Madeline's Steakhouse (Sandy, Utah)

Aka: Madeline's Steakhouse

   This week we had a fairly large group and so we decided to try whet our appetites at Madeline's Steakhouse next to the South Towne Mall in Sandy (And right next to Noodles and Company). One of the major draws for us to go to Madeline's was because they have all-you-can-eat steak soft tacos for $9.99!!! So there was a particular draw for our group to hit this place up. The average price of the food here would probably be a little bit less than what you would expect from the Texas Roadhouse, so not too bad. We had two waiters take care of us this time (I'm told Ty was "on the ball" for one side of our table). We also got a few appetizers this time around to start the meal starting with:

The Garlic Cheese Toast 'Basket'. 

There were three of us that got this order and they went fast enough that I was only able to snatch a picture of one of them (which was still partially devoured) before it was all gone! It's a pretty straightforward appetizer, which comes with a marinara dipping sauce. The parmesan cheese gave it a sharp taste which was complemented by the marinara sauce, giving this appetizer an interesting blend of flavors. Danielle mention's a little more about this appetizer in part of her audio review.

And...

The Garlic Butter-topped Rolls.

We are pretty sure that these babies come out with every meal (seeing as none of us ordered rolls). They were hot, easy to pull apart and it had a melting garlic butter spread on top--everything you could hope for in a dinner roll. They were delicious enough to just eat by themselves without any additives (i.e. more butter, jam, honey, etc...).
 


Dallin also got the Slam Dunk Appetizer to start off with, which I believe he enjoyed.

Allan, Dallin, Anthony, Josh, Kevin, Kira and Marc all got the
All-you-can-eat Tacos

   The tacos are a special that Madeline's has every Tuesday wherein you get a choice of a side as well as a side of steamed vegetables. It comes with soft-shelled steak tacos with a side of sour cream and salsa and includes lettuce and cheese (also on the side) that you can add if you wanted to. To shorten down this part of the blog entry (since so many of us got the tacos), here are the highlights for a few of us:

Allan

Allan: The Tacos were pretty good. There were chunks of steak, like cubes almost... [they were] juicy. They were almost like fajitas. They had sour cream and salsa as a side, I personally enjoyed them a lot. What makes them all-you-can-eat is the fact that you can order a couple more when you are done with the two that come out in the first place.

Anthony:

Allan: Anthony, what did you like about the tacos?
Anthony: Well first I had the flour tortillas on my tacos, they were quite delightful. Some of the steak chunks were a little fatty, I almost choked once--true story. French fries were decent. The second round of tacos I got were on corn tortillas, definitely affected the taste--however it was still delightful... just about. At least three stars shorter than the first ones.

Josh

Allan: So [about the] tacos, what did you think Josh?
Josh: They were really good. They were all-you-can-eat.
Allan: Definitely what makes an all-you-can-eat taco awesome.
Josh: It had good steak.
Allan: I agree! It had good steak and it almost killed Anthony earlier.
Josh: Why?
Allan: Because he doesn't know how to chew his food.
Josh: Anthony, learn how to chew your food.

Dallin

Dallin: I didn't care for the tacos that much.
Allan: Why not?
Dallin: Because they were more... fajita-like and I wasn't in the mood for fajitas. There was just steak and grilled peppers--that's it. That's not really a taco to me, that just wasn't what I had in mind. They weren't bad, just not what I was expecting.

Now, on to the rest of the group with:

Jules
Boneless Buffalo Wings (Atomic Hot Sauce)

Danielle: Jules, tell us what you had and if you liked it.
Jules: The atomic, sauce-covered chicken strip things. Somewhere in there, there was English. It's not hot or spicy--at all. Kind of just a plain wing-sauce. It's okay though, I like it, I'm just really full so I've had like two. But it's good, it's light eating.

We also had an original founder of the Taco Tuesday group come this evening. Introducing: 
Curtis!
The Southwestern Chicken Salad

Allan: With me this time is Curtis, new to the Taco Tuesday--at least for me, I don't think I've ever met him before. And Curtis, what did you get?
Curtis: Chicken salad.
Allan: How was that for you?
Curtis: It was delicious, I ate it, it was really good; besides the weird taco chips that were in it--they were stale.
Allan: So did you feel like the weird taco chips subtracted, or added to the experience?
Curtis: Definitely detracted.
Allan: Anything else you wanted to add? Anything special that stood out?
Curtis: [The] onion rings were delicious.
Allan: Kevin's onion rings were delicious.

Emily
Classic Bacon Cheeseburger

Allan: I'm with Emily here. Emily, what did you get?
Emily: I got the bacon cheeseburger.
Allan: Did it taste good?
Emily: Yeah, [but] I took the bacon right off.
Allan: Why?
Emily: Because I don't like bacon on [cheeseburgers]. But I only got it because the hamburger doesn't come with cheese, so I wanted the cheeseburger.
Allan: Gotcha. Well I guess as far as cheeseburgers go, how was it?
Emily: It was good, I added ranch.

Danielle
The Portabella Mushroom Burger

Allan: Danielle, what did you get and did you like it?
Danielle: Well for an appetizer we got the cheesy garlic bread--and that's always delicious. It seems to be a crowd favorite because Allan, Julia (aka Jules) and Anthony all ordered a plate. But I got the portabella mushroom burger with fries and thought that the burger was overcooked and that it had too much sauce because they put mayonnaise on the top bun and on the bottom bun, which is a bit too much for me. But I really liked the mushroom itself--it was cooked really well. The tomatoes had really even distribution and I really like the tomatoes and the lettuce, so it had good attributes. I think if the burger just wasn't overcooked it would be really good, but I also don't like my meat cooked that much, I still like it red on the inside.

Miranda
The Slam Dunk Appetizer (for a meal)

Allan: Miranda, what did you get?
Miranda: Slam Dunk Appetizer.
Allan: What came with it?
Miranda: Potato wedges, hot wings, spinach artichoke dip and [deep fried] mozzarella cheese-sticks.
Allan: Is there anything you liked about it that stood out? Was there something special to it, to where you were like "Oh yeah, I would love to come back and get this again"?
Miranda: No, it was just plain.
Allan: Just filling?
Miranda: Yeah, it was good...

Ashlee
6oz Sirloin (gluten free)

Allan: Ashlee, what did you get today?
Ashley: I got the sirloin six ounce steak with cilantro rice and the spinach artichoke dip.
Allan: Anything that stand out? Anything you like?
Ashlee: I loved the spinach artichoke dip, it's addicting. The steak is pretty good, but it's kind of salty. I love cilantro rice, so that's great.


  There you have it. It seems that while the food was pretty good overall, there were little things here and there that detracted from some of the meals themselves. Things like, weird taco chips in the salad, too much mayonnaise on a burger, or running out of flour tortillas and switching to corn. This is still a place that I could see us visiting again, especially now that we have a better idea of how that $9.99 tacos work. I'm sure Marc would like to give a shout-out to "Ty" as well, he was the waiter that was working that end of the table. But with our overall meal experience this time, we will have to give it a 3 and a half taco rating (out of 5):

And here is the link to Madeline's Steakhouse menu