The Golden Steer is more than just a steakhouse, it’s a piece of Las Vegas history. Sinatra, Muhammad Ali and Elvis dined there. Mob bosses held dinner meetings in dimly lit Golden Steer booths, coming and going through a secret back entrance. Nick McMillan and Amanda Signorelli are the husband and wife team managing the legendary restaurant.
In a recent episode of Forktales, Michael talked to Nick and Amanda about the importance of top-notch hospitality, the best way to cook a steak and how they’ve preserved the Golden Steer’s status as a living monument to the glitz, grit, and glamor of classic Vegas.
Check out the full episode with Nick and Amanda here.
You describe the Golden Steer as having three historical chapters. Can you talk about that?
We really think about it as stages and horizons of history. The very first one was, the period of the Wild Wild West, friendly for the Cowboys. Cowboys would come in from all these different places around the world, go on the mountains, and whatever they shot and killed, they’d bring in, and it would be our responsibility to clean, prep, serve, and cook.
Then the second phase was the showman era, when Vegas became the entertainment capital. You had Sammy Davis Jr., Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra. They’d perform and then come back at night to dine at the Steer. And then, of course, with the glitz and glam comes the seedy underbelly: the mob era. The mob spent a ton of time here, leading to the mob room.
COVID created havoc for the restaurant industry, but you adapted with mail-order products. How did you come up with that strategy?
We were actually planning for COVID in December of the year prior. A lot of restaurants looked at to-go options, but being on the strip with the world shut down, it didn’t make sense for us. Most of our customers came from outside Nevada. So we said, ‘Let’s ship to them.’ Nick and I both had experience with shipping companies. We went live on (our online retail business) Goldbelly and sold out of inventory with one email in two weeks, and took it in-house by November.
What’s the secret to making hospitality real and ensuring your staff brings it to life every day?
It starts with people. Steve Wynn said it best—‘people make people happy.’ We try to embrace that. For example, we still answer the phone. A lot of restaurants don’t anymore. We hired people to ensure calls get answered by a human voice. At the end of the day, we’re a family business. We know people are coming in to celebrate their birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations. And if something is wrong, we’ll replace it or make it right because we want people to feel happy and welcomed. Warmth is what we focus on.
You recently expanded the Golden Steer for the first time in 50 years. How did you approach preserving its classic look?
We kept everything inspired by the existing space—wood paneling, the same carpets, even the popcorn ceilings. Our designer was shocked when we insisted on keeping the popcorn ceilings, but they’re part of the history. We wanted guests to feel like it was a seamless extension. When we opened the new space, one couple walked in, hugged us, and asked to see the new area. They were already standing in it! That’s exactly what we hoped for.
