The Mason Bar

Mason Bar was the spot for a hot minute. Upstairs was the pretty Uptown crowd while downstairs was a bit more diverse and dancy at time. I had some really fun nights here and had I written this review last year, I would have given it at least 4 stars.
As of now, this bar looks to be on it’s very last legs. The A/​C did not seem to be working judging by the temperature and large fans places around the mostly empty room. It was a Saturday night and there were maybe 8 other people in the whole place. When I ordered a gin & tonic, the bartender regrettably told me they don’t have gin (or much else by the look of things, there were very few bottles behind the bar). 7&7 then. Nope, no Seagram’s 7. I settled on a domestic beer to chug and leave.
With so many options in the area, don’t waste your time here.

This place is awesome! Jaime the gm is fantastic, and works excellent «under pressure!». Dun dun dun dun dun dun

I love this place ! It’s a local spot with a great atmosphere. The «Mac on Dat» burger and the regular Mac and cheese are amazing !! The nachos are also pretty delicious. There’s a lot of regulars here so it makes it a really good place to socialize and network. Great location and the beer prices are on point. I’ve never left disappointed, but I have left without remembering what happened to me the night before. That’s always a good thing though !! I highly recommend this place. I don’t really see why people would complain about it

I’ve been here a few times for happy hours, but recently I tried it for dinner.
Got a burger, which was thick and medium as requested. but really had no flavor in it. It was sadly pretty mediocre, as were the sweet potato fries (2 dollars extra). My friend got the regular fries and I had some of those, which had that bad aftertaste of grease, so I guess mine were better than that. The bartender was pretty cool at first though, telling us about this really good Dogfish IPA 120 that he recommends (since someone mentioned they don’t like most of them).
Later, we tried to use these $ 10 certificates we got from the apartment complex and upon receiving it the barkeep called the manager, who essentially scolded us, since apparently they’ve been getting a lot of them recently. Not sure how it’s the customer’s that they don’t number them or keep track, but that’s not how you should treat patrons, especially when it was his name that was signed on them. He didn’t even honor it in the end, despite saying «he would this time», taking off only part of the stated $ 10.
Sadly, the friendly and warm bartender also turned cold after receiving the certificates. I really won’t be coming back, and would recommend the same to others. The drinks here are nothing special either — plan and overpriced.

The Mason Bar is a great place to go if you want a nice quiet neighborhood bar.
I live right next to it and started going there to meet clients because it is always empty and quiet.
Only problem is their AC is broken. So it is a great place to drink and sit in a pool of your own sweat.
If they fix that… Great place.
PS: Pay no attention to the hours listed here or on their website. Both places have wrong information. Like their Twitter account, the information has not been updated in over a year. Pretty shocking.

I think this place is on the way out. There were barely any folks there when I was in. Drinks are okay but overpriced. Service was not good enough for the neighborhood. I did not have anything from the kitchen but my two friends did and they deemed it inedible. Also, they used a gift certificate which was for over the amount of the food and were not given the change – is that even legal. Either way, I won’t be back. One good thing – plenty of parking.

Have tried to come here a couple of times & they’ve been closed even though their sign, website, & Unilocal all say they are supposed to be open. Frustrating!

So… About that brunch. First brunch was disappointing. I understand that this is your first brunch event, but running out of basic food products, inconsistent bartending, and sub-​par food quality (especially when only 40% of our party was served) is a bit much.

This rating is exclusively based on the bar atmosphere, not food. I’ve never eaten there.
With that said, the bar atmosphere is awful at night. They’re trying the square peg, round hole approach. It’s a classic looking bar: stone counter top, large windows, nice flooring, etc. It’s a really pretty building in general. They’ve ruined it though by putting some video games and terrible dj that plays 90s grind rap and Katy perry, which is fine at a club but not a place that could look really classy.
This place needs to get rid of the outdated video games and ghetto music. Invest in a real mixologist, better seating arrangement, and a simple playlist with some smooth music, not a dj that plays watered down Avicii remixes. It’ll never be the next Kung Fu but given the neighborhood vibe and pretty building, it could compete with Standard Pour.
Last note– needs to stop serving beers in mason jars. Played out idea used by every fake BBQ joint. Get some real pub glasses.

The food is good here. Had the Shrimp & Grits, Sweet Potato Fries and Mac and Cheese all very good, along with some Tx beers on tap.
I’d normally give it 4 stars except that the new owner went out of his way for us the previous night (one reason we decided to stop in at the actual location)
The previous night we were out at a place that had «Delivery» signs from local restaurants, except they don’t actually say how the food gets picked up. Mason Bar was top on the list and after calling them confusingly the owner said he’d just bring it over himself. Very unexpected, but also the food was really good. Mason Burger, and Grilled Cheese.
Also the sweet potato fries have a honey cracked pepper cause which is great as well the regular fries have a good peppering on them.

