Saddles Steak House Sonoma

This is the sixth post in our series on Sonoma California! Other posts in this series include Harvest Moon Sonoma, La Salette Portuguese Cuisine, The Donum Estate, The Sunflower Caffe, and El Molino Central.

What's a good place to hold a business dinner?

If you're looking for top quality steak in Sonoma, most people will recommend Saddles Steak House, a steak and seafood restaurant located inside MacArthur Place, a hotel and spa. We were in Sonoma for Bryan's work, and he ended up having TWO business dinners here (and I came along too!). It was a good opportunity to try different things on the menu over a period of two dinners.

The restaurant serves a nice variety of top steak from different places, such as filet mignon and ribeye from Greater Omaha, grass-fed beef from Australia, and American wagyu cuts from Snake River Farms in Idaho. There are also classic seafood offerings, like oysters on the half shell, New England clam chowder, and salmon.

The theme is most definitively cowboy. There are horse statues and saddles displayed throughout the lobby. The space is darker and warm, with wooden tables and a horse murals on the walls.
 
The wine selection is quite good (no surprise, we are in Sonoma after all). The restaurant has received the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence.

We found the steaks to be very well executed. The ribeye is delicious, and they grill it with a nice crispy char on the outside while keeping the inside nice rare (as requested).

Filet mignon was cooked perfectly.

They are known for their prime rib, and it's quite good, though not very salted, so you do need to rely on the sauce for flavor. It was beautifully tender, though, and overall well executed.
  
I personally loved the spiced fries, which kept their crispiness throughout most of the meal. The salad was fine, and the soup (ham and lentil) was flavorful and warming.

General Thoughts

All in all, we were quite pleased with the quality of the steaks and the food at the restaurant in general. It's a solid, classic steakhouse that offers high quality steaks, a nice assortment of sides, and a few other non-steak and seafood options.

However, Saddles in its current charming, horse-themed cowboy form may not be around for much longer.

News has it that MacArthur Place, the hotel and spa that houses Saddles Steak House, was sold to IMG Financial Corporation at the end of 2017. IMH has brought in celebrity chef Geoffrey Zakarian (2011 Iron Chef winner; Michelin starred Country; Food Network judge and show host) to create and execute an updated concept for the space.

We don't have all the details yet, but so far we know that the restaurant will become a Mediterranean restaurant called Layla. It will be transformed into a bright and modern space with a new bar featuring raft cocktails as well as a coffee bar and marketplace.

I'm sure some will be sad to see the unique, slightly quirky, cowboy themed restaurant go. At the same time, the Mediterranean concept seems to fit in more with Sonoma, and thus I'm sure it will do very, very well, if not better. The renovations should be dine by early 2019, so it's possible if you go now Saddles will still be there!

Saddles Steak House Sonoma

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