Hillside Social — Restaurant in Cedar Hill

As beautiful as the aesthetic of this restaurant is, I do not plan on revisiting this establishment nor will I be recommending anyone to go there. The service is absolutely horrible from the hostess to the management. I had a 3 o’clock reservation arrived @ 2:50pm, my first interaction with a member of the staff was at 3:15pm. A young lady asked me if I had been helped & I told her I hadn’t and that I had a reservation for 3:00pm. She asked if my entire party was present and I informed her that they were. As she proceeded to get us seated she was informed that the seating was on hold per management. Upon hearing this statement I asked for clarification because I had a reservation. A young man stepped in and informed me that brunch ended and they were switching to the dinner menu and the kitchen was closed until 5pm. Needless to say I was very upset. The young man tried to explain that this was a standard practice which I completely understood however if that is the case why would there be reservations available for that time slot? He grabbed the manager who seemed very nonchalant and irritated that he was being pulled into the conversation who merely repeated what the young man had stated that the kitchen was closed and that we could be seated and order drinks but we would have to wait for the kitchen to open back up before we ordered our entree meal . I had a party that was all dressed up and ready to eat and celebrate my daughters for her birthday so with reluctance I agreed to be seated and wait. We were informed that we could order appetizers as well so I figured with appetizers and drinks I could hold them over. Once seated we had to wait on a server who was busy with another big party and trying to manage balancing both parties out. We weren’t offered water in our wait (to be honest we never got the water even after we requested it). Drinks were finally able to ordered and eventually appetizers and after 20-30 minutes we got our order of appetizers but still had about 40 minutes before our meals could be ordered. To kill the time and make the best of the situation the party attendees and the guest of honor went outside to take photos. When we were able to order everyone ordered their selective choices and the waiter put the order in. The food took about 40 minutes to come out (we had a party of 9) so I will give them grace in this area, however when everyone’s food arrived my daughter’s food was not brought out and we were told that her food had to be remade because her order was the first to come out and was put back so that it could come out with the rest of the table, well, what a mess that was because her food did not make it to the table until 20 minutes after everyone else’s food had arrived. I had fried fish and shrimp and my fish was pink in the inside, can you imagine my level of anger at this point waiting 40 minutes for food and it being undercooked when it is finally served. The waiter graciously took it back to the kitchen but I was livid. We spent at least 3 hours in this restaurant and I never seen the manager after our initial interaction. You would think with the type of service we received in our initial encounter it would encourage him to check on the party and the flow of service and our experience but we never received that courtesy (I dine out often and in other establishments no matter the service, managers are on the floor checking on guest and asking about their satisfaction level) which I think is absolutely absurd. We tried to make the best of our experience and our meal but it was definitely a downer on the celebration. We had cupcakes as well and when it was time to sing happy birthday and the waiter brought them to the table and I opened the box the cupcakes were tossed everywhere and I had to pick them all up and placed them back in a presentable manner. The waiter tried his best to do service recovery but his efforts fell short due to his long periods of absence and the lack of care of the manager and...

The pros: *Beautifully decorated *LOTS of photo opportunities *Ladies room was well stocked with thoughtful extras, like mouthwash, floss picks and feminine products *Impressive menu **the majority of my party enjoyed their menu items (with an exception that will be explained further into the review)

The cons began when I entered the building. *The three female hostesses were engrossed in their phones, never looked up, even after I walked to the hostess station to ask for my private party.

*A very demure young lady in a hot pink ONESIE walked up to me and led me to my party. *Smooth jazz played in the background, just a bit too loud to enjoy conversation-- and it kept skipping; the way an old school cd would skip back in the day. I arrived 45 minutes late to the event, so I was surprised to learn that no food had been served to the 15 or so people who arrived on time.

*As the young lady took my drink order, I learned that they did not offer sugar free options. I requested water, which I recieved 30 minutes later.

*The host of my party (my family member) made multiple trips to the kitchen and brought back drinks because our server was MIA.

*Because I was unfamiliar with this establishment, I chose to order a 'safe' menu item -- cheeseburger and fries, medium well.

*There were approximately 20 people in my party. Of those 20, I believe 7 ordered burgers and fries. The burgers trickled in; some, one at a time. To be exact; the person to my right and her two children received their burgers shortly after I arrived. No other food was served at that point; just 3 burgers. Then came two burgers for the people to my left. Then one for the person in front of me. Then came mine.

