Samar by Stephan Pyles

What: Indian/Turkish/Spanish

Where: downtown Dallas

An almost whimsical experience greets you before you even open the door. “Samar” is projected onto the front of the building and the brightly colored lamps and a sleek lit-up bar are the first things you see.

The atmosphere is hip and sleek, but very far from your usual downtown Dallas culinary experience. There’s something special about the colors and the continuous waft of exciting spices you can’t quite put your finger on.

Then you enter the main dining area. And there goes the romantic, upscale dining experience. The tables are squished into close quarters, the noise bounces off the giant windows making conversation near impossible. A cashier screen rests prominently in the corner of the restaurant, making up many diner’s aethestic viewing pleasures for the night.

And then there was our waitress. Clearly a rookie, she began by explaining the menu (which is quite complicated, but very cool) so quietly that nobody could really understand anything she said. Next, she completely forgot to take our drink orders and disappeared for a good 20 minutes. Once she was back, we knew what we wanted to order, so we ordered our drinks and food all at once. She never once smiled or attempted to be friendly with us.

Going into Samar, I had high expectations especially on the service front. At Stephan Pyle’s original restaurant, you can count on a fine dining experience from the service to the food. At Samar, you got the fine dining prices, but definitely not the upscale service it deserves.

The concept Stephan Pyles had in mind for Samar is a very unique one. The menu is “tapas” style, so most of the plates are small and are meant to be shared. It begins with the Spanish section—tapas ranging from gazpacho to potatos and chorizo with egg. Next up, Turkey, where you can order a dip trio, salads, seafood and more. Finally, my favorite, is the Indian section. They offer several types of naan bread and tandoori specialties.

I don’t have too many complaints as far as the food goes. We started with the dip trio which came with a hummus, moutabal and a labne with naan. Translation: an interesting variety of spreads that were all delicious. We ordered the rosemary garlic naan, which was the only item we weren’t fond of. I expected a rosemary and garlic spice baked in to the naan, but instead it was a type of paste/sauce painted on top of the naan. I’ll skip that next time.

The fatoush salad was fresh and full of vegetables and greens. The dressing was slightly creamy, with a hint of tahini and a bit of toasted naan. I had the “murgh makani,” a tandoori chicken masala with tomatoes, fenugreek and basmati rice. It was a very small portion, but was the most delicious part of the whole meal. I could have licked the bowl, the sauce was so good. Last thing I tried was the tandoori samosa—a veggie and spinach stuffed samosa (like an empanada). It was good, but not out-of-this-world.

We skipped out on dessert after being left at our table with no service, and having a hard time hearing each other. Samar definitely has potential with its delicious food and cool concept, but it’s got a long way to go as far as their dining experience goes. Maybe after they smooth out some kinks, it would be a more pleasurable experience. For now, I’d rather find some other place to spend my upscale dining dollars for a true fine dining experience.

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Bon appétit,

ThatFoodieGirl