Chamberlain's Steak & Fish — Restaurant in Addison

Update: After speaking with the CFO Jeff Barker he urgently made sure to rectify the situation by reimbursing me the full amount of my jewelry. I appreciate his sincerity and urgency in handling this matter.

My wife and I have frequented this establishment named Chamberlains in Addison Texas because the food is delicious and prior to March 3rd the service was great. They serve steak and fish and after the atrocious level of service we received on March 3rd , I would not recommend anyone patronize this place of business not even my worst enemy and I don’t have any enemies. Simply, the way their wait staff, management, and ownership treated us was a complete 360 degree turn from our previous interaction with this restaurant’s personnel. It’s apparent when this company is faced with customer’s concern the company’s course of action is to blame the customer and claim ignorance of the problem. The problem that was initiated by this restaurant is as follows:

I wore an expensive piece of jewelry out for the night and before eating (as always) place my jewelry in a saucer next to me. As usual I secured my retainer in the manner I have done at other reputable establishments like; Morton’s, Ruth Chris, etc. , and never had any issue. My wife and I were having a wonderful time, things were going great, the server decided to clear dishes off our table and took the saucer with my jewelry on it back to the kitchen hurriedly. When I brought it to the attention of the General Manager that my jewelry was taken by mistake, he apologized and assured me he would look for it. I offered to show him a picture to expedite locating my jewelry, and I also offered to help in the search for my jewelry for which my assistance was refused. Approximately 15 minutes passed before letting us know they couldn’t find my jewelry. Their resolve was they threw my jewelry away, and the server literally ignored us from the time he took my jewelry until we left. We never received an apology; no sense of remorse was expressed or any level of compensation for our inconvenience was provided. I was fortunate enough to convey the value of my jewelry and express my desire to be compensated for my loss. I provided them with several fair options to contemplate and I was told I would be contacted soon via their insurance and or their lawyer. I waited until Tuesday to no avail and had not been contacted by any representative of this restaurant. I again reached out, initiated contact, and I spoke with the general manager (Robert Lawrence). I admit I felt insulted because Robert Lawrence (General Manager) felt more concerned about the stain on his suit when searching for my jewelry opposed to his wait staff being careless and losing my jewelry. It was insulting to be interrogated on whether I had insurance and not hearing what his company was going to do to rectify a problem that his company caused. I brought my wife out for a date night and ended up with a “Chamberlain Imposed Horror Story”.

It is a shame that companies feel that they can treat their patrons anyway they want because they are a company or a corporate entity. I am here to say, “No More”. I am not a person that generally speaks out specific to issues because like most people we just roll with it however not this time and not this day. I was told Mr. Chamberlain (the owner) would call me and I have not heard from him however on my previous visits he was a regular visitor to our table. This company showed me and showed the public what kind of food/service provider they really are because if there is a problem, it’s the customers fault. This is a restaurant where their patrons wellbeing does not matter and their return business is not a priority. If you want to patronize a restaurant that does not give a “DAMN” about their customers, then I suggest you go to Chamberlains. If you want to patronize a restaurant that serves great food, has a great wait staff, and a leadership team that puts their patrons first, “DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH...

I selected Chamberlain's because they offered a five star steak with an attached cigar lounge.

I arrived for an early quiet dinner and was offered a booth near the bar. Since I was solo, I accepted. In retrospect I should have insisted on a table in the much quieter dining room. The wait staff near and around the bar and hallway to the other dining rooms was loud and boisterous at the opening hour. I spent my dinner listening to house gossip and hearing running commentary on the episode of Diners Drive Ins and Dives on the bar television.

The Host could have figured out that flying solo, I was there to eat, smoke and get out. He could have sat me in one of the empty dining rooms rather than next to the noisy bar. (Noisy with staff, not patrons).

I ordered the aged 40 day 16oz Ribeye - medium rare. It was served with a red sauce which was not explained to me. The steak was unremarkable - which took me by surprise. I'm not sure if I was expecting a Ruth's Chris or Golden Steer level steak - but I feel like I could have had the same steak at Outback or Texas Roadhouse for a fraction of the price.

My waiter was very attentive and kind, although he did not offer any explanation on the sauce. He did suggest a Cab that he remarked was a very good "drinking wine" - it was called Educated Guess. It was a generous 5+oz pour. 5 stars for this guy - I think it was Ray or Ron - my apologies for forgetting - you were excellent.

