There are too many good restaurants in the Dallas area to settle for anything that doesn't measure up. I mean in a city this big with this many excellent places to eat you have to live up to quite a high standard if you intend to survive. Last night I had dinner at one of the area eateries that I can't possible see lasting very long. NOT IN THIS MARKET!
Dinner last night was at Mignon, a restaurant on Preston Road in far north Dallas, in far HIGH RENT district Dallas. By the looks of the place you are led to believe that you are in for an excellent dining experience. The decor is upscale and quite nicely appointed. However, that is the only thing that I can say was nicely done.
I guess we should have gotten a clue when on a Wednesday night this restaurant was very sparsely populated. Normally Wednesday is a big night for locals to go out, but you wouldn't have been able to prove that by the number of customers in this place.
What at first promised (from the name and decor) to be an enjoyable dining experience quickly turned out not to be as immediately the service was sub-standard. We were never told about the specials the chef was offering and so ordered strictly from the offerings on the menu which I felt were pretty limited. The service in general was unimpressive and slow as we later found out.
To start we decided on the appetizer of grilled quail served atop a pretty bland polenta with a sauce of some sort. Most every bite of the quail that I had was so fatty that I quickly gave up and allowed my dinner companion to gnaw on most of it. Next we ordered a Bibb lettuce salad with a vinegarette dressing, blue cheese slivers, granny smith apples and pecans. The salad wasn't that bad, but the lettuce was a bit limp. We mostly ate the apples, pecans and cheese. We also ordered a bowl of the Tomato Basil soup. It was okay, but I am still looking for the basil. Our entree was a $36.00 strip steak with roasted potatoes. I was extrememly disappointed with the steak, it was very tough, not only to try to chew but even cutting it was a chore. I will say that it was cooked to the medium rare we had ordered, but that didn't help. Along with the steak we ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms, very much overcooked.
Dessert was a White Chocolate Bread pudding with a praline ice cream on top. This was absolutely the worst version of bread puddling I have ever had. Not only was it not any type of Bread Pudding I have ever eaten, it was dry and hard and I never found the white chocolate. The ice cream was this dessert's only salvation, we ate it.
The wine list was extensive and very pricey. A glass of Pinot Noir of average label and vintage was seemingly overpriced at $8.50 for a small glass.
The ticket for this meal came to $95.00 without the tip, this for one appetizer, one salad, one bowl of soup and one steak entree with one dessert. Basically $95.00 for one person if not sharing and the servings weren't overly generous.
I give this restaurant two out of five stars and definitely do not recommend it and will not be returning, not with all the other choices I have here in the metroplex.
Oh yeah, I am not a Restaurant Critic by trade, just by nature (I don't even play one on TV). I live in a city with more great restaurants than you can "shake a stick at", and I eat out at least eight to ten times a week so I've been in a lot of them and know what I like. It's just my opinion, OK?
At the bottom of this post is a link for comments, please feel free to share with me some of your thoughts on what you just read. 
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