The Ellis Island complete steak dinner -- at the time a 10-ounce filet-cut cooked-to-order top sirloin, salad, potato, garlic bread, and dinner rolls -- showed up in 1997; its first appearance in the Top Ten was in December of that year and it cost only $2.95. There was no arguing with that price, nor with the fact that it was served 24 hours a day. Even the mighty Binion's Horseshoe, with its own $3 steak dinner (which had been raised from $2), didn't dare make it available during prime times (it was strictly a graveyard special).
The $2.95 price got our attention and definitely put Ellis Island on the Top Ten radar screen. By March 1998, we were reporting that lines were long and service was iffy. In May, we demoted it from #2 to #7, citing an "overcrowded and understaffed" dining room at dinner. In June it was #9 and in July, it was gone.
(In October 1998, Ellis Island reappeared in the Top Ten, though this time with a fabulous $19.95 all-you-could-eat king crab buffet on Wednesdays. And from November 1998 through January 2000, the Horseshoe's $3 steak dinner reigned supreme in the Top Ten, till its hours were cut down to 11 pm to 5 am; then the price was raised to $4.99; then it finally disppeared for good.)
EI's steak dinner reappeared in the Top Ten, around the middle of the list, in November 2000 at $4.95. It hit #2 in May 2001 and #1 in August; it held the #1 spot consistently (save for some July/December room rates, casino grand openings, and buffet deals) through the just-released October 2007 issue of the Las Vegas Advisor.
Since it dropped out of the Top Ten after seven full years at or near the top spot, we've received a flurry of Question of the Day submissions about what happened to it. (It was fully explained in the October issue of LVA, but not in the free Top Ten listings on the Web site.) We decided to answer this question to kill two birds with one stone: The Ellis Island steak dinner is gone due to a price raise and here's its history to date.
Interestingly enough, as we look around at steak specials, this deal, even at $6.95, remains among the best in town, if not still the best. And we're evaluating the situation to see if it might not go back into the Top Ten soon.
