SALT - New American Table — Restaurant in McAllen

Good food, bad service. We first knew we were in trouble when our waiter took our order from memory, with some difficulty. I ordered the sweet meats, and the waiter said, “oh, those are my favorite!”. I never got the appetizer. When I mentioned this to the waiter, he said something to the effect of “you really missed out, those are my favorite!” Thanks for rubbing in my loss due to your mistake…

When our mains arrived, the waiter decided it would be a great time to explain the life history of our food: where all the meat was born and raised, all the fancy ingredients, etc. We politely waited for this speech to end….so that we could ask for silverware, which he neglected to give us. By standing between me and a hot plate of food, this guy was playing a dangerous game. I want to EAT, not watch my food get cold while you talk at me.

We ordered dessert, but everything had dairy in it, which one person in our group couldn’t have. No dessert for him.

When it came time for the check, one person in our group politely pulled JR (oops…) to the side and suggested that, if a meal had pork in it, they should mention that on the menu. This person couldn’t eat a side dish because it came with bacon in it. JR immediately said, “Oh, it says that on the menu.” My fellow diner pushed back and said, “No…it doesn’t.” So then JR whips out a menu and proceeds to CHECK right in front of us! “Wow, look at that, it doesn’t mention the pork! I’ll mention that to the chef, because it’s supposed to…”. A simple “I’m sorry about that” would have sufficed, rather than throwing down the gauntlet in front of our table…and being proved wrong. People with dietary restrictions are used to reading the fine print on a menu, don’t challenge them over it.

Okay, so we’ve established that JR had either no past as a waiter or has no future as one. I’ll say a few things that have nothing to do with this guy. My meal (pork leg?) was a good portion, and was delicious. They were very accommodating for someone (else) who was a vegetarian, and he quite enjoyed his dinner. A couple of people ordered the duck, which was a very small portion, just two or three small breast slices. Everyone thought the food tasted good. We sat outside, which we felt was a good choice because we could hear loud music playing inside. The mariachi band playing a few blocks away was a much more reasonable volume.

Overall, a mixed experience. With a different (and competent) waiter, and given that we sat outside where we were only subjected to the music after being attenuated by windows, and that I personally eat dairy and pork, I would give this five stars. Try at...

Sat at the chefs bar top and got to sample some Mac and cheese that had perfectly cooked bacon as well as beautifully melted cheese with some kind of breading on top not sure on the type of cheese but very delicious. For an appetizer I had the Quail Knots which are apparently Quail legs/thighs over an Asiago polenta (which is basically a cheese porridge) and a pomegranate gastrique. ( Which is basically a caramelized pomegranate sauce) They all pair very well with each other and I found the best way to eat was to have a little bit of everything insde your mouth instead of placing one thing in your mouth at a time. I've never had Quail before but this was a very delicious bird. Succulent and supple I'm very happy that my first experience with quail was here. As a big food guy I highly recommend sitting at the chefs bar if you love food because there's something about being able to see your food being cooked that makes you appreciate it more. The chefs also change gloves for cooking constantly which is a very good sign that they keep things sanitary and cross contamination to a bare minimum. As an entree I had something off menu as it was limited in quantity at the time but I had a fresh yellow tail and over all the fish itself was an 8 out of 10. In my opinion they used a lot of spices that while great on their own overpowered the fish if only a tiny bit. I love a good yellow tail myself and it was perfectly cooked in every way. It laid atop a sauce of some kind (wasn't on the menu so I couldn't say) and I found myself drizzling the sauce itself over the fish because I was very fond of it. Unfortunately I was a little overzealous with the Quail that I forgot to take a picture but here is the yellowtail. All in all a place I highly recommend because so far it is the closest to very fine dining I have tried in the valley and I hope they continue what they're doing for many years to come. I ended up wanting more because I myself am a very big eater so i also had their 16 Oz sirloin medium rare. the steak was perfectly seasoned with their own blend and cooked to perfection. even the asparagus and potatoes that are meant to be a side came out complimenting the steak extremely well. I found myself wishing I had more of those sides so I could fit them all in my mouth at the same time. excellent and friendly service as well. would...

Definitely good food, it was really busy and we didn't have a reservation for the 6 of us on a work trip and they said it would be an hour wait, but they also offered to seat us on the patio which was pretty much closed as it was summer in Texas so hot but we accepted as it was cooling off as the sun was setting, they were attentive and quickly got us drinks and water, the beer selection was good, all local brews, not a wine drinker but that looked extensive and another of our party ordered a bottle for the table, it was very tasty wine. We got an appetizer of the cheese board, we got 2 to be enough for 6 people, I had the rabbit which was delicious, served Ina red sauce with green beans (which would have benefitted from having been cut in half prior to serving) the rabbit was very tender, but you could loose track of it in the sauce, probably could have used less sauce, and had one drumstick in the center, others of our group got the pork chop, pork ribs, fried chicken and scallops, I was only jealous of the porkchop, the ribs looked ok, the scallops looked good but I am not a scallops fan, but the fried chicken looked disappointing, porkchop got left only half eatten, but it was a 20ox porkchop so not sure if it wasn't good or just too large. One nice event was it turned out they had actually put us next on the wait list for inside while completely serving us outside, but unfortunately only after eating did a spot open up, they still offers it to us despite is being mostly done but it was nice to get in the ac and away from some of the bugs outside mosquitoes and a couple flies, we had a few more drinks inside where it is a little loud, but still comfortable to talk amongst our larger party. Kinda rustic themed and there is a neat bar where you actually sit directly at the kitchen which could be cool to do. On the he pricey side 20-35 per entree, and not the best for large parties as it is kinda small, but it would probably be a great place for date night if you are willing to pay a little more. I dunno,...