D Food Collab — Restaurant in Dalton

We drove 1 1/2 hours to Dalton to have a windshield repaired, got it done & needed to eat. We found D Food Collab on Google Maps with really good reviews & decided this was the place. Street side parking was aplenty which is a definite plus. Walking into the restaurant had a cool eclectic kind of vibe. We were immediately seated at a high top (which I prefer) & sat in the most uncomfortable chair I've ever parked my tush in. Plus we were right under a speaker that was pounding out annoying sound for it being 3:00p in the afternoon...Our waitress came quickly & I shared my thought about the chair & that we had to move. She was a sweety & quickly moved us to another "low" table that ended up having equally uncomfortable chairs, just not as high...

So the first impression was meh at best, but instead of doing what I normally would have & bolt out the front door, we decided to suffer through buttocks paralysis & give the food a try. And mostly glad we did. We ordered the fried pickles for an appt along with a couple of adult beverages. Our waitress brought out a plate of Fried Jalapeno's & said the kitchen screwed up & were making our Fried Pickles & said the Fried Jalapeno's were on the house if we'd like them. And we did like them, a lot & we cleaned the plate. Shortly after our Fried Pickles came out & were blisteringly temperature hot. After burning our tongues, we let them cool a little, then tried them again. Best I can say is they were meh. We both like frickles that are pickle slices instead of pickle spears & these were spears. The breading was delicious, but the pickle spears inside the breading were overly vinagery & way too big & we left the majority of the plate to go in the garbage.

Next was on to our entrees:

My lady ordered the Birria Melt which was a kind of a souped up grilled cheese sammy with Birria meat as a protein & she said it was excellent. It was accompanied with their fries that I had to taste & agreed with my lady that they were really good.

I ordered the Ramen Birria & all I can say is ¡Dios mío, qué plato tan delicioso! For gingo's reading this, that translates to Oh my goodness what an amazing dish! It came in a cool bowl with fresh lime & a couple pieces of toast & was nuclear heat hot, so I had to suffer through patience waiting to give it a try without scorching my poor tongue. I finally figured out to use a fork to scoop up a helping of Ramin so it would cool, then to my salivating mouth. And oh my goodness, was it GOOD! I doubt they make it with goat which is the classic Mexican way, but whatever meat they use is succulent & tender. The broth was delicious with a nicely generous sprinkling of fresh cilantro, one of my favorite herbs. The combination of the excellent Birria with the Ramin noodles is a really creative way to meld two very different tastes & it was a 100% win. If we get back to Dalton again, I'll definitely do this dish again!

Summary: ⭐⭐'s for the horrible make your tush numb uncomfortable chairs & way too loud mid-day music. ⭐⭐⭐⭐'s for the mix-up in our app order. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'s for the...

Let me start by saying that apparently the owner's daughter was our server, according to another server I asked as we left. She asked if it was our first time there, and we confirmed that it was.

First, the good: She was super friendly, smiled, and answered our questions. Menu had a variety of choices from burgers to tacos to even pancakes (brunch from 11 to 3). The food was nice and hot. The corn nuggets were good as were the fries and the shrimp taco. Drinks were as expected. The decor was reminiscent of a roadside cafe or diner.

The bad: The music they were playing didn't fit the atmosphere (hip hop) and was a little too loud, but that may be because we were seated right in front of one of their large speakers.

My chicken tenders were WAY overcooked, definitely left in the deep fryer for too long. The breading was a dark brown color and hard as a rock. As they cooled, they became super dry, inedible, and unappetizing. This was especially disappointing because the reason we went there in the first place was that my wife's coworker ordered take-out chicken tenders from there and let my wife try a bite and she said it was light, crispy, and the meat was juicy. That was not at all the experience we had ourselves. Next, my wife's steak taco was mostly fat and gristle. Also inedible. In essence, we paid around $35 for a shrimp taco, some fries, some corn nuggets, and only managed to eat most of two of the four chicken tenders (I ate most of one and my wife ate most of one), and two drinks. We had to leave the inedible stuff on the table.

Now, all of that could be excused as an off night or one-off mistake. They weren't crowded or busy, but sometimes you just have a bad night, right? However, shortly after getting our food and me taking my first crunchy bite of a chicken tender that felt like a mouthful of dry Captain Crunch, she came back and asked if everything was good. I immediately addressed the extreme crunchiness of the tenders and that they seem overcooked. She maintained her smile and instead of offering to remake them, she simply said, "That's the way we make them." Not wanting to argue, I just did my best to eat it. We likely would have given them another chance, but first impressions are everything, and she knew it was our first time visiting their restaurant, and she didn't care that I was very obviously unhappy with my burnt chicken tenders, so we will not be going back. Unfortunate, because the place seemed really promising. Instead, it went on our list of "Now we know..." places to never...

I was excited when I got a gift card for here. I love supporting new mom and pop businesses. But I was very disappointed.

First the good: Very friendly staff. Attentive and kind. Also the main dining room has a cool vibe to it. Very laid back and comfortable.

Now the bad: I ordered buttermilk fried chicken. It had no flavor. It was overcooked and someone had sliced the breast. I assume it was to check if it was done. A good preparer would use a meat thermometer to safely cook the meat without losing its juices. They had a fear of undercooking so I get it. A meat thermometer would avoid that issue.

For my side I had whole kernel corn which also lacked flavor and seemed overcooked or from a can and or something… just not fresh. I also had fries and those were pretty okay I guess.

Finally, they charge a service fee for using credit or debit AND for using a gift card purchased FROM them. Savvy biz owners NEVER do this. It’s better to build it into the cost of the food and make an extra profit when people pay cash than it is to charge people more than the menu prices listed. And as a bonus no-go but for me but not for everyone, for soft drinks they serve Pepsi products.. but to each his own. They do have tea, beer and wine as well.

EDIT added for clarity after first post: A server did come over and ask was “everything good?” My daughter who did not like the food but afraid to hurt anyone’s feelings, said yes. Myself, the one writing this review, said it’s OK and I shrugged and grimaced. Still there was no response from the server as she walked away. Later my daughter texted me saying her stomach was very upset. A few hours later she was okay.

Overall unless they fix the food prep and service charge issues, I’d be surprised if they stay in business. I do hope they work on...