Do not come here to eat with a large party. The kitchen can’t handle it.
The bad — the food came out at different times.
The ugly — my chopped salad came after everyone had gotten their meals, and it was missing cucumbers, carrots AND the salad dressing! When I asked about the missing ingredients, the server first asked if I was sure (yes, I think I can tell that there is no avocado ranch dressing on the pile of wilted lettuce on my plate), then checked with the kitchen and came back, telling me the kitchen was out of cucumbers, carrots and avocado ranch dressing. Why they thought it was acceptable to serve a salad missing 3 of the 5 ingredients, or thought that I wouldn’t notice, is something none of us could comprehend.
The unacceptable — my friend’s burger was raw in the center — so raw she would’ve gotten food poisoning had she taken a bite. Luckily, she saved herself by cutting it in half first. The funny thing is she ordered it because she figured «you can’t mess up a burger.» Well, The Mason Bar proved her wrong. She then ordered pork tacos which were unimpressive, but at least were cooked all the way through.
We were rather annoyed that they tacked on a 20% gratuity to our bill. I understand it usually happens for large parties (and we were 11 people), but when the service is THAT bad, you really should feel guilty about putting the auto-​gratuity on. They had to know that their service was not deserving of 20%.
The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars instead of 1 is because the server was apologetic about everything and ended up comping my meal and the raw burger girl’s meal.

Updating my review… seems like The Mason Bar has found its groove. They’ve re positioned themselves as a neighborhood bar/​hangout spot. I recently had an event at the Hi/​Lo bar downstairs and I commend the entire Mason Bar staff for a job well done. They outdid themselves. My friends appreciated the low-​key atmosphere to let their hair down after a long week. If i’m in the neighborhood, i’ll definitely come by for a drink or a quick bit to eat. They do both really well.

We went here with a group of people. They handled the group very well and were very attentive. Service was excellent. I just wasn’t a fan of the food.
I was very excited over the menu: several things that looked good. I finally decided on some kind of blackened meat with sweet potato mash. It was ok, but not remarkable. The fact that I was there 3 days ago and can’t remember what the meat was (and their website isn’t proving helpful to remind me), says a lot. I also ordered a side of mushroom risotto, because that’s one of my absolutely favorite foods. I didn’t end up eating more than a few bites — it was so salty it was almost inedible.
On the plus side, they had a nice cocktail selection… I loved my mule (my new go-​to drink if a bar has it.) Friends really enjoyed the mussels they ordered as an appetizer.
I’ll likely go back to try their brunch, which I’ve heard is great. However, not rushing back there for dinner.

My first trip to the Mason Bar was by total accident. After the last CMYE, one Unilocaler and I wanted to jaunt over to the clothing store Mieux and Mieux. However, we found out quickly that it was inexplicably closed on a Saturday, and we were still tipsy from day drinking. So we decided to sober up at the nearest place — The Mason Bar.
I had not been there yet, but upon walking in, I liked the layout. Big, open, and roomy! We were the first patrons there, I think, because it was empty. But then again, it was right after lunchtime. My friend and I sat down and ordered waters (what else when you’re drunk?), and a nice, friendly, and engaging waiter served us. He made some recommendations off the menu, and we made our choices. I went with the grilled cheese with grits, and I was happy I did! Super carb-​a-​licious and filling, and pretty flavorful, too. Those grits were the real deal, y’all.
I’d like to come back when I am not inebriated and sample their beer selection and other food offerings. But nonetheless, I am grateful for their good food and super sweet waitstaff for waiting on the tipsy twosome that was my friend and myself!

I had a pretty crazy experience at this place last Sunday. A group of us came here for boiled crawfish, not knowing how they would taste. The special was $ 20 for all you can eat. I asked our waiter if I could try one out before placing an order, and he agreed. He brought out two crawfish, and as soon as I eat one of them, I knew that I would not be ordering them. There was absolutely no flavor to the crawfish, which made it no point to eat them. We all decided to try other items on their menu.
First, we tried to order the Bone marrow appetizer… but, the waiter said they were out. :-/​
Then, we asked for the gyro with lamb, and the waiter said they were out of lamb. I wasn’t sure what we were allowed to order since it seemed they were out of everything, so I asked if I could order the gyro with chicken, and to my surprise, they were not out of chicken. One of my friends wanted to split a second dish with me, so we also ordered the shrimp po’ boy with a side of mac and cheese. The chicken gyro came out and it was the worst gyro I’ve ever had. Granted, this is not a Greek restaurant, but I feel that if it is on the menu, it should be mediocre at least. The sauce on this gyro made the whole meal so bad that I didn’t bother to eat it. The mac and cheese was ok, but too spicy. What really did it for us was when the shrimp po’ boy came out… there were two small shrimp in the entire thick po’boy bread. Everything about the food was of poor quality.
My other two friends ordered salmon, and they said it was overcooked with no flavor.
The waiter knew that the food was so bad, which is why he brought over free shots for us all.
The service here is good, but the food is terrible. I will never return.

