Original Great American Land & Cattle

The place was nice and the service was good. The food was bad. The Kabobs were poorly cooked, very uneven. The meat was like leather and the veggies tasted like gas.
Also got the 3 meat plate. The brisket was okay, but not BBQ, more on the cooking bag style. The chicken breast was obviously processed and frozen. It was supposed to be Cajun but instead it tasted like they put buffalo sauce on it then wiped it off when they caught the error. They then put Cajun seasoning on it. Not good. The sausage was regular kielbasa sausage cut up and heated. Their bbq sauce was then placed on the sausage. One level above a hotdog.
I would expect that a restaurant with a limited menu and high prices to make everything fresh and on point. They missed on both of these.

Great place for large group and great steak meals. Food will take longer than normal restaurant but worth the wait. Request minimal or no seasoning if watching salt intake.

Not to be confused with their various sister restaurants available throughout the area, let me make it clear that we will be discussing the ORIGINAL Great American Land & Cattle. In short, this would be considered the «high end» version of this local company.
The wife and I have actually been going to this restaurant for years; back when we used to live in El Paso 6 years ago, and just recently started returning once again after we recently moved back to this town. So I actually meant to post a review for this place a long time ago (we recently had date night here last Friday). They rarely manage to disappoint. But that doesn’t mean they are without a few minor flaws.
So, primarily they are a steak house. However, would it shock you all to know that my all time favorite dish here is the Australian lobster tail? They do something very unique with this lobster tail; it’s charbroiled… which adds a delicious flavor you can only taste fresh off the grill! But… remember those minor flaws I mentioned earlier? Well.
These tails are huge, which is certainly not a bad thing. That said, if you’re cooking a lobster tail that’s around 12 oz, you’d better be damn sure that sucker is cooked thoroughly. I will just go ahead and say that out of the dozens upon dozens of times we have came here to order the lobster, the tail had to be refired on at least 5 or 6 different occasions. Not really a show stopper, but it just demonstrates how scared the kitchen staff seem to be when it comes to possibly «burning» something. Having said that, I have a solution: should you order the lobster tail, ask them to double-​charbroil it. This way, it gets twice the fire love and [hopefully] it shouldn’t have to be sent back for refire. Lobster (as well as ANY fish, really) should be opaque. Always. End of story.
Some of you are probably wondering about the steak. To be honest, it really depends on the cut you get. The last time I had steak there, it was a piece of porterhouse that I was sampling from the wife’s plate. I… wasn’t really that impressed. Whilst the portion was plenty large enough, it wasn’t as seasoned as I’d expect. Maybe they had an off night… I dunno. I honestly don’t order steak that much from this place, only because I’m so in love with the charbroiled lobster tail. It’s been years since I’ve eaten one of their steaks and even then… I’d most likely recommend one of their best cuts like a filet or maybe even rib eye. That’s about all I could tell you really.
When we first came to this place years back, we would praise them for their Caesar salad. The dressing was exquisite! Now? It’s still alright, only… now it’s like they use a lot less dressing. So the salad appears to be less flavorful than I remember. I’d love it if they brought back the original recipe. In short: just add more dressing!
The service is always on point. If we have an issue, it gets rectified fairly quickly and the staff are very professional about it. One thing I noticed almost immediately upon our return though: this place seems less popular than it was years ago. We used to have to book a reservation just to ensure we would get a table for dinner. The last 3 times I’ve gone there I was able to just walk in and pick whatever table I wanted. They seem emptier and I have no idea why.
Overall, we were glad most of what we love about the place still exists. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly relieved that I apparently no longer have to make reservations to get a table. It’s nice to be able to just waltz in and get whatever table we want. As a matter of fact, the last time we came in this past week, the receptionist who is normally at the downstairs desk wasn’t there; just a sign that said: «please proceed upstairs and pick whatever table you like»…or something to that effect. It’s definitely a chilling sign, though, that they are slowly but surely losing customers. Again, I have no idea why. We still enjoy our lobsters and certain cuts of steak to this day.

Love eating here. Good food, friendly staff, very relaxing. Locally owned and operated. I’ve celebrated many birthdays, graduations and perfect for Christmas dinner parties. This place has a nice scenic view of El Paso from the 2^nd Floor. Everything looks so good on the menu. Should I have a Steak, or a Steak burger? I see someone having Seafood next to me. So many good choices.

Went here late on a Thursday cuz nothing else was open, and even though a military hail and farewell was going on, the service was excellent and the food was awesome. Recommend the New York strip (as recommended by my waiter). Was so thick and perfectly cooked. I am not a big person but I nearly finished all 14 ounces, I couldn’t stop! Only suggestion is better beer selection.

