Fig's Steakhouse — Local services in Gun Barrel City

Here’s our full comprehensive review. We’ve been there twice since their opening on Wednesday 8/7/24. We were really looking forward having a proper steak house in the area being foodies and appreciating great restaurants. Well, Fig’s doesn’t disappoint!

Pros: Very nice atmosphere. Very different and definitely upscale vs any other place around the lake. They did a great job and cared for providing a good experience: lighting, music, decor, etc. Steaks: cooked to perfection. We were a group used to top quality steaks and restaurants, and we had it all in our order: rare, medium well, medium rare, etc. all the pieces came exactly as they were supposed to. Plenty of waiters: they have a ton folks working there. Well done. The other good restaurant in the lake (The Dock) is totally ruined for us due to their horrible service. Bread: with the disappointing caveat that this only happened in their opening night (first night we went), to start off their service they brought a full huge loaf of incredibly crunchy, rich and warm bread for the table. Being originally from Europe, it is incredibly difficult here in the US to find true good bread. It’s been 20 years here already and haven’t seen bread like that one.. I thought to myself, wow! Sadly, this didn’t happen again during our second visit, and we were very disappointed instead they brought literally 3 small pieces of bread for a table for 6. What a downgrade, we were very sad to see they didn’t follow thru. Too good to be true I guess and an easy but disappointing way to cut cost.

Cons: Appetizers: all of them are seafood related (calamari, crab cake, etc). One of our friends is allergic to seafood so we essentially had to stick to salads and then steaks. No other appetizers available. Service refinement: everyone is super nice which to us is what really matters. But waiters need refinement and really step it up in terms of steakhouse-type of service. We had to constantly remind them to fill our waters, our waiter forgot one of the salads, we requested a desert spoon so my daughters could eat the Mac and cheese and never came, she brought desert menu when we were in the middle of our steak (like they needed the table), just to name a few examples. All of this will come with time, hopefully.

One thing however that I need to get off my chest and truly bothered us: shortly after sitting us at the table and bringing us the water, waiter kindly asked us if we were going to drink wine. I said probably. 3 minutes later the Chef came by approaching my 5-year old daughter directly very sweet and told her if she ate everything “he would take her in the kitchen, show her around and allow her to pick whatever desert she wanted”. Her face lightened up! She was ecstatic and we thought, wow, how nice! He then turned to us and when he learned that we would likely do something by the glass he sounded very disappointed and left. 3 minutes later came by with a bottle of Chardonnay and encouraged my wife to try it. She did, but we were not ready to chose as we didn’t know (yet) what we would pair it with . He looked frustrated and left. We’ve spent $250 in a bottle of wine before but this wasn’t the night. Two of our guest wanted Scotch, so we didn’t want a full bottle. Well, night went on and he never came back and didn’t honor what he told my daughter. Didn’t even acknowledged us while spending most of the night from table to table greeting the rest of the clients. To be clear, he didn’t have to do any of what he chose to do. But if you say something like that to an 5-year old, you just do it. Don’t want to think that his wonderful approach was just to sell us an $250 bottle of wine. Our 5-year old was saddened, this was so self-inflicted and unnecessary. He passed by our table several times. Nothing. Not even how food was.

Overall still a great experience, but we were left with a bad taste in our mouth that was completely unnecessary to begin with. Still a 4-star for the steaks and specially the bread during opening night which I am hoping...