Let’s start off by saying that my first experience at Mason Bar was a few months after it first opened. The dining experience was great and so was the service. It seemed to stand out as a nice neighborhood gastropub along the lines of The Common Table or even Meddlesome Moth which I can always count on for great food and drinks.
Fast forward to tonight where it is quite obvious that the management has decided to open the douche-​nozzle on this place. As soon as we walk in, we were greeted by a human-​troll hybrid who looked like he dressed himself in the dark. He didn’t seem to understand basic forms of human communication when telling him that we were with an existing party and continued to march us to a table elsewhere in the establishment. It’s ok. Avoiding idiocy is a useful talent in uptown so it wasn’t a huge ordeal.
Then, the service. Completely incompetent and condescending. I love the how the waiter forgot to put in half our orders and came by to say: «I guess that’s everything right?». No, you buffoon. We are obviously missing half the table’s food. We sat around for a good 30 – 40 minutes with half a table of food while the waiter makes the comments like «I guess you can go to Chili’s where they microwave your food so it’s always on time.» Oh I get it. Sarcasm make waiter feel better for being dumb. Ha.
Well, the food wasn’t bad when it came out, but it’s terribly obvious that they want to go in a different direction with this place. And by different, I mean opposite of an enjoyable dining experience. They have DJ’s blasting music while you eat which is FUN because listening to dubstep while you eat is the new hotness. Am I right?
So basically:
Food — Not bad
Atmosphere — Vomit inducing
Service — Atrocious
I give this place a rating of: «I’d prefer to be stabbed in the kidney before going back».

Ok, so after going there a couple of times already, thought I’d give more info about The Mason Bar. Last night after I went to the Late Night Dallas Art Museum, my friend decided to go to a bar to grab a small bite and a drink, and I thought it would give me a chance to try their bar food.
I ordered the tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich just to have something to fill. The soup tasted good only when I dipped it with the grilled cheese sandwich; it seemed to me that large amounts of cream has been added into the soup as I was expecting to get the strong tomato flavor. Therefore in the end, I finished the sandwich, and the coup of soup looked as if I’ve never touched it at all.
The atmosphere was fun as always, and I never recalled that they have a DJ around. I’ve always wanted to check out downstairs, but every time I go there, there was always a private party going on.
Well folks, until next time, hopefully I have more updates.

Parking was pretty terrible, as it always is for uptown, but I was really impressed with the atmosphere. The upstairs was a quieter place to catch up with friends over a couple of beers, downstairs had a good dancing scene, but plenty of space to hold conversations.
Also great – the food. Their fries were delicious, and the pita and hummus – mmph. It felt good eating those delicious carbs slightly inebriated on a great gin and tonic.

I am in love with The Mason Bar! The location is a bit removed from most of the businesses in the State/​Allen area, so while I had heard of the place and knew it was *somewhere* around there, I had never seen it before. And it is SO pretty! Cute exterior and even more stunning interior. The bar is stately and elegant, and sits beneath two giant windows. We arrived before sunset so it was nice to see how the ambiance changed from day to night.
There was a private party finishing up as we arrived that had rented out the place so it was set up for that and since business was a bit slow after they all left, I’m not sure if they put it back together as per normal operation or not. But it definitely seems like a great place to rent out if you have such occasion!
Our bartender, Moses, was a sweetie. The drinks are very classic/​New Orleans style: sazerac, daiquiri, old fashioned, dark & stormy, etc. My friend and I asked him to make us something else though, and she ended up with something lemony, and I ended up with the smoothest gin/​cucumber cocktail I’ve ever had. After that we had some (ok, too much) white wine that was half price on Tuesdays.
The menu all sounded really good – although some of the stuff seemed a little out of place, like tacos. We split a beet salad (they were very good about bringing our stuff out on separate plates so we could share) and the shrimp and grits. The beet salad was very simple – very fresh with a light, salty vinaigrette, oranges, some nuts, and goat cheese. Yum. I liked it because the beets weren’t as sweet as I’ve had them in the past. The shrimp and grits was phenomenal! It came with a spicy, tomatoey creole sauce and was one of the best versions I’ve had. I’m no shrimp and grits purist or expert by any means, but I loved it.
The only disappointment was dessert: they decided to stop carrying the blackberry crumble that was on the menu (WHERE can I get a good crumble or crisp in this town???) and they only had bread pudding and key lime pie. They were both just okay in my opinion: the bread pudding had an awesome sauce but the bread itself was not soft or pudding-​y enough, more on the dry side. So we tried the key lime pie too since the couple next to us was raving about it. It was good, nice and smooth, but not tangy enough for my taste. It had a nice ginger note to it.
Sounds like they’re starting brunch this weekend – the menu didn’t look terribly exciting but I had such a good time that I will definitely be back for happy hour or dinner, hopefully in the very near future!

I am so excited for this new addition to the young and effervescent neighborhood that is State and Allen. The adorable brownstones and trendy apartment homes lining the quaint streets welcome fun neighborhood bars like Madon Bar with open arms.
The Mason Bar, a formerly, renovated Masonic Lodge, is open and airy and allows for easy transition from one happening high-​top table to the next. The bar constitutes the whole back wall — and what I believe — is supposed to be the main focus of the joint as the drinks will knock you to the floor. The high ceilings and ubiquitous, somewhat random artwork of framed vinyl records and concert tour posters almost makes you feel like you are in a rock-star’s NYC loft.
I can definitely see a future in the Mason Bar. It’s a fun, relaxed atmosphere with a short but strong gastropub type menu, and of course has a Dallas bar pre-​requisite: a Patio.