Dahlia Kitchen + Bar — Restaurant in Sioux Falls Township

Dahlia Kitchen + Bar is a beautiful restaurant with stylish décor, trendy lighting, and an upscale vibe. Unfortunately, the only thing it truly delivers on is appearances. The service was terrible, the food quality was poor, and the overall experience was one of the most disappointing I’ve had in Sioux Falls.

We walked in without a reservation and were seated quickly, which gave us hope. That hope ended fast. It took nearly 15 minutes before anyone came to our table. When the server finally showed up, their attitude was rushed and unfriendly. Drinks took over 20 minutes to arrive, with no apology for the delay.

Ordering food was frustrating as well. The server seemed annoyed by questions about the menu. We ordered wings, chips with guacamole, and entrées. The wings took 40 minutes and arrived dry and bland. The chips were stale, and the guacamole tasted like it had been sitting all day.

The entrées were even worse. After waiting over an hour, our meals arrived lukewarm. My birria tacos were greasy and flavorless, the tortillas soggy and falling apart. The consommé was oily and salty. My partner’s tequila shrimp tacos were rubbery and drowned in sauce. A friend’s bison steak was dry, overcooked, and nearly flavorless.

Service throughout the meal was almost nonexistent. Our server barely checked in, ignored empty glasses, and left dirty plates sitting on the table until we stacked them ourselves. We had to flag them down for refills and again for the check, which still took 15 minutes. Not once did anyone ask how our food was or acknowledge the excessive delays.

For the high prices Dahlia charges, you expect quality food and professional service. What we got instead was bland food, sloppy presentation, extreme wait times, and servers who acted like we were an inconvenience.

If you want to see a pretty space and have a drink, maybe stop by the bar. But if you’re looking for a good meal, prompt service, or even basic hospitality, there are far better options in Sioux Falls.

Dahlia may look beautiful, but actually eating there was a frustrating and expensive...

Review for Dahlia Mexican Kitchen – Sioux Falls

We were genuinely excited to try Dahlia – the concept is fresh, the atmosphere inviting, and Sioux Falls could truly benefit from elevated, modern Mexican cuisine. Unfortunately, our experience fell far below expectations and left us not just disappointed, but frustrated by the missed potential.

To put it bluntly, the food was awful. Everything we tried lacked flavor, freshness, and care. The margaritas, which we were hoping would be a highlight, were completely overpowered by tahine – not just on the rim, but aggressively present throughout the entire drink. It made the margarita undrinkable and left a harsh, salty, almost metallic aftertaste.

My wife ordered the tacos with ground beef, and the meat was painfully bland – no seasoning, no spice, no depth. My daughter had the tinga taquitos, and we were honestly concerned that the meat was close to, if not already, rancid. The smell and taste were both off-putting enough that we didn’t let her finish them. I ordered the short rib birria expecting something rich and flavorful. Instead, the meat was cold near the bone, and the whole plate looked thrown together, as if it had been microwaved just long enough to fake warmth on the outside.

On top of the poor food quality, the service was mediocre at best. Our young server seemed disinterested and rushed. He never checked in after the food arrived, never asked if things were okay – despite half-eaten plates and clear signs something was wrong. Getting his attention felt like an inconvenience to him, and it left the entire meal feeling neglected.

Dahlia has all the ingredients for something special – great branding, a stylish interior, and a modern take on Mexican cuisine that Sioux Falls needs. But none of that matters if the execution falls this flat. It’s hard to see such a great idea handled so poorly. If Dahlia hopes to last, the kitchen needs a serious reset on quality and taste, and the front-of-house needs training in basic hospitality. Right now, it’s a place we can’t recommend and sadly...

During a recent stay in Sioux Falls we decided to try “Dahlia,” a new “Mexican” restaurant next to the Canopy Hotel in the “Steelworks District (or whatever it’s called)” in the quickly renovating downtown area. The venue is huge and the décor is trendy and sort of avantgarde at the same time. We went on a Monday night and the place was pretty empty – it prompted the question in my mind of “how will they survive?” given the expansiveness of the restaurant. The portions were huge – in typical midwestern fashion. We ordered the nachos, and I wish we hadn’t as they were enormous and just had too much going on. As the menu indicates, there is a bunch of “different meats” on it, and the dish overall just feels lazy – it could be good, but the way it’s executed it makes it just a pile of food. We ordered the “gringo” tacos as well as the fish tacos – none of which are in a corn tortilla (flour tortillas - I should note that while nothing is authentic, they could at least offer a choice of tortilla). The tacos could have been OK, but they lacked any flavor or spice and desperately needed a flavorful salsa which there was none. We shared the short rib birria which also could have been good (noticing a theme?), but it didn’t taste fresh -rather I think everything is pre-made and they just reheated it. Overall, service was good, but the food was really disappointing – at least to someone who knows good Mexican food. While I wasn’t expecting super authentic Mexican cuisine, it still should have been better for something that is trying to essentially be “upscale fusion Mexican (my words,...