The Old Warsaw — Restaurant in Dallas

Ok. What has happened to this place? I haven't been in about 10 years, but used to go every year on Christmas Eve. It was luxurious then. Decadent food, impeccable service, lovely ambiance. So we made reservations last night for our anniversary - my husband had never been. He was excited to try a lot of menu items. When we arrived, the first warning should have been that there was no longer valet. No, valet isn't necessary, but restaurants like this one, with menu prices like this one, generally have a valet. Especially when parking is otherwise sketch.

The patio leading to the restaurant was messy. There was cheap stickers lettering the door indicating the entrance, and the door handle was broken - you had to twist a specific way to get it open.

There was no host. The lady working the bar came to greet us. We told her we had reservations and she blew it off and just kept asking, "How many?" before finally just seating is in a booth. The open dining room now has a giant TV on the wall with Sportscenter playing. 🙄 Second red flag.

While there was a live pianist providing music, the rest of the place was a dump. The bathroom didn't have paper towels (hand dryers only), one of the two stalls had no working lightbulb, and the walls were riddled with nail holes and in disrepair. The elderly waiter was polite but terrible. He took our drink order and then vanished for ten minutes. When he finally came back, we ordered one meal from the prefix menu (a lobster bisque soup, the ribeye with sauteed mushrooms and a baked potato, and bananas foster), and then from the a la carte menu, another lobster bisque soup, a crab cake, the snapper with crawfish, and two sides - the lobster macaroni and cheese and garlic mashed potatoes. We couldn't tell if the waiter didn't understand English well or if he was hard of hearing, so ordering was a challenge. The soup was a 15 minute wait and when they delivered it, they only delivered one, so we had to wait for the other one. It was the only decent part of the meal, but still far inferior to Capital Grill. When the main course was delivered, my husband's steak was sitting on three slices of mushrooms and was missing the baked potato. We asked the waiter about the mushrooms and he told us that the three on the plate were the sauteed mushrooms. When we asked about the potato, he was so confused and thought that we had ordered everything off the a la carte menu. We were very clear when we ordered, So we sent him back for the potato and began eating the rest, but the lobster macaroni and cheese tasted like pasta shells swimming in pasta water with cheese sprinkled on top ($29 for that alone). The mashed potatoes were bland. The waiter came back after several minutes and told us they didn't have any baked potatoes and that if we wanted it, we'd have to wait ten more minutes. How does a steak house not have baked potatoes ready to go? So we asked to exchange that for the brussel sprouts, which came out undercooked.

At this point, we were just ready to go. Since we were leaving, we weren't going to do the bananas foster tableside, so we asked for the peach cobbler to-go instead. After 10 more minutes, the waiter came back to tell us that there was no peach cobbler made. WITAF. This meal still cost us $200 and we were shocked with the terrible service, how run down the place was, and how terrible the food was. Save your time and evening by just going across the street to Capital Grill. I am still in complete confusion at what we...

I went to celebrate a friend's birthday on Saturday, January 14. While there was a patron experienced a medical emergency and needed to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. My 2 friends (one of them being the birthday celebrant) worked selflessly (along with other restaurant guests) to help the man and the family. When the ambulance got there, they spent at least 30 to 45 minutes trying to assist the patron. A reasonable person would be able to tell that it was a traumatic experience for everyone involved, especially the family. During the chaos, no one in the restaurant knew what to do (they couldn't even move tables out of the way, guests did), which is fine, I can't expect everyone to know what to do in the event of an emergency. However, some of the staff were just making completely unnecessary comments (i.e. "singing 'Stayin' Alive'). If you don't know what to do, be quiet and stay out of the way! My 2 friends ended up driving the distraught family to the hospital. Upon their return, we tried to make the best of the dinner. We were also informed that the son left his cell phone. Once it was time to order, I kid you not, I mentioned at least 4 items on the menu, the kitchen did not have any of them in stock. I settled on the lobster mac and cheese plus some other menu items - I love a good mac and cheese! The lobster mac and cheese was horrible! Looked like it came straight from a box of Kraft. It was tasteless. The other food was too salty, too watery, cold. I have no idea what was going on and this is supposed to be one of the best eateries in Dallas. Now time for the bill. The waitstaff brings our table our bills, plus the bill of the family that went through the ordeal earlier. We asked to speak to the manager (Ali Hedari) and he had the most abrasive, non-compassionate, negative attitudes I have ever experienced from a manager. We asked him if he was really going to charge the family their bill. The manager said that it was not his problem. He said that he would ask the son to pay once he came back for the phone that he forgot and walked away. I was shocked. This is someone who's father was down for at least 30 to 45 minutes (anyone down for that long, most likely it will not end well - everyone at our table is a healthcare professional so we know). I'm sorry, but if your restaurant does not have the compassion to comp that family's bill, you should probably just shut down, you're not doing well anyway. Out of the kindness of her heart, the birthday celebrant, my friend, paid for the family's bill and returned the son's phone to him at the hospital so he wouldn't have to deal with a despicable human being. If I could give this restaurant zero stars, I would. It is a disgrace! That manager is horrible! Apparently Ali Hedari is the owner and manager of this restaurant. No one ever deserves to be treated the way we were treated or the way the family...

I have dined in the past at the Old Warsaw, and while the old restaurant was very dimly lit, the service and the food were always impeccable. Sadly that is not the case for the restaurant now that it has moved. First I will say that the restaurant itself is beautiful with lush seats and adorned walls, but unfortunately beauty alone does not create an excellent atmosphere or vibe. We had a reservation, but one was clearly not necessary, as we were the only two people in the restaurant for around half an hour, and only one other party joined us halfway through our meal. Considering the quality of the service though, this made complete sense in retrospect. Our waiter was hard of hearing, and even after I pointed to what I wanted on the menu, he did not understand me (or pretended not to). He also seemed annoyed that we did not order any alcohol (my significant other is currently abstaining from alcohol, so I have chosen not to partake either in solidarity). Since drinking water after beef is incredibly unappetizing, I made the cardinal sin of ordering a soda for my drink. The waiter brought a 20 oz. bottle of Dr. Pepper and plunked it on the table. I looked questioningly at him before he asked, "Is this okay?" After a long pause, he then said, "Would you like a glass of ice to go with it?" I could only awkwardly mutter, "if it's not too much trouble...." I was honestly in shock at the interaction, pondering how a restaurant that purports to be so high class (with high class prices for sure, at least) would be comfortable on their end having plastic bottles sitting on a table along with their fine china. At least the food made up for the subpar service, as we both loved our appetizers and main entrees. The Beef Wellington was truly excellent. Sadly the same could not be said about the desserts. I wanted the Cherries Jubilee or the Strawberry Crepes Suzette, but I was informed that I could only order them if both of us agreed on one of them, and alas we could not. So it was a very dry carrot cake for him (without nuts no less!), and a souffle for me that was too eggy for my tastes. The atmosphere might have been even more disappointing though. Things were so quiet and stilted that the piano player began badgering all five of us for song requests since he was bored and nothing else was going on. Overall, this was a very far cry from the amazing experience we had at the...