Stephan Pyles

Let me say this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE restaurant in Dallas. And I am picky if I say so myself. I dined here for the first time for my birthday a couple years back and booked the private wine room. The entire experience from the service to the food was nothing less than a 10! Since then I frequent this place for casual night out on the town for dinner, special occasions, you name it. If we want a night where we don’t ever have to worry if we are going to have a good night with service or food. We know we can count on this wonderful place. I love how beautiful the décor looks in this restaurant. I would sit and look at everything each time I come here and admire it while I wait on my food. Bathrooms are always clean too! Oh and they have special theme menus throughout the year, so it’s a good idea to sign up on their website to make sure you get notifications! Last thing is valet is always awesome as well :)

Come here quite often for lunch on weekdays and love it. Lunch prices are average $ 18 for an entrée and are amazing for the quality of service and food that you get. Love the salmon and pan roasted halibut. My coworkers got the chicken enchilada and pork tenderloin. Everyone had good things to say. Not a log of negative comments.
For sides you can definitely share between two people. Typically, just getting the entrée would be enough in my opinion. I loved the Brussels sprouts but not a huge fan of the mac and cheese.

Big yes to this place. Top class lunch for $ 20. Special today, fish, was delicious. Impeccable service. Missing an X-​factor to be five stars, but maybe I’ll discover it next time. Great atmosphere if you have a work lunch.

I had lunch at Stephan Pyles today for the first time and I have to say that it did not disappoint. We started with the Redfish Ceviche. It was just the right amount of tangy and spicy. Served with homemade tortilla chips and over a dish with ice to keep it cold– it was the perfect appetizer. Next I had the chicken enchiladas. They got it right by not putting any sides on it to distract you from the main dish. Four enchiladas made with house ground, homemade corn tortillas that melt in your mouth. My friend had the chicken with fingerling potatoes that she also really enjoyed. We ended our meal with the famous «heaven and hell» cake. A devil’s food cake with a peanut butter mouse and angel food cake covered in chocolate ganache with a small scoop of raspberry sorbet. I also has a double shot espresso that was as smooth as I have ever had.
The ambiance was great, busy but buzzing. Our server was very knowledgeable about the menu, friendly and at our table when needed, scarce when not. Lastly, Chef came out and talked for a while, a true southern gentleman! Thanks Chef Pyles for the great food and hospitality. This is what makes Dallas a truly great city — its people, food, and hospitality.
From the greeting at the door on the way in to the goodbye on the way out, the staff was incredible. Congrats Chef Pyles on a great restaurant and continued success!

High expectations but not really met. It’s tricky with fine dining, because the restaurant will be buzzed about and have tons of hype surrounding it. Therefore, everything just has to be that much better.
We got just about everything on the menu, but nothing really stood out as explosive except for maybe a few of the ceviche items, some tacos, and the cocktails.
Also, service was slow. Booths were deep so very hard to maneuver the food and share small plates.
Because I like Latin fusion cuisine, maybe I could come back, but just not any time super soon.

I made reservations at Stephan Pyles for my mom’s 51^st birthday. It was kind of tough to find, especially since I’m not used to driving through downtown Dallas. Eventually, I found it hidden behind a couple of trees, and the driveway is hella small. I barely fit my coupe in for valet to grab my car. (Valet is complimentary).
It’s a fancy schmancy looking place when you walk in. The hostess kindly reminded me that the birthday cake I brought would include a «cutting» fee per person. It was anywhere between $ 10-​$ 14 per person. That seems insane to me, but I guess that’s the norm for most upscale places. I wasn’t a fan of the mixed drinks, so I played it safe there. The two-​man bar is small and tucked in the corner. I sat there for about 5 minutes prior to being helped. The only TV they had was at the bar, and it was of a security camera rotating throughout the kitchen so that we could watch them prepare food. That was strange.
Our waitress, Hillary, was very attentive and super accomodating when certain drinks were not up to par. She started us off with various breads: blue corn muffin, bacon scone, and potato bread. Mmm, carbs. She then brought out appetizers of her own recommendation. The ceviche trio and tamale tart didn’t quite blow our minds. The chef also sent out complimentary tomato juice shots served in shot glasses. That was nice, but no thanks.
The food was average at best for a steak house. There were six of us, so we essentially ordered 3 main entrees and paid the $ 7 charge to split the dishes. The rack of lamb, ribeye, and short ribs portions were plentiful. After our birthday cake shenanigans, Hillary brought out a complimentary dessert tray with macaroons, truffles, and chocolate toffee.
All in all, I think we could have been more impressed for a $ 600 bill.

