Esco Dallas Restaurant and Tapas — Restaurant in Dallas

ZERO OUT OF TEN I DO NOT RECOMMEND!!!

It’s a shame that the food was 10 out of 10 for 0 out of 10 service.

CONS: Lack of Seating, Lack of Waiters, Lack of Bartenders, Lack of A/C, Lack of Management to handle an establishment of this small size to make sure orders are handled on time. (To be clear there was 1 manager, who stood behind the bar the whole time laughing taking pictures with staff while people were standing at the door, standing at their tables waiting for their tickets, or people just sitting staring at him because the food hadn’t arrived within the first 1.5 hour of sitting there) Yes you read that right, thats how long it took for our food to come out. They get you with the drinks though those came out after about 10 minutes and they came first.

THE BEGINNING: I should have known it would be trash when there’s a sign that says seat yourself and all of the tables are full. Upon entry about 3 tables were waiting on 1 waitress to bring them their ticket so they could leave. I stared at people standing up waiting to leave for about 30 minutes. Once they left I knew it was my chance for our party of 6 to snag 2 tables. So we sat at dirty tables that were never wiped off, and still had about 4 empty cups from the previous customers who finally got to leave after waiting for their tickets. Once our waitress arrived she took our orders for drinks while staring at the dirty tables and old cups from the other customers and I had to ask her take the cups. But she also never wiped down the tables. I had to pee at one point so I went to the bathroom and the toilet was full to the brim with pee with no toilet handle for flushing and no paper towels for drying your hands.

After using the bathroom and sipping my drink. I realized they forgot my iced water I had asked for. Our food finally came 1.5 hours after we finished drinking our drinks, and I reminded the waitress again about my iced water I never got she said okay. Mind you as the food is coming out none of us got any silver ware. So we have to wait another 15 minutes for the manager to head out the door and I yelled that we never got silverware and he said okay I got you. Another 10 minutes later I look up and I see he has about 6 plastic fork and knives in his hand but he foes back to taking pictures and laughing with a table of customers close the bar. There were quite a lot of people celebrating birthdays including my sister so its Libra Season idk why the manager was acting like he was apart of the celebrations instead passing out our food. It was very frustrating. So i’m sitting there starung at him over there dancing with our plasticware instead of giving it to us and my sisters boyfriend ends up walking up and grabbing our plasticware (it wasnt silverware) so we could finally eat. Meanwhile im still waiting on my iced water. Mind you I asked for water 3 different times and once I even asked the manager and nobody ever brought it. So my sisters boyfriend walks up to the bar again and gets my my iced water!

All in all. Don’t waste your time in the 2Chains name. Its, not giving Professional, its very much giving ghetto. Just order your food to go. Don’t even dine in… becuase for all of this unprofessionalism there’s an 18% gratuity added to each check. Yeah they really got some nerve.

I’m so sick of it. It was bad. Just bad service all around.

But take a look at how good the food looks. It was really good which sucks for bad customer service we...

We decided to try something different for my husband’s birthday weekend and visited Esco Restaurant in downtown Dallas after seeing a post on IG. The space is beautiful with a nice ambiance, and I really loved the idea of having board games, dominoes, and Jenga available—it’s a great touch to keep folks engaged and unplugged.

Unfortunately, the Sunday brunch experience fell short. When we arrived at noon, it was noticeably empty for prime brunch hours, but we gave it a chance. Our server was attentive and did her best, but there were several issues:

Cleanliness: The table area hadn’t been fully wiped down, and the dominoes we grabbed were dirty. To her credit, the waitress immediately brought Lysol wipes to help, but it left a first impression that things weren’t being kept up.

Menu availability: The chef sent word that they were out of waffles (machine down), salmon, and shrimp. Since we’re pescatarian, that was disappointing, but we adjusted and ordered catfish & grits, salmon croquettes with eggs & potatoes, and a side of grits.

Food quality: The grits were the biggest letdown—they tasted burnt, like the bottom of the pot had scorched, and they kept serving from the same pot even after we sent them back. The catfish itself was good, but the grits were inedible. My salmon croquette was lukewarm, though the eggs and potatoes were tasty and hot. The Peach Cobbler French Toast we wanted wasn’t available because they were out of peaches and berries, so only plain French toast could be served.

Service & management: Our waitress, Ma'Nae, worked hard to accommodate, but no manager came by to apologize or offer any adjustment to the bill, which would have gone a long way. But we did tip our waitress.

The presentation of the food was nice, the concept is creative, and it’s a Black-owned business—which I truly want to support. I also recognize that every restaurant can have an off day. However, for $75+, it felt disappointing that so many basics weren’t right, especially with no acknowledgment from management.

I gave it 2 stars because part of the food was decent, the space is beautiful, and the game concept is dope. But the overall brunch experience wasn’t what it should be. I really hope management takes this feedback as a push to tighten things up—because with a few improvements, this could be a go-to Dallas...

I would not sit right if didn’t share my experience. I got hired here, and was told about how welcoming the team is. My first day after interview, instead of training I had to jump right in.Anyone who has worked behind a bar/in a restaurant can tell that this franchise was placed in the wrong hands. Not functional and poor structure. People’s food took an hour to come out. Even the first table. The owners came in and as everything was on fire. They order food. Their food came out before the patrons who were waiting an hour. and their plates were presented better than anyone’s all day. The owners think that the staff is there to fear her and make her money. if you speak to her she throws a fit and acts like you’re beneath her.. When I told her was ready to give her the required documentation to scan for my I-9, she had no idea what i was talking about and then yelled at her manager because i dared to open my mouth and speak to her. When she finally decided to help. She was looking at the menu to see what was supposed to go with food because she didn’t know. It was my first day and they didn’t want to take over customer de-escalation when people complained to me. They ran out of forks after 30 guests. They had one cook for the first half of the chaos, one bartender who was also the server and she was overqualified to be working in this joke of a restaurant. I didn’t see a dishwashing machine. just 3 sinks. The expo window had no screen no printer just chaos. We had to print guest receipts to get an idea of who ordered what. Waffle house has more efficiency. They say that you can’t speak to the owner unless spoken to, yet i’ve never heard of this lady. Maybe it’s an act to add to the “ Atlanta” theme, maybe she thinks starting a mediocre restaurant is a notion of status. Either way, there are way too many successful restaurants in the area for people to think they have to put up with that work environment. Owners had the nerve to be angry with everyone except themself no accountability but when the business fails, it will be on the ownership. The only excuse i heard was that they didn’t think it would get busy. Everyone knows you prepare for the worst and hope for the best. They...