Spoon Bar & Kitchen

Ok so we had 12 people for two birthdays and a wedding anniv. We got there at 6pm and spent over 2,000. At 8pm the manager came over and said we needed to «wrap» things up? Really? I asked for the owner and he said yes he was there. Came back 5 min later and said sorry owner left. I’ll never step foot in this place again. Buy the people waiting for a table a drink and tell them sorry there’s a bday party going on. Oh I see they closed… how appropriate!

Simply Amazing! Went here for our third anniversary and sat at the chefs table. We both chose the tasting menu and what felt like ten courses later, we walked out fat and happy. Great service, great food, worth the price for a special occasion.

It’s a sad day. As of 1−1−15 Spoon will close. There are plans to reopen elsewhere in 2016 however.

I was intrigued by Chef John Tesar’s notoriety on Top Chef so I wanted to check Spoon out for a while and finally found a good time to go. We had the 5 course tasting menu, and I thought it was a really good deal compared to the 7 course menu that is almost twice as expensive. Service and ambiance are excellent and is very appreciated especially since Dallas doesn’t have many fine dining experiences. Dishes veer Asian but I wouldn’t call it fusion. Spoon offers playful, innovative food plated very deliberately and beautifully. The menu changes weekly, and I’m excited to put Spoon on my list of «fancy places I want to eat regularly at but can’t afford to right now.» You’ll find this place across from Hopdoddy.

really good! you can see the complexity and mastery in each dish.
lots of little extras everywhere that i love
drinks were awesomeee. the butterfly one was my favorite.
weird atmosphere. given we were really early, but it was like someone’s very eclectic taste of music was playing. totally didn’t match the very nice dinner we had.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 6^th wedding anniversary at Spoon. We saw John Tesar on Top Chef a few years ago, and have been excited to try out his restaurant. We did the Chef’s Tasting Menu, and were extremely glad that we did! It helped us try new things that we had never tasted before. We loved the geoduck crudo, the scallop with the most beautiful dashi (I don’t usually like scallops, but this course was fantastic — rich and light at the same time), and the braised octopus (this was my absolute favorite course of the night — and possibly of my whole life!).
The desserts were also fantastic. I LOVED my violet gelato with almond crumble and candied violets. My husbands black cherry and sesame dessert was also beautiful and tasty, but I liked mine better :)
The wine selection was also really nice — some $ 100 bottles, but plenty in the $ 45-​$ 70 range as well. I liked that the wine list was presented on an iPad — nice touch.
Our waitress was very friendly and informative, as was the expo staff presenting the dishes. She also wished us a happy anniversary, and made some really great wine recommendations.
We really enjoyed the atmosphere of the restaurant — nice and clean, but not uptight — still comfortable. We had a booth toward the middle of the restaurant, so we were able to see into the kitchen as well as the rest of the dining area. We liked that
Some reviewers have said that the food is overpriced, but I disagree. I think Spoon serves a very high quality of food in an elevated but accessible atmosphere. I also appreciate that the chef serves the food he wants to serve, rather than catering to the typical Dallas steakhouse crowd. I would much rather spend my money on a deliciously prepared seafood dinner with locally sourced and fresh ingredients, than sit down for a plate of steak frites where the meat probably isn’t cooked properly and comes with a side of limp grilled asparagus.

I went here last night with my husband and some friends. In a nut shell, it is really great food but I think way over priced.
I say this because when I sit there knowing how you calculate the pricing of entrees vs. cost of food this restaurant does pretty well on their profit margin. But I know at a place like this too you should factor in talent and the artfulness of every plate. Attention to detail, I get that from the kitchen to the wait staff.
Having said that my starter was very nice and artfully presented. The main was the whole fried snapper which is prepared to share for two people and that is what I did with my husband. Was it $ 85 dollars worth of fish even though it was delicious and moist? not really.
I have had many whole fried fish in my life and have eaten at very fine dining restaurants for example Wolfgang Puck’s place in Dallas, 560, Gordon Ramsey’s Maze in NYC from Spain to Hawaii and places that are simply a hole-​in-​the-​wall in Costa Rica and did not pay even $ 40 bucks for one whole fish.
For dessert I ordered sorbet and it was simple but beautiful with four different flavors and the final tasting plate that each one of us received was a nice touch and tasty.
The atmosphere is nice but it is a smaller place so not a lot of table tops but you can pull up a seat to the expansive bar for a meal.
Finally, I don’t have anything bad to say about this place except that don’t be shocked when you get your bill. Drinks and food for a party of four can be in excess of $ 500.
Enjoy!

