Darren's American Grill — Restaurant in Garland

Ok first of all we really wanted to try this place out and had takeout the other night. I went in to pick up my food and had a beer at the bar and had a good conversation with the bartenders. Everyone was friendly and took care of me (thus the 4 stars). We got home to eat the food and was very disappointed that the Chicken Fried Steak was very mushy. It reminded me of the ones we used to get at school in the 80's. The Patty Melt was also terrible, the only thing I could finish was the baked potato, which honestly is hard to mess up. We also ordered wings and onion rings, all were not great. The wings we had to put in the air fryer as they were too soft. I saw the reviews of this place today and saw the owners comment of one of the ratings from a customer and thought that it was not very professional for an establishment to respond like that. I was thinking about giving them another chance till I saw his response, and if he was the same guy I saw in the corner while I was at the bar then I could see his negativity. There are far better places especially for the chicken fried steak. Maybe some people like their food like that, but I have had much better. Good luck and I never wish anything negative to people that run their own business, but you still need to treat customers better even if they give you bad reviews. It's called constructive criticism.

Update: So Darren called me out too, I would be happy to come up there and discuss this in person. I don't need or want to "hide behind my keyboard". You just don't like negative reviews about your restaurant. 1. I live 2 minutes away so it did not get soggy due to sitting there too long. 2. I had one beer there while I waited for my food AND had good conversations with your staff. 3. How did I have my mind made up "before" I came in if I ordered over $70 worth of food that night. Again I support small businesses, but you are just an unhappy person who likes to attack others that don't like your restaurant. It just goes to show your true character, and again I would be happy to discuss...

Someone recommended this place so we came here on a Friday night. Their special was all you can eat fried catfish. That is what I ordered. My companion ordered The American melt. When I ordered the catfish I substituted my fries for fried okra. Had I known that I was going to be charged separately for the okra I would have just kept the fries and ordered fried okra. It would have been the same cost. Fried okra was pretty good. It only came with two hush puppies though. I really wanted to like the catfish but I just couldn't the coating which I tried separately. Just had no flavor to it and the fish was very bland as there was no seasoning on there either. So all together it kind of tasted like fried nothing. By companion ordered the American melt. If I was to come back here I would probably order that or maybe one of their burgers because the sandwich was really good. The meat was tender. Vegetables could use a little more seasoning. The sandwich was toasted, just a little too much on the outside, but not to the point of being a burnt flavor. Tater tots were crispy and fried well. The service here was excellent! Very attentive, but not to the point of being bothersome. The music in the restaurant was provided by a guitarist who played a variety of blues, folk and old-time...

Very good independent restaurant / diner with a large menu which has all the American classics. I ordered their chicken fried steak and it was good.

When they took our order, they asked if we wanted any hot sauce with it. Well, how can you possibly know, before you taste or even see your meal? In retrospect, our answer should have been "yes". I'd classify their cuisine as "bland". Yet it's completely understandable. An independent non-chain restaurant needs to please as many people as possible, while alienating as few as possible. You can always add spice but you can't subtract it. So, they did the right thing.

I'd say they were "good" but not quite "excellent". I wish the server would have come by and offered sauces / spices after we got our meal instead of before.

I'll readily say that this place tries very hard. They offer a good meal at an excellent value. I just wish they'd perhaps work on the overall dining experience a little bit. It shouldn't take too much effort to transform this place from "good" to "WOW".

We will probably return some day (we live hundreds of miles away and just happened to be in the area.) I recommend this place and had a good experience there. Still, I'd hope for an even better...