luniz

I ate here on the last Saturday night of the extended restaurant week a couple weekends ago. It was easily one of the most enjoyable Saturday night dinners I've had in Dallas. Service was very good, the offered me the choice of a drink at the (crowded) bar on arrival, or to go ahead and be seated (we'll be seated now, thanks). The server & bussers were unobtrusive and helpful, and I had a lot of help with the sake which paired nicely with the restaurant week menu.

First course was a salmon carpaccio 'salad' for her and tempura shrimp for me. Both were excellent, the salmon dish was adventurous (for restaurant week) and the shrimp were good specimens, cooked precisely. For mains she had the kasu (sake lees) glazed sea bass. It was a delicate well balanced glaze, a velvety, sweet piece of fish, all served on a nice, simple risotto. I had the sushi sampler, escolar, tuna, salmon, & flounder (iirc), along with a roll of some sort. The roll was pretty typical of Americanized sushi, nothing bad, but tasted mostly of sauce. The nigiri were good quality for Dallas, expertly cut and well maintained fish on rice that's typical of American sushi rice - under vinegared, overly compacted. Dessert was a variety of bites, a kaffir lime leaf infused tofu cake that was delicious, ice cream, pocky, a very nice strawberry, and something else. Fun and a little whimsical. The sake choices varied from easily found Seven Spearsmen to a sake I hadn't had before and probably isn't available elsewhere in Dallas

The DJ that night played a pretty good mix and the music wasn't overly loud, we conversed pretty easily even though the dining room was full. Service really couldn't have been better, although it helps that I know somebody that works there. Overall it left me really looking forward to the next sake dinner they have.

Becoming a favored meeting spot for Saturday afternoon lunches with the group. Menu is wide and interesting and although some dishes are a little more popular than others, the preparation is always done at a high level. A lot of interesting fresh herbs are used to keep the flavors bright. The seafood hot pot comes with a good variety of fish and shellfish with enough vegetables that they're not there as filler. Salads are simple yet consistently good.

Two of my favorite "dishes" here aren't really their strengths, those being the bun bo hue and banh mi (I prefer La Me). Instead I'd recommend trying some more unusual dishes, in particular off the Vietnamese menu, as well as the hot pot. Service is ok, they can be a little slow on the drink refills but otherwise it's pretty good and they time courses fairly well most of the time. Value is great; you get good ingredients, a fair amount of food and no shortcuts on the preparation. It's a good place for a lengthy weekend meal with a group, indicate to the servers your willingness/desire to try different dishes and they will accommodate you.

A solidly mediocre restaurant. I've eaten here twice in the past 6 months. Both times the food was somewhere between ok and good, but both times the kitchen was out of what I tried to order first. They had only two wines on my last visit, the red was decent but not particularly interesting. I found the falafel to be overly crunchy/hard. The bread is good and most of the appetizers are good, I liked the "Turkish pizza". Entrees generally taste good but there's not much variation. The lamb is not bad but not the best in town either. I found the lentil soup a bit dull. The atmosphere isn't much to speak of either. Basically they try here, but don't do anything well enough to make this a destination.

Finally made the trek over to Frisco to try this place out. I'd heard that it was good. Well, compared to some pretty poor chains, it might be considered good, but I'd put it squarely in the mediocre camp myself.

Brisket was a decent piece of meat, I got both fatty and leaner slices as he sliced off two different halves at once. Neither was particularly smokey or flavorful. The leaner side wasn't the driest I'd ever had but wasn't any more interesting than cardboard. Ribs were actually good quality meat, but again the smoke flavor was nearly non-existent, except for possibly something in the rub. Again they lacked severely in the flavor department. But at least they were meaty and fairly tender. Sides and the free dessert were mediocre. I could almost swear there was some kind of cheese in the coleslaw. I'm not going to discuss the sauce. People who talk about sauce as if it's an important part of barbecue should move back to New York or wherever it is they came from.

I sat outside and aside from the entertainment of some huge Obama fans talking about guns and Jesus, the patio was a decent place to sit. They had some dude in a cowboy hat crooning and playing a guitar inside, which was why I was outside. But hey people like that sort of thing so I'll call it a positive.

Overall, I'd eat here if I had to, but I wouldn't drive out of my way to get there so I probably won't be back. Thanks to Smitty's I'm no longer interested in mediocre barbecue.

I went for lunch Saturday. Apparently I wasn't the only chowhound/Dallasfood reader to get that idea :)

Had the cote d'azure (a 'gallete' or savory crepe), carrot-cumin soup, and coffee.

I recommend anybody try this place out, especially for lunch. It's not quite intuitive what they want you to do: when you come in, the soups are on your left. Grab whichever you want if you're so inclined (little cups for tasting were available) and continue on towards the drinks to serve yourself. Grab a table and the guy will come over to take your order for crepes/quiche. When you're done, take your check to the register to pay there.

