Wildfire, a Chicago-Based Chain in Tysons Galleria

[Pete]

Great, just what Tyson's needs. Another chain steakhouse.

Wildfire

[DonRocks]

This is yet another restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc.

From their website, here is the list of restaurants under their control (note the precedent at Tysons Galleria with Maggiano's):

Antico Posto®

foodlife®

R.J. Grunts®

Ben Pao®

Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab®

Scoozi!®

Big Bowl®

L. Woods®

Shaw's Crab House ®

Brasserie Jo®

Maggiano's®

stripburger ™ at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!®

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba!®

The Magic Pan Crepe Stand®

Tru®

Chi. Flat Sammies®

Mity Nice Grill®

Tucci Benucch®

Di Pescara™

Mon Ami Gabi®

Twin City Grill™

Don & Charlie's®

Nacional 27®

Vong's Thai Kitchen ™

Eiffel Tower®

Osteria Via Stato ™

Wildfire®

Everest™

Petterino's®

Wow Bao®

[jiveturk21]

Great, just what Tyson's needs. Another chain steakhouse.

Well, they don't have a steakhouse IN the mall, so that must be their rationale behind it. But, I agree, Morton's, Fleming's, Capital Grille, JR's, J Gilbert's...all within a mile of each other. Seems like overkill to me when they totally need a few new, upscale places over there.

But, you know what, they will be packed on day one.

[Pete]

Well, they don't have a steakhouse IN the mall, so that must be their rationale behind it. But, I agree, Morton's, Fleming's, Capital Grille, JR's, J Gilbert's...all within a mile of each other.

Plus The Palm, Shula's, and Ruth's Chris.

[Sthitch]

This is yet another restaurant from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, Inc.

From their website, here is the list of restaurants under their control (note the precedent at Tysons Galleria with Maggiano's):

Tru®

Everest™

I would take something along these lines.

[jiveturk21]

I can't believe that I forgot The Palm and Shula's, that is bad on my part.

Where the hell is the Ruth's Chris!? There is one in Tyson's now too?

[Pete]

I can't believe that I forgot The Palm and Shula's, that is bad on my part.

Where the hell is the Ruth's Chris!? There is one in Tyson's now too?

It is on Route 7 and I think it is in the space that used to be Harry's Essential Grille and, prior to that, Restaurant 7.

[Joe H]

Wildfire is cheap for a steakhouse-I don't believe there's anything higher than the mid 20's. I don't expect much.

[vsky]

Did anyone go last night or is anyone going tonight? I am going tomorrow night and will report back on this post; I believe they started the pre-opening last night...

[Chris Cunningham]

Wildfire is cheap for a steakhouse-I don't believe there's anything higher than the mid 20's. I don't expect much.

A novice or uninformed person could say the same about Ray's the Steaks, especially regarding price. This company puts out some very good products that are quite popular and satisfying to the palate, family and pocketbook. I'm looking forward to it's opening especially since I hit the Grooming Lounge next door every 3 weeks for a mini-me-vacation getaway. I like variety in all of my dining options, and am confident this will satisfy the "safe and filling" option whenever I want to meet some friends for a meal at the mall.

[mxyzptlk]

Having lived in Chicago, I've gotten delivery from and eaten at Wildfire many times. I would place it a tiny step above Outback Steakhouse than anywhere near a proper steakhouse. All of the "Lettuce Entertain You" restaurants in Chicago (with the possible exceptions of Everest and Tru) are all about faux atmosphere and ok food, but not really worth the price. It will do in a pinch, but I'm not sure I'd rather go there than an Outback. Maybe this one will be different though... once I hear the "Lettuce" name associated with a restaurant, I pretty much write it off.

[Chris Cunningham]

Went to Wildfire last night for dinner and have mixed reviews. First of all, there are 2 entrances to the restaurant, one from inside the mall and the other, from outside, using an elevator. I entered from inside the mall and it is abit confusing upon entering. Basically, you walk right into a seating area and end up standing there, awkwardly, for a few moments until a staffer informs you to walk all the way to the otherside of the restaurant, to the host stand. This causes alot of traffic past many dining tables, that I recommend not sitting in. Then you arrive at the host stand and then should make a U-Turn so as to get into line and try to figure out which of the 4-5 staffers behind the podium will halp you. The same applies when entering from the elevator entrance. My date ended up waiting in that area for a few minutes, until she saw the small host light suspeneded from the ceiling, on the other side of the bar.

