Texas Tapyard — Restaurant in Dallas

Used to live down the street from this place and was so happy something was opening up close to my apartment, but after visiting twice, I will not be returning. This place is hoping beyond hope that you do not notice their OUTRAGEOUS and scam-worthy prices. And I know what you’re thinking: it’s Dallas, things are expensive - but hear me out.

Both times I visited TP was conveniently low on menus to where everyone at a table would have to share one paper menu. These menus had the prices in very small, almost illegible print. Once you’ve ordered, your single menu is taken away by the server even if you plan to get another drink. I noticed the drinks were pretty expensive. $9 for a cocktail isn’t bad for Dallas but it is when it comes in a little Dixie cup full of ice. I could get over that if not for the pitcher scam.

My two friends and I all got the same cocktail for our first round. When we wanted a second round, the waitress suggested we get a pitcher. Makes sense! We order a pitcher and when it arrives, it’s much smaller than we imagined, but it’s enough for us to each have one more dixie cup cocktail. When we close out, all of our tabs are exorbitantly higher than we were expecting. We ask the waitress to bring us our receipts because TP does not give you your itemized receipt when you pay - they simply have you sign their tablet with the full amount (again, how convenient, right?). When we get our receipts we notice that we were each charged $18 for 1/3 of the pitcher - meaning that we paid twice as much for the same exact drink as a single $9 cocktail. We show this to the waitress saying that obviously this is a mistake. The whole point of a pitcher is that it’s cheaper than getting individual drinks. She says there’s no mistake and the pitcher is $55!

So at this point we’re feeling taken advantage of. We didn’t have a menu to look at the pitcher price when we ordered it but even if we had, this is clearly a scam. We asked to speak to the manager to try to see what the deal is. We saw him whispering closely to our server and looking at us, but instead of coming to talk to us, he sent her back saying that she would take off $10 each from our tab. This was a nice gesture, but ultimately it felt cowardly that he wouldn’t just come talk to us himself and assure us that ownership had good intentions and weren’t just in the business of swindling people. The whole thing felt so shady. Please take my advice and steer clear of this place.

Also their...

Ok let me start out by saying I completely understand this is a crazy time for EVERYONE.. and I used to wait tables so I especially feel for restaurant industry people... Now I work in the airline industry so Im in the exact same boat as them.

This place is a cool design and has so much potential. We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon. They had a wait for tables in the shade, but could seat you immediately at a table in the sun. We opted for a sun table because we figured we would be in and out.. and that was far from the truth. We were immediately greeted by a nice gentleman who brought us water and took our order. We ordered 2 beers and cheese fries.. 20 minutes laters our cheese fries came out and still no drinks... 10 mins later our drinks finally came out and the server said "sorry we were out of Modela so we poured you a Dos Equis" like ok shouldn't you ask someone if they want that or something different before just assuming? Fine whatever took 30 mins for a drink not going to argue now.. So about 30 mins later we were going to tab out and saw that everything had started clearing out and there were MULTIPLE tables in the shade. so instead of just moving we asked a server if we could move to the shade. and he said "I prefer you not to because that's more work for us to sanitize each table" Like Im sorry, what?! More work? Shouldn't you be thankful you are at work?! so instead of making a big deal we got a tab and left. Theres a MILLION restaurants in dallas that wouldn't mind sanitizing your table so you would order another drink from them. I was BAFFLED.

Needless to say, I probably wont be stopping back in this area because of the customer service and lack of parking in a not so good part of Dallas. but its cute and had so much potential. Good luck staying open with...

The pros: spacious, laid back atmosphere, dog-friendly, tasty drinks, food was decent but didn’t knock my socks off. The cons: ordering through an app? It was just weird and definitely not preferable to having an actual waiter who could have answered questioned or paced the appetizers and salads before the main course. Maybe we should have ordered at the pace we preferred but I wasn’t the one ordering so it just makes for an awkward situation all the way around. There was a “waitress” who came by to check on us and clear dishes, etc. Quotations because I’m not sure if ‘waitress’ is actually the correct job title due to the unconventional method of placing our food and drink orders. Typical bar/pub food, pretty good but nothing to write home about. The actual set up is cool though, I liked the outside seating and the TVs and the lighting. Can’t say that we were a big fan of the massive inflated Christmas figurines though, mostly because they scared the bejesus out of my dog. I know, my dog is a little high strung and that’s a me problem not a venue problem, but seriously- it was October. Christmas decor already?! Overall, 4 out of...