Local

This is absolutely one of my favorite restaurants to go to. I love the chef’s tasting menu experience — the menu changes frequently so you get to try new things often. With the wine pairings, you can’t find a better deal. I’m already looking forward to planning a girls night out there again soon.

Overall there were a number of pros and cons that averaged this place out as a solid 3, borderline 4-​star spot.
Pros:
Short rib was outstanding. The mashed potatoes were on point and the serving was well worth the price. Got it to share and it was served split on to twp plates. It was still more than enough for 2.
Champagne Drink and the Sake_​Pear Martini were both good. I liked the incorporation of the sorbet in both drinks.
Cons:
We stood waiting for over 5 minutes before anyone greeted us at the door. It was right after opening but it seemed odd and awkward.
Service was a bit slow and awkward. There was a weird vibe off of the server, as if she was annoyed being there. She did know the menu though so maybe it was just me.
The Squash Ravioli lacked flavor. The ahi tuna tartar was just ok — not bad but not great either.
A-​OK spot but I don’t necessarily agree with the rave reviews on here.

Based on all of the very positive reviews I was excited about Local, but by the end of the meal I was resoundingly disappointed. We started with the fried green beans, which are too heavily battered and salty, though I did like the thyme dipping sauce. We also shared an endive and goat cheese salad, but the lemon dressing was much too sharp and bitter (though to be fair, my husband liked the salad a lot; it was just too much for me). For entrees, I ordered the burgundy burger and the panko tator tots; the burger came with yellow tomatoes, horseradish sauce, and caramelized cippolinis, but all you could taste were the cippolinis, which drowned out every other flavor. The tator tots are more sticks of potato, but whereas the green beens were overly salted, the tator tots could definitely have used some more flavor. My husband had the lamb and said it as very dry.
The décor was fine – dim, quiet, and more reminiscent of a hotel restaurant than anything else. The waitress started out acting like she was annoyed with life, though she warmed up as the meal went on.
I did appreciate the amuse bouche, which was a delicious butternut squash soup with crispy leeks, and I also liked the tiny little shortbread cookies that came out with the check; both were a nice touch that heightened the experience.
In sum, Local needs to work on its flavor balances – everything on the menu sounds amazing, but the execution isn’t quite there.

LOVED this restaraunt. The food is lovely and delicious and the atmosphere is peaceful. Rarely in Dallas can you find a great place where you can actually have a conversation while enjoying a fabulous meal. The bar is really cool as well.
Add this to your 2016 list, it will not disappoint!

Went here for NYE dinner our reservation was for 10 PM and we were seated at 11PM. I was extremely frustrated but the food and company was worth the wait.
My wife and I ordered the sea bass and halibut for our main dishes. We also orders additional sides of Mac and cheese, green beans, grits, and ravioli.
The food was fantastic and absolutely worth the wait. Both our fish dishes were cooked perfectly and the ravioli was superb.
The ambiance of the restaurant was very laid back and perfect for a date night with the wife.
The owner took care of us because of the wait and the staff delivers stupendous customer service.
I wish I would have exchanged numbers with the people we met at the restaurant. So if you read this please find me on FB @ raza Hanson.

A dimly lit, not easy to find restaurant, with not so good service. But the chefs behind the scene more than make up for the lack of those niceties. I had the grilled grass fed tenderloin filet, very tender and juicy. In fact, the seasoning of balsamic port with a Cabernet was probably what contributed to me finishing my meal completely :) Served with tator tots and baby arugula.

Went to Local this past October with some friends for a birthday, and was blown away! The ambiance was sleek and modern, but with a touch of romance. The service was incredible, the wine recommended to suit my palette was perfect, but the food… oh the food… it was an orgasmic foodie experience. Everyone in our party of 6 was thoroughly thrilled with their dishes and there wasn’t a crumb left on our plates when we got up and rolled ourselves out of the door. I highly recommend anyone who loves impeccable food, great wine, and good company to visit Local.

The restaurant looks really nice and has a cool bar, that’s about the only positives I can give. The service was pretty slow, but the waitress was nice, just don’t like to wait for an hour to get our food. Once we got the food, it wasn’t seasoned and pretty dry. We got the fried green beans which was decent with the main course of sea bass. We also got a side order or Mac and cheese and Tator tots (the tots we couldn’t even eat. Way over cooked)

I love love love Local. The fact that it’s barely a block away doesn’t hurt, but Allgood is in my building and I don’t love it (maple syrup LIARS!).
The sea bass is out of this world. I can’t even begin to describe it. It’s crisp and creamy and the risotto pairs with it perfectly, and there’s the teeny tiniest hint of lemon. Like, you kind of want more lemon but then you get the lemon and you’re like oh no wait that’s actually the *perfect* amount of lemon what was I thinking.
I have been to Local before, but I went ahead and took Unilocal’s advice and got the tasting with the wine last night. I don’t think I’d do that again, although it was a great bargain. The wine pairings were only ok in my opinion. The chardonnay that went with the beets in particular didn’t work for me.
My menu last night was: tomato soup (needed grilled cheese croutons), beets and arugula (delish!!!), ravioli (eh), lamb (great), grapefruit sorbet, sea bass (BEST EVER DO NOT MISS THIS DISH), tenderloin (fatty and tender, amazing), and a spice cake with peaches (yum).
My only gripe is that we were seated in a small room with many other diners and it got very loud, then they turned the music up on top of it already being loud. I would’ve preferred a more intimate and chill atmosphere. Service was wonderful. Definitely recommend.
PROTIP: You can park in the Rudolph’s parking lot for free if you don’t live on the block like me :)