I must declare that I have a growing fascination with John Tesar.
He may have a bad reputation among certain media outlets (D Magazine called him ‘The Most Hated Chef in Dallas’ once), but he more than makes up for it with his amusing interest in eating utensils. ‘Spoon Bar’ first, and then followed with ‘Knife’. He knows his eating utensils!
But really, this man makes good restaurants.
Our waiter was very friendly, knowledgeable and accomodating. She helped answer our questions on sourcing of their ingredients and information about the dishes.
This place is ‘Fine Dining’, ‘Haute Cuisine’, with a bar and a focus on seafood, and it works. My usual experience with ‘seafood’ places in Dallas has been the casual ‘seafood shack’ style, or just ‘fine dining’ but not so impressive food. Dallas ain’t a coastal town, and we like our steaks and southern food (as evidenced by the large number of steakhouses, bbq joints & fried chicken places), but Spoon Bar brings quality ‘haute’ seafood to the area.
The tasting menu took me through the whole gamut of fish textures. From raw sashimi, to flaky meat with crispy skin or medium rare tender & juiciness to even the contrasting textures of a seared raw fish. Furthermore, it let me try a range of fish, which included Fluke, Arctic Char, Swordfish, Loup de Mer, & Ahi Tuna (but seasonal menus means these may not be options for any readers)
The sauces and emulsions amplify the flavors of the dishes with the chef’s abundant love of ‘butter’. Such richness. Unfried Seafood need not be healthy!
The desserts appeared to follow themes of ‘colors’. Brown (Espresso), Violet, Dark Red/​Black (Black Sesame Cherry), White, & Peach. Each took the flavor identified with that color and combined items of that flavor with varying textures. This resulted in each bite wielding a unifying flavor, but wildly differing textures among the elements, such as custards, sorbets, meringues, cakes, tarts, pudding, gelees, dehydrated things, etc. It was rather ‘funky’.
I have to note that the ‘espresso’ sorbet had a shocking amount of espresso flavor packed into it.
To finish the meal, I was entertained with the complimentary Mignardises, which included a paper-​lookin’ thing with an image of a spoon on it, which turned out to be an edible peppermint.
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Conclusion:
I have been hearing amazing things about ‘Spoon Bar & Kitchen’ for a while now, but just hadn’t been able to try it ’till now. (While dining at ‘Atelier Crenn’ in San Francisco, another diner even told us that ‘Spoon Bar & Kitchen’ was the only restaurant in Dallas that she enjoyed).
Fortunately, ‘Spoon Bar & Kitchen’ rose to the challenge. The hype was warranted, my expectations were met, and I can say that I am a very satisfied Unilocaler.

Fresh asian inspired seafood dishes prepared in inventive ways!
We started with a trio of crudo: uni, geoduck, and yellowtail w/​tx grapefruit. Portions were small but delightful! I was pleasantly surprised to see geoduck on a menu outside of a Chinese seafood restaurant!
Next, we tried the Singaporean chili lobster w/​tx toast. The sauce was a bit more curry-​like than the chili crab I had in Singapore, but had that same sweet and spicy kick.
The squid ink spaghetti with mussels was presented beautifully. The dish is light, dressed with diced tomatoes doused in a little squid ink sauce.
We tried the citrus and violet desserts — both deconstructed in form with several different textures (a sorbet or cream, a cookie crumble and fruity accents).
Overall, we were impressed! It reminded me a little of Marea in NYC in terms of menu items and price point. Not quite as polished as Marea, but probably the best seafood spot in Dallas so far!

We had our date night here and did the chef’s tasting menu.
We decided to go with the tasting menu since there were just too many items on the menu that sounded freakin delicious and we didn’t want to pass up on any of them. The crab cakes were delicious and a generous portion for a starter. The diver scallop with brown butter was sweet and fresh. Every dish that had mussels was amazing, I think we enjoyed everything about the meal except the entrée arctic char. On the plus side we were raving about almost every single course prior to the char. lol.
The dinner atmosphere is amazing, you can see the care and service that all the people in the restaurant put into your experience. The dessert was great and the chef even prepares some biscuits and cookies for you to take home with your leftovers. Great experience awesome seafood. I can’t wait till he opens his new restaurant at the Palomar.

