Dakotas Steak & Chop House

Excellent meal and price point for the quality of food and service you receive. I highly recommend for a nice date in the dining area. If you want an exciting happy hour the bar is hopping. The entire restaurant is beautifully decorated and the ambiance is just right for fine dining. It is a gem of a steak and chop house in Tyler of all places. Similar experience to all the big cities.

We went to Dakotas for Valentines Day. The new facility was nice with a reserve atmosphere. The best thing about this place will be the wait staff. Very well trained and with great attitudes. The food was not bad but for the price definitely not great and will not make me want to go back anytime soon.

I would say it is overpriced for the food and service. Good wasn’t bad, service wasn’t bad. About an hour after being seated, we got our entrées, but they made it work with bread and appetizers and it flowed well.
The place looks snazzy but I don’t see myself paying the same money there again. We had the venison dumplings, fried calamari, and each had the 7oz fillet mignon. I have honestly had better for less, but it was pretty good.
Oh! Props on the calamari– great size for each bite and not too much breading. Just right and great.

Dakotas has always just been OK to me personally. We went this weekend to check out the new location, hoping for better food and service.
We called early in the afternoon to make a reservation, and we were told they were over booked, but they would fit us in as we were only a party of 2. That was strange to me, I don’t want to be worked in, but ok. We went with it.
We arrived and were immediately seated. The place was busy but not packed or overbooked by any means.
Our server was very hasty– hurrying us through our wine selections, appetizer order, etc. The glassware was FILTHY. I had to ask for new water glasses and a new wine glass for myself. He brought me a new wine glass that was dirtier than the first with actual pink lipstick still on it. YUCK! We finally got clean glassware and hoped the rocky start wasn’t indicative of what was yet to come.
I ordered the squash soup, it was delicious! Piping hot & perfect for a cold night. But it was served before we even got our wine. Also, the server was very much in my space when he served it. Elbow in my face and all over the place. Not the kind of service you expect from «the best steak house in Tyler». Next came out steaks. We both ordered the 7 oz filet. Both were significantly over cooked. My medium hit more at just under well done with only a slight pink center and his medium rare hit about medium+. Also, our steaks weren’t the same. I believe mine was the smallest (4oz I believe). The asparagus side was fine. I ordered the sweet potato fries– they were soggy. His twice baked potato was delicious.
We ended our mea with the night’s special– strawberry shortcake. It was the best part of our meal. Seemingly home made shortcake w delicious buttery flavor, fresh strawberries, & tea whipped cream. Wonderful!
It will be a long time before we go back, the main disappointment of the night was the service. Staff needs to be trained on how to serve properly.

Good service. Excellent salmon. Had lunch and thought it was very reasonable.

A for effort, and not too bad for Tyler, but overall… Meh.
I’ve never eaten here before and I have to admit that I was a little impressed as I was walking in. I came in at 7 with a reservation, and we were seated quickly. That’s when things sort of go south. We were placed in a small booth, and there was a large party of eight right next to us. We were a bit cramped, and all the tables seemed to be placed too close together. For example, I couldn’t get to my seat without moving two others out of the way. The hostess should have done this, but she just stood there and awkwardly waited for us to figure it out on our own. We eventually wedge ourselves into our seats, with a wall too close to us on one side, and a large party of 8 too close to us on the other.
Our waiter comes around, and he takes our drink orders. The ginger ale was a little flat, and my bloody mary wasn’t very alcoholic. Tasted more like a buffalo wing. I place our order, and we go all out. A dozen oysters, scallops, caesar salads, wagyu filet, stuffed flounder, and bottle of champagne. The seafood was excellent! Fresh, delicious, masterly prepared. No bits of shell in any of the oysters. Overall, the food was superb. It would have been nice if the oysters came with a mignonette sauce option, to go along with the cocktail/​horseradish sauce. The ketchup that came with the steak fries came in a plastic cup. Looked kinda cheap compared with everything else.
Here’s where I start docking points. For the prices they charge, I expected way more. The salads should have came free with the main entrees. And the appetizer prices were pretty up there. $ 17 – 18 For a single crabcake or four scallops? Our waiter was attentive, but just minimally. All he did was take our order, and check in every once in a while to make sure we didn’t want anything else. For the amount of money I was spending, you’d think he’d put two and two together and do a little more to earn the hefty tip percentage he’d be getting. He should have been making food/​wine recommendations, asking if this was our first time at the restaurant, asking if there was a special occasion, kissing my butt with the excellent food choices I was making. Something. The wait staff should also have a little squeegee to clean up bread crumbs between platings, and they should rearrange the dinnerware appropriately before each serving. Our champagne was served in margarita glasses, and an ice bucket wasn’t brought out until later. The hostess delivered our salads, and there was also a water boy making the rounds. Instead of upscale service, this was more like basic B-​team Applebee’s.
Also, this place seems to have a thing for grilled asparagus. It’s the only vegetable they serve, and they put it in everything. No kidding, every dish will have grilled asparagus somewhere on it. Nothing rounds out a nice romantic dinner like having smelly pee. There are other vegetables out there. Go find them. The steak fries came out on the well-​done side. The skins had a burnt aftertaste, so we ended up sending them back. Our waiter brought us regular fries instead. Just like their penchant for asparagus, this place has a thing for unseasoned potatoes. A light salting or a little garlic would be nice. Both version of fries came out straight from the fryer as-​is. Even our twice baked potato came out without seasoning.
As for atmosphere, the ceiling was amazing. The rest of the décor seemed a little dated or old-​fashioned. Like we were in a casino restaurant. Maybe it was the clientele. Every other party there was over 60. Granted, we were out on a Monday night, but we still felt a little out of place.

