Amarillo Restaurant Guide

Embers Steak House
4.5 stars (2 ratings)

(806) 350-3303

2721 Virginia Circle, Amarillo, TX 79109

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Dining Specials

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Restaurant Description

A bit rustic, with a little urban flair. The Embers Steak House is located at 2721 Virginia Circle. The handcrafted wooden benches just outside the front door set the stage for the all-new, up-scale steak house. As you enter, your senses will be engulfed with color, texture, and that wonderful aroma of steaks on the grill.

Chad Lardie is the proud proprietor of the Embers Steak House. He and his crew have been busily remodeling the restaurant and working on specialty recipes. The grand opening was in January, 2011. Chad grew up in Michigan and Colorado, and then moved with his family to Amarillo in 1994. He is a graduate of Texas Tech in Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Management and has spent the past ten years managing Johnny Carino’s properties. He managed eight of their restaurants in nine years.

To open a restaurant of his own was always Chad’s dream, and now it is a reality. He had been looking for different opportunities for the last year and a half and when he heard through the grapevine that David’s Steak House had closed, he immediately looked at the location and building. He was pleased with what he saw, liked the ‘feel’ of the place, and began negotiations.

To make his dream a reality, he hired architectural firm Playa Designs and the work began. The early plan was to just get open, but the plan grew and the decision was made to enlarge the bathrooms, make them ADA compliant, and to add a patio. Three interior walls were added, along with a beautiful wooden patio on the east side, and the bathrooms were enlarged. The seating capacity is now 99. Chad’s girlfriend, Jennifer Hostetler, owns her own painting and design company and was involved with Chad and the architect from the beginning. All of the unusual textures, paints and accoutrements were Jennifer’s ideas. (They are now planning to marry in April 2011!)

Many names were considered, but Embers was the family favorite. Chad’s dad grew up in Michigan and had fond memories of an Embers Restaurant. Chad liked the name because he felt it gave him a lot of leeway to do things he wanted with his new enterprise. Amarillo folks immediately started telling Chad about the old Embers in downtown in the 70s. The name itself has caused a lot of talk and ‘remember this and that’ from the Embers at 16th and Tyler.

April brings sunshine and the desire to get outside and April will be the opening of the new outdoor patio. It will be a great place for happy hour, to mix and mingle and enjoy some delicious goodies. The restaurant features a full bar and is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

It is exciting to see that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in this new and popular eatery.
November 18, 2011 @ 5:25 PM
5  out of 5 stars
a diner from Amarillo, TX
Best steak in Amarillo.
2  out of 5 stars
a diner from undisclosed location
We were really excited to try a steak house in Amarillo TX. That's where you can get a good juice steak right? Well that may be true for other steak houses but not in our case at Embers. It pains us to write a negative review as we know how hard the owner must be trying to have a upscale restaurant he can be proud of. However, he would have to recruit some more friendly and personable staff. The would also need some more training in proper service manners. We entered with the dining room half full on Saturday at around 7pm. There seems to be enough workers but no one person seemed to have a defined role which brought about much confusion. The service was not rude or lacking but just dry, rushed and improper wait staff skills. It would have been accept if we were eating in a diner off the high in the middle of no where in Texas but this restaurant was catering to the upscale crowd with upscale prices. The steaks were a pretty good quality but you can tell the grilling skills needs a bit of help. For instance my filet mignon was ordered medium rare but what I got was a burnt exterior and rare in the middle. This was after having to send back the first steak due to other reason so we just didn't feel we wanted to go for a 3rd try. The cowboy ribeye looked very nice but again the steak was not cooked properly and came out too rare. The cut of meat also seemed to be of lower quality as there were many tough sinews throughout the steak. The decor however was very nice but unfortunately the food and services was lacking to the degree where it could not be overlooked. We hate to see a locally owned restaurant not thrive so we really hope management will wait up to this and make the necessary changes.

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Read More: Amarillo Restaurant Reviews

Avg Rating: 5  out of 5 stars

Number of Reviews: 2

November 18, 2011 @ 5:25 PM
5  out of 5 stars
a diner from Amarillo, TX
Best steak in Amarillo.
2  out of 5 stars
a diner from undisclosed location
We were really excited to try a steak house in Amarillo TX. That's where you can get a good juice steak right? Well that may be true for other steak houses but not in our case at Embers. It pains us to write a negative review as we know how hard the owner must be trying to have a upscale restaurant he can be proud of. However, he would have to recruit some more friendly and personable staff. The would also need some more training in proper service manners. We entered with the dining room half full on Saturday at around 7pm. There seems to be enough workers but no one person seemed to have a defined role which brought about much confusion. The service was not rude or lacking but just dry, rushed and improper wait staff skills. It would have been accept if we were eating in a diner off the high in the middle of no where in Texas but this restaurant was catering to the upscale crowd with upscale prices. The steaks were a pretty good quality but you can tell the grilling skills needs a bit of help. For instance my filet mignon was ordered medium rare but what I got was a burnt exterior and rare in the middle. This was after having to send back the first steak due to other reason so we just didn't feel we wanted to go for a 3rd try. The cowboy ribeye looked very nice but again the steak was not cooked properly and came out too rare. The cut of meat also seemed to be of lower quality as there were many tough sinews throughout the steak. The decor however was very nice but unfortunately the food and services was lacking to the degree where it could not be overlooked. We hate to see a locally owned restaurant not thrive so we really hope management will wait up to this and make the necessary changes.
Read More Amarillo Restaurant Reviews

Embers Steak House Map

Recent Embers Steak House Reviews

November 18, 2011 @ 5:25 PM
5  out of 5 stars
a diner from Amarillo, TX
Best steak in Amarillo.
2  out of 5 stars
a diner from undisclosed location
We were really excited to try a steak house in Amarillo TX. That's where you can get a good juice steak right? Well that may be true for other steak houses but not in our case at Embers. It pains us to write a negative review as we know how hard the owner must be trying to have a upscale restaurant he can be proud of. However, he would have to recruit some more friendly and personable staff. The would also need some more training in proper service manners. We entered with the dining room half full on Saturday at around 7pm. There seems to be enough workers but no one person seemed to have a defined role which brought about much confusion. The service was not rude or lacking but just dry, rushed and improper wait staff skills. It would have been accept if we were eating in a diner off the high in the middle of no where in Texas but this restaurant was catering to the upscale crowd with upscale prices. The steaks were a pretty good quality but you can tell the grilling skills needs a bit of help. For instance my filet mignon was ordered medium rare but what I got was a burnt exterior and rare in the middle. This was after having to send back the first steak due to other reason so we just didn't feel we wanted to go for a 3rd try. The cowboy ribeye looked very nice but again the steak was not cooked properly and came out too rare. The cut of meat also seemed to be of lower quality as there were many tough sinews throughout the steak. The decor however was very nice but unfortunately the food and services was lacking to the degree where it could not be overlooked. We hate to see a locally owned restaurant not thrive so we really hope management will wait up to this and make the necessary changes.