DiamondBack's — Restaurant in Waco

I rarely, if ever, write reviews or publicly state my comments, but after our experience I felt the need to. Let me preface by stating that we sat at the bar with the intention of ordering some drinks and appetizers and then eventually move to a table for entrees, but unfortunately our experience at the bar stopped at those items and encouraged us to get our checks and proceed to another place for a meal. The things I’m about to mention are going to seem untrue, but I assure you are 100% factual. Let’s begin...My partner and were looking for a “semi-fine dining” experience as we were celebrating her 30th birthday. We had never been to Diamondbacks, but if you live in Waco you know that it has the reputation as being one of the better-special-occasion-type-restaurants, so we went. We sat at the bar and were greeted by a white male with an underwhelming “what can I get you?” No, “welcome in”, “have you been here before?”, “my name is...”, or even a hint of personable experience. We looked over the drink menus and ordered a couple of drinks. As we sat at the end of the bar we noticed a white bowl of fruits for cocktail garnish and to our surprise were dime to nickel size spots of fuzzy mold on some of the fruit. I should’ve taken a picture...Complete disbelief. We said nothing and continued on. We then asked the bartender or should I say person impersonating a bartender if we could order some food at the bar, to which he simply replied “yes” and stared at us for a moment. As we awkwardly stared at each other we had to suggest to him that maybe we would need food menus to order food, which he then realized that we didn’t have food menus and gave them to us. Honest mistake, so let’s move on. Around this time a gentleman in a ball cap and a worn long sleeve shirt sat next to us. I’d like to add that we are by no means wealthy or snobby, but we were slightly disappointed that the dress code was so laxed, we were hoping for a more respectable atmosphere, especially given the ambiance and prices, but then again, not that big of a deal. Anyways, it was quickly noticed that this ball cap wearing gentleman was a friend of the bartender and the gentleman began to spill his woes about not having a place to live and that he would be homeless in six days. The bartender overly indulged the gentleman and forgot about his other duties and spent a large amount of time talking to his friend. We, and I’m sure others, felt neglected. During this time we ordered some appetizers and upon their arrival we received NO silverware, napkins, or side plates. We went the entire evening using our single bar napkin from the drinks we ordered earlier. We decided to leave our planned evening and sadly planned an impromptu next door for sandwiches. As we closed our checks we were still finishing our appetizers and there was some ginger a piece and of sushi left. Without any notice or even asking if we were done the bartender took our plates from us; we were in pure disbelief. Before we even stepped foot in Diamondbacks we had told each other that if we enjoyed it that we would be making a a large reservation for family coming soon. As we both walked out the door we looked at each other and knew we’d never ever comeback and would have to find another place to impress our upcoming family and guests. Again, I hardly ever leave comments, but wow, I mean simply in awe and disbelief of the service and experience. I’ve had better service at a cheap chain restaurant. To me one star means the absolute worst, which I cannot say this is my worst experience ever at a restaurant, but two stars for this particular experience is being generous. I’m the kind of person who still tips well even if service is poor, but I hated giving a tip during this experience, but I did, and hated it. Very disappointed. Still never got the...