Anyway, this place is nice for Tyler. Way overpriced compared to what you get at other upscale joints, without the impeccable service you’d expect from one.

Amazing dinner with my wife. The new restaurant is a first class dining atmosphere. The fillet and baked potato was as good as any steak dinner I have ever had. Service was timely and perfect. My wife had medallions and was equally pleased with her dinner.

Thought I would switch over my previous review to the new listing!
The new location is absolutely STUNNING! Didn’t make reservations last night, completely my fault. Settled for a table outside. Was a perfect night and we had a heater directly over our table. Perfect. Met Steve the owner and he was incredibly nice and apologized for overbooking. Requested Jordan as normal and he was fantastic, as usual. We started with Char grilled oysters, they were great. Got the Wagyu Ribeye and wife got the scallops. Our guest got the Wagyu Filet with crab (per recommendation) and his wife got a Prime Filet. Was amazing and can’t wait to come back.
But the restaurant is amazing. The bar is large and inviting. Their was a gentlemen playing music and he was fantastic. Lots of who’s who in Tyler there. Can’t wait to come back with friends! Bravo Bravo

so the other reviewer says 5 stars… they must me affiliated with the owner.
New location is very nice…5 stars!
Service…1 star
Equals — 3 stars.
Detail:
walked in without reservation… told us of party of 2 it would be 30 minutes. after 45 minutes I asked if our table was ready… was told by 3 hostesses (3?) they were waiting on reservation confirmations for 7pm… and it would be up to 30 additional minutes. we simply asked why did you quote us 30 mins if you knew you were waiting for reservations to show… we could have gone somewhere else and spend a few hundred dollars. Shocking, we were seated in 5 minutes!
Once seated, we ordered our meal which took quite some time… only to arrive incorrectly. at $ 50 a plate you would expect perfection. We ordered sweet potato fries and received double baked potato!!!
The establishment owner, we’re assuming was visiting tables and somehow neglected us… which we would have shared our experience…
His loss.
we will spend our hard earned money elsewhere. If you go here, don’t expect 4 or 5 stars…
We are just sharing our experience…

Consistency is key at any restaurant especially one like this at $ 50+ a head. We went in for my wife’s birthday a few weeks ago and had a great dinner. Went in for New Years last night…
I ordered Wagyu filet cooked mid rare (as I did last time) and what came out was a very very well done dry piece of meat. I’ve cooked a lot of steak and even on my most forgetful day have not let a piece of meat camp out on the grill as long as this one had to have been. We had it sent back to the kitchen and didn’t bother ordering another.
In my opinion, if you are going to have price tags like this and sell what is claimed to be high quality beef, hire someone who can at least get it in the ball park of how you ask it to be cooked and do it consistently.
We were told the owners were making the rounds but never heard from them. I’d like to hear what the owner had to say about this and the other similar reviews on their restaurant. If I was an owner of a place like this I would have at least made a visit to the table it was served to.
One star may seem harsh to some. I’d probably give it two or three stars if the place was cheap and cooked like that but there is just no excuse to serve something like that at a high end restaurant.
We will be taking our hard earned money somewhere else next time for sure.