Wow! That's exactly what I've always wanted to do! My dream restaurant would revolve around my Granny and our family's cooking. It wasn't until I moved here to Las Vegas that I realized how special those Sunday and holiday dinners were. Little did we know that we were eating meals worth over $200! Big Mama's Rib Shack on Bonanza uses this same motif. The picture of Big Mama on wall really brings it home.

You are there eating food that she could have cooked herself.

So, of course, the sign drew us right in. The room is tastefully appointed with dark, rich wood tables and booths, shiny brass lighting fixtures, and rich country wallpaper. There was no "Please wait to be seated." sign, so we chose a roomy booth.

No one seemed to notice that we were there. After five minutes, I gave them sixty more seconds and then we were leaving. I noticed that the wine list bore the name of the bar next door. A busboy barely kept our business by skirting the limit within a few seconds. He said "Here's some menus. Can I get you anything to drink?"

We scanned the menu for Grandma's special recipes and came up empty.

All we found was food which could be had at practically every diner in town. Nothing stood out. Absolutely nothing on the menu could make a hungry man and hungry pregnant woman say "Oh, that sounds REALLY good." Eventually, Pam chose the chicken fried steak ($9.75) and I decided to splurge for the most expensive thing on the menu, a ribeye steak dinner ($12.75). Oh yeah, I KNEW it was a mistake. I couldn't smell wood smoke anywhere, but I went ahead and ordered the steak.

The salads were standard iceberg lettuce mix. The ranch dressing was good and the cherry tomatos were exceptionally good. It tasted like they were right from the vine. Other than that, it was pretty a boring, standard salad. We were waiting for our inital feelings to be redeemed, but these bowls of lettuce and dressing sure weren't going to do it.

The food arrived in a reasonable time. My steak presentation was just lovely. In addition to the two onion rings on top of the steak, there was a sliced cherry tomato, a green onion (curiously, with all of the greens and white portion removed), and kale on the side. The steak was cooked perfectly to medium.

That was about it for the good parts of my meal.

The steak itself was about 8" x 3" and barely 3/8" thick. Further reflection tells me that I am probably being generous with the thickness estimate. The steak made up for its lack of size by being fatty, hard to cut, and completely lacking in flavor. Did they do ANYTHING at all to this steak before they threw it on the grill? Salt, pepper, steak seasoning, marinade? ANYTHING? I know the difference between good marbling and just being a fatty piece of meat. This steak apparently had no fat other than in the sinewy connecting tissues.

I'll bet not. Or, if they did, the cook was sure to wipe it all off before cooking it. Price does not guarantee a good steak. I don't care if you pay $4 or $25 for a steak. If the only flavor provided is by the steak sauce, you just bought a bad steak. What's worse is that a cow gave its life just so some human could screw it up! After the steak got cold, I couldn't even force myself to eat it.

The $3.95 Porterhouse at the Gold Rush Casino in Henderson is far, FAR superior to my $12.95 ribeye. I would have gladly driven to Boulder City and bought two of the Railroad Pass prime rib specials for the price of this worthless piece of meat and we would've both been much happier.

We both chose to have the vegetable of the day with our dinners. Pam just loves corn on the cob, so it wasn't really much of a choice. I guess they only cook the vegetable of the day ONE time during the day since they were both mostly cold.

Pam's chicken fried steak was not much better. They used a decent cut of meat for it, so it wasn't tough, but the gravy was just tasteless. Of course, any fan of chicken fried steak knows that bad gravy instantly renders a chicken fried steak worthless. What's the point? Ten bucks...ten AMERICAN bucks...for a truly lousy chicken fried steak.

We came to the conclusion that if this place really does evoke "Memories of Grandma's Kitchen" for someone, then we pity that person. Sometimes "going to a new place" is not a good idea. We should've just gone to The Yellow Rose Cafe at Texas Station like my wife suggested.

There is nothing special here. Nothing at all and I don't think it was because we were expecting a different version of Simply Southern Cafe or Big Mama's Rib Shack.

Bessie McKenzie's is just a nicely appointed dining room for The R Bar next door. Their kitchen should really stick to bar food. The onion rings on my steak were *really* good. Sadly, that was the best part of my meal. This was a $10 casino special meal for which we paid over $25.

For the first time in history, I'm going to write to the restaurant and ask for a refund instead of giving them another chance. There is just nothing on the menu even remotely worthy of the name "Grandma".

Unless, of course, your Grandma was a bad cook.