7/28/2012 - The Daily Grill, a chain restaurant, is a social gathering spot in The Domain Shopping Center in Austin, TX. David suggested eating there on this hot Saturday afternoon. The restaurant is located in an "out of the way" area in the back of the Domain where there are few folks walking by, so this isn't the type of place that you might happen to walk past and say, "Hey, let's drop in for a bite to eat.". We were seated at a walk-up table at the bar. It took a few minutes and we were cheerily greeted by a young waittress named, "Estee". She told us we could just call her, "Red".
You'll know from my previous posts that one of my pet peeves in restaurants is when the wait staff takes your order and writes down absolutely NOTHING and then delivers completely the wrong items to your table later. Red managed this beautifully! She took our drink order (1 Pellegrino water with lime & an iced tea) as well as our food order (batter-dipped french fries, artichoke dip, mini-burgers and seared ahi tuna sashimi with fried spinach and cold pickles on the side) without ever writing down a word. I was very skeptical, but also equally surprised when it was perfect!
The food was served timely and hot. In fact, Red had to caution us about the searing hot plate that she used to bring out the fries. That was a good touch by the kitchen to keep the fries hot longer. Unfortunately, it didn't nothing to help the flavor. The fries were tasteless, bland, and not very crispy. They were served with ketchup and I never use ketchup with fries. In this case, the ketchup made the fries taste better...and that is NOT a compliment!
The artichoke dip was served with garlic toast and a fried artichoke on top. Very good and very addictive! David said his burgers were good. Two mini-burgers were served as an appetizer...alone on a large plate. I can think of only 1 word for it. The plate just looked, "lonely" with two mini-burgers on it. It was as if someone came over with one single pea on a huge dinner plate and grandly stated, "Your dinner, sir!". Really?!
The seared ahi sashimi consisted of a single 7 or 8 inch long, 1 inch diameter "squared rod" of tuna, rolled in black sesame seeds and seared on a grill, then sliced and laid out on a long plate. It was served with a VERY tiny bit of wasabi, gari (pickled ginger), fried spinach, and cold cucumber pickles in rice wine vinegar and red pepper flakes. The tuna was excellent and the crunch of the fried spinach with the pickles really complimented the flavors in the dish.
As we were chatting during dinner, as always, I was looking around the restaurant and glancing upwards, I noticed this...
This is one of my other pet peeves about restaurants. The light fixtures above our tables were filled with dead bugs and the ceiling vents were caked with dust. I've been in restaurants where they've forgotten to dust their ceiling fans or the light fixtures were dirty, but never filled with dead bugs. Our consolation: at least they weren't LIVE bugs!
At the close of our meal, Red again was so pleasant with us that her effervescent personality truly made it easier to overlook any flaws. A waittress who is this nice really makes the whole dining experience worthwhile!
Red gets a gold star in my book, but the restaurant gets a C+. The Domain Shops have the reputation for being expensive and "high-class", but there is not a single thing sold in the Domain that you cannot get for a lower price, and often better quality, elsewhere in Austin. Like so many restaurants at the Domain, this is just another one that is trying to be very chic, trendy, and sort of "faux-high-class", but it fails miserably in the delivery. The Daily Grill seriously needs a little more daily work.
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