Quick summary: amazing food, good drinks, service was lacking.
When we arrived at the valet, at first we didn’t receive a ticket. My father went to ask for one and the valet said «I’m sorry, I thought you were an über!» HA! This doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the review but I thought it was funny. I guess the Prius just didn’t cut it.
Anyways, like I said the food and drink was exceptional. The amuse-​bouche was delicious and even the bread was good! We started with the tamale tart and the ceviche sampler. Tamale tart was divine!!! I’m not usually one for ceviche but what I tried was better than I expected.
For the entrée, I had the pork shortribs, my dad had the steak, and my mom had the potato gnocchi. All three of us were exceptionally happy with our meals.
What I want to address is the service we received that night. Our waiter was attentive and charming when he was around… But the amount of times he was around was a little disappointing. For a place with a reputation/​price point to rival other nice restaurants in the area, I was surprised! Our plates were cleared slowly, our drinks were refilled slowly, and I almost felt like I had to flag our waiter down for the final check. I pretty much chalked it up to the place being short staffed… Like I said, disappointing.
Will I return? I’m not sure. Honestly, I would probably order Favor just to get that tamale tart again but for a price point at $$$ I expected an overall better experience, especially for my birthday dinner.

For a 3 $$$ place I was not impressed. From the valet parking on the stair entrance to the employee.
Yes, we got there at 11p, food was finished but the bar was open.
The bartender this evening was non engaging, no suggestions, no chitter chat, I would have had a better experience getting my wine from Walmart.
A place like this should be engaging with guests till the door is locked…

Enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich. It was the best one I have had. The pork was tender and juicy embedded in delicious buttered bread. I selected the salad for my side and was so glad that I did. The taste and textures of the sandwich and salad really went well together. It was incredibly satisfying – flavorful, filling but yet light at the same time. Service was impeccable and wonderful. Would definitely go again.

Came here for restaurant week with my wife. We had the pre-​fixe menu here. We were seated promptly after making reservations here.
We were seated in the middle of the dining area. The décor here is very elegant. Each of the booths and tables gave enough space and each patron was given enough privacy. It’s an open dining room where everyone.
There is a bar here. The bar area has a couple high-​tops that seat 2 – 4 patrons.
As for the appetizer, We ordered the cavatelli lamb appetizer, the panzenella, mozerella ice cream and gazpacho tomato water salad. The first course was ok. She had the salad and it was plated nicely. The ice cream mozzarella was very neat but didn’t do anything to the dish and tasted a lot like an ice cube.
Had the lamb appetizer. It was braised in some type of wine and it was beautifully presented in a broth with gumball-​sized lamb pieces in this broth. It was exceptionally rich and salty. It had this delicious strong earthy lamb flavor that i love.
For the entrée, I ordered the short ribs and she had salmon. The braised short ribs delicious. The short ribs didn’t really have any ribs in it. They were two 4 inch pieces of meat that were braised in some kind of brown liquid. Her salmon on the other hand was cooked perfectly and beautifully plated.
For dessert, i had the decadant Chile Chocolate Panna Cotta and she had the Strawberry Lemon Tart, Lemon Poppyseed Custard, Basil Granite. The Lemon tart wasn’t that great. It had an off-​putting
Overall, the dinner had it’s high’s and lows. The best part of dinner was our entrees. We both really enjoyed the entrees. Stephen Pyles is a great Dallas institution.

I’ve been passing this place for years with curiosity I see I should have kept driving! Overpriced, not that great and I was most impressed with the service than the food hence the 2 stars. I had the tart which was tasty but not worth 18 dollars. The ahi tuna was flavorful but I’ve had better at other restaurants. The steak. Wow I’ve had better at oceans prime, Perrys even Outback Steakhouse. They were out of cod so we settled on sea bass which was very salty. I was very disappointed but I’m glad I tried this restaurant so that natural curiosity can be extinguished into never again.

