54th Street Restaurant & Drafthouse — Restaurant in Lewisville

Ive been going to this location for over 5yrs. Never had an issue- always had good service. I also go to The Colony, Frisco, and Irving location, but prefer Lewisville because they have a nice patio. Yesterday my friend and I went for frozen margaritas. When they came out, the server had forgotten the straws. While focused on getting straws we didn’t realize the consistency of the drinks. The server returned with the straws and left. We then noticed how watery the drinks were. We decided to ask if the server could replace them with actual frozen ones since the drinks were basically full with the exception of a sip or two. She offered to send the bartender over- which I thought was strange. I politely asked for a manager. Right away I could tell from the manager Jeremy Jimenez demeanor that he hadn’t come to help. I advised him that the drinks came out watery and asked if he could replace. He responded that it was normal for the margaritas to be watery as liquor does not freeze and that if we’d ever had them frozen, that they had been made incorrectly. I told him that I’d been to that location and many others several times and the drinks were frozen. He repeated that they had been made incorrectly all the previous times. He then went on to say that he’d been a manager for 10 years (basically to discredit our claim that the drinks come out frozen) and that they’re always watery. I told him that I had been a customer of the establishment for several years- he said “Well that’s great” but in a very condescending way. As I continued, he repeated “That’s great”. We explained that we were not blaming anybody, as this was not a human error- and that the machine obviously wasn’t quite ready when the drinks were made. Instead of listening Jeremy became combative. He then said- “Well you all have had the drinks for 15 minutes”. When I disputed this, he said that the order had been placed 15 mins ago (proving that we couldn’t have had them for 15 mins). We also couldn’t control when the server came back to check on us. He tried to insinuate that due to time and the weather, that the drinks had melted. It was not hot that day- we went around 6pm. There was a nice breeze which is what made us sit on the patio. Since we had not drank the margaritas, he offered to take them back and remove them from the bill. My friend and I returned the drinks but were quite upset because this was the entire reason we’d come. Later, a neighboring table ordered margaritas and theirs was frozen. We asked the server why was this. She couldn’t answer. We requested the corporate number. The server said she would see what she could do. Moments later… Jeremy comes back to the table on the defense. He says, I already told you guys that there’s nothing I can do about it. He hands us a card to complain with his name on it as general manager. We then asked him why the other tables drinks were frozen. He tried diverting to how he’d offered for us to purchase different drinks. We reiterated that we had been long standing customers and knew just as well as he did how the drinks were supposed to come out. He again responded “That’s great”. That was the last straw for me. I was sick of his rudeness and complete disregard for what we were saying. I finally called him out on being condescending. I felt that he assumed we didn't pick up on it. When I called him on it, he proceeded to go back and forth with us in front of other customers. He then said we could leave. After several minutes into the verbal exchange, he finally stormed off. He is the most unprofessional GM I’ve ever met. He is a poor representation of leadership for the 54th brand. We never expected anything free- only for the drinks to be made correctly. I’ve never had a bad 54th experience. However this overshadowed all of the other good experiences that I’ve had with this location. We later left and went to The Colony location where they made them correctly, confirmed that Frozen was the correct preparation, and provided excellent service. Jeremy is a sad representation of the brand....

Used to be a great restaurant - Used to be! Went last night with friends and we will not be back.

#1 - the servers (one was in training) didn't' smile, were polite but no personality. #2 - I ordered the 8 oz sirloin steak (med rare). It came out literally with the blood juice running out of it. The person who dropped it off didn't wait for me to cut into it - just dropped and left. When I cut into it - RARE - Like the cook threw it on the grill just to brown it. #3 - I waited for the servers to come back - never did. I had to get up and go to the server station and ask for my servers. #4 - Finally the servers came back and now the plate was full of blood juice, so she took it back. How you want it again - "med rare". #5 - My friends were almost done with their meal when the Manager came out and delivered my steak. It was like it was left on the grill and shrank. I looked at it and then the Manager, he said please cut into it and see if this is to your liking. IT WAS GREY! Totally overcooked even if you liked it well done. I just looked at him and said I can't eat this. Showed him the inside and said this isn't even Well Done - its Over Done - like shoe leather. He apologized asked if I wanted another steak - uh no! He did comp my meal but not my drink, not my friends meal (who I was paying for) and apologized. #6 - the server comes over - who knew it was all on one check and that I had ordered the steak, and said my manager said to take off your steak - I said yes. Oh ok. - DUH!.

Save yourself from the lack of personality (none of the servers were friendly), the lack of customer service, lack of knowledge of the cooks and spend your money elsewhere. Oh I was told there they had a lot of trainees last night. Then don't let a trainee cook - make...

The food itself earned both of these stars. Whoever is in the kitchen tonight is a winner in my book (6/27). Our food was delicious.

That being said, the cook should also be managing the place. We were seated promptly (with 3 hostesses and 25% capacity, I'd hope so) but then waited 15 minutes to see our server or receive water. With a dozen tables seated and over 15 wait staff (not including bar or hostesses) standing in the back having social hour...I expected to meet our server a bit sooner. With the restaurant near empty, I expected better service considering the near 1:1 server-to-customer ratio.

Following the meal (again, solid showing) we waited another 15 minutes before our server bothered to show herself again. My wife and one kid had since gone to the car to wait, while my son and I sat patiently. When she finally came, she was not only sans-check, but her question was "is everyone still doing ok?" While I'd like to blame lack of training, in hindsight I can't imagine anyone misreading the situation that badly who had their eyes open. After asking for the check, I waited another 20 minutes, watching her talk to her friends in the back before she dropped the check carelessly on the table. I paid and left, but if I hadn't already waited over half an hour to pay I'd have been more inclined to spend another 30 min waiting for whoever runs the place to come out and give an explanation on the horrific service tonight.

I see the good reviews, I know we're dealing with a weird time right now, but neither is an excuse for the effort this place's wait staff put up tonight. Responsibility rests solely on tonight's management team, and anyone who has a service background knows that's true. You guys have work to do.

You've seen my last...