It LOOKED good. However, when I sliced into it, raw pink meat stuck to my knife. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a picture. *The other the burgers were undercooked as well. Four burgers were sent back to the kitchen for a redo.

At least 30 minutes later, three burgers were served. At that point, my whole party was now eating or done eating. I walked to the kitchen and found my demure server in the pink onesie and sweetly asked her to please cancel my order. She then informed me that the burger was prepared and pointed to the counter where it was resting (although I wasn't offered an explanation ss to why it hadn't been SERVED). I politely reaffirmed that I wished to cancel my order, as the rest of my party was done/almost done eating. Her demure presence seemed to shift to perturbed. I rejoined my party.

The now perturbed hostess came to my table shortly thereafter to inform me that "he" said that I could have the burger 'to go', because it had been made and it will not be removed from my ticket. I asked to speak with the manager.

A very nice gentleman, Sedrick, came to my table and asked how he could help. His response led me to believe that he was misinformed, as his response was, " oh, you just want ONE burger removed? I thought you wanted to cancel everything!" To which, I sweetly responded, "no; just mine. everyone else has eaten". I left the establishment shortly thereafter. I was there for approximately two hours and 15 minutes.

Constructive feedback to leadership at Hillside Social: *Encourage your team members to greet each customer. *Your menu and prices suggest a fine dining experience. There is a level of expectation that comes with that. Your three hostesses presented a fast food experience. *(Most importantly) Stress the importance of sending the food out TOGETHER and in a timely manner.

I did not enjoy my experience, but I did take some...

This California 🐻 gurl living in a Texas ⭐️ world 🌎 will NEVER EVER PATRONIZE HERE AGAIN. I made the fatal mistake of supporting this place. Let’s start off with pluses first. Parking= excellent Decor= beautiful Atmosphere = really nice Music = I was dancing in my seat! Now……….As far as everything else, here we go……I have never ever tasted fried chicken 🍗 so horribly made! No seasoning 🧂 at all and they used old grease yuck 🤮 on top of that it wasn’t cooked all the way through so the cook served pink meat. I believe they cooked it too fast and in old grease which made it look done! The waffle 🧇 was cold and dry. Please tell me how do you serve something cold out of the kitchen to paying guest. The Health department needs to pay them a visit . As a matter of fact when I’m done I can look up the most recent health inspection to see what they were given. The mac&cheese 🧀 was sour and had too much cheese on top of it, and they burned it. They also used the wrong combination of cheeses which I believe made it disgusting 🤮. The yams 🍠 had no butter 🧈 and only a lil bit of sugar on them . It was swimming 🏊‍♀️ in more water 💦 rather than sugar and butter! Now that I described the food, let me talk about the service that was so bad…….. oh my. I picked the wrong day to come, because it was the Derby day. So all of the staff was getting ready for that event which was at 3 pm, yet our reservation was at 1pm. Our waiter was a young man that they kept calling him away to unload the truck of supplies for the 3pm event. When he did make it to our table all he could do is look 👀 and say “I’m sorry but they had me unloading a truck”. Really, unloading a truck, while serving a table food……Welp after my table complained about the food 🍱, to our waiter; we requested to speak with the owner. The waiter did let her know , but can you believe she never came to speak with us. She was too busy setting up for the 3 pm event. Instead she sent over 3 horrific desserts to I guess appease us. The peach 🍑 cobbler was piping hot but had no taste at all. No butter 🧈 no sugar no nutmeg no cinnamon………..! The Tiramisu had a runny liquid it was sitting on and the Red Velvet cheesecake was so old that the paper it was in was stained red!! That’s a tell tell sign of not being fresh. Really oh wow…… after paying my bill 💵 which was a joke of $150.00 dollars I just let music 🎵 that was playing usher me right out the door 🚪. Terrible just disappointing and I had guests from out of state too!!!! Embarrassing 😳. Now will I let this experience that I had, cause me to place all of the restaurants I have on my bucket 🪣 into a no good box 📦 Nope! I believe there are some great undiscovered places in Dallas (and surrounding areas) with great food service and ambiance….. I just haven’t been to one yet. I hope the owner reads this review I hope she will take a closer look 👀 at the areas that need changing. If she doesn’t, this place will close down. Nobody wants the experience of bad food and service while trying to cover it up with...