SĒR Steak + Spirits — Restaurant in Dallas

Man, a night of celebration ruined for no reason. Got seated at 7:30pm. My server Leonard from the start was just weird with his greeting. Not at all welcoming. He not just looked, but was physically ready to walk away from me after every statement. Which he did multiple times. The first of which, was after getting my appetizers ordered. He was gone for an hour. Yes. An hour. I finally ask what happened? He comes back and tells me he never rang it up. Alright cool, fine dining with last class citizen treatment.

The apps get there, and the food was good. No complaints there. I went there to celebrate myself. It was a huge night for me. And already halfway through, I feel like I made a terrible choice dining here. I finally order the main course “the Cadillac”, along with 3 other sides. Although I wasn’t happy about the service thus far, I came to celebrate, and was ready to spend $500+ just on my own. So the order gets sent off, and man. Long wait. No update. No check in.

At some point I take my drink & walk around the restaurant a bit. To my surprise I see an area with much better views, half empty. I was wondering why I never got shown this area of the restaurant. My first time there, and no one tells me a single thing about the place, nor any details on the food. I get seated & served like I just showed up to Applebees.

This is where the one highlight of the night comes in. As I was taking a look by myself, a server noticed me. Instead of making it awkward for me, he actually said “come with me”. Then he gave me a true view of the entire restaurant, as well as telling me about the different options, especially for corporate parties and what not. Which was the most service I had thus far. Like thank you! I feel like I actually experienced something. I asked if there’s anyway I could be moved, and he actually took the initiative to ask the host and his manager. That alone made my night better. The manger eventually came by & told me they couldn’t do it. Which is fine, but I absolutely wish it was explained and serviced better. I

felt very unaccommodated. This is where they had a chance to at least be really sincere and show some care at least. Service. Thats the only thing that separates any business. Well the server that wasn’t even assigned by my table came to check in on me again. And he offered to grab my next drink. That. That’s the only reason I will ever come back to this place. That one act of kindness on my night of celebration. The manager. My actual server. All could’ve done one simple act, that a server that wasn’t even assigned to my table did. Got his name and it’s John Michael. First time I’ll trust someone with two first names! lol.

Remember the $320* main I ordered? Well after 40+mins. Leonard comes and tells me that they can’t put the foie gras on it. It took that long to tell me this?! His response was don’t worry I just rung up the tomahawk itself. No. That’s not what I ordered. I wanted to leave and tab out at this point. But it was too late to go try this at another restaurant. Leonard wasted half my night there with no food on my table. So I didn’t even have a chance to make other plans.

I take my sides and just get a lobster tail. Which was good. Again. Realistically. The only problem here was my service.

I finally order dessert. It comes out, and looks great. I ask my server to tell me more about it, as it was displayed so uniquely I wondered what each piece was. He had no idea. Just like every thing else I ordered that he had zero presentation on the whole night. Are you kidding me… fine dining with zero presentation of any sort. The whole night?

John Michael actually walked by at that moment and enthusiastically told me about the dessert and every unique piece on it. Which made it so much more exciting to enjoy and finish my night with.

I’m gonna close this review on that note. Heavily disappointed in my experience. Be aware and pray that you get a great server who does their job better than everyone else combined...

HONEST REVIEW

DISCLAIMER: If you're looking for an honest review before you try this place, please read.

First, tell this to yourself:

"I'm going there for the view" "I'm going there for the view" (Once again) "I'M GOING THERE FOR THE VIEW!"

Having said that, DO NOT go in there expecting a great restaurant experience.

THE LOCATION:

Located in the Hilton Hotel on the 27th floor... right off the I-35.

PARKING:

Complimentary parking for guests of SER restaurant. Bring $3-$5 to tip the valet.

THE RESTAURANT:

Dimly lit. Romantic. Nice vibe. I give stars for the view and the vibe. If that's all they had to offer, I'd give it five stars. Everything else factored in (which I promise to get into), it gets two stars.

THE STAFF:

Extremely friendly.

THE VIEW:

Breathtaking. I'm sure you can see plating of photos online but the photos don't do it Justice. The view is 360 degrees... meaning you can see out of at least three sides of the building (East, South, and West of the city).

THE FOOD:

Simply put... "The juice is NOT worth the squeeze." (Strap in for this brutally honest review)....

I took my wife here for Valentine's Day. Had to make reservations. By "Valentines Day", I mean the Saturday prior because actual VD was completely booked. I already covered "finding the location" and "parking" so I'll get straight to the point about the food.

The prices are on the menu and you can find that online. So knowing this, we thought we'd play it safe and try the appetizers and salads first. Depending on that, we'd go for dinner... or NOT.

