Ocean Prime — Restaurant in Dallas

This event happened weeks ago, but someone mentioned they were dinning here and it reminded me all over. We had the worst experience at Ocean Prime. We will never step foot in this establishment and we will let all of our friends and family know as our waiter ruined a special evening for us. We originally had a reservation at Town’s Hearth but it wasn’t for another hour and a half. I was starving and decided to look on open table thinking we were lucky to find an opening. Right of the bat, as soon as we arrived; our waiter took at least 15 minutes to greet us. We understand the restaurant was busy. My husband and I have worked in the service industry. But he could’ve at least acknowledged us and said I will be right back. Well after sitting there waiting server finally shows up and didn’t even introduced himself or alone said hello. He’s words were “ya’ll want some wine? something to drink?” In the most condescending uninviting tone. Turned us off immediately! He clearly was having a bad night and did not care to hide it. We gave him our order since we had been sitting there waiting and we had plenty of time to look over the menu. It was obvious as well, he had no intention to explain the menu or even mention specials. We just wanted food at that point. He asked if we were celebrating anything special and we both without hesitation said no. He’s demeanor gave us such a bad impression we did not care to let him know we were actually dining out to open the envelope of our baby’s gender. We felt he did not deserve to know we were in a vulnerable mood nor did we think he’d have the compassion. Our drinks came about 15 minutes later, a basket of bread. Our app comes about 15/20minutes later. We finished our app and our bread. We gathered our dirty app plates and our empty basket of bread towards the end of the table in hopes he would pre bus our table. We wanted to ask for bread and refills on our drinks. We saw him at least pass by our table 15 times he never came to acknowledge the dirty plates, our empty drinks and more importantly our empty bread basket. We clearly could see there was a huge party in the private dinning room. About 45 minutes passed by and we were still waiting. But yet, if had just offered more bread and drinks, it could’ve deescalate the situation. But he clearly had no interest on even checking on us. I had had enough. I am a angry, hangry pregnant lady at that point. There was no turning back. I got up and asked the host to grab the manager. We were fed up and wanted to pay for our appetizer. Manager apologized and offered to get our food to go. Manager was very friendly, but we wanted to be out of there. I had no interest to even let him know how bad our waiter was. He had ruined such a special evening, it did not even matter anymore. We left with some of the food the manager gathered that we had ordered. But it was over for us by then. We wanted nothing to do with the establishment or its food. On our way to Town’s Hearth, to the reservation we initially had. We gave the Togo food to a homeless guy. It seemed like bad juju for us to even eat that food. It was overall a very disappointing first experience at Ocean Prime. We have decided to never go back. Its sad what a bad apple can do for “reputable”...

#JUICEWITHJAIAPPROVED

Colorado Lamb Chops $50 Crab Cake w/Arugula $22 CABERNET SAUVIGNON, BON ANNO, Napa Valley, California, 2016 $60

The Meal: A jumbo crab cake and small side of Arugula for an appetizer, is not a bad idea. However, it was highly disappointing to bite into a piece of crab shell while chewing. Fortunately, that didn’t take away from the very freshly peeled crab meat. It was cleaned, pulled, and cooked well but the preparation could use more attentiveness. There was a lack of flavor in the crab cake without the horseradish. My horseradish was placed on the side and not on top, as the dish intended. I do understand why the sauce is there, it carries the entire appetizer. The choice of vinaigrette for the arugula complimented the cake as well.

Moving on to the lamb chops, I had them prepared medium instead of the usual medium well. It was cooked to complete perfection, and my knife cut through like butter! The chops were drenched in what seemed to be a type of Au jus sauce, just a tad bit thicker. Fresh, whole roasted cloves of garlic and thyme were garnished on top.The sauce didn’t have as much flavoring as I anticipated. It did cover the gamey taste of the lamb to an extent though, which was disappointing. That taste was nearly overpowering, and made it hard to appreciate the entrée. Outside of that imperfection, there isn’t more to add, the meal was great quality and cooked well.

The Service: Excellent and fast! There was not much to want for, all of the servers were running on the same frequency. It was a well-equipped staff, and no matter who served you, they all handled each person the same.

The Atmosphere: Upscale, relaxing, and sound moderate. This is definitely a place for a fancy date night or even taking yourself on a date! From start to finish, the place is immediately welcoming, and very private. The restaurant is for sure sound proof. Standing next to the door, you cannot hear anything without someone opening it.

Final Grade: (B-) When handling expensive meat such as lamb, preparation needs to be adequate. I was disappointed that the meat was not soaked long enough, leaving behind a gamey taste. If you’re unfamiliar, a “gamey” taste is basically the meat tasting like the animal instead of the herbs used to prepare it. This is a major reason for the lower passing grade, as well as finding a shell in my crab cake. If those two imperfections were non-existent, the meal would have been 10/10 perfect. It was so hard getting past the lamb, I couldn’t fully enjoy the meal. The chef needs to focus a little more on preparation especially for high quality meat...

Since the opening of Ocean Prime in Dallas, I have dined there three to four times over the years and have always enjoyed the experience. I have also visited most of the premier steakhouses in Dallas—including Pappas Bros., Nick & Sam’s, Al Biernat’s (both locations), and Bob’s—and have consistently had excellent experiences. Unfortunately, my visit this past Saturday evening to Ocean Prime was, without question, the most disappointing dining experience I have had at any steakhouse during my 20+ years living in Dallas.

Our party of six arrived at 6:50 p.m. and did not finish until 9:45 p.m.—not because of an indulgent evening of food and drink, but rather due to extremely slow and inattentive service. It took more than 50 minutes for a single crab cake appetizer to arrive, despite my following up multiple times. When I finally asked about the delay, I was told, “We are understaffed, be patient with us.” Not only was there no apology or effort to make amends, but when the appetizer did arrive, it was underwhelming and not at the standard one would expect from Ocean Prime.

Even more concerning, throughout our three-hour dinner, not once did a manager stop by our table to check on our experience or our meal—a basic gesture I have come to expect at every high-end Dallas steakhouse. The only bright spot of the evening was the young man assisting our server, who ensured our waters were filled. By contrast, our waitress disappeared for extended periods—at one point for over an hour—which left us feeling entirely neglected.

To add to this, the air conditioning was not functioning properly in several areas of the restaurant. The restrooms were uncomfortably hot, and much of the main dining area was unpleasant. In situations like this, it would be better to resolve such issues before seating guests, as it had a noticeable impact on the comfort of the evening.

I take no satisfaction in writing this, especially as I have long considered Ocean Prime one of Dallas’ top restaurants, and I chose it over Pappas Bros.—a decision I now regret, as Pappas Bros. has never once disappointed. This experience was far below the standard I have come to expect from Ocean Prime, and I hope that management takes this feedback seriously so that future guests do not encounter a similarly...