Steakhouse 55 Permanently Closed?

[truecoat]

I'm not sure which place I referenced as 1950's fine dining. Ruth's Chris and Morton's are always very well managed and operated, and the Anaheim locations have never dissapointed me. I generally hit the Irvine Ruth's Chris and the South Coast Plaza Morton's, as I'm retired and not in the convention world any longer. And Anaheim is not the first place to come to mind when I'm on Opentable.com trolling around for a reservation.

The South Coast Plaza location of The Capital Grille is also fabulous. I'll crash into the bar there after a few hours of shopping a few times a year, and my usual table in the bar is right underneath the gorgeous oil painting of John Wayne. Unlike Steakhouse 55, the designers at The Capital Grille aren't weighed down by corporate guilt and kept the lit cigarette visible in The Duke's hand in his portrait. The east facing dining room of that same Capital Grille also has a wonderful oil painting of Walt Disney on the wall. The Kona Coffee rubbed steak there is my favorite.

El Gaucho is the only major national swanky steakhouse chain that Anaheim doesn't have. Although El Gaucho isn't as big of a presence here in SoCal as it is in the cities of the Pacific Northwest or Mountain West, probably because SoCal has lots of competition already.

Flemings is brand new. In the new Westin. I've been very busy socially the past few weeks and feel out of the loop a bit here, so I'm unsure if the new Westin Hotel on Katella has even opened for guests. But I remember @George Lucas on a Bench mentioning the restaurant was going to open back in June, before the hotel itself opened.

I do want to try this new Fleming's. I have tentative plans to buzz over there later in July with a friend for a proper meal.

If you're ever in Minneapolis, Manny's is one of the best Steakhouses in the country. Nothing better to whet your appetite when the waiter brings the meat cart over to show all the cuts they are serving.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

TP, what are thoughts on the beast that is Vegas? I've been going to Del Frisco's Double Eagle during the past few years and I have yet to be disappointed in any manner.

So many places on the strip are not worth the overpriced strip prices, but it seems a couple things may stand.out due to unique items? Bazaar Meats etc.?

 

[Mouse Trap]

It’s increasingly clear that Chapek’s tenure will be the worst era for the Disney theme parks. The experience is cynically and systematically being cheapened and dumbed-down — and that’s the way Chapek wants it. I have no problem with things being replaced, but we all know this will be replaced with something childish, lazy, and uninspired, just like virtually everything else in recent memory. It’s getting depressing.

Serious question — Does Josh D’Amaro hold no blame for any of these decisions? When Chapek was head of parks he was constantly under attack for his decisions, Josh has been in this position for over a year now and it seems as if we skip over him because he was supposed to be the golden boy for Disney fans. Is he still considered untouchable for some odd reason?

I understand he works for Bob at the end of the day, but I’ve seen nothing that indicates he’s going to be some sort of savior even if he makes it to the CEO position in 5-10 years.

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

Aside from internet rumors that D'Amaro is a nice guy who sincerely loves the parks, I see no reason to absolve him of blame for any of the recent cynical decisions. We definitely shouldn't regard him as an untouchable savior. I certainly don't.

However, whereas the level of D'Amaro's involvement in these decisions is somewhat unknown (to me, at least), we know for sure that Chapek is driven exclusively by profit and misguided synergistic marketing philosophies. Read/watch any interview with the guy; he openly, proudly acknowledges this. And Chapek is top banana, so I can only assume his values and objectives trickle down to lower management. Perhaps I will refer to this "Chapek era" going forward, instead of "Chapek."

 

[mickEblu]

Aside from internet rumors that D'Amaro is a nice guy who sincerely loves the parks, I see no reason to absolve him of blame for any of the recent cynical decisions. We definitely shouldn't regard him as an untouchable savior. I certainly don't.

However, whereas the level of D'Amaro's involvement in these decisions is somewhat unknown (to me, at least), we know for sure that Chapek is driven exclusively by profit and misguided synergistic marketing philosophies. Read/watch any interview with the guy; he openly, proudly acknowledges this. And Chapek is top banana, so I can only assume his values and objectives trickle down to lower management. Perhaps I will refer to this "Chapek era" going forward, instead of "Chapek."

I always find any post defending Chapek to be strange. Even if it’s guised as “Josh sucks too.” Not that I don’t agree with the sentiment of said poster but I guess I just don’t understand the angle. Is it, we know Chapek is terrible but Josh may also be bad (to a much lesser degree)?

Slow news day I guess.

 

[mickEblu]

The furthest I’d go is say that Josh is not actively doing anything to help the parks. Whether he has the power do that under Chapek I don’t know. Chapek on the other hand is actively destroying the parks. Josh gets bonus points for being present in the parks and being a likable guy. With that said I don’t know much about him or his background as I do Chapek and his love for merchandising and IP. I’ll give one thing to Chapek. Merch has got a little better and there is a lot more attraction specific stuff these days. The mid to late 2010s was a low point for merch. Pretty much anything park related that interested me from about 2013- 2018 was purchased on eBay.

 

[Mouse Trap]

I always find any post defending Chapek to be strange. Even if it’s guised as “Josh sucks too.” Not that I don’t agree with the sentiment of said poster but I guess I just don’t understand the angle. Is it, we know Chapek is terrible but Josh may also be bad (to much lesser degree)?

Slow news day I guess.

My angle is that when Chapek was chairman of parks he took all the blame. Now that D’Amaro is chairman everyone went mum on him and is still blaming Chapek. I’m honestly just trying to figure out why D’Amaro is (was?) so well praised even though he’s done virtually nothing in over a year to improve the parks. I get the circumstances are far from ideal, but still, just showing face in the parks doesn’t make you a good chairman.

tldr: I think they’re both doing a terrible job and I don’t see why D’Amaro hasn’t shouldered any blame amongst Disney fans.

