Knox Bistro — Restaurant in Dallas

Went here for dinner with family for my husband's birthday two weeks ago with much anticipation having read great reviews. We noted in the reservation notes and verbally to the waiter once seated that one adult in our party has a serious nut allergy - as we always say, "please let kitchen know and let us know if any of us orders anything with nuts so we can select something else." Waiter initially seemed to understand and be attentive, but as the night progressed, he allowed not one but two dishes to come to the table with nuts. When notified, both waiter and manager were dismissive and rude. Manager (who acknowledged reading about the allergy in the reservation and hearing about it from waiter) kept saying "Well, what do you want me to do?" What he should do is a better job, as do most restaurants, at understanding what an anaphylactic reaction means and training his staff accordingly, so others won't have the same experience we did. He made no assurances that he would do so and really seemed not to care that the evening could have ended with an ambulance rolling up to his entrance to take someone to a hospital. The evening having been ruined, before finishing our entrees, we told him we were leaving. He presented a bill having begrudgingly removed wine (only half consumed) and an appetizer. (We didn't ask for anything comped - just that he/they ackowledge the situation and do better). We eat out often and around the world, at restaurants in all price points. Occasionally, mistakes are made, but honestly we have never had as poor a response to a situation like this in a restaurant at ANY price point. Not that it matters in this review, but the food we did eat was mediocre. So - not recommended on any level - but especially not if anyone in your party has...

The decor is decent, the tables were a little tight, you will definitely come very close to diners and vice versa when being seated anywhere near the patio. The bathrooms were stark but had very cool tile. The best seats seem to be the booths at the back right of the restaurant. My date and I had two appetizers to start, the steak tartare and scallop crudo. The steak tartare had a quail egg on top, the capers were a nice touch, but I would say ask for an extra crostini, it only comes with three which was not enough and could make for awkward moments of you are on a work dinner. The only upsetting thing about our meal was the scallop crudo. The yuzu vinaigrette was excellent but the scallop was most definitely off and almost ruined my evening. I left an untouched scallop so this could be verified, it was not addressed again and was not comp'd. This was one of the very, very few times I have ever expected this. On to the great things about the meal. The wood fire half chicken was outstanding, beets perfectly cooked and the horseradish vin was truly inspired. Also the the freshness of the halibut was outstanding, green beans also cooked to perfection, and the cous cous was outstanding. All in all the food was exceptional, I'm sure the scallop dish is normally amazing but it wasn't that evening. I do hope in the future no matter the reason a guest is upset with any aspect of their meal they take care to do the right thing, especially if they feel they have been served something that they believe to be...

Walked inside at 8:15pm on a Tuesday. Not busy.

Group of staff at the host station talking amongst themselves. Attempted to make eye contact. No greeting or acknowledgment, sat myself at the bar.

The bar staff would do well to spend less time talking with each other, more time being attentive towards customers. I observed several folks seated at the bar trying to distract the staff from each other and get their attention without success.

The staff missed entering my appetizer which was impressive because they went straight to the register after taking my order. They comped my beer for the miss though, much appreciated.

Price check: $16 for a glass of Gruet sparkling. That's obscenely overpriced for an otherwise mediocre product. And I love New Mexico wine.

I ordered the Knox burger which was okay but underwhelming for their namesake. The pomme frites were the highlight, but whatever they fry them in leaves the aftertaste of peanut butter combined with bitterness that tastes like hemp.

The "sub total" on the credit card transaction receipt includes tax while the "sub total" on the first itemized receipt does not. Seems shady and a little dishonest to get folks to tip on top of tax.

The restaurant itself smelled like cat urine.

Took half my burger and the weird aftertaste pomme frites and got out of there. Got a better glass of wine and gazpacho at the Spanish Tapas restaurant down the street.

Note I've been here previously, so this is a pretty steep...