The steaks remain high at Robert’s

When Hard Rock Hotel & Casino opened last summer where Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal Casino-Resort once stood, it did so with but four remnants of the previous operation: Il Mulino New York, a top-shelf Italian dining room and its adjacent, more-casual Trattoria Il Mulino, Scores, an outpost of the famed Manhattan gentleman’s club, and its corporate sibling, Robert’s Steakhouse.

We are happy to report its two-year absence has diminished Robert’s not at all. A recent visit indicated that, in a city bursting with top-shelf, steak-focused restaurants, Robert’s remains a standout.

The sophisticated, elegant main dining room is still a most impressive space, and the steaks are still aged longer than the two-to-three weeks done at most carnivoriums (executive chef Will Savarese, who runs the kitchen, refuses to divulge exactly how long that is).

The beef is carved on-site in a refrigerated butcher shop and then cooked at 1,800 degrees, which provides a superior sear to the simply seasoned ultra-prime meat. Of course, there is a full selection of chops and seafood available as well. And the bar that sits at the eatery’s entrance provides one of AyCee’s coolest, most comfortable hangouts.

For general manager Rosalina Ianucci, the food is but one reason Robert’s is not just another casino beefeteria. Another is the ambience.

“It’s special because it has that old-school, steakhouse feeling, like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. will walk through the door at any moment,” she said.

For more, go to www.robertsatlanticcity.com