QUICK HIT (Must Go vs. Consider Checking It Out vs. Pass/Don’t Bother): Consider Checking It Out
***This review and subsequent rating is strictly for the Tasting Menu offered at Local (compared to other Dallas Tastings). I have dined at Local and ordered stated menu twice***
What you need to know:
–The Tasting Menu is ONE OF THE BEST VALUES in Dallas
-$ 70 for 7 courses. Yes, the courses are listed as petite, but I have never left hungry.
–The menu changes often, and the offerings are smaller versions of their a la carte menu
–For the associated wine pairings, its an extra $ 30 for 7 glasses of wine. The pairings each time were excellent… and the pours are strong too, with the majority of the offerings hailing from the West Coast (California, Oregon).
–The food has always been well prepared and the combination of ingredients complements each other nicely. I can’t list particular favorites, but the majority of dishes have been «hits» with few being underwhelming.
–The menu is varied with a mix of soup, salad, vegetable, «meat» dishes (last time 3 — bird, fish, steak), and dessert
–It’s located in Deep Ellum
–Nearby street parking is easy
–The restaurant vibe is real relaxed and not pretentious at all
–Average dining time was 2 hours for entire tasting menu
Overall, Local offers a terrific (and under-​appreciated) Tasting Menu that I suggest you consider if you are seeking such a dining experience.

BEST value chef’s tasting menu in Dallas! They offer a small portion 6-​course dinner for $ 70 or with wine pairing for $ 100. Just phenomenal!!!
Amuse bouche– a delicate corn chowder
Soup– Roma tomato
Salad– heirloom tomato with blue cheese OH MY GOSH!!!
Pork tenderloin– I don’t even like pork but this was divine.
Fish n chips– halibut… didn’t like this one.
Mini-​filet– delicious… only complaint was that it was overcooked at about medium. Medium rare would have been perfect.
Dessert…I can’t remember! Apple cake paired with a white port.
Every single item was perfectly paired with a red or white wine. I’ve never had a more perfect pairing. Very impressive!!!
Next time, I would specify medium RARE on the filet. Will definitely do this again on a special occasion.

Great ambiance. Stopped in here for a nice glass of wine. I can’t wait to go back for dinner!

Pretty decent! We tried the 7 course with wine pairings. Each dish had just the right amount of food. They even accommodated for a pescetarian course. I had some dishes that needed a tad bit of salt and the salmon was a bit over done. My favorite had to be the beet, arugula, and goat cheese salad. It sounds simple I know. But it’s extremely tasty. I could have ordered just that as my main entrée. The service was excellent. As each course and wine pairing came, they made sure to explain what was in front of us. The candied nuts they give to snack on before the meal was such a cute idea. I loved the retro theme of the restaurant as well. I would come back again.

I will say the food was delicious but I can not get past the pricing vs portion size. The scallops where priced as an entrée however the portion size was more of an appetizer. And lets be honest here, there is no reason to charge $ 22 for a hamburger. It just does not add up regardless of how many credits love it.
Over all great experience. The décor was unique to Dallas and the Wait staff was on point. It was a little disappointing that they did not serve liquor. I was looking forward to a craft cocktail but was only offered beer and wine.
So great food. Just be prepared to stop and get a slice of pizza in a few hours. Also bring the credit card.

Local is not for everyone. While I had a lovely seabass and enjoyed my dining company, the space and overall experience seemed stoic. If you are entertaining the exquisite and less scarily thrilling want to show them Deep Ellum, then perhaps bring them to local.

I went to local to celebrate my birthday with a group of 8. I had made reservations a 1 – 2 weeks earlier for 8:30. Two days before my reservation, I had received a message while at work that they may need to release my reservation if they don’t hear from me due to their wait list. A few hours went by before I got the message so I called to confirm and only got a vm. I did not receive confirmation until later that night that I still had my table. I understand being busy, but it would have been nice that, if they wanted me to call and confirm or I’d lose my table, that I could get someone on the phone (I tried twice).
We get to the restaurant and it’s definitely a trendy spot. A nice, upscale atmosphere that is lively but a bit relaxed. We sit, and were unsure who our waitress was. After 30 minutes, we hadn’t gotten water or any kind of a wine menu. By the way, it is only wine and beer. They have some «faux coctails», with a mojito made with champagne. Interesting but definitely not as good. Someone asked for a drink menu and the waitress only brought one and said she’d bring more by in a bit. Well that never happened and we had to ask again just to order a drink. I was not until 9−15−9:30 that we actually got to order food.
With all that said, the food was excellent. I got a filet that was incredibly tender and cooked perfectly. The mac and cheese was on point. For desert, they had a great spice cake that was paired with ice cream that was delicious.
Aside from the horrible service, the food was good. I would probably go back with a smaller group to try other things on the menu. The rating would have been 4 – 4.5 stars if the service was good.

