Salar Restaurant and Lounge — Restaurant in Dayton

Friends one and two shared the coconut shrimp appetizers, served w/ a spicy passion fruit and aji Amarillo sauce. I did not hear any complaints from them, so it was good. Friend one ordered the chicken skewers, which consisted of grilled chicken, topped w/ green onion relish, pastel de chocolo w/ sage butter, and grilled broccolini dressed w/ chili oil. Even though there was chili oil, it was not spicy, which was much appreciated by friend one. Friend two ordered the seafood rice that consisted of scallop, shrimp, green mussels, calamari, peruvian spices, and sofrito. Friends three and four are vegan. They had been to Salar a few times and admitted they mostly come for the cocktails b/c the menu switches out and sometimes the vegan options are not very appealing to them. Friend three started w/ a smoked margarita (jalapeno infused tequila, mezcal, lime, cucumber, basil, agave, celery bitters, jalapeno, cilantro & pineapple) and friend four had the John Wayne (gunpowder tea infused rye, gin, salars apertif, lemon, black pepper honey, with a black lava salt rim). They enjoyed their cocktails and shared maitake mushrooms, sauteed with madeira and onion glaze, on a bed of cucumber salad w/ cauliflower puree and chipotle dusted crispy rice paper. The presentation was very nice and the mushrooms were thoroughly enjoyed. Friends three and four ended w/ a couple of jungle bird cocktails that they had there before. Friend five had the seafood empanadas which consisted of shrimp, scallops, and a four-cheese blend, and said they were good. Friend six had the salmon cakes, w/ green onion atop cauliflower, kale, and carrot slaw w/ an aji Amarillo aioli. It was felt that the salmon cakes were good, but was missing something that friend six could not quite put their finger on. I of course wanted to have the full experience. I started w/ a cocktail. I want to take a moment to say, although Century Bar is always highly recommended by me, don’t sleep on the bartender at Salar. The waitress suggested the fresh fruit gimlet. I opted for gin and my berry of choice was blackberry. I gotta say, it was quite tasty, smooth, and sweet. I would have gone in for a second one, but as usual, its always about the food. I started w/ the chicken chicharrones. They appealed to me b/c I had in mind cracklings. This version was chicken strips marinated and deep fried, served w/ a tangy carrot slaw and aji Amarillo aioli. They were just okay for me. There was more flavor in the carrot slaw than the chicken itself. There were a few things that appealed to me for a main course, however I went with the waitress’s recommendation of the seared U-10 scallops, served w/ wilted greens, lardons, cauliflower puree, and a miso brown butter sauce. The scallops had a nice sear to them and were cooked perfectly. I even enjoyed the wilted greens that seemed a little crunchy as if they were flash fried. The disappointment for me was the lardons. Lardons are usually thick cut pieces of bacon that is cut into strips or cubes and fried. These lardons were neither thick, cut, or fried. I had to pick out all the bacon. I would order that again but tell them to hold the bacon. For dessert, the waitress offered their cinnamon ice cream. I tried a little and it was pretty good. Yes, there was a strong cinnamon flavor, but it was not overpowering or bitter. In fact, friend two said that the cinnamon ice cream made the entire meal complete. I opted to go w/ another recommended favorite, the tres leche cake. When translated, tres leches means three milks. This was a white cake soaked in a combination of three different milks, orange liqueur, and vodka. It was pretty good, not soggy. I would have liked the orange liqueur to come through a little more though. All in all, I had a very good meal at Salar. Keep in mind, it can get a little pricey, but it you’re looking for something out of the norm, try the Peruvian...

Follow up- Not sure why the restaurant would ask me to contact them just to still never address the issue or reply when I emailed them. I definitely will be more selective about my dining choices for here on out.

We went on Saturday the 14th and I first shared this on OpenTable when asked for a review. I thought someone would have reached out but No.... To be honest I cannot accurately rate the food or the value because we never got to eat. We arrived exactly on time for our 8:30 reservation and were promptly checked in. Afterwards the host preceeded to check in two other parties who walked in after us and asked us to stand over to the side while he Sat both other parties who also had 8:30 reservations. After returning and finding us Still standing there he said "Oh forget it I'll seat you myself since noone is coming. " He took us back to our table and it was not ready, so now we are are standing mid dining room waiting for our table. Very awkward 😐 Finally we were seated and there are 5 other tables. One of the servers begins to spray cleaner and clean the other tables, which is a pet peeve of mine because I have asthma and never know if the cleaner will bother me besides that you expect an area to be clean Before you are sat there....but we decided not to say anything. Next we just sat there waiting for anyone to acknowledge us. All 5 of the other tables were Sat, brought water and drinks and app orders in. We are still sitting and waiting. Finally we stop one of three servers that had walked by who had clearly seen that we had not been helped. He apologizes and brings us waters and takes our drink orders. Another server comes and apologizes and takes our app and entree order. Ok fine, its My wife's Birthday dinner and we're just trying to make the best of things at this point. Now everyone else is finishing appetizers, some diners are getting their main courses and finally our appetizer comes out. Mind you these people arrived like 20 mins after us. The appetizer that comes out wasn't even our order. It was delivered to the wrong table. At this point 45mins past our reservation time we just said forget it...

TLDR - If you go for Happy Hour, you must, apparently, sit at the bar * insert eye roll *. Food was bomb, drinks were good.

Longer review - Service 4/5: My family and I went on a week night during early spring, one of those rare March, beautiful 70 degree days and sat on the patio. We were originally seated inside, but my mother (whom made the reservation) previously requested an outdoor seat. They happily accommodated and gave us a 4 top outside.

We were super pumped for the Happy Hour menu as we arrived an hour prior to Happy Hour (HH) ending. We requested the HH menu from the waitress, but she told us "I don't have a button for that", multiple times. After asking for clarification, she said that it ONLY applied to the bar seating. Are you kidding me? This may be a personal feeling, but this is stupid and not customer friendly. Come on... Why can't I get Happy Hour pricing while we're sitting outside? Instead of offering to go to the bar and getting our drinks, as expected for the price we're paying, she only continued to state "I don't have a button for that". We get it, but this was a TOTAL vibe kill and reason I knocked this down to a 4-star. What happened to the customer is right? We weren't being difficult or picky, just requested HH pricing as SHOULD be expected.

Food 5/5: I ordered the pork chop dinner. This was cooked to perfection; this was the moistest pork chop I've ever had. Absolutely delicious! Three days later when I nuked the leftovers, the pork chop held up and was STILL delicious as 4 days earlier.

My partner had the short rib. Again, this was cooked to perfection. The rib was fork-tender. He didn't care for the sweet sauce on top, but I thought it was delicious. It was maraschino cherry flavored.

My dad had the artichoke fettuccine. While the flavor was good, he said that it definitely needed more sauce. It did appear a bit dry.

My mom had the salmon and had zero complaints.

Atmosphere 5/5: Super clean bathrooms, beautiful patio! Come on a weekend night when the street is closed down for...