I almost feel bad for this review because the staff doesn't deserve a low review. Everyone we came into contact with was very polite and professional. I also must admit, my wife and I are not fine dining aficionados. So maybe we are missing something that people look for when it comes to dining. We arrived without a reservation as we were just looking for a place to eat for our anniversary. I had seen this before and felt like having a steak. When we arrived we were asked about reservations but then told it was ok and were seated. Very friendly at the door. It is very dark inside and i was having a hard time reading the menu, even though we arrived at 6 pm on an overcast day, i thought maybe my eyes just needed to adjust to the environment however they never did. a little more light at the tables would be very appreciated. We browsed the drink selection on the ipad, and our waiter checked on us a couple of times while we were deciding. He was very friendly and patient with us. We decided to order from the Chef's selection. I chose the mixed grill and my wife chose the chicken parmesan. she also chose tortilla soup and i chose the house salad. The waiter then brought us some rosemary cheddar pop overs and butter. The pop overs were warm but not warm enough to melt the very cold butter. They did taste amazing though. Next was the soup and salad. The soup was ok, not great but not bad either. I did enjoy the salad. mixed greens with a sweet vinaigrette, pecans and blue cheese. it was a very nice mix of sweet and savory. Our main course arrived. The waiter had asked us when ordering if we wanted the optional noodles with the chicken parm, we opted out and glad we did. The chicken was gigantic. He also asked that I check that my steak was cooked correctly and it was. The chicken parm's crust was soggy and very chewy around the edges. I could tell it was fried and not microwaved because of the copious amounts of grease trapped in the breading, however if not for that i would have guessed microwaved because of the chewy texture. The sauce tasted premade from a can or a jar. It just wasn't nearly the quality i was expecting. The mix grill is a petite (4 oz?) filet, a very small cut of salmon and two jumbo shrimp. The steak was cooked nearly perfectly and was very tender, however the char on it was so deep that i had a couple of crunchy bites. It came with a sauce that i was not a fan of, but that could just be my lack of experience which is why i mentioned that to begin with. it was very salty and bit fishy and i would have enjoyed the steak more with just some GSP on it. The glase on the salmon was sweet and was actually really good, but the salmon itself was over cooked, dry, and rubbery. the two shrimp were, well shrimp that were grilled so they were fine. Shortly before our main course arrived the waiter had brought our knives to us. They looked to be of high quality. I picked it up to inspect it and noticed a full tang, and a nicely curved handle. It felt a bit light in my hands so I looked further and realized the blade was very thin with no edge and serrations at the tip. This knife that looked to be of such high quality, on closer examination, was just a glorified butter knife. Faux Quality. That is the best way i can describe our experience. When you first arrive you begin to think this is a high quality restaurant but the longer you look at it you begin to realize its just an ok steak house that is trying to be fine dining. Faux Quality. in summation, the staff is outstanding, but the food is over priced and pretentious. It was an experience but not one we will...

My wife and I flew in from Santa Monica, California to see the eclipse with the rest of her family. Sufficed to say, while the eclipse was AWESOME 😎, her father was anything but. For a daughter who rushed to pay top dollar, last minute fees to fly down to Dallas, then rent a car and drive for 2 hours to Waco, with her Sasquatch husband (ahhh thank you 😁), only to meet up with her step-mother, 4 brothers (aged 14-38) and father… who then preceded act like a Class-5 Jack@$$ for the entirety of the day. Unbelievable! It ruined my wife’s entire day, and crushed any chance of happiness of enjoying the eclipse with the rest of her family. All cause her father was a grumpy-bumpy, poo-poo-stinkhead (sorry for name calling) Doesn’t make sense, and pisses me off something fierce. 🤬

Anywho…

Where am I going with this, you might ask? 🧐 💭 Why, right to 217 Mary Ave., of course! ☝🏻

So first off, got on the phone with Mr. Marshall, who was outstanding to speak to. Extremely courteous, clear, kind, and concise. Upon our arrival, Marshall was good enough to have me sit in one of their comfy waiting chairs, warning me that I may not ever want to get up. So very funny. He was right though…. I didn’ get up. I’m still in that chair right now. Hmmm…..🤔

Anyways!

Once our table was ready, Mr. Marshall did indeed peel me off the comfy cozy waiting chair, and seated my wife and I to a nearby table.

Our sever would be Ms. Bridget. We could not have been more grateful. 🙏🏻

She was kind, polite, funny, clever, quick, knowledgeable, empathetic, complimentary, courteous, and her sense of humor was my kind of weird. She got my wife to light up and smile, and for that I am ever so grateful. The Professor is one mucho lucky hombre (she 🫵🏻 knows what I’m talkin’ about 🤨🙃). Respect ✊🏻

Should also note that Mr. Michael, the Manager, was kind enough to stop by and check in to see how our meal was going. He’s a good man. Very attentive, protective, and had nothing but nice things to say about Ms. Bridget. He also assisted greatly in putting a Cheshire smile 😁 on my wife’s punim.

The food was an 11 out of 10. No joke. Everything was just perfect. 👌🏻 Can’t stress it enough. You guys rock!

Not sure when we’ll be back, but if we ever do; we will DEFINITELY make sure to come back to Diamondbacks.

In the meantime, we will make sure to refer anyone we know, that is headed to Waco, to stop by for the good food, and even better hospitality.

Good stuff 👍🏻👍🏻🙏🏻✌🏻

-Jordyn & Sean White

PS- I’d also like to point out that while Ms. Bridget did indeed warn that size of the Peanut Butter Pie was “large”….? yeah. No. The damn thing was big enough to sink the Titanic. I managed to put down a quarter of it, and am now about to enter a diabetic coma 🛌. I’m just...