After dinner I went over to the Cigar Lounge. The website suggests mentioning you want to visit the Cigar Lounge when making the reservation. Since it was very early in the evening, there were plenty of seats - I think there were only two other groups there.

I was sat at a high top - which even bore a table marker with my name on it - which was a nice albeit unnecessary touch. The effort of classiness here was nice - a stark contrast from the behavior of the staff near the bar and corridor.

Since I was solo and the room was empty, I asked if I could relocate to a more comfortable seat and was obliged. They only have a handful of comfy couches, the rest of the seating is primarily high tops for four or six. No single or double leather chair options. I found a spot with a couch and surrounding chairs - normally would have been for a large group. They were totally cool with me taking the space, presumably because they were still early in the quiet evening.

I wasn't floored by the cigar selection, and the markup was a little excessive for DFW - but not unreasonable.

I settled on a Rocky Patel vintage 1990 - cousin to the 1992 which is one of my favorite smokes. I was hoping for a My Father's Jaime Garcia - but the My Father's selection was limited (image attached).

I was really let down by the stick. If I had to guess, I think their humidor was a little on the dry side.

I ordered an Old Fashioned - "sweet" - and since they did not offer my favorite Bulleit (only the Rye) - I asked for a "Texas equivalent" - I don't know what they picked, but it was delicious.

The wait staff in the Cigar Lounge was great. I didn't catch their names but all were equally kind and attentive.

Ordered: 16oz Ribeye MR, Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon, Rocky Patel v1990 Toro, Old Fashioned "sweet" - unknown bourbon/whiskey

Pros: Attentive wait staff, generous pours and good mixed drinks.

Cons: Value and quality of food & smoke.

If you're looking for a five star steak and smoke in DFW, I guess...

A magnificent experience, something I have greatly missed since the start of the plague. It breaks my heart to hear that their sister location down the street closed when the pandemic hit. The atmosphere is dark, calm, elegant, and reserved. The warmth is felt and the services impeccable. More than just feeding you, you can have things explained to understand not just what is offered but how it is done and what makes it special. We started our evening with the conversation on the aging of steaks and what that provides, and our server went back to speak with the chef for a more specific answer to provide because we were curious how it worked.

We had gotten the 40 day aged New York strip and ribeye. My wife had her ribeye come with both the regular red wine sauce and the bearnaise sauce. The regular sauce I feel had a better flavor, however the bearnaise was so light and airy it felt like a liquid souffle and it really did elevate the experience in a way I wasn't expecting, so yes definitely a good thing.

I really liked the peppercorn crusted filet mignon on the menu with the pepper sauce but wanted to get the New York strip instead of filet mignon, and they said they could easily accommodate that. Holy hell it was amazing. The peppercorns are extremely tiny and made a perfect crustiness for it that at the end of the meal left only the tip of my tongue with a slight burn, perfect. One thing I noticed was that the filet mignon regular and the peppercorn filet mignon were the same price on the menu, but there was a sauce premium to get the peppercorn on the New York strip, but it was only $5, so it was even cheaper than the bearnaise sauce that my wife got with her ribeye. The peppercorn sauce was definitely my favorite of the three sauces.

We got creative with our sides. My wife ordered the sauteed mushroom masala, and wow-level yikes that is very very indulgent. I highly recommend it and would also say don't save eating it for the end of the meal because you will want to alternate bites of that with other food because it is very rich.

I took the creamed corn as my side. This is unlike any cream corn I have ever even heard of. It's not actually even creamed, at least in the sense of anything I had encountered before. They take whole kernel cooked corn on the cob, shave off the kernels, and then toss them in a Parmesan glaze or light sauce. They then top it with some light shredded parmesan cheese and generously thick chunks of candied bacon. You can tell that it was just sliced off the cob because there are not only individual kernels but even chunks of maybe three rows of five adjacent kernels that will still be stuck together. There was no issue with the shaving, it's not like there was any cob material, the point I'm trying to make is the great novelty of this dish. While the sauteed mushroom masala had a better flavor, I will absolutely and hands-down recommend the cream corn first. I am that impressed by the novelty and construction of the dish.

We were here to celebrate our third anniversary, and at the end of the meal we were presented with an off menu dessert, a blackberry creme brulee with powdered sugar. The custard was rich but not heavy, the shell was hard but not burned, the berries were juicy, and the sugar was dusted evenly and lightly but not with complete coverage. It was wonderful.

Thank you Candice for a...