Mister Charles — Restaurant in Dallas

I will make a bold statement that I stand behind 100%. This was possibly one of the best dining experiences Ive ever had. I’ve traveled a lot and Im from New York so that says a lot. Walking in-Southern Elegance meets European opulence. Walking in is bright with beautiful high ceilings and a staircase leading up to something I wanted to be a part of but I didn’t know what lol. To the left was a dark sexy room of mahogany walls and varying chandeliers and candelabras (a real candelabra with actual flame-nice touch). Sexy nooks and booths throughout the entire restaurant. Perfect for any occasion, romance, client dinner, girls night..it all works. I had booked the reservation on RESY from NY for 7:30-foolishly forgetting it would be 830 here in Dallas. The hostess was so kind and accommodating and was able to get us seated-phew. Seamlessly we were seated before I was even able to finish my drink at the bar (they transferred the tab to the table! Unheard of these days-Ill get back to this*). The bar is beautiful and the bartenders are pleasant attentive and very uniformly well dressed. From the time we sat till the time we left was pure culinary perfection-both in service and food. The SERVICE though-wow-just wow-Tanya, she was a standout gem. Everyone knew the dishes and was able to describe them perfectly-they cared about what the chef/owners/support staff created and it showed. This is important to me because I always love to see staff that are actually proud of where they work and this was indisputable. The FOOD….ok, canapés are a must! The truffle grilled cheese, the sirloin, the foie gras-little bites of perfection. Appetizer: The beef carpaccio was elevated (typically it’s boring with Evoo and arugula and shaved parm) not here-horseradish drizzle, chilis..the beef was melt in your mouth. Entrees- Truffle Scarpinocc, homemade stuffed with ricotta-hazelnuts added the most perfect crunch. Despite what you would assume would be an overly rich dish-it was light and airy. Truffle Chicken Roulade was perfectly cooked-crispy skin on the chicken, decedent sauce poured over by our server. Melt in your mouth (I’m not one for chicken at a restaurant but this changed me). The lamb loin, also roulade style, also with its own darling little sauce-barely needed to chew it-it was perfect. With each bite of everything we needed to pause for a moment and look at each other. Dessert. I am a pastry chef (“retired now”) and usually very picky and seldom order dessert but with a meal like this I needed to see how it all came together. Passionfruit Entremet with pistachio and coconut. Just get it. It was soft and sweet but had a crunch and burst of flavor-kudos to the pastry chef, this dessert was cared for and crafted. Not to be missed. It was a work of art. We learned after speaking to Tanya that they havnt been open that long-I was shocked. My first reaction was wow, the owners are doing it right. She described the training as thorough and cared for. It was nice to hear the interaction and level of respect that the owners seems to have with their staff and it SHOWS. *Tips are pooled. I usually raise and eyebrow on this but after experiencing this meal-it makes sense. Everyone wants to work there and work for the restaurant and if tips are pooled it creates and overall unity among staff and that was APPARENT. Run don’t walk-thank you Dallas, thank you Mister Charles. I texted a friend from the table back in NY and said “I’d fly back here just to have dinner here and come home”. Can’t wait to see you...

I wanted to like this place, it had a lot of potential, but there were too many negatives for me to recommend this place to anyone.

Getting seated was very quick, the hostess introduced us to our server and off we went to our table. The service overall was pretty good, but at times felt absent. The place in the restaurant that we were sat in felt like it was trying to be a nightclub, the lights were dimmed (not a bad thing) and the music so loud that everyone had to yell to each other to try to have a conversation, this added to the noise and took away a lot from the experience before even placing an order.

We placed our order and anxiously awaited our food, the kitchen seemed well organized as our food arrived in a respectable amount of time. We ordered the carbonara, filet mignon, strip steak, pommes alligot, and broccolini. Starting with the carbonara, I wouldn’t even call the pasta dish a carbonara aside from it having a creamy sauce, they added some type of vinegar or acidic sauce that distracted from the flavor and was generally unpleasant, the pasta itself was well cooked though. From there the meats were quite good, however the sauces and sides were way over salted, I couldn’t stand more than one bite of the accompanying salad to my filet mignon as all I could taste was salt, the sauce that accompanied the filet was very fatty but wasn’t that bad. The Pommes Alligot were nothing more than mashed potatoes, my wife and I were very excited about the potatoes as Pommes Alligot is one of our favorite things to get in Paris, the Pommes Alligot here are nothing more than a loose mashed potato with creme fresh, not even a hint of cheese, let alone the super stretchy ultra rich Pommes Alligot that you would find in France. The broccolini was fine, nothing special, and my wife’s strip steak was good, but as I shared about the filet the meats are prepared well.

This place is no where near worth the price they charge for the food. Our bill came to $260 before tipping with no drinks or dessert, a good step further price wise from other competing places that do much better in terms of service and food quality.

I’d recommend taking your...

The first thing you notice at Mister Charles is the door. Not the door itself (though it's handsome) but the woman standing behind it. She wasn't just friendly; she was that rare combination of professional and accommodating that made us feel like they were waiting for us all day (we didn't have a reservation, but she said she would take care of us). It showed polished hospitality. We didn't get her name, but my wife did admire her camel-colored wool blazer (so if she's reading this, she'll know;).

Inside: upscale, modern European décor. Sleek lines, soft light, the kind of room that feels both important and inviting. You want to stay a while. Our server, Adrian, set the tone immediately. Yo Adrian! ;) He managed that delicate trick of being attentive without being overbearing, quick without being rushed. You know the type, servers who clearly like the place they work, and it makes you like it too. Lots of servers and 'assistants' running around, so you always felt attended to.

The food? Some really good moments.

We began with the canapés, little single-bite appetizers that are gone before you know it. The first was a tiny lobster roll on toasted brioche with a fennel salad. It was good, but not super. A bit lacking the wow factor you expect when you hear the words "lobster roll." Maybe too much mayo? Then came the A5 striploin. Another tiny brioche with wasabi. Now that was really, really good. So good it makes you wonder why the rest of the menu doesn't lean harder into this. More A5, please!

The whole red snapper Milanese followed, lightly battered, pan-fried, and deboned tableside. It's a bit of theater with a payoff: crisp, delicate, tasty. I kept thinking how it might be better if it were grilled, but that's nitpicking. It's big enough to split.

The charred broccolini rounded out the meal. Perfectly blistered, nutty and earthy, though the sesame ginger dressing leaned a little heavy. Next time, I'll ask for it without dressing because the char is the star.

Mister Charles is the kind of place Dallas needs more of: confident without being showy, upscale without being pretentious. We'll...