Who Ordered the BBQ Sardines?
Written: Mar 27 '06
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Pros: affordable, lots of BBQ choices, lots of seats
Cons: crowded, tight aisles and bathrooms, mixed up our order, mediocre food
The Bottom Line: It's greasy, tasteless, and crowded. You sure you want to go here?
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| jeavinl's Full Review: Dallas BBQ - Upper West Side |
I'm generally not a steak and ribs girl (though I do like Outback), but it was my father's birthday this past weekend so I decided to go to one of his favorite spots.
LOCATION
The Upper Westside Dallas BBQ is located at 27 West 72nd Street between Central Park West and Amsterdam Avenue. It is about a half a block from Central Park and located on the ground floor of what appears to be a residential building. There are five other Dallas BBQs throughout NYC.
ATMOSPHERE AND DÉCOR
Dallas BBQ is big and busy. There are two seating levels and by the time we left at around 7pm (on a Saturday), both were packed. The aisles are tiny and even when the tables aren’t full, it’s hard to navigate through the restaurant. There is a small bar area in front that doubles as a waiting area and it is generally jam-packed with people and strollers.
This is not the place you bring your significant other for a quiet, relaxing date. It’s loud and family friendly and has a tight, cramped feel to it (and that’s before you even eat anything).
Surprisingly, there wasn’t as much barbeque/cattle/Texas/Southern decoration as I would’ve imagined. In fact, the walls were pretty bare and there wasn’t anything I found amusing or interesting to look at.
MENU
As the name implies, this is a Texas-style eatery. There are lots of barbequed meat dishes: ribs, chicken, brisket, pulled pork, steak, and burgers. There are some seafood dishes as well, including catfish and shrimp. Appetizers include shrimp, crab cakes, an assortment of wings, chili, and baked beans. For those who are less enthusiastic about meat or who just want a starter, there are about 10 salad options (some with chicken or beef), including taco salad, Caesar salad, and spinach steak salad. This isn't exactly the best place to bring your vegetarian sister, but she can find something on the menu to satisfy her. Although I couldn’t find their children’s menu online, there were a couple of items on their placemat menus specifically for kids. There’s an assortment of frozen drinks that come in regular or Texas-size glasses. Oddly, there are no desserts offered here. For a full menu, you can check out the Menu link on their Web site.
PRICES
The pricing is very reasonable. With drinks, appetizers, entrée, and tax, our group of four adults spent just over $100. The starters range from $1.99 cup of soup to $11.99 hot wings. The entrees generally range from $10 to $15, with a couple of the combo meals priced higher and the burgers priced lower.
SERVICE
The wait time for seating is long and the service is slow. It’s not excruciatingly slow considering the size of the place, but still slower than I’d like. Though she had a nice smile, our waitress messed up our order so I don’t have anything nice to say about the service.
MY EXPERIENCE
Me, my husband, my brother, and my 16-month-old daughter went to Dallas BBQ to celebrate my father’s birthday. He’s frequented the place often but usually gets take out since he’s single. So on his recommendation the five of us met there for an early dinner (5 pm) on a Saturday night.
I’m not sure how long we waited to be seated, but the place appeared to already be packed and it did take awhile. While the rest of our group waited, I sought out a bathroom to change my daughter’s diaper. There are only three stalls in the women’s bathroom. Considering the size of this place (two large levels), I expected a much larger rest room. The size of the room itself was tiny and each stall felt smaller than an airplane lavatory. The line to the bathroom had to wait outside because there was hardly room enough for two people to wash their hands. Let’s keep in mind that I’m small framed and I had trouble navigating. There was no drop-down changing table in the women’s room (I didn’t try the men’s but I’m assuming there was none in there either). Usually there is at least one larger wheelchair-accessible toilet in restaurant bathrooms. There was none at Dallas BBQ. As I was leaving, several other women commented on how tiny the bathroom was. When I left the bathroom, which is located downstairs, I noticed that the lower level was empty. That seemed odd to me since the upstairs was packed and there were plenty of people waiting to be seated. [By the time we left, both levels were full.]
Our food came out fairly quickly considering how crowded the restaurant was. For starters, my brother had the chili and corn bread (which was OK, but didn’t taste like anything special—my husband commented that the chili tasted like Wendy’s chili and I thought the corn bread was very dry), my husband had crabcakes and shrimp (also OK, but nothing special), and my dad had the vegetable tempura (he liked it). I had a virgin pina colada, which was yummy, while my dad slurped a Texas-size frozen drink and the younger guys had kamikazes. The drinks were all very good.
Unfortunately, there was some confusion over our entrees and both my husband and brother ended up with the wrong order (cheeseburgers instead of chili burgers). They accepted their misfortune but it definitely soured their dining experience. My father seemed happy with his catfish, but my burger was dry and tasteless and didn’t have any grill marks (how can you “bbq” a burger without grill marks?). The fries were greasy and didn’t have much flavor either.
Though I wasn’t too hungry after dinner since I’d had a huge lunch at the Epinions Meet and Greet, I was surprised that there were no dessert options. That’s definitely a minus in my book.
Since our party had five or more people, 15% gratuity was included in our bill.
OVERALL
The décor was blah; the food was mediocre; the cramped space of the waiting area, dining area, and bathroom made me feel like a sardine; and the fact that half our order got mixed up really left me unsatisfied. It’s hard to say who this place is catering to. It’s loud and tight, which would imply young people or families; but there’s hardly a kid’s menu and the restrooms are not family friendly.
Recommended:
No
Kid Friendliness: No
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Notes, Tips or Menu Recommendations Try the catfish, my father recommends it, but stay away from the burgers.
Best Suited For: Friends
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