I’d honestly give it about 3.5 stars but will round up because the food was really good. The octopus first course was a stand-​out dish, perfectly cooked, as was the char main course. The oysters and octopus spaghetti were good too, just not as great as the other dishes.
The only course that was less-​than-​good was the dessert… I asked if they could substitute the espresso sorbet in the chocolate cake dish for another kind of sorbet, but the kitchen refused because it would «hurt the flavor.» I went along with it assuming they knew what they were doing better than I did but was disappointed – the espresso sorbet tasted like watery coffee and detracted from the flavor. But the post-​dessert dessert was great: homemade marshmallows and a mini macaroon.
The service was good, and the restaurant is a fun place to spend an evening.

Like others, I googled best restaurants in Dallas and this place kept popping up. Not willing to drop the cash needed for a dinner, I opted to come here for lunch thinking it would be a better price point. They did have some less spendy dishes, but overall, most of their entrees were at the same price point.
–Sad little budget Unilocaler–
The restaurant has a nice ambience. I loved the crisp whiteness and the aqua tones throughout. It was fitting for a modern seafood restaurant. I also LOVED the little succulents and Bernardaud tealights on every table. Delicate and interesting.
Servers were professional and on point. My waiter was very attentive and nice, but we did have a few small miscommunications.
I was torn between the pork belly, scallops, and mushrooms or the lobster and pork belly (knuckle) sandwich (notice a theme-​oink! oink!). The waiter strongly recommended the sandwich so I went with it. It was good, but not $ 24 good. Both the lobster and the pork belly were in one large piece so it was impossible to take a bite of it without the whole damn piece coming out. Unlike the menu description, my pork belly was less than «crispy.» I did enjoy the sandwich sauce and the cilantro chimichuri on the tomatoes and fries. The pommes frites were also nice and crispy. Overall the dish was fine, but definitely not worth the price to me, and it left me wishing I had ordered something else.
–Even sadder budget Unilocaler–
I guess the combination of the service, ambience, fresh fish, and celebrity chef sighting comes with a higher price these days. If I return with enough financial gusto to order a $ 40 lunch entrée, then I will definitely opt for one of the fish dishes, as opposed to an overpriced sandwich.

Had a great overall experience at this restaurant! Enjoyed the complimentary amouse-​bouche, dessert and the coffee bread we got to take home.
The appetizer course fell a bit short of our expectations. We ordered the crudo sampler and chose the yellowtail (too much grapefruit), octopus (overly sour) and uni (creamy, best out of all 3).
But the entrees totally made up for the crappy crudo. My squid ink spaghetti was delicious and had a nice little kick to it. The bf’s scallops were perfectly cooked.

Not worth the hype. A fancy dinner on a birthday is a nice treat but this didn’t quite meet our expectations.
Enjoy spectacular views of a Texas Family Fitness and headlights brightly shining in the windows as you dine! The vallet parks the cars across the street and backs them into the spots so there are headlights on the front windows of the glass every 15 minutes.
The food was hit and miss. The pre-​app and Tartare we got were very good, the entrees were less impressive. Avoid the swordfish, evidently even pro chefs can’t cook this animal worth a carp.
Also, tight seating and not romantic or personal at all. You might as well be sitting at a picnic table with the other patrons.

Amazing.
With each entrée it’s like an experience. The food is very similar to the type of food you’ll see him cook on tv.
Didn’t have any crudo. But we ordered the scallops for the first course, Artic char and the seabass (waiter’s recommendation) for the second course, and had the strawberry rhubarb dessert.
Before our appetizer arrive we were pleasantly surprised by the complimentary amuse bouche. Tuna tartar on a cucumber with some roe. It wasn’t
The scallop appetizer arrived.
The artic char was cooked to perfection. It had a beautiful sear. It rested on this delcious pea purée. The pea purée was smooth creamy and blasting flavors of umami.
The seabass was tasty and was rested on a spoetzel, and truffles. The spoetzel had this delicious earthy flavor from the truffle. You could easily eat the crispy spoetzel itself.
Dessert was pretty amazing. The presentation was beautiful. The deconstructed strawberry rubarb was very intruguing. The best parts had to be the warm cake itself.
Service was nearly perfect. We were well attended and the brawny-​man looking waiter was very helpful and knowledgeable.
My gf was quite geeked when John Tesar strolled to the front of the house to check the number of reservations that night.
Great experience. Can’t wait to book another reservation again. Oh and yeah make sure to book a reservation on opentable. You never know how busy it might be.

