette, and garlic bread were all tasty and surprisingly generously portioned. The two sore spots we found here were the drinks and desserts. The cocktail menu is oddly pricey, so I went with a couple different whiskeys, one neat and one on the rocks. The neat whiskey was fine, but according to the bill not what I ordered, and the rocks whiskey was far too watered down with crushed ice, as opposed to a more modern and desirable single large ice cube. For dessert, we ordered the crème brulée trio to taste a variety of flavors at once. While the eggnog with rum was quite impressively flavored, the berry was very watery, and the chocolate had a very chalky texture, and none of the three had that satisfying thick sugar crust to crunch through. Overall, Durant's delivered a unique and enjoyable old-fashioned American steakhouse experience that I would recommend any steak-lover try at least once.