The place is a little sketchy to get too, drive through some shady neighborhoods. However once your inside and upstairs, the view is awesome. The service was good, recommend calling ahead if you have a group. I had the salmon entrée, very good. The dill sauce is recommended. Great experience!

I was really excited to write a review about our experience here– then I read the other reviews and thought hm maybe we just went on a GREAT day. It is a very «western» atmosphere, but not hokey or run down. It’s a little older, but that’s ok. It’s a steak house, in the west– makes sense. The view is absolutely incredible. If you can go for the sunset, totally worth it
We were seated quickly, the hostess downstairs was an older lady and very sweet. The waiter wasn’t the best, but was fine!
We both had the brisket and my guest had the brisket and chicken. We loved it. The brisket was tender and flavorful. The BBQ sauce was awesome. The meal came with rolls, pineapple cole slaw and beans. All of which were great.
I would definitely come here again.

Clean place, kind of decorated Western. Steaks and burgers (NOT grass-​fed) with some seafood and chicken options. Pricey for what you get … Plan on $ 15 and up for burger and a soft drink, or $ 21 and up for a steak dinner and drink. Had to keep getting someone’s attention to get drink refills. Slow service from waitress and kitchen.
Filling meal, liked the beans and the pineapple coke slaw, but nothing to write home about.

LOVE this Place … Great Food. Huge bar. Super Friendly … The Original Great American Steakhouse don’t go to any other location (Yarbourgh is Still family owned and Good Too)

So sad. I was so looking forward to eating here… Then a six legged friend decided to scurry across our table. The staff offered to get us new plates but we lost our appetites.

The place is decorated in a way that doesn’t let you forget that you’re in a steakhouse. Also, I wasn’t completely impressed. Maybe it was the hype surrounding the place, but I was expecting more. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t horrible. Perhaps my mistake was not ordering a steak and ordering a burger instead. In all fairness, my burger was extremely bland. The sweet potato fries weren’t too bad though.
Our service was about three stars, as well. We came in on a Thursday evening, so it wasn’t packed at all. There seemed to be a lot of business dinners going on; either that or my group was extremely underdressed. If it were business dinners, I guess it would be safe to assume that this place is generally good enough to try to impress whomever they were hosting. We came in during that odd time where our first server was almost off shift and we had to have a second server. Our first server was fun and personable, the second rarely tended to us. Also, there appeared to be breakdown in communication during the hand-​off. Apparently our second server wasn’t aware of what our first server owed us, so we had waited a while before having to following up.
I’d probably go back again to try their steaks, since that is apparently their forte; however, if I’m in the mood for anything else on their menu, I’d probably find another place to eat.

The chicken is good and they always give us so much food!
Not a fan of coleslaw so I wish they would not make it a mandatory side.
Love this location — it’s quiet and isolated and you get a nearly 360-​degree view of the city. Definitely a nice date spot.

We went specifically to this location on Alabama ave because it was recommended to us by El Paso locals as being the best and the original Great American. There are several other Great American restaurants in the area though.
Went on a Thursday night around 630pm. It wasn’t too crowded. We didn’t have reservations but got a table instantly. Food was great. Sweet potato fries as an appetizer were great and came out very fast. I ordered a steak medium well. It came out closer to we’ll done but it was still good. My girlfriend got a blue cheese burger which I tried. It was great. Baked potatoe was not hot. Usually a baked potatoe at any restaurant comes out almost too hot to eat but that wasn’t the case here. It was obvious that it sat for a while before it got to my table. These were all things that I could overlook because the food overall was good.
Now for the service. the waitress was not very personable. She wasn’t rude or anything but she definitely wasn’t working very hard to get a better tip. She did check on us often to make sure we had everything we needed though. The weirdest part of the whole experience was when I ordered a Guinness. She brought me a can of Guinness with no glass and didn’t even ask me if I wanted a glass. Now if you know anything about Guinness, you know that it is taboo to drink it straight from the can.
Overall a good experience. I would return and probably try a burger next time.

One of my favorite steak places. Great service, I called ahead and they kept the kitchen open a few minutes late for me when I was running behind schedule on my last trip. The steak has great flavor and is generally cooked properly, maybe a hair overdone. I’m not normally a fan of cole slaw, but they put in a little bit of pineapple and it’s amazing.
You can also buy their steak rub there, but it saddens me a little it lists MSG as an ingredient. Seems like cheating to be honest.