So we wait at the bar for about 15 minutes and have a drink, until the "bomb" goes off. The bomb being a flashing/vibrating disk that can pull double duty as both an Epileptic Seizure triggering device and as a great replacement to the Eben"s Hard Shake method

Interior is big and dark with clubby seating, open kitchen, and a flurry of activity. The menu is fairly expansive, with apps ranging from $6 - $12, and entrees from $13-$40. There are about 8 Filet Mignon options, 3 cuts ot Prime Rib, 6 Steak offerings, a small seafood section, and then a chicken and rib section.

I will applaud them on their cooking temp notations offering Blue to Well done, with well done saying we are not responsible for quality/taste of this if you order it!!!! Which is much more polite than what I usually tell the moron who orders it this way

So we started with the spinach and artichoke dip with toast points--a bit soupy and nothing special

Then had the chopped onion, lettuce, tomato, blue cheese salad--decent, but everything is really "chopped" and by this I meaned diced into very small bits so it is very salsa like. I personally like to do the cutting and dicing myself, so this did not work for me

We had the Prime rib and the Chicken/rib combo for our mains. Both were extremely good. The Prime rib was dead-on and great, and the chicken/ribs were very moist and flavorful. Sides we had were FFries, apple sauce, and coleslaw-served with the chicken and she had baked pot and creamed spinach with hers. Overall pretty good.

The deserts are brought out on a tray and each one is individually presented for a viewing and explanation. Each one is offered as a half or whole portion, so that is quite nice.

Overall, I will be going back at times when I'm at that mall or in the area. The service was decent, with our server being a bit timid and has a bit of a script, but very pleasent and saw to our needs as necessary. It will do well and will be in my "Tysons" rotation.

Now JLK has another option in hers as well

[hm212]

I haven't been to Tysons yet but had dinner in Atlanta location with a client. Good food at not over the top prices, took it for a business quality restaurant. Reminded my client of a Houston's type place. I thought food was a step above with pricing around the same.

[wysguymd]

I tried Wildfire at Tysons this weekend for lunch. I agree with the poster above - layout is stupid. You have to navigate thru either the dining room or the bar to get to the host station. Seems they could have come up with a better floorplan.

Anyway, the food was decent but nothing to rave about. We started with the Spinach/Artichoke Fondue. It was okay; had better elsewhere. The house bread was horrible - tasted like wet cardboard.

For entrees, I had the Chicken Club Sandwich. It's hard to complain about a chicken sandwich, but it did have a bit too much mayo. My partner had the Prime Rib Sandwich. He said it was good, but thought the version at Houstons was better.

Service was fine. The waiter seemed like he needed to practice his speech a few more times, but he kept the refills coming and cleared the table timely.

Again, no major complaints, but in no rush to go back. It wasn't crowded on a Saturday afternoon at 1pm, while Cheesecake Factory had a wait. So it will be interesting to see how this place makes out - they may get CF overflow.

[Destruya]

Just to add to the list of Tysons steakhouses, don't forget Chima.

[ruslev]

I had an 5pm Sunday dinner with my wife and children (4 y.o. and 1 y.o) I had a ribeye steak which was very good for $30 + 1 side. It was cooked with a nice char, pink inside, the way I asked. My wife had the bourbon marinade steak tips. She asked for it medium well, but came medium rare in parts. She liked the taste though. We shared a house salad which was chopped up and the lettuce had that day old brownish edges if you inspected it carefully. It was designed to share, at least 3 people. The wine program was pretty good. They have flights for tasting..

The steaks were good, not at the level of Ray's, but I was really impressed. I have eaten at most of the local steak houses, and I left pretty happy all things considered.

[silentbob]

I haven't been to Tysons yet but had dinner in Atlanta location with a client. Good food at not over the top prices, took it for a business quality restaurant. Reminded my client of a Houston's type place. I thought food was a step above with pricing around the same.

We took our secretary here for a birthday lunch last week. Houston's type place sounds about right. Plus, the place was ginormous! I'm told that it is in the former FAO Schwartz space.

The food itself was so-so. I started with a bisque, which could have used a bit more crabmeat but was fine otherwise. My main was a horseradish stuffed burger. I asked for medium rare but the server informed me that it would have to be medium (or else the patty would fall apart given the stuffing). The meat could have used more seasoning, and truth be told I could not really taste the horseradish.

Even though the meal wasn't terribly satisfying, the quality of ingredients seemed better and the prices weren't much different from the Daily Grill. So this place will probably my second option in the Galleria after Lebanese Taverna.

[ReconJohn0321]

I had lunch at Wildfire on Sunday and was greatly disappointed not only with their menu but their service was well below par. Our waitress forgot to bring our orders out with the substitutions we had made and only refilled the water once. I was surprised given the pedigree of the restaurant's ownership. I would like to go back and give them a chance at redemption for dinner. That being said, those of you going for brunch/lunch on the weekend be advised...the service may not be to your liking but the food will be.