We tried the CHICKEN KARAAGE, Brussels sprouts, and two Romain salads (their version of Caesar salad). Small portions! Each salad had four leaves of Romain with two anchovies and two small pieces of bread that was toasted to taste like croutons. The chicken karaage was fried, cut chicken breasts that was roughly one cup of cut chicken. The side of Brussels sprouts was an average side portion. We also ordered two drinks. My wife ordered wine and I ordered the Black Cadillac Margarita. To be honest, the BCM was tasty. For $20, I didn't appreciate the large ice cube that took up most of the space in the glass.

Now let me be 100% clear.

This is not about being broke. I'm not. It's not about being cheap. I'm not. It's not about being greedy. I'm not. This not about having unrealistic expectations. I don't. Common sense should clearly indicate that $120 should get you a lot more than two salads, two drinks and an appetizer. Again, that "order" (I can't in good conscience call this a meal or even a snack) came to $120 (with tip). I'm sorry... but as hard as I work, and having good common sense about spending my hard-earned dollar.... I did not see the value in what I got versus what I spent. For $120, I expect to be full or at least walk away with "to go" plates. Now again... was I expecting to be full from two salads, an appetizer and a side item? NO. But considering the little amount of food we got (for the price), there was no way in heck we were going to order an actual entree for each of us. The food wasn’t even flavorful. So we decided to stop where we were on the food orders.

We finished the food, enjoyed the view and went home to eat dinner. And that's sad. That's utterly sad that a person could spend $120 on "dinner" (or whatever you want to call this) and still have to eat elsewhere.

IN CONCLUSION:

*Would I go back? Absolutely not. *Should you go? The view is nice but do not go in there expecting a great dining experience... meaning... if you have good common sense about spending your dollars, you will be highly disappointed here. I suggest going for drinks and leaving it at that. *I suggest stopping at Whataburger (not too far away) and eating before or after your SER visit. Either that or stopping at SER for drinks before or after your designated dinner spot- OTHER THAN SER. Your choice. You've been forewarned.

I WON'T...

Fine Dining with a view of Dallas skyline. Our waiter was very knowledgeable with his menu and two dining plates that were not on the menu due to it being seasonal, explanation was in detail of the dish/s, portion size as well when asked.

I was fortunate to be able to dine at this restaurant and I can only compare this type of experience is with Morton’s Steakhouse, which I have visited on multiple occasions.

The steak I had was the dry aged rib eye, ordered medium rare and the chief was spot on with the finished steak. Quality of the cut was to my taste a little sub-par for this type of restaurant and the cut being 28 days dry aged, would seem to have a little more flavor with it! Presentation of the plate was the steak and small portion of baby spinach to garnish on the side.

Side orders were two portions of pomme puree (mashed potatoes, with bone marrow), which I would say was excellent, done in very good taste. We also had an order of asparagus in which was average, it just needed something else the asparagus was by itself. An order of truffle mac & Cheese, this side was a good choice and very creamy the pasta was cooked correctly. The asparagus should have come with hollandaise sauce and should not be an extra cost to this.

I would recommend the pomme puree and the truffle mac & cheese as a side order, in my opinion the side portions are just enough for two people or if the party is a very, very light eater it would serve 3-4 peoples but overall it’s enough for 2.

My wife ordered the chicken that was plated with chanterelle mushrooms and cherries. The chicken was cooked well and had a lot of flavors in the skin and the meet was above that of your average chicken. Mushrooms were good to the taste as well. Presentation of the plate was done well.

Complimentary breads were a nice start to the dinner and you get a variety of breads and butters to top, this was tasty as a before dinner snack if not choosing something small before the main plate.

Drinks. I ordered an amaretto sour, hats off to the bartender which made the drink well above average and well above most drinking establishments. The sour was made fresh and homemade, not store bought, amaretto was quality and not the cheap liqueur. BUT for $15.00 you better have a great mixed drink at this price point.

Desert. I had the tres leches and was delicious, I would order again. My wife had the valrhona chocolate “Elvis” mousse and she loved it. Our party at the table ordered the trio of sorbet and she also expressed that the desert was excellent as well. Hats off to the pastry chef.

Overall. I kind of had high expectations for SER. Our family had stayed at the Anatole many times in the last 3 to 4 years and had never had the opportunity to dine at SER. I was looking forward for the steak to “Blow me away” with the taste but was left with an “it’s-ok” mood, cooked to order at best. Pomme puree was probably the best of the side dishes, asparagus was something you find at a chain restaurant not at SER. The view of the Dallas skyline was very breath taking and a wonderful sight especially around December as most of the city buildings have lights of various colors.

I am not a food critic nor have the knowledge of one. Following Gayot’s rating explanation and numbering system, I would have to agree with their rating of SER 13 out of 20. I would have to try another restaurant of similar ratings to compare before making SER a home to...