R&D Kitchen
8314 Preston Center Plaza Drive, Dallas, 75225
Phone: 214-890-7900
Find more restaurants
Cuisine
Basic information:
- Pricing: Moderate
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Accepts major credit cards
Business hours
- Sundays: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Mondays: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Tuesdays: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
- Wednesdays: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Thursdays: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Fridays: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
- Saturdays: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The kitchen is always open during business hours.
Subscribe to the feed of upcoming events at this place: RSS 
Find...
Today
1st Ever Libertine Brass Knuckle Corndog Beatdown Happy birthday, 'Merica. Before you watch the rockets' red glare tonight, stop in for beer and a kid-friendly corn dog contest. What could be more patriotic than that? More info
Blogs
- It’s me, not the phone
Square Pegs - Local musicians make a song for Neda
Square Pegs - St. Vincent on Letterman
Square Pegs
Latest comments
- Andrew Laska on UT Dallas in Richardson celebrating its 40th anniversary: Doyle, I might suggest in the future that you post these kinds of comments to the Richardson Echo wh...
- Mike Orren on Pearl at Commerce: Hey Tracy: Any chance of getting Guillermo Klein as he tours about? We saw him @ Village Vanguard in...
- AnnMarie Wilson on Eating and drinking events in Dallas-Fort Worth July 1-7: We were in Coppell for their Fireworks celebration on July 3 - outstanding! Brave Combo played, it w...
- Tracy Yost on Pearl at Commerce: Ok, **Michelle is a go for Friday Oct 23rd!! ** Jason, thanks for coming by, and for your kind words...
Latest reviews
- Mike Orren on Agave Tapas Grill Restaurant & Bar: Easily the best tapas restaurant on Lake Ray Hubbard… This one’s a matter of expectation setting. ...
- caitlynbuckley on Jake's Old Fashioned Hamburgers (Dallas / Skillman & Abrams): If you are craving a delicious, greasy hamburger and you want it immediately, Jake’s is a great plac...
- John Meyer on Tony's Pizza & Pasta (Dallas): If it weren’t for Tony’s, I’d have no place left to go for a quick and tasty Italian meal around my ...

Comments
Billusa99 Anonymous
Food: 4/5 Vibe: 4/5 Service: 4/5 Value: 4/5 Overall: 4/5
Agent 99 and I headed out again this past Saturday to Cafe R&D, after shaking off the last vestiges of hanging out at an east suburban pool hall till way past our normal turn-in time the night before! The eclectic bunch there kept tugging at the 'interesting conversation strings' and before you know it, was midnight and time to board the pumpkin home.
At 7PM on a rainy, freezing Saturday, R&D place was jammed, but we timed it right to get an elevated oval table on the bar side that backs up to the half of the room that is dining (all banquets and booths). Ours was a prime spot for people watching and our service was superb, too. We started with splitting a Mediterranean Seared Tuna Salad, which was sushi-grade ahi, avocado, baby cukes, baby beets, mild goat cheese (like a Point Reyes), blanched haricots vert, grape tomatoes, and unique little yellow tomatoes shaped like miniature pears. The vinaigrette had dash of hot mustard (we think) and it suited the salad perfectly (although it was spread a tad heavily). The seared tuna was melt in your mouth, peppered on the outside, and the dish was entree size -- it's a meal unto itself.
Then came the pan-seared fish special for that night -- halibut. It's flash seared to give it a golden crisp crust and then (obviously) roasted in some sort of salamander at very high heat for a very short time. It's blazing hot, but butter smooth inside, and cooked perfectly. Which means, moist, not dry and it was fork-flaky. Sided along were smashed potatoes with sweet corn kernels wedded in and a nice beurre blanc was pooled along side, in case any of it wanted a swim. Wines, like the food, are 'Houston's priced' which means at the high end of average, but there was a quality assortment in the $9-12/glass range.
We are normally not chain people, but Houston's has always been the exception. Service is always stellar and the food is always top quality and prepared exceptionally well. Cafe R&D is right up there and should do extremely well with its less formal atmosphere. In fact, the swooping blonde wood beams to the windows are stunning, and the entire backside could almost be the underside of a roll-top desk. It's minimalist modern, done well. 99 had fun... just like at that pool hall... so we'll be back!
1 year, 6 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Post a comment