Atlas Steak + Fish

Wow, what a great overall spot for the palette and atmosphere

Food under the happy hour menu is great!

Great stop to celebrate our anniversary and we were taken care of by Kim. Thanks all!!

Weighing down the food… I came here a couple of times when it was first opened and one time at the Langley location. It has been so long I can’t even remember how everything was. This place is located inside the hotel and right beside the casino on the 2nd floor. There are plentiful of free parkings across the street in its parkade, or if you are lazy and want to save a few walking steps there are pay street parkings. Upon entering the restaurant, it has that hotel restaurant atmosphere and vibe; bar with piano and live music up front, dining area to the back with an open kitchen beside it, washrooms are located between the casino and restaurant. Here were the food I ordered; 1. Dinner buns. Nice hot little buns made in house (complimentary) 2. Lobster bisque. It came hot, a seared scallop with caviar in the middle, the bisque itself was rich and flavourful. Pretty good. 3. Spanish stuffed calamari. In my mind I pictured it as a nice tender juicy pan seared squid but in reality it was like eating one of those shredded dried squid you buy at an Asian market, failed! 4. Salt Spring Island mussels and clams. The sauce was tasty, rich and went well with the bread but lack of sauce therefore all the mussels and clams on top were dried like raisins. (Not just this place but a lot of restaurants should stop doing this shallow sauce thingy). 5. King crab legs. Okay whoever the chef was in preparing this, please understand cooking seafood 101! DO NOT grill already cooked or frozen crab or crab legs, you will DRY them into tree branches!!! For the love of God, what waste of $65 for this, it was literally like trying to chew on thorny tree branches especially when the crab legs weren’t even pre-cut. I took it home and dumped it, this was one ultimate failed of a dish! (Not being dramatic, can zoom into the pictures for reference). 6. Seafood mixed grill. First choice was the seafood tower which I should’ve ordered, instead ordered this dish. It was nothing more than butter dried up seafood and the soft shell crab turned into a hard shell crab with mayo. (Why mayo?!??). 7. Truffle tenderloin. The kitchen kind of screwed up and brought it out during the same course as the seafood so had to try to manage to eat here and there. The sauce was a bit too salty and overpowered the steak. Plus it would’ve been nice if the truffles were shaved instead of like shredded cheese. I got a tiny table by the lounge area instead of the dining area because I didn’t make a reservation. I supposed not too bad listening to some live piano musics up front. The service by the bartender was amazing with his service. I tipped the 30% mainly for the wonderful service the bartender/server provided throughout the duration of the meal. As for the food, definitely needed some major changes and adjustments because I would be pretty embarrassed to serve some of them regardless of the higher price or not. Way below any standards, weighing down on the food, I would say overall it’s a failed! P.S. nevertheless, credit is where credit is due. Thank you for taking the calamari off the bill for the steak mixup. But I did put the amount back on top of the tip. (Wink!)

ATLAS Steak + Fish is located within the body of the Grand Villa Casino. It's a well-decorated and elegant sort of restaurant with a relaxed luxury feel. When we went they had live piano which provided a reasonable ambiance without impinging on our meal. 5 stars for Atmosphere, no problems for a restaurant in a casino, it's nice without making you wish you'd worn a tie. Food, however, left a lot to be desired. The steaks were good but not mind-blowing. My nephew and I both had the 10oz USDA Prime New York Strip. My nephew's came perfectly medium rare, the way we both ordered them, mine definitely came done medium. They were kind about sending it back, brought a replacement within maybe 6 or 7 minutes, but it didn't have the crust the original had and was closer to rare. The rare, however, was a vast improvement, fair enough. The sides were overpriced and mediocre. Parmesan Truffle Fries were dry and felt unsalted, dressed with some shredded parm and a sparse drizzled sauce; the fries were overcooked and dry inside. The Brie Mashed Potatoes were gummy and thick, I think I could have patched a hole in a boat with them -- you'd expect mashed potatoes and brie, two typically creamy foods would marry into something truly decadent but they did not. Fries cost $12, the potatoes cost $16, and neither were close to worth it. They gave free fresh brioche bread with a blue cheese butter that was tasty. Service was fine. They didn't check in as regularly as I'd like but it was a Saturday night so you can forgive some business. But at the same time, at an upscale steakhouse with upscale prices, you expect the service to match. They gave us a free creme brûlée for my nephew's birthday and it was bland and sort of thin; Creme brûlée is top 3 desserts for me but neither of us had more than 2 bites. It was, again, fine. Summary/tl;dr -- The food is fine but it's not worth the upscale price tag. Steaks were the best part but even that didn't go off without a hitch. Decor is lovely in an unremarkable but elegant way. If you're in the casino already and you want steak, sure, but definitely don't come out just to go to ATLAS, definitely not a destination restaurant. Definitely avoid the potato-based sides. Service was objectively mid but again not measured against price point and elevated air of the restaurant.

Food here is good, waitress was kind. This restaurant is very clean and modern. I highly recommend trying this place.