I’ll forgive them the lengthy table wait and the extraneous bowl of nuts: this was excellent. We enjoyed the tasting menu immensely. While the coconut sorbet was completely unnecessary and the fishcake was a little soggy, everything else was a high note. The butternut squash soup was absolutely brilliant, the short rib perfectly prepared, the tenderloin with mini-​gratin potatoes tasty and playful… far more hits than misses here, and I knew from the chocolately red with the soup onwards that the wine pairings — generously poured — were worth the price.
I must admit, tasting menus that are minituarized versions of the carte generally seem lazy to me, but they pulled it off brilliantly here, and the wine pairings were, on five out of six servings, absolutely excellent. $ 70 for the tasting menu plus $ 30 for the wine pairings was absolutely worth it.
Staff dealt with the rambunctious tables excellently, but the food is the star. New American generally doesn’t excite me anymore, but this place made me fall back in love with it. Definitely worth a visit.

We had reservations for a Saturday night at 7 pm. We were hungry early, arrived at 6 pm, and asked if we could be seated earlier. The restaurant was empty at 6, and they were happy to accommodate our request to start our dinner early. Points for working with us and being flexible.
Soon after we were seated our waitress brought us a bowel of nuts graced with a mini-​spring of rosemary on top. Within seconds of the nuts being placed on the table, I could smell the warm aroma of roasted nuts wafting my way. Sure enough, these were not your typical party select mix of nuts straight from a can. These nuts are fresh roasted, with a light sweet and salty coating. Delicious!
We ordered the 7 course tasting menu. Before the tasting menu started, we were treated to an amuse bouche of black eyed peas with crispy prosciutto, While tasty, both my husband and I commented that this was over salted. I’ll spare you the details of a course by course review, since the dishes change regularly according to what is in season. Overall, vegetables were better quality and taste than the meats. More than once, dishes were presented with far too much salt. Overall, presentation was very good, and we appreciated the use of fresh and local ingredients. I would come here again, but flavor for meat dishes and over salting leaves room for improvement.

I had the pleasure of visiting Local a few months ago when having a casual date night. Local was actually recommended to me by one of my coworkers, so I knew I had to try the place out. It definitely has a different kind of layout than your normal interior restaurant designs. There were different rooms, and along with the different rooms, seemed to have different moods as well. Or maybe that was just me thinking that. Either way, it worked.
The wine menu was small, having only one option per type of wine. But, I can say that the wine offerings were good at least. We decided on a few glasses of Chardonnay to compliment the seafood options we knew we would have for the night.
We started off with the Ahi Tuna Tartare appetizer and it was light and refreshing.
For my entrée, I ordered the Cornflake and Panko Crusted Seabass, which was atop a bed of Parmesan Risotto. This dish was sensational. Even though the seabass was encrusted with the delicious topping, I was still able to appreciate the sweet and savory fish that had such a buttery and creamy texture and flavor. The risotto was cooked perfectly to go along with everything. I highly recommend this entrée! It went excellent with the side of Mascarpone Mac and Cheese.
I also had some of the Balsamic Glazed Salmon, and when comparing it with my Seabass entrée, I almost liked the salmon a tad bit more. The salmon was drenched in this tangy balsamic sauce and it mixed so well with the sugar snaps and peas. The chef definitely created a masterpiece with this dish.
I really like this quiet and unconventional restaurant. I can’t wait for my next return here!

How had I not heard of this place? Such a gem! Looks like a hole-​in-​the-​wall too, which I love. We went to this place based on a friend’s recommendation who found it on Eater’s 38!
The food was delightful but some flavors were not the best, so that will knock one star.
We were served samples of their celery root soup (cream based) topped with fried carrots. It was delicious. Reminded me of a dish I ate in a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland.
Apps were great. They are known for their fried green beans. Why is that? The delicious herb dip it comes with! The cheese plate was also great, but nothing really stood out, except for the slaw, which was an apple/​currant slaw — yum.
Entrees were also great; I did like the seasonings and combination of flavors. Nothing exceptional, but we did clean the plates! Portions are just right, maybe on the smaller side. The table ordered just about every main entrée, so while I have nothing bad to say, I don’t think any dish stood out as our absolute favorite that we would come back for. If we had to pick, maybe the scallops were the best?
To end, we ordered EVERY SINGLE DESSERT, including the sundae, on the menu. My personal favorites were the sundae (I think my friends would agree) and the soufflé.
The spiced cake and ice creams were meh. Even the apple tart wasn’t what I expected.
With our receipt came these cute teeny weeny shortbread cookies with a citrus jam on top. Delectable!
Loved the décor and atmostphere. Lots of rooms, surprisingly, which are somewhat hidden when you first enter. In fact, we thought no one was in the restaurant when we walked in, which could be a good or bad thing. Right on the edge of Deep Ellum, so definitely a super cool area.
I think I will be back. Overall, it was enjoyable!