Salt & Stone — Restaurant in Durant

Alright so where do I begin… The Setting: Sunday evening, 6/18, Father’s Day. Approx 8:50pm. Closing at 11.

The wait: The young hostess told me there would be about a 45min - 1hr wait. So I asked her, “So does that mean I won’t be seated and you basically will be closed by then?”. She agreed but what appeared to be a manager at the host area ensured there could be a possibility to be seated sooner so he recommended I put my name and number down. So I did. Was called about 9:30pm. Now, I know better than to show up at a restaurant that late. However, being a newly added casual dine-in restaurant within the newest addition of this casino, I’d have imagined a lot more energy, available menu options, and quality would be consistent down to the last opening minute. Maybe it was a bad day.

The drinks: I ordered a coffee. A coffee. It was close to cold so when I asked for another, my waitress brought me a Styrofoam one from the main casino area “just in case”. I never had a chance to order an ice water.

The food: It seemed like everything I wanted off of the menu was “out”. The tomato 🍅 bisque, the pot roast or meatloaf (can’t remember) , the fried chicken, and every dessert on the menu. I then asked the waitress, Well if I ask you what you all still have, will that be a shorter list?”, jokingly of course. I ordered the Salt & Stone Burger medium and the fried green tomatoes as my appetizer. Both came out together. The burger was a soppy cheesy mess. I could’ve received much better quality from Whataburger… which is more times than not consistently great! The bacon was chewy and the bun looked like it was fresh out of the bag, unprepared. The only decent thing I had was the fries.

I read really good reviews about the breakfast and maybe that’s the peak point of this restaurant, but from my personal experience for dinner at a semi pricey restaurant in a hotel casino resort, I would not invest in this experience ever again.

Let’s ask ourselves as a business offering a menu of items, “Do we have the capacity to serve each customer the same exact experience throughout the day?” If you are “out of” several meal options, all desserts, and can’t brew another pot of coffee, should you really be open? I was embarrassed for your servers that had to deny the people they were waiting on. Disappointing.

I suggest before bringing in the remaining handful of restaurants to this Casino that Choctaw refine the quality of what is already there. What is the purpose of having unique dining experiences if the quality is less...

Let me start off by saying this restaurant was one I was so excited to eat at. The menu looked delicious. We made plans to eat before our concert and thankfully we were seated right away. Sadly, this is when it all took a turn.

First thing I noticed was lack of waitstaff. It took about 10 minutes before our waiter came by, and probably another 10 minutes to get our drinks. Our appetizer came immediately before our meal, which I was not a fan of. After getting our food we saw our waiter once when our food was dropped off (to give us a missing side) and that was it. Never checked on us to see how that food was or if we needed anything. We had to ask for our check as our waiter walked by. I noticed similar instances with other tables, but they were not busy. It was a light crowd inside. I can only assume they were short staff, which was sad because it was a Friday night during Spring break and a night of a concert.

Now, onto the food. We got the appetizer of Chicken Chicharróns. They were good, but we didn’t get to enjoy them because of food immediately followed them, and I mean immediately. I got the half a chicken with mac and cheese and Brussels sprouts. Sadly there was not much chicken, my mac and cheese was good and on the dryer side, but Brussels sprouts were probably the best part. For nearly $50 I had too high of expectations I guess. My husband got the catfish at the recommendation of our waiter and he could not eat it. The coleslaw was soggy, and he said his fries were the best part. For a $100 meal, we were very disappointed. I really hoped this would be a wonderful experience, but the price tag of the meal and what we got did not match, nor did the service. I had hoped to stop the manager but he was visiting with another table it appeared and we needed to get to our concert.

When we spend this much money I expect exceptional, and this night they fell short of that. I would have rather ate Rib Crib down the street...

Basically ruined my 40th birthday.

We were really hopeful when we first arrived. It wasn't crowded, the atmosphere was nice (if a little more open than I had hoped for), and the Brussels Sprouts & Bacon dip was FANTASTIC.

Unfortunately it all went downhill from there.

Our waitress was sweet, and she tried her best, but the food was a disaster.

Hubby's burger was... Meh. He said it would most closely compare to Burger King, but he would rather have BK for more patties. The fries were basic generic fast food fries, but at least the ratio of fry to burger was right.

I ordered the fried chicken, because I dearly love both Gouda & collard greens. The chicken breading was pretty good, but the chicken itself literally tasted like water, and I couldn't actually eat most of the breading because it was surprise! drenched in hot honey/red pepper, and I have autoimmune issues with nightshades. Okay, well, the greens look safe ... Oops, surprise again, swimming in red pepper to the point they were legitimately too spicy to eat, even with my medication on board to keep me from reacting to it. Pro tip: there are HUNDREDS of herbs & spices available other than just red pepper. Y'all should try some sometime. 😑 The Gouda Mac & cheese was at least decent, but nothing to write home about; I saw on the menu that an a la carte order of it was $10, and I had to laugh at how terribly overpriced that is.

Dessert time came, and our waitress asked for me, but the "chef" could not actually tell me for sure what was in each of them, so I gave up and declined. ON MY BIRTHDAY. 😭

$120 for dinner for two (because our waitress tried her best, so we still tipped), no alcohol, no dessert, and a long night on the toilet for me. ON MY...