We dined at Fig’s tonight for the first time, eager to experience what we’d heard were outstanding dishes from a talented chef, especially in a small town where this level of cuisine is rare. Given the higher-than-average price point, we expected a truly elevated experience, but unfortunately, there were several service missteps that detracted from what could have been a memorable evening. The Good: We were greeted promptly by our waiter, Ethan, who was polite and enthusiastic. The food, when it arrived (rather quickly), looked wonderful. The steak was cooked as ordere and the gratin potatoes were running over with cheese! There was certainly potential for an exceptional meal, which made the service issues all the more disappointing. The Dining Experience: • Drink Order: Initially, we were hoping for a smooth start with our drink order, but there was a mix-up. I ordered a drink with only two ingredients---when it arrived, I could tell immediately that it was not correct. It did not look nor taste as I had ordered. After pointing it out, Ethan returned with a revised drink, which still lacked the necessary ingredient. I asked for it to be removed from our bill, which he did without hesitation, but it was a frustrating start. • Food Order Process: When it came time to order, Ethan pulled out a tablet from his pocket to type in our selections. While I understand technology is becoming more common, it felt out of place in a fine dining setting. The lack of eye contact during the ordering process made it feel less personal, like we were at a fast-food counter rather than a high-end steakhouse. • The King Crab Legs: The most disappointing part of the evening came when we ordered the King crab legs. Upon tasting, I immediately noticed a foul flavor. I reported it to Ethan, who took the dish back to the kitchen for evaluation. He later returned to inform us that they were removing the crab from our tab, but there was no follow-up from the chef or the manager. This was a missed opportunity to show care and responsibility for the quality of the meal. Where the Experience Fell Short: While we appreciated Ethan’s polite demeanor, we left feeling that the service and management didn’t fully meet the standards we expected, especially for a restaurant with such a reputation. After the issue with the crab legs, we expected some acknowledgment from either the chef or the manager, but no one came by to address the situation or check on our dining experience. The fact that we left without so much as a word from senior staff about the quality breakdown was disappointing. This isn't a big city like Dallas—personalized service and attention to detail can make all the difference in a small-town restaurant, especially when things go wrong. Final Thoughts: We know that every restaurant has its off days, and sometimes issues with food or service can happen. However, it’s the way these issues are handled that really sets a restaurant apart. A simple gesture from the chef or manager would have made a world of difference in how we felt about the evening. While the food showed promise, the overall lack of management involvement left us with a sense of missed potential. We hope the restaurant takes this feedback to heart and improves on the details that would elevate it to the level of excellence...

. We ordered drinks and chips, party of 4 adults/ 2 young children, through another wait staff, 4 beers, 4 waters and 2 kids drinks, chips and queso. Around 10 mins later we received 2 waters, chips and 1 salsa, a few minutes later 3 beers, more salsa, queso and were told they could only find 1 kids cup but were looking for more. Finally received 2 kids drinks still waiting on the last beer. We had to get condiments from another table. We didn't see our waitress for another 25 mins. Finally found her, waved her down, she says the other girl said she took your order. We said no, she took our order. 35 mins have gone by, we flag the waitress down to check on our order, she leaves and comes back a few mins later and says it will be 5 to 7 mins more. People on 2 sides of us have came, ate and left. 20 mins have gone by suddenly one of our children started throwing up, we chase the waitress down again, ask for help with the throw up on the ground. The waitress brings an empty ice bucket, she seems upset helping. We tell her we now need the order to go. A man came over and apologized saying they were busy tonight ( I swear we heard "We're busy" 30 times) they would get our order as fast as they could. We ask for the check while we are waiting on our order, which took about 10 mins. I admit I was upset, over 2 hours we were there, we had been forgotten about, obviously. When the waitress finally brought the to go sacks out, she mentioned "they were busy" AGAIN! I told her that 2 tables had came and went and we still had no food. The waitress told me, " No way, were just busy! Next time just get your order to go!" I said, "there won't be a next time." The waitress replied, " GOOD!" Not only will we never go back here, we will never go to Figs Steakhouse or anything Figs own! Too bad you spent so much money opening such an ill-ran business. Certainly wasn't worth the $160 we spent tonight. The food wasn't that great, bland no flavor, sandwiches were dry and fries were soggy. Mr. Fig, "Inspect what you expect", hire quality people, (definitely more staff is needed), train them correctly. Invest in your employees, improve the quality of the food. As the city grows, more food establishments will open and yours will not last as...