Take a look at some of the things people are saying about Chad's!
It's the Meat that is the Star at Chad's
By Margo HernandezArizona Daily Star
When you walk in the door at Chad's Steakhouse and Saloon, you immediately feel at home. Maybe it's the familiar décor — all woody and Old West. More likely it's the greeting from the friendly staff that immediately sets diners at ease. Whatever it is, there is no mistaking what you're gonna get at Chad's — a really good steak and a no-nonsense meal. Appetizers here are a throwback to an era when shrimp cocktail was exotic and fried potatoes were more popular. They include chicken strips ($6.45), potato skins ($5.95) and fried zucchini sticks ($6.45). The starters may be an afterthought because dinner entrees include bread, salad, beans and a choice of potatoes or rice. After finding out that dinner included the extras, we didn't see a need for the appetizers. On both recent visits, the dinner salad set a pleasant tone for the rest of the meal. Truthfully, there was nothing out of the ordinary in this salad. It was just a good, crisp mix of lettuces, julienned carrots, olives, broccoli, tomato and croutons. Diners get a choice of several dressings. If you want, the server will sprinkle feta or blue cheese on top. The restaurant's renowned bread arrives soon after you sit. Tasty, warm slices of buttery bread rolls topped with Parmesan cheese were gone shortly after the server placed them on the table. But we were there for good steaks and prime rib. Chad's delivered on both. We ordered Chad's Signature Rib-eye Steak ($20.95), medium. We were taken by the description billing it as a hand-cut, Black Angus steak that's "melt-in-your-mouth" good. It came to the table darkly caramelized and full of charbroiled flavor on the outside. But it was red, juicy and tender on the inside. For meatatarians, this surely is the same steak they serve up in heaven. Chad, by the way, is the name of the previous owner's son. Owners Shaun and Sandi Herrington kept the name when they bought the steakhouse about 41/2 years ago. For our other entree, we ordered a medium-rare prime rib ($17.95 for the smaller portion, $20.95 for the larger). We didn't have any complaints with this tender, juicy and flavorful cut swimming in au jus. We had the smaller portion and that was plenty of beef for even big eaters. But it came to the table closer to rare than medium rare, though not so much as to send it back. And we discovered that we enjoyed it as much as the prime rib we usually order. On the second visit, we had a porterhouse steak ($22.95) and Chad's baby-back ribs ($15.95 half slab, $19.95 for the full slab). Again, this steakhouse did a great job on the meat entrees. The ribs (the half slab was plenty) were slathered in a sweetly tangy sauce that complemented the fall-off-the-bone rib meat. Like the rib-eye on the previous visit, the ribs had a nice char flavor on the outside that gave them that desired grilled taste. Because eating ribs is messy business, they're served with plenty of pre-packaged hand wipes on the side. The porterhouse is definitely a macho-size steak. It was so good my dinner partner said the steak had that "delicious char-broiled taste" three times. While the flavor was the selling point, the steak was also tender and juicy. Chad's did strike a couple of minor sour notes. On both visits the baked potatoes were overcooked. The first time, we enjoyed only a couple of forkfuls of potato because the skin had hardened far into the potato. On the second visit, in addition to being overcooked, the potato was just barely warm enough to melt the butter topping. On the other hand, the sweet potato was perfect, and with a little brown sugar and butter on top, it went down well with the entrees. On both visits, the beans — too salty, too spicy — remained untouched by all diners. The minor hiccups didn't mar the dinner. And we had no reason to complain about the service. On both visits we noticed that the clientele was a diverse group of families, business people in suits, retired folks and young couples. The love of a good steak, it seems, lasts a lifetime.