 

[mickEblu]

My angle is that when Chapek was chairman of parks he took all the blame. Now that D’Amaro is chairman everyone went mum on him and is still blaming Chapek. I’m honestly just trying to figure out why D’Amaro is (was?) so well praised even though he’s done virtually nothing in over a year to improve the parks. I get the circumstances are far from ideal, but still, just showing face in the parks doesn’t make you a good chairman.

tldr: I think they’re both doing a terrible job and I don’t see why D’Amaro hasn’t shouldered any blame amongst Disney fans.

Yeah I get it and my post wasn’t only directed at you. It’s just we know Chapek is terrible. We know his background in Merchandising and why he makes the choices he does. We know about his involvement in GOTG: MB, Avengers Campus and Pixar Pier. We don’t really know much about Josh. What project is tied to Josh’s name? Josh is becoming the face of the new inclusion key. That’s about it. I’d much rather have the guy not doing anything as opposed to the guy spending millions on projects like MB and Pixar Pier. Millions of dollars spent and not one new ride. Just (mostly) downgrades of things that didn’t need fixing or at least weren’t fixed in the right way.

His first new land is Avengers Campus and that tells us everything we need to know and reaffirmed what we already knew.

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

Chapek is just so visible. Constantly see him on CNBC flatly bloviating about Disney stock. No warmth, no emotion. Perhaps Josh shares these values, but I wouldn't know.

 

[el_super]

Serious question — Does Josh D’Amaro hold no blame for any of these decisions?

No.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Micechat's article today says they heard some of Steakhouse 55 may be absorbed into Goofy's Kitchen... I hope not.

I would hope Disney is cooking up some sort of fully updated modern fine dining experience.

 

[westie]

RIP 24 layer cake.

 

[PiratesMansion]

RIP 24 layer cake.View attachment 569917

Which didn't even make it until the restaurant's closure! They stopped offering it sometime between my summer 2017 and summer 2018 visits

 

[Stevek]

Micechat's article today says they heard some of Steakhouse 55 may be absorbed into Goofy's Kitchen... I hope not.

This would not surprise me.

 

[Inspired Figment]

Chapek is just so visible. Constantly see him on CNBC flatly bloviating about Disney stock. No warmth, no emotion. Perhaps Josh shares these values, but I wouldn't know.

I personally don’t believe that to be the case personally…
The thing with Chapek specifically is.. his values are near identical to Iger’s, just basically without a filter. ‘That’ is why the blame still is on both Iger & Chapek for these decisions. Josh D’amaro I personally believe is basically just trying to keep his position within the company til they get better upper management in or until he’s chosen to lead the company. I genuinely believe he “gets it” as he has personal experience with the parks rather than not.

 

[Inspired Figment]

If rumors & talks about him are indeed true about him wanting to delay the Splash Mountain revamp or cancel it altogether (the WDW version atleast) & him being real supportive of the CMs, the park original concepts, and in support of bringing Journey Into Imagination back to it’s former glory… then I’d definitely say the notion of him staying til management changes is the most probable one and that he’d most likely be the right guy for either company CEO or at the very least, continuing to be the guy in charge of the parks division with somebody else up above that truly supports the values & integrity Disney needs to survive & thrive properly

 

[Ne'er-Do-Well Cad]

If rumors & talks about him are indeed true about him wanting to delay the Splash Mountain revamp or cancel it altogether (the WDW version atleast) & him being real supportive of the CMs, the park original concepts, and in support of bringing Journey Into Imagination back to it’s former glory… then I’d definitely say the notion of him staying til management changes is the most probable one and that he’d most likely be the right guy for either company CEO or at the very least, continuing to be the guy in charge of the parks division with somebody else up above that truly supports the values & integrity Disney needs to survive & thrive properly

What is the origin of those rumors? Obviously those are great things, if true.

Also, not sure I agree that Chapek is simply Iger with no filter. Will Chapek allow anything like Cars Land or Pandora during his tenure?

 

[el_super]

If rumors & talks about him are indeed true about him wanting to delay the Splash Mountain revamp or cancel it altogether (the WDW version atleast) & him being real supportive of the CMs

Most of this is just fantasy. Josh may be pretty supportive of CMs, but he also seems to he the one pushing hardest for the changes at Splash Mountain. He has made himself the champion of all the diversity and inclusion changes coming to the parks.

Also if you think he "gets it" then he will never lead the company. The only qualified leaders are the Igers and Chapeks of the world. The ones willing to make the unpopular decisions.

All that said, I'm pretty sure Iger/Chapek/D'Amaro had no part in closing Steakhouse 55.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Most of this is just fantasy. Josh may be pretty supportive of CMs, but he also seems to he the one pushing hardest for the changes at Splash Mountain. He has made himself the champion of all the diversity and inclusion changes coming to the parks.

Also if you think he "gets it" then he will never lead the company. The only qualified leaders are the Igers and Chapeks of the world. The ones willing to make the unpopular decisions.

All that said, I'm pretty sure Iger/Chapek/D'Amaro had no part in closing Steakhouse 55.

It pains me to agree with these statements, but I think you are absolutely right. The old days are gone fort good...

 

[Rich T]

I accept that I'm in the minority here, but the one time I ate there I was overall unimpressed - steak was mediocre, price was high, service meh,, atmosphere/theming non-existent and seating with tables crowded too close.

So I'm really looking forward to whatever replaces it. Would love it to be something like Ohana's to go with the theming of the quick service places at the hotel. At least that would be something different than just a steak place with mediocre steak.

We shouldn’t judge a restaurant by just one visit (though in the real world we all do it—Because time and money). I’ve had good dinners there.