Update: Benton’s Prime Steakhouse is closing in December
Update: The Westin Crown Center Hotel sent out a statement this afternoon after Fat City broke the news that the hotel’s only fine-dining venue, Benton’s Prime Steakhouse, was scheduled to close in December. The statement confirms the report, adding that the restaurant will become a “rooftop social catering” venue. The likely reason is that the Westin’s owner, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, now operates the other Crown Center hotel property, the Hyatt Regency, which will be rebranded as a Sheraton Hotel in January. The Hyatt Regency operates two fine-dining operations — Skies and the Peppercorn Duck Club — although it remains to be seen if the dated, poorly marketed Peppercorn Duck Club stays in business.
The statement follows after the jump.
There have been several incarnations of Benton’s, the restaurant at the top of the Westin Crown Center Hotel, over the past couple of decades. It was still known as Benton’s Steak & Chop House a decade ago; that restaurant replaced the Top of the Crown dining room in 1985. More recently, the restaurant was renamed Benton’s Prime Steakhouse.
A former Benton’s employee posted on her Facebook page last week that the restaurant was closing in December. After days of leaving unreturned messages for Westin Crown Center general manager Steve Shalit, Fat City caught up with him by phone this morning. The conversation was brief and not very meaty: “I can’t speak to that,” Shalit said when I asked if the rumor was true. Then he hung up.
Hello?