Sad to say, but this restaurant served the worst meal I have ever eaten. Spoonbar restaurant was listed on Eater Dallas heat map, so when a business trip brought me to Dallas I had to try it.
Our table ordered the trio of crudo so we could get a good sampling. We tried the yellowtail, king salmon, and the scallop ceviche. The yellowtail and the salmon were underwhelming. There was not enough balance of flavors in the dish. They were all one note; nothing interesting. They were also not served very cold, so the texture of the fish was a little on the limp and slimy side.
Next was the Hudson Valley Fois Gras. This was so disappointing. The Fois was undercooked. The dish was basically a gelatinous liver soaking in dashi broth due to the lack of sear.
I ordered the lobster angolotti which was so intensely salty we had to send it back — TWICE! When it came back the third time, we asked if it was supposed to be that salty and the manager said yes… so we decided not to eat it. The salt level was so high it completely blew out our palettes.
Our last dish was the sturgeon which was served seared, like a tuna, completely raw in the center. When we asked if that was intentional they said yes. I have never been served raw sturgeon and wasn’t about to chance it.
The restaurant manager apologized since we were unable to eat our 2 main dishes and took them off the bill, so one star for that. We wasted our time with this place since the food wasn’t prepared properly, the service was lack luster and we both got food poisoning. There are many other places worth eating while in Dallas. Skip this place if you are thinking about eating here.

John Tesar is amazing! I’ve been to a number of Top Chef Masters’ restaurants and this is by far one of my favorites. If you enjoy seafood, great wine and great service… this is your place.
I don’t want to get into the wine list that much… we’ve all seen the iPad menu and here the selection is long and spans a wide variety of tastes. The service was beautiful and timely without being interrputive, which is exactly what I’m always looking for in a restaurant.
On to the food… First, I started with a trio from the crudos… scallops, octopus and yellow tail. Scallops are normally my favorite, but I would be hard pressed to pick one of these three. The scallop ceviche was tangy while still letting me enjoy the natural scallop’s flavor. The yellow tail was served with a small watermelon ball on top and the combination was better than I could’ve imagined. Last but not least… the octopus! This was the most delicate preparation served with beautiful broth that contained roe. (I had to drink it from the bowl!)
On to the middle of my meal, the striped bass with basil. This was a beautiful dish and the basil (one of my favs) was almost as beautiful as the perfectly cooked fish. The crisp skin with a buttery filet of bass and a subtle broth to compliment a large, strong punch of basil… wow!
After all this, I had to entertain a dessert even if I had no room for it. Since I ordered dessert, everyone at my table was able to indulge in a pre-​dessert. I’m still not sure what it was, but i do know it was delicious and gone in about 60 seconds. It was a small creamy caramel and sea salt dish that was worth dessert in and of it’s self. My actual dessert was the strawberry rhubarb and it was a very interesting play on strawberry shortcake. The molten cake pieces contained a beautiful strawberry filling and sat next to a strawberry gelato (?), fresh strawberries, cream and confit rhubarb. The actual rhubarb was my least favorite. Every piece of this was tasty alone and even better together.

If you order the right dish then the food is amazing. I have dined in Dallas’ finest restaurants and the truffle dishes here rival any I have had. I almost did not go here based on one persons review and i would have missed out on a few perfect plates. The place is very expensive but I do not regret going at all.
Order the Truffle and Oyster soup it was FLAWLESS. Truffled penne pasta was surprisingly wonderful. Hudson Valley Foie Gras very good but much better at «Abacus». My mother had the seared fish and we agreed it was very boring. Beet salad was great and beautiful but it’s a little healthy for me :)

