"32"  Fine Dining Resturant inside the Imperial Palace Casino Hotel review 2/2006
Bayview Ave, Biloxi MS  1-888-WIN AT IP

Wednesday February 22, I had a late in the evening meeting in Diberville, just across the bay from Biloxi, as I was crossing the bridge I saw the bright blue lights on the Imperial Palace Casino shining brightly. I said to my husband, after the meeting we are going to eat at the IP. Since the devastation to our area by Hurricane Katrina in August of 2006, only 3 casinos are have re-opened, almost all of the restaurants in the surrounding cities are understaffed, and working with limited hours, and have lines so long they wrap the buildings. In summary finding a really good meal consistently on the gulf coast has been some what of a struggle.  Just 2 weeks ago I gave one of the other casinos that had rushed to open back up a chance, I was dismally disappointed. We found parking fairly easy on the 5th floor of the parking garage. Having never eaten at the IP (except for the Ice Cream Shoppe in the lobby) we weren't sure what to expect. We entered the 2nd floor dining plaza and a nicely decorated hostess both was ahead. I inquired what type of restaurant this was. She informed me it was a Sandwich Shoppe/Coffee house.  Even though the atmosphere and the hostess were quite nice I felt like a meal. She informed us that there was the buffet just a few feet away, or their fine dining called 32, located appropriately on the Thirty second floor of the hotel. I inquired about reservations and she immediately picked up the phone and called 32 to check on availability and if she could get us in. Nice touch, and good service.  We weren't exactly prepared for fine dining, it wasn't planned, a special occasion and we weren't even dressed as we usually would.  So I took a peak at the buffet next door and saw the typical after Katrina  hungry people waiting line. We transversed the casino and conquered the elevators. When we arrived at 32, a polite young hostess asked if we had reservations, when we answered no, she didn't even flinch but did ask us to wait just a moment while she checked. Within 3 minutes we were being escorted to our table.  The ambiance was nice, dimly lit, with a view of the night lit town of Biloxi from above. Our server was LeAnn, a local, she oozed southern hospitality with a down to earth feel yet offered the professional service associated with fine dining.  The menu selections all sounded wonderful , I finally decided upon a Petit Fillet, with my Husband choosing the Prime Rib. I have to give you background here. In April of 1997 I fell in love, I had the wonderful opportunity to have a Fillet from Darrell's in Mobile, which is now gone. In 9 years I have not found a steak that paralleled the quality of that particular cut, the taste, the tenderness it was love. So for 9 years I have searched, Vegas, Tampa, the Gulf Coast, Tennessee and Oklahoma for something comparable. I always order it and upon the first bite I always say, "this is good, it's just not the "one".  So in all fairness to " 32 " I was going in with a tainted preconception and extremely high standards. I knew I would enjoy the meal, and the atmosphere, and the food would be good, I even thought about changing my order so I could be more un-biased.  They had plenty to chose from, an extensive Beef, Veal and Chicken selection along with an assortment of Seafood dishes that made your mouth water just to read the menu.  I just felt like trying their fillet fair or not.  We decided to forgo the appetizers and have a tasty salad tossed in their house. However before the salads showed up a delightful smoked salmon on fresh salsa appeared for sampling. Kudos. The food service time was astonishing fast for a fine dining restaurant, and when my fillet appeared it was topped with a  delicious baked sweet onion.  I wont go into details but I will simply tell you this.  After 9 years of searching, I found it. Yes finally, I could hardly believe it. I can't tell you about the sides I had ordered, because I simply pushed them aside. The unbelievable truth that I had actually found the one. I had to call the manager over and let him know.  To say this petite fillet mignon was good or wonderful or delicious would be a slap in the face. To say that every bite of this steak made my taste buds dance with delight to say I wanted to actually hunt down the man who raised the fillet, the person who cut it and the chef and personally kiss each one, that would be closer to accurate.  After nine years of a dull and lingering memory of a love once lost, I had re-kindled the flickering flame into a full blow inferno. 32 had done it. 6 states and 9 years of searching.  On another less colorful note, my husband put their prime rib in his top 10 list and made the comment we will be back.  He is anxious to try some of their seafood dishes. The desert menu was appetizing however we decided to pass on this visit. With our bill came scrumptious heart shaped chocolate truffles and a surprised that the prices were above and beyond fair for this dining experience. Before leaving I asked Marvin to give me a tour of the high tech and architectural centerpiece that is the wine cooler. A separate area for Whites kept cooler and another with a different temperature for reds. A vast selection of wines with around 3000 bottles currently in stock. I am sure would please any wine connoisseur. From top to bottom I simply must give "32" at the Imperial Palace an exceptional review.  It's been here for years, but with all the options available before and not being too much of gambler I don't usually opt for Casino dining. So my preconceived notion and habit of searching out of the way places, lead me to miss out on a delightful experience I have passed by daily standing 32 floors in the sky lit up in blue inviting me in. We will return, un announced and see if we can duplicate this scenario,   they have certainly set a high standard to live up to. I can't wait to try again.