Roy's

This is possibly the most upmarket restaurant in Ahwatukee, and we thought we'd give it a try. This is what happened.



We booked online - the booking system is so simple and easy, I wonder why all restaurants don't use it. Select time, date, number of people, and you're in, with an Outlook reminder on your calendar.



When we got there, there was a trainee at the reception desk, who was a little muddled by the system. She was friendly and cheerful, though, and we were brought to our table quite quickly.



As we sat down, we were brought a plate of beans with a slightly hot sauce as a free appetiser. They were very pleasant, but sticky. No means was provided to clean ourselves off, so we had to lick our fingers and wipe them on the napkins.



We decided to go for the Pris Fixe menu. It seemed OK, and certainly saved money compared to the Table d'Hote. The opening course was Dim Sum for us both. They were quite well flavoured, but far too dry.



For the second course, one of us had the trout, and the other the steak. The trout was significantly overcooked, as was obvious as soon as it was put on the table. It may be a feature of the dish, which is stuffed with ham - perhaps it is impossible to cook the stuffing without overcooking the fish. In that case, it's a pointless dish. Since we were told that the restaurant were fish specialists, this was quite disappointing.



The steak was well cooked and tender, but the accompanying frites were so salty that it was impossible to taste what might have been some quite delicate and interesting flavours.



For dessert, we had chocolate souffle. One expects a souffle to be light and fluffy. What we were served was neither - a hard outside with a runny middle. As a hot chocolate cake it was quite acceptable, and probably the least disappointing course.



A very pleasant (if expensive) bottle of local wine was the only part of the meal to do its job. The ambience? Businessmen talking loudly on mobile phones and a large aquarium. A total of over a hundred and twenty dollars made it a pretty expensive meal - in itself that's deducted a star. At a cheaper place, two or three stars might have been possible. As a gastronomic showcase, this was a severe disappointment, especially considering the generally favourable reviews we've seen. I doubt we will return.