The service wasn’t consistent throughout the evening and neither was the food. The things I ordered were delicious. There were other definite misses.
I enjoyed Papa’s Punch while waiting for my friends to arrive. I love spicy and sweet blends and most places don’t truly capture both. This drink was markedly sweet and spicy! I enjoyed the balance of the two extremes, and every sip felt like a game of seesaw on my tongue. Once my entire party arrived, the hostess waited patiently while we closed our bar tabs then carried our drinks to our table.
At the beginning, service felt like a well-​orchestrated dance around our table as they removed knives and placed forks on cue. We were served 3 different breads. The blue corn muffin was my favorite because of the chewy texture and the fun color. We got soup in a glass that tasted more like eggnog.
First course — hand rolled cavatelli with lamb, lemon, mint, and peas. I loved it. All of the flavors were very pronounced but blended to create an almost exotic flavor. My friend ordered the starter that included mozzarella ice cream. She liked how it paired with the dish and I was shocked that the taste was much more enjoyable than I’d imagined in my head. It was mild and it wasn’t sweet.
The Central Market Additional Course — Friends ordered it, I didn’t. Note, it costs $ 9 without the coupon. They seemed to pick at the dish.
Second course — The short ribs were tender and flavorful. The smoked potatoes and the sweet potatoes (which were purple) were stars in their own right. My table agreed that the smoked potatoes were the best but that Stephan Pyles definitely knows how to do potatoes right! The salmon, on the other hand, was barely cooked. We weren’t expecting that and one of my friends ended up returning it for chicken. The other picked at her dish and left most of it on the plate. I recommend the short ribs!
Third course — This is when service slowed tremendously. We sat for a long time waiting for our plates to be cleared. We sat even longer waiting for dessert to come. The strawberry lemon tart was good but it was as though the chef was on a cooking show, given a basket of ingredients, forced to include all of them!
Fourth course — We were served a dessert sampler. We didn’t like anything on the plate. The brownies tasted store bought and the macaroon was way too sweet. The toffee was average. I wish they hadn’t ruined the 3^rd course by serving a 4^th.

My recent experience at Stephen Pyles makes me wonder if this chef isn’t a bit over-​extended. IMHO, a chef would be better remembered for having one perfect restaurant, than many imperfect ones.
Our table of six on a preview Restaurant Week Saturday night experienced a myriad of service problems throughout the evening. The waitress seemed unable to handle the large number of patrons to which she was assigned… wouldn’t the restaurant have expected a full house on such an evening and prepared for it with ample staffing? Although the manager took a few dollars off of our bill, it didn’t atone for the wine pairing arriving after the course was long gone, and the coffee served when my dessert plate was empty. There is nothing more disheartening than an unsatisfactory meal that costs as much as a phenomenal one should.
If you’re still interested, let’s talk about the food. I have to literally copy-​and-​paste the menu item names from the menu, since they are so (ridiculously) long and detailed. …Since when did we start listing all ingredients in the name of a course? The first course, «Gazpacho Panzanella, Mozzarella Ice Cream, Gazpacho Water, Kale and Heirloom Tomato Salad», was actually very good. The mozzarella ice cream sounds off-​putting, to the extent that I believe it should be more appealing phrased, «chilled mozzarella cream» or something along those lines. But it was not at all sweet as «ice cream» implies, and it contrasted with the seasoned, salty croutons amidst the fresh, gazpacho flavored vegetables beautifully. My favorite course of the evening.
I opted for the additional course, the «Redfish „Pil Pil“, Corn Pudding, Grilled Bread, Endive». Little more than a fish (y) pâté-​like substance atop a too-​hard-​to-​eat piece of hors d’œuvre style bread, I left this on my plate. I offered it to a companion at my table who, after a taste, also declined to finish the rest.
Next Course: «Duroc Pork Short Ribs, Smoked Potato, Apricot, Green Tomato Chow Chow». I should have had the salmon. People around me seemed to like the salmon. But the person to my left and I pushed our pork around the plate, ate most of it, but not all of it… and although there wasn’t a specific issue that I can pick out… neither of us would order it again. The sauce of the Chow Chow was strange, like a heavy, tart barbecue sauce. Too much for the light vegetables it covered. Too little sauce or juice to flavor the short ribs, combined with low-​lighting made it difficult to discern whether fat or meat was going in my mouth. Meh.
Lastly, the «Strawberry Lemon Tart, Lemon Poppyseed Custard, Basil Granite». This tart wasn’t bad. Very strong strawberry sauce on the plate, but that could be avoided or enjoyed depending upon your tastes. The tart itself didn’t wow anyone. I ate mine simply because I believe no dessert deserves to be left on its plate (cruel). Others didn’t finish theirs, and there were no comments about it at the table, despite the fact that 4 out of the 6 had chosen it. The Heaven and Hell dessert is very good; we ordered one for the table that was SP’s traditional dessert, not the RW version.
Summary?
Look at the stars.

