Cypress Street Station — Restaurant in Abilene

More like "Train Wreck". With the tiny portions and bad food they should be ashamed of their prices. Eaten here on and off over for about a decade and, I dont know what's happened over the past few years, but the food is officially meteocre. Gone is the quiet, romantic dining experience by a fire over a delicious plate with live, soft piano music in the background. This place used to really be special and now it is plain sad.

Tried having lunch here today and made the mistake of ordering the chicken cesar. It is $15 before tax so I was expecting a BIG salad. There was barely enough lettuce to cover the bottom of the bowl with a FLAVORLESS chicken breast on top. Far more chicken than lettuce. I really hope they were not calling that blackened. I cant recall the last time I ate anywhere that served a cesar so pathetic yet here we were at a supposed upscale venue. It was INEXCUSABLY bad for the price!! The corn bread muffins were hard, small, and seemed a day old. We wanted to order trout, but the lunch menu is terrible and seriously lacking on seafood options. Who the heck goes to Cypress Street Station for a bunch of overpriced diner sandwiches??? All they had was barramundi for fish so we reluctantly agreed to try it. The waitress said it was similar to trout. It was not even close. The taste had a much stronger fishy flavor and the texture was closer to Mahi. The seasoning was not complementary and too light. The broccoli was under done, under seasoned, cold, and the fries were not crispy. They charged us $2 to put 8 tiny blueberries on our creme brulee. That was the final straw. We were disappointed in nearly every aspect of the meal aside from the clam chowder and martini but we did not have time for them to fix all of that. Typically you may infrequently wind up with one plate that needs remaking but this was a disaster from start to finish. For $70 we certainly wished we'd gone elsewhere. Now I know why we were the only ones there. We will stick to to gos of the chowder if we return at all.

We have tried CSS about four times since the ownership change and there has been no improvement. When your low reviews all say the same things TAKE A HINT!!! Galveston seafood outdoes whats offered here by a landslide. At least you'll have gotten something you enjoy eating when you're paying the expensive bill. Beehive is another great place to eat downtown. Theyre more of a steak house but, again, MUCH...

I loved the charm of the decor, from the storefront curved windows, to the tiny vintage hexagon tiles, the beautiful bar, and the pressed tin ceiling tiles; just charming and authentic.

The menu was small-this is not a criticism. About six dishes each in about 5 categories? A good selection without turning into a novel. And the dishes themselves had good flavor profiles and were perfectly proportioned. By that I mean your plates were not overflowing. The portion sizes were just right to fill you up but leave room for the next course without waste or the urge to clean your plate and over stuff yourself. Very accommodating to the members of my party with special dietary requests. A very enjoyable meal.

So why only three stars? The price point. Quite simply the value for your dollar isn't there. Ingredients are well thought out, but the flavor combinations are not ground breaking and there is nothing on the menu with anything "exotic" that would seem to justify it. I will say I didn't try the steaks and have no issue paying top dollar for a good cut of meat and those seemed to average about $25-28, which is pretty reasonable since I'm sure that they were of as good quality as the entrees my party enjoyed. But pasta dishes creeping close to $20 that have frozen shrimp just seems like missing mark. Again, delicious, frozen shrimp and all, but I'd feel better about the meal with about a 20% cut in price. Basically anything not steak or seafood still averaged $18-20 and I just have issue with burgers and sandwiches in that price range.

Also, the service. Our server was friendly and personable, but not quite as quick and attentive as the restaurant would seem to demand. A couple small serving faux pas, like literally not asking us what we'd like to drink (We ended up just drinking the water he brought when he greeted the table) and asking if we'd like dessert without having a desert menu handy. (I had seen the menu online before coming and already had one in mind, but my dining companions weren't prepared) But he wasn't rude nor so slow that we couldn't be patient. Again it's a value for your dollar and I just expected tighter service for the price we were paying.

I did like the food very much so I'm happy to recommend it. I'm just slightly disappointed in those two areas. It may not bother...

My family and I sat down for a late lunch/early dinner on a Friday. I come to this restaurant almost every year during the calf festival and occasional date nights, and always enjoy their food and atmosphere. This year was the first year after covid we attended both venues, and after a delicious meal and some cooling off, our server Zane gave us our check, I paid with my debit card and left a cash tip, because to me, cash is more concrete and accessible than leaving off a debit card. As we left, the manager stopped my partner to chat about an issue, I wasn’t sure what the conversation was, I thought it may have to do with something else. So my kids and I waited outside for my partner, he informed me that the manager was very rude and treated him poorly about the tip for the server. So I went inside, as I’m the one that paid for the meal, because I feel as a server you know your table, the people sitting there, and ultimately who is paying for the meal. I addressed the issue with the manager and I told him the cash was pinned on the inside of the receipt with the pen I signed the receipt with, so it would not be dropped. The manager proceeds to look high and low under tables and finally addresses our server Zane, after some time in the back of the kitchen he comes out and apologizes but only for “advocating” for their servers and making sure they are tipped. First, I understand tipping for a service well done, but after the accusations for NOT tipping as we did tip, I wished I would have asked for that tip back. You manager and server Zane on duty the date of June 11,2021 between the time of 1:52 and 3, were an absentminded, disrespectful, and a sexism/race discriminating duo. Advocating for your servers is a practice I respect, however there are respectful ways to get that across to customers who DON’t usually tip, not customers who do tip. We won’t be attending this venue, nor will I keep recommending this place to newcomers from out of town. This after experience we had has left the worst taste and completely wiped the good eating...