Looking for a nice steakhouse to celebrate a special occasion or meet up with friends? LOOK…read moreELSEWHERE. This was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had at a "high-end" restaurant, ,or honestly, even a regular restaurant. We made a reservation during DFW Restaurant Week to celebrate a friend's move and new job. Unfortunately, it was a terrible decision from start to finish.
We were seated in the back in an area with almost no lighting. I assumed it was intentional because it's a fancy restaurant, but as we were leaving, I noticed they turned the lights on for the next group. So apparently, our table just didn't deserve them.
I ordered the three-course Restaurant Week special. The crab cakes were extremely salty, I could only eat half of one. The steak was okay but nothing impressive. The twice-baked potato was cheesy, chunky, and extremely heavy, and didn't pair well with the steak. The crème brûlée wasn't much better; the custard was very thick and seemed overbaked, while the sugar topping was already soggy from apparently being torched too early.
Then came the service, or lack thereof. Because the food was so salty, everyone desperately needed water. After the crab cakes were served, nobody came to check on us or refill our glasses. We had to flag down 3 different waiters, and it still took another five minutes to get a pitcher. This lack of attention continued throughout the entire evening. What made it worse was that the staff didn't even seem busy; we could see them standing around the bar chatting.
Our waiter, Ivan, handed out the checks, but there was one extra. When we pointed it out, he didn't believe us and argued with us instead of simply recounting them. My friend calmly suggested that we hold up our checks so he could count them himself. Ivan eventually walked around collecting them one by one to confirm there was, in fact, an extra. It was like teaching a kindergartener how to count from one to six. Ridiculous.
Then I noticed I had been charged $36 for the crème brûlée, even though it was included in the Restaurant Week meal. We pointed out the mistake and asked Ivan to remove the charge. Again, he responded with an attitude, walked away to fix it, and disappeared. We waited 15+ minutes. Everyone had somewhere to be at 7:45, so our friends eventually left ahead of us. My boyfriend and I waited another 10 minutes before finally walking toward the bar to find our waiter ourselves. When we asked how much longer it would take, he said, "I'm still fixing it," with the same attitude.
By this point, we had been waiting 30+ minutes just to correct two items on a bill. Printing a check and removing an incorrect charge should not take half an hour. If you know your customers are having a bad experience, apologize and do better. Instead, Ivan continued to be dismissive and sassy. To his credit, another waiter eventually apologized and told us to ask for Kevin if we ever came back.
Next time? Never going to happen.
Imagine dressing up for a dinner that costs $100+ per person, only to receive worse service than you'd expect at a fast-food restaurant. We came here for DFW Restaurant Week and to see if this really was one of the best steakhouses in downtown Dallas. Instead, we left disappointed, frustrated, and feeling like we wasted a lot of money on what was supposed to be a special evening.
I also couldn't help but wonder whether our group being Asian had anything to do with how we were treated. I don't want to accuse a restaurant of racism based on one experience, but being seated in the back with poor lighting, repeatedly ignored, struggling to get water, and then receiving attitude over obvious billing mistakes made it hard not to question whether there was something more going on.
I generally try not to give a business a low rating based on one bad experience, but this was bad enough that I cannot recommend this place to anyone. We honestly should have just gone to Texas Roadhouse. At least we would have gotten better service and probably enjoyed the evening more.