4.5 stars!
I would return to Stephan Pyles in a heartbeat!
I visited here on my birthday with a friend, and I loved my entire experience. From the gorgeous interior to the fantastic food to the courteous service, Stephan Pyles nails nearly everything. The inside is classy and creative without being exclusive, which makes the restaurant a great place for having meals for both business and personal reasons.
The amuse bouche and bread basket are addicting! Our amuse bouche for the night was asparagus soup in shot glasses, and the creamy, savory flavors hit the spot for me. Not too salty, not too silky. The grainy texture adds character to this glass of greenness. The bread basket impressed me, as I haven’t come across one as award-​winning as Scarpetta’s. If it weren’t for the unhealthy aspect, I could probably stuff myself with the blue corn muffin and focaccia all day. And surprisingly enough, the innovative spin on the southwestern caesar salad played nicely! I pine for more of the jalapeño polenta croutons.
As for the ceviche, I personally favored the purple potato and rock shrimp over the ahi tuna, but to each his own. My friend preferred the latter, which is simpler and less complex. I do want to try the salmon or lobster ceviche next time though!
By this time, I was too full to have any of the duck breast we ordered. My friend enjoyed it for me, and I could see that it was tender and seared well. HOWEVER, despite being full, I could not ignore the mignardises to end my meal. Satisfying to say the least.
Definitely give the wine collection a try! All the ones we tasted were possibly the best I’ve had in a restaurant.
Thank you for sending us home with a fresh box of bread!

Attend an event in the private dining room which was divine. Cozy atmosphere with roaring fire place. The food was really good. I had a bone in rob eye you could cut with a fork. And service and presentation was a delight. Sexy restaurant with ambiance and good food.

I really enjoyed my dining experience at Stephen Pyles. The décor is very elegant and classy. A good place to impress others with. Parking is wherever you can find it as it is downtown or you can valet it. The restrooms are really nice too.
We received excellent service from our server. And they seem to be really knowledgable about their wines as they helped us choose some good ones.
We started with some lobster soup, which was delicious. We also got the Oyster selection which came with some sweet petites and some good sauces. Oysters were really fresh. We also ordered 3 of the Ceviches, but I think the snapper was the best. We received some pasta and the soup from before, compliments of the chef, which was really good too.
The Heart of Palm had a very strong, but creamy flavor. Something different, but worth trying. The foie gras too. Our entrees came out. And I really liked my Duck, with chocolate Cherry tamale and the Almond stuffed Squash.
Desert was a good way to end our dinner. We had a combo of ice cream, Coffee and Doughnuts, and a pistachio cake. All were good.
In all, will be returning. Really want to try their Stampede 66, looks like good comfort food!

Stephan Pyles has been on my to-​eat list for years now and now I can finally scratch it off my list. I apprehensively started the night with a passion chili margarita (PCM) and was pleasantly surprised. Normally, I would never order a drink with mango or peppers in it because I hate overly sweet drinks and ones that leave my throat and mouth on fire. The PCM totally nailed the sweet/​spicy balance for my liking so I ordered a second.
Next came the complementary bread offerings. All were excellent but the star was a buttery cornbread muffin with a hint of blueberry. The butternut squash bisque with coconut espuma was like a big hug from a loved one, warm and comforting.
Choosing an entrée was tough but I settled on the triple-​cut Berkshire pork chop because it was accompanied by a crispy pig’s ear. The cook on the über-​thick chop was masterful. I imagine it was grilled on the wood fire and then finished in the oven because it was just cooked through to the center. Great smoke flavor on the exterior. The only disappointment was the pig’s ear which was battered and fried. A crisp, roasted ear would have been infinitely better.
For dessert, I chose the lemon pudding cake. Tart and light with a sour strawberry sorbet, it was the perfect finish to the otherwise decadent meal.

While staying at the Fairmont our Concierge recommended Steven Pyles since it’s right across street! Restaurant looks new, very contemporary, Very trendy!
Service was great and the food was awesome! Southwestern Caesar salad’s were small but delicious! A must have! Scallops were very good. Glazed Salmon with rice was excellent! The bone on rib eye had a little to much marbling for me but the onion strings on top were delicious! Great experience and I’d like revisit to try other items!

DALLAS, TX: Upon entering Stephen Pyles you immediately feel like you are going to have a great meal. The interior is modern and beautiful, the staff is handsome and attentive, and the menu is southwest and innovative.
I tried the Enchiladas and the Scallops. Both were excellent.
Enchiladas (4 stars): The chicken enchiladas were savory and had perfectly cooked chicken and delicious roasted vegetables. Not much cheese in them, but a lot of flavor.
Scallops (5 stars): I am a sucker for great scallops, perfectly cooked with a crisp smokey surface, they were outstanding. The beans and peas served with them were also delicious and provided some complex flavor and texture.
Looking forward to the next visit!

This was my new «date night» go-​to downtown restaurant! The food is amazing and the service is fantastic. The wine list is super impressive. They had a five star rating from me, until August 7^th when my family came into Dallas to visit from NC.
I was excited to take them to this place to impress them, but Stephan Pyles tried to charge me $ 50 just for the reservation and then another $ 50 per person if we didn’t show up for the reservation. Well we said F that and took our party of seven to the Dallas Fish Market instead.
Outside of the fascist reservation regulations, this is a great place. If you have a special occasion, check it out.