Downtown Las Vegas doesn't have a lot of restaurants that qualify as destinations -- places that would make you go out of your way just to eat there. The Pullman Grille, unfortunately, doesn't change that, but it is one of the best restaurants in the area.

Located at Main Street Station, just a block away from the Fremont Street Experience, the Pullman Grille suffers only in comparison to other steakhouses in this city, which are legion. It doesn't do anything new or particularly different, but it's one of the few good steakhouse choices in downtown Las Vegas and good enough to warrant your notice.

The room certainly is a stunner. Filled with antiquities and ornately carved woodwork from ancient homes in Europe, the Pullman Grille is infused with a warm ambience, making it the type of place you'd want to go with old friends for a glass of cognac and a cigar. In fact, if you enjoy that sort of thing you can step into the classic Pullman train car that takes up one entire wall of the restaurant and find aperitifs and a fully stocked cigar humidor.

The menu is humble and steakhouse basic with (mostly) seafood-based appetizers, a couple of salads and soups, several different meat cut choices (New York strip, filet, rib eye, etc.), and a few other poultry and seafood entrees to round things out. There is absolutely nothing to be found here that you won't find at other steakhouses in town, but sometimes that can be reassuring. As long as you're not looking for a thrill you won't be disappointed.

A big basket of oven-hot sourdough bread started the evening for my party. The bread is worth fighting over the last pieces. If you come with a big group, ask for a lot -- you'll thank me later.

We wanted to start with the only non-seafood appetizer, one of those big blooming onion things, but a problem in the kitchen foiled our attempts to pump some high-octane cholesterol into our veins. Instead, we made due with a cup of the chicken vegetable soup and a rather standard Caesar salad. Neither made us jump out of our chairs, but the soup, filled with big meaty chunks of chicken and hearty veggies, was quite good and finished off with relative haste. Since a soup or salad is included in the entree price it was a nice way to begin the meal, but nothing we would have wanted to pay extra for.

For main courses we selected the New York strip and the standard filet mignon, each coming with a choice of potatoes on the side -- also included in the entree price. The filet was unexceptional at first, but the more I dug into it the more I started to enjoy the smoky, woodhouse flavoring. A side of the peppercorn sauce didn't hurt the proceedings, but the bearnaise sauce was too lemony for my tastes.

The New York strip wasn't the best cut in town and wound up being tougher than it should have been. Probably best to stick to the more tender cuts of meat here.

For dessert, you have your choice of creme brulee, cheesecake, warm fruit torts and more. Of course, we went with the chocolate cake. It was a little heavy, with dense cake and extremely rich frosting adding up to chocolate overwhelm, especially as a meal-ender. I don't usually say that about chocolate, but in this case it applies.

The service at the meal was attentive and efficient, although we could have done without being parked at the bar before being seated. A five-minute wait for a table would have been fine on a busy night, but we were among a handful of guests and it felt like nothing more than an attempt to get us to buy a cocktail before dinner.

Prices are on par for restaurants of this caliber in this neighborhood, which is to say substantially cheaper than you'll pay on the Strip. If you don't do appetizers, a full meal, dessert, wine, tax and tip for way under $50 per person, then you've done something drastically wrong. Our check for two -- including cocktails -- came out to around $90.

The Pullman Grille is not the best steakhouse in town, but it is worth your consideration if you happen to find yourself in the downtown area and you're looking for a traditional steakhouse meal.

The Pullman Grille
Main Street Station
200 N. Main St.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 387-1896
Hours: Wed. to Sun., 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

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