No Beef About Chad's
by Kathleen Allen, The Arizona Daily Star
In fact the food is super, meat rules. Sitting down for a meal at Chad's Steakhouse & Saloon can be dangerous. Within seconds, a basket full of small round slices of sourdough bread topped with bubbling, toasty Parmesan cheese is set on the table. Within a few seconds more, they'll likely be gone. They are that good. The bread is so addictive you may find yourself wolfing them down indiscriminately. By the time your meal comes to the table, you could be too full to eat. That would be a shame. There isn't anything fancy about Chad's, a casual restaurant done up in a cowboy motif that feels more real than kitschy. The straightforward menu offers beef, beef and more beef. Sure there are a few seafood and chicken dishes thrown in, but steak's the thing here. Sans fancy toppings and chi chi side dishes. And it is good. Very good. Plus, there are retro touches you'll just love. Such as when the waitress serves the salad - a mixture of greens, fresh tomatoes, raw broccoli and julienned carrots - and offers up a bowl full of crumbled blue cheese. She's not stingy with it either. And the baked potatoes come overstuffed with sour cream and butter. Whoa. The appetizers are limited here, but there is the Tumbleweed ($4.95), a whole, sweet onion dipped in batter, fried, and brought to the table looking more like a just-opened blossom than tumbleweed. It's served with a dip that tasted a bit like ranch dressing fired up with Tabasco sauce. It was a little greasy, very hot and snappy on the outside, soft in, and it was devoured quickly. Once again, however, keep in mind Epicurus' advise: "Be moderate to taste the joys of life in abundance." It would be a shame to be too full for the meat, such as the prime rib ($14.95 for an 8- to 9-ounce slab; $17.95 for the 12- to 13- ounce). The thick slice of boneless beef, just the temperature ordered, had limited fat and unlimited flavor. The slow-roasted meat was buttery, juicy and wore a crisp coat spiced up with salt, pepper and garlic, giving it just the snap needed. Most of the steaks offered are top sirloin, but Chad's signature dish is a rib eye steak ($17.95). The thick, richly marbled meat was cooked over an open grill and served sizzling, with the slightly hard exterior tasting of the fire and the tender interior that good charbroiling can provide. The porterhouse steak ($19.95) is a serious cut of meat, with both the sirloin tip and the filet included in the steak. That translates into lots of flavor. Chad's treatment, charbroiling to a pretty pink, was just what a devout beef lover would demand. Avowed hamburger aficionados will be hard-pressed to find fault with Chad's treatment of that All-American meal ($5.95). Two not-too-thick rounds of ground sirloin, crispy on the outside, juicy in, sit on a small toasted sourdough loaf. It's hard to describe a really good hamburger - you just know it when you bite into it. You'll know it here.
Chad's Steakhouse & Saloon: This meat eater's vote goes to Chad's
by C.J. Karamargin The Tucson Citizen
In the tense days following the 2000 presidential election, as the nation learned about dangling chad, a news station visited Chad's Steakhouse & Saloon to find out what employees and customers thought about the political cliffhanger going on in Florida. Subtle, huh? The producer who came up with this brilliant take on a national story is clearly destined for great things. TV land loves those kinds of cute coincidences, regardless of how strained. And Chad's probably loved the attention. Who wouldn't? If the next leader of the free world depended on, say, dangling McMahons, the proprietor of that steak joint would no doubt be delighted at the free publicity as well. McMahon's Steak House is right across the street from Chad's, but the two eateries couldn't be more different. McMahon's is upscale and pricey, more a special occasion restaurant than the kind of place you and the family head to on a whim. Chad's is relaxed and much less expensive, though not quite a bargain. It's the kind of restaurant where a jeans-clad clientele can kick back comfortably in a spacious booth, listen to country music, and get serious with a juicy, well-prepared piece of meat. Chad's wood-paneled dining room, decorated with Western and cowboy art, has a been-around-for-a-while feel to it. Depending on your taste, the yippie-i-o, yippie-i-ay motif will be either a charming slice of the Old Pueblo's herd-busting past or a strong dose of pure kitsch. But the dining room might be misleading. Chad's knows steak. (All the restaurant's meat is USDA Prime or Choice aged cuts.) The menu options at Chad's run the savory gamut. They include nearly every type and cut of red meat: New York Strip ($17.95), Filet ($19.95), Teriyaki Top Sirloin ($13.95), Sizzling Mushroom Steak ($13.95), Peppercorn Steak ($18.95), Beef Kabob ($16.95) and Prime Rib ($14.95 and $17.95). What they don't include are very many nonred-meat options. Go figure. The appetizer selection is also limited - to Shrimp Cocktail and the "Arizona Tumbleweed" (both $4.95), a whole onion deep-fried and served with the tangy dipping sauce. The restaurant's "signature steak" is a fabulous Rib Eye ($17.95.) This hand-cut, corn-fed Black Angus beauty is marbleized enough to keep it tender, but not so much that a surgeon's skill is needed to carve around unwanted chunks of fat. Carnivores can't go wrong with this dish. Same for the Porterhouse ($19.95). Our knowledgeable server explained that this cut was better suited for meat eaters who like as little fat as possible. She said it was lean but tender, and she was right. All dinners come with salad, cowboy beans and a choice of baked potato, sweet potato, french fries or rice. Traditionalists will go for the baked potato. But the sweet potato is something found all too infrequently on restaurant menus, and it is a buttery delight, topped with just a hint of brown sugar. The election of 2000 is a thing of the past. So are dangling chad. But if you like steak, Chad's Steakhouse should be part of your future.