I thought the food was good, the few shrimp in my gallete were fresh and tasty, the sauce was a bit similar to the cumin-y soup unfortunately, but I liked the buckwheat crepe, which was nice and hardy for a good lunch. Service was really good & friendly and the chef came out to say hi with a huge smile. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in the neighborhood. Seems like someday it will be a nice place to sit outside and eat brunch, not sure if their patio was ready yet.

I find Malaga to be a rather charming place to get dinner in McKinney, which isn't exactly full of exciting options. The wine selection is decent and I've practically gotten drunk just from tastes...to make sure I had the right wine with my food.

For the price the food is good but not quite great. The goat cheese stuffed piquillo peppers are a must try and unbeatable when at their best. I can't say I loved the dates myself although that might just be my preference. I've liked the chicken piri piri and the mojete, the new ribs they're trying could be good but it depends on how lucky you are getting meaty ribs (it shouldn't).

Service can be uneven but I've never had bad service. I have had outstanding service when I've sat at the small bar. It's probably the best Texas restaurant I've been to north of Plano, but there's still (a little) room to improve.

Ate here with a group of around 10 last night. I'd heard it was one of the best Pakistani restaurants in the country (outside of Chicago anyway). Even so my expectations weren't super high. I'd say I wasn't let down.

We started with roast leg of goat. We got two of them. The first was overcooked, making it somewhat chewy, so we passed that to the other end of the table. The second was perfectly cooked and rather delicious. Quite spicy, very tender and juicy, and pretty flavorful without being overly gamey.

We followed that with a series of entrees including Nihashi, Brain (yep that's right) Masala, Chicken Garai (?), and Palak Paneer. The Nihashi underwhelmed but everything else was very good. The (goat I think) brain in the brain masala was hard to detect (admission: it was the first time I can recall eating brain) but the taste of the dish was excellent. The chicken...whatever it was, was really really delicious. It tasted like it had been braised in beef broth or something. The spinach was also very good, velvety. Everything came with some good naan bread as well. Total price with tip was a bit over $30 so it wasn't cheap, but we did have quite a bit of food. I'd definitely return.

Very solid sushi place in Richardson. Fairly high quality fish (not that I'm the expert). Interesting specials like monkfish pate and aji. Very friendly service and friendly and peaceful atmosphere. Some nigiri may be too heavily sauced for purists. $1 off wine on Tuesdays. Chef was formerly with Sushi Sake and is receptive to giving customers whatever it is they want. So far, this is where I go when I want nicer sushi. I'd really be interested in a more expert opinion.

Ate here twice recently. Main thing that sticks out to me is the quantity of food is very generous. Now if it was junk this wouldn't matter to me, but it's all good, fresh, well prepared classics (at least what I've had was). I hate ordering tabbouleh and not getting enough to satisfy my craving. Not gonna happen here, a small is (probably more than) enough for me as a tabbouleh lover. Although it was a bit too salty the second time I had it (I still devoured it). Also had the raw kibbe and the mixed (chicken and beef) shawarma. Kibbe was awesome. I love raw kibbe. Shawarma was also good, flavorful, moist and with a tangy sauce and all the fixin's. The pita comes from a local bakery, I forget which off the top of my head. It's fresh and thin like New Yasmeen's though, the way it's supposed to be. Would be a good place to get authentic Lebanese food, especially to share. Service is very personable, no matter how many times people ask "Does it really snow in Lebanon?"

Wow I kinda have a problem with Billy's review. I've been here at least 3 or 4 times and I highly disagree that the food and service are bad. The food might or might not be the most authentic (seems authentic to me) but it's well prepared and the ingredients are good, especially the lamb. Lamb malai saag was a great dish. The service is certainly not great but it is improving now that they've managed to hire a couple people. Portions are decently sized, a couple could probably split an appetizer and entree. If they mistreated you somehow you should describe it so that people can make their own judgements. The guy running the place has seemed a little harried but certainly not violent!

I ate here with a friend a couple Thursdays ago. It's conveniently near Love Field. We got there early, probably before 6 and the place was empty. It did fill up by the time we left.

Neither of us were drinking, so no wine. I did notice a guy at another table get a yogurt based drink he really seemed to like. I might have to try that next time. We started with baba ganoush. It was different from what I'm used to, quite chunky, but light and fresh tasting. It came with thick bread almost like foccacia, I would have preferred something more like pita myself but the bread wasn't bad. Not what I expected but we gobbled it up anyway.

I ordered the grandma's dumplings, I forget the name. It was basically pasta, like a tortellini. It came in a yogurt based sauce that I think had mint and olive oil as well. It was very good and definitely something different. Probably not super healthy though. My friend got the lamb on roasted eggplant which was also good, the lamb was tender and tasted like lamb. The service was very good and they did it without bothering us. Overall it was a pleasant experience and I'd like to explore more of the menu. Oh yea and the decor was probably good too (maybe not up to Bill Addison standards), they had a poster for a failed Greek Olympic bid :)