It pains me to write a five-​star review. But as I am saving and salivating every bite of this tiny piece of Skate leftover while writing this, I’m afraid Spoon is getting all five stars.
Atmosphere was very nice– very Highland Park. Perfect for a dressy date night or a nice girls night out. The bar welcomes you upon entering, with the bartender giving you an ipad listing all the drinks available (cannot order from it). Not that many interesting cocktails. Was a little disappointed when I asked the bartender to make me something vodka based, not too sweet and he made me a «vodka soda with lemon»… no comment there.
Sat in the small area behind the main dining with about 6 bar seats lined up to the kitchen where you can watch the chefs (and the real John Tesar) in action. I think these seats are for prix-​fix diners only. we sat awkwardly in the only one-​sided 2-​seater booth behind the bar seats. I say best seat in the house.
I was nervous before we came– No prices on the menu online. This is going to be painful… and yes it was pretty painful. You’ll average about $ 100 per person with a drink before taxes/​tip? Ok ok onto the food. Did not like the prix-​fix menu for $ 120pp so decided to order separately. Amuse bouche was a tuna tar tar in a curry cone. BEST Amuse Bouche Ever! The cone was perfectly seasoned and filled. overflowing with fresh tuna. (sorry. no chocolate ending at the end of the cone).
Next, we got 3 each of the Raw Oysters. Kumamoto and a special from Seattle/​Canada. Very fresh. ($ 2.50/$ 3 each I think?)
Appetizers we got:
1) Singapore Style chili Lobster & Texas Toast because of all the raves on Unilocal.Same as everyone has said — well cooked. I usually don’t like lobster, but this was pretty good. Nothing like the singaporean chili crab if anyone is wondering. soup was good for dipping.
2) Raw Surf & Turf: Steak Tar Tar + raw scallops. — was totally wowed by this dish. I’ve had steak tar tar at many places and this was the first time I’ve seen it paired with scallop. Delicious! The freshness of the scallops lightened up the steak, and I couldn’t taste the «raw meaty-​ness» at all
3) I usually LOVE love love uni. I dream about Tei Tei’s Flounder wrapped Uni. We had some Uni over potato foam dish here and was extremely UNDER-​whelmed. Not enough uni, too much foamy potatoes.
Entrees:
1) Squid pasta with bacon and caviar– this dish was not what I was expecting. Thought the pasta would be made from squid, but I think it was purely just pasta made into slimy sorta crunchy white shreds that tasted a little like squid. Add a few strips of bacon and barely any caviar. Flavor was good, but probably wouldn’t get again.
2) Skate fish– great fish dish. 2 Thin fillets of white fish, pan seared to perfection– Crunchy outer layer with a soft tender inside. I only wish I could do this at home. Topped with pineapple salsa over a bed of polenta or mashed potatoes (something mushy can’t remember)
Stuffed to say the least, so did not order dessert. But they did bring out a couple tiny tiny macarons and a peppermint thing with their logo on it. Good ending to the meal. But I have to say My best ending was taking a picture with sweaty John Tesar! And of course– with his glasses sitting on his forehead (we tried that at home. and impossible I say).
All-​in-​all a great time. Glad I’ve found one of my new favorite restaurants in Dallas!

I made reservations here a week prior and the only table available was at 915pm so I snagged it quick
The restaurant is located in a non descript strip mall. though with Blue Plate in the same area it’s in good company.
Beautiful décor in this small (mainly seafood) restaurant and a giant bar as you walk in which we holed up at to wait our reservation.
Ten minutes went by and the hostess came by to let us know we hadn’t been forgotten but our table was still occupied… another ten minutes… another apology. We decided to order some oysters at the bar while we waited as we were so hungry. Yummmmmm… amazing Canadian oyster with full brine flavour so I felt like I was swimming in the ocean along with them.
The hostess keeps checking on us but still informing us that our table is occupied (in this small restaurant there are no other vacant tables.)
Finally (about half an hour after our reservation time) she comes by again.
Ok the table is still occupied BUT she can seat us now at the kitchen bar if we are ok sitting in a line (there were 4 of us)
We were starving by now and jumped at her suggestion. As she walked us back to the kitchen we started to realize that this wasn’t just the kitchen bar but the chefs table AND there in the flesh was John Tesar working away.
Ok…now we are talking.
Seeing John Tesar right there we decided to go for the chefs tasting menu and though it was late they agreed that we could order this
Oh my… how amazing was this meal!!! Everything they handed to us was phenomenal and while the tasting menu had about 8 courses we ended up having way more than that… we have 3 separate dessert dished served to us.
The flavours were just wonderful.
Everything tasted fresh and unique. The tasting menu changes often so I won’t tell you everything we ate but a stand out was the creamy oyster/​truffle soup as well a langoustine bathing in a roux sauce.
John Tesar has a reputation of being a bad boy chef but let me tell you he was charming and soft as a pussy cat, engaging us as we ate and even posing for a photo at the end.
Due to our late start we were still eating after the restaurant closed and rather than rushing us they even gave us the extra desserts.
Overall…this may not have been the very best food I’ve had in dallas (though it comes damn close) but it absolutely was the best dining experience I’ve had in all my years here
So here is a moral to this story. be kind to the hostesses even if there is a seating issue!!!
How happy am I that the table we were supposed to eat at hadn’t vacated on time!