Flair Taverna — Restaurant in Odessa

How disappointing. This is a long review because I’m Pissed. TERRIBLE SERVICE and overpriced food I read all the great reviews. Maybe it was an off night idk I have been on a road trip with my 12 yr old and 2 yr old camping and hiking for days . We had on the road for 6 hrs and were so hungry . I wanted a nice dinner . Read reviews and made reservations. We checked in hotel and ran to eat. Now like I said I have a 2 yr old who has been in car all day. So I had a window of time to get dinner and out before there was a melt down. Let’s start with the waitress brought 2 waters. There were 3 of us I asked her if she could bring a drink for my 2 yr old daughter. She said we only have “to go cups” umhhhhh okay can you bring her one. SHE NEVER DID. Crab cakes are basically sweet hush puppies. And truffle fries taste like normal fries. I really wanted to try a few things on the menu after camping for a few days but After that I was nervous to order multiple $60 dishes Couldn’t decide between salad and chicken. The waitress was rushing me acting aggravated by my questions Asked me if I wanted to add meat to my salad I said yes, steak. Then she said it will be a whole steak . Okay , what cuts . You can get a filet it will be an extra $46. Umhhh I’m still asking about what kind , I didn’t ask the price yet. But I was getting irritated so I said don’t worry about it . I asked her for a drink menu . She NEVER brought it. But all the couples with men at the table she was helping all had drink menus and were getting drinks back to back. I had to ask someone else for a drink menu , a drink for my 2 year old and ordered a drink.

Kids pasta was good. My spinach salad was decent . Dressing and pecans and goat cheese were good on it. My 12 year old is a vegetarian who eats Caesar salad everywhere we go. She never complains. She said the dressing was sour. I tasted it. It was sour . I had to ask someone else for a water refill and told them my daughter didn’t like the salad because the waitress never checked on us Waitress came and told me nobody had Ever complained about dressing Okay well just take it and we will get a kids meal. That was good . Bread pudding was decent. Had to wait forever for everything and ask other people When she brought check because now my 2 year old is ready to go I see the Caesar salad and a $3 sprite is on the bill . . I asked her if kids meals came with drinks. No . Okay annoying but whatever . How is it you can charge me for a sprite but didn’t even bring a drink. At this point I’m sooooooo annoyed because I just wanted a nice dinner and it’s not that she was busy. It was that she was busy catering to tables with couples . I don’t know if it was because I was a woman or because we were dressed like we were going to wal mart but she have everyone better service than us. As I was leaving she asked the gentleman next to me is he wanted a drink and gave him a drink menu as soon as she went to table . I told her to take Caesar salad off the check and run my card. She goes over there . Complains about me to the other ladies for a good 3 to 4 minutes while I’m waiting on my credit card and my 2 year old is now throwing her toy cat at the table next to me . I tipped her a dollar. And that makes me mad because I am big on tipping . The restaurant is cute and probably something special for a small town. I wish I would have went to a steak house here. I would have got my moneys worth. Do better and train your servers to treat everyone the same . This restaurant would not survive in a bigger...

This review is long overdue and it’s a positive one!

This was my second visit to Flair Taverna. My waiter was Hannah and her service was absolutely flawless and magnificent! I loved having her as our server and she was phenomenal in her duties and performance. I will always remember her name, her face, and her smile in serving us today. She even drew a beautiful smiley face on our receipt, which was the icing on the cake for me. Thank you so much, Hannah! Management, please give Hannah a raise!

I came in on a Saturday evening at around 8.35 PM, with no reservations booked beforehand. I was worried I might not be accommodated because I had a feeling others might have reserved a spot but people were walking in on a whim.

I ordered the margherita pizza (specifically requesting for minimal cheese)and the gluten free penne arrabiata. Both were fresh and hot. While our pizza did have reduced cheese, as requested, the only problem was that it was overcooked. The center of the pizza was burnt black and, going outwards, the pizza crust was burnt and crispier than needed. The burnt flavor definitely came through in the taste - you could tell. We even checked the bottom and saw that the bread had been overdone. It was an honest mistake but it did indelibly disappoint me.

The pasta, however, was still good. My only point for constructive criticism would be that there should be more pasta than sauce; there’s always way too much sauce than pasta. The pasta should be the base and substance of the dish, instead of the sauce. Still, all the flavors were coming through well. The shrimps were well-done and huge. The presentation was exquisite - the dishes were garnished with expert attention. I appreciated the effort given to appearance. Still, I would have appreciated a larger portion of pasta overall. This pasta dish alone costs $26 and it is, in all honesty, not worth that pricetag - the portions are simply too small for the price.

Hannah, my brilliant server, checked in on me frequently to offer refills on my Diet Coke or anything else I needed. She was so friendly and such a help. Her smile was very warm and welcoming. I was so glad to have her as my server this evening! For our drinks, she forgot to ask if we wanted ice or not, but no worries._

Upon eating the savory, I then moved on to the sweet: the dessert menu. Flair Taverna has a separate dessert menu - isn’t that amazing? You have to ask for it! I requested it and perused through the options. I’m a dessert person, right to my core. I ordered the Tiramisu and the Chocolate Lava. I even ordered a special request for custom messaging on my desserts for a family member who came with me. Hannah happily obliged to my request and even admitted to me that she loved doing such things. Both dishes that arrived had the custom messaging that I requested; I was elated! I was so surprised that we were able to eat and even have dessert within one hour of their closing time. The ending was perfect.

Hannah was the person who put me and my guest in such a good mood. She was attentive, caring, and kind. I hope her smile doesn’t lose its genuineness with time.

To all those at this restaurant, I am thankful to you for working here. You mean so much more than you think you do, and I’m sorry more guests don’t express their gratitude to you outright. You are appreciated - at least by me. Thank you...

I walked into this restaurant for lunch with high hopes after hearing about many people rave about this place. When I walked in we were seated right away. Our waitress soon after took our drink orders and then disappeared. The waitress seamed to be a cross between half high and angry. She seemed to be annoyed by our requests for water, and we didn't seem to eat fast enough to suit her as she came by 6 times during our main course to ask if we were done. She wouldn't refill our water and instead sent another server to come do that. I ordered the smoked old fashioned for my drink. I found this drink to be yet another poor attempt at a SMOKED Old Fashioned. They bring the drink to the table and light a dish with small wood shavings in it and then put a lid over the top and and trap the smoke in the glass for all of 10 seconds before letting it go. This is not a Smoked Old Fashioned, it is however a good attempt at a traditional Old Fashioned. We ordered the hummus for an appetizer. It had a very mild flavor, and was on the verge of almost tasteless. The saving grace for this appetizer was the pita bread which had a very strong and slightly sweet flavor on its own, which when mixed with the Hummus brought some flavor to the dish. My next course I ordered a soup, the Lobster Bisque. There was no meat whatsoever in this bisque and it was way too soupy. I would have to equate it to a very watered down bisque at best. There was also no Lobster taste to this Lobster Bisque. Instead this Lobster Biaque had a very buttery taste and that was about all I was able to taste in this Bisque. I ordered for my main course the Fruiti di Mari. The mussels and clams were well done, soft and flavorful. The Shrimp was also done well. The calamari and lobster were very chewy and rubbery and were way overcooked. My wife ordered the Chilean sea bass. This fush dish was very flaky, soft, and cooked to perfection with a slight crust full of flavor. The Lobster risotto was light, explosive in flavor with good sized Lobster chunks. All in all, this was a very disappointing experience and very lackluster food. Not at all worth the hype or the price. I will not be returning and recommend you go elsewhere for your...