Permanently Closed - Cool River Cafe - Dallas

They are closed. They are closed. They are closed.

Incredible food and superb service. Enjoyed an excellent dinner of hickory smoked prime rib and filet with sides and Caesar salad. Plus a chocolate cake to die for. Our service was impeccable. One of my favorites again and again.

Our server was great I think his name was Antonio.😉

Awesome service and food.

Unfortunately the service we received was not in line with the price we paid. Also, 30 minutes after we placed our order they came out to tell us my husband's choice was not available and they substituted what was supposed to be something similar and it was not at all. We were still charged full price for the substitute and it was basically penne with vegetables. Truly disappointing, that was our third visit but we will not return.

Classy place to take business partners and know they will be impressed with the entire experience.

So many let-downs on this trip. We were seated super close to the kitchen doors and then staff talked to each other over our booth/heads. Food issues: way over-salted food in several dishes, sauce on a filet that wasn't ordered that way, rare prime rib that a came very medium, service issues: no water refill, had to ask for our drinks that just took forever to come well after we had eaten our appetizer. I mentioned it was my son's birthday and there was no effort to recognize that in any way. I can not recommend it and probably will never return.

One of my colleagues thought the service was terrible and asked that we not go back there again.

Rare that better wine glasses are brought over with a good bottle of wine(not "The Prisoner" they were pushing). Our server was fantastic creating an excellent dining experience, other than pushing a sub par wine, but it is their job.

I have been here several times. Well managed location. Great staff. Appreciated the recommendations of off menu items.

The experience was outstanding, the food was very good, and the staff very accommodating.

Cool River did not honor my Open Table reservation.

Waiter did not listen to my client- kept telling her no as opposed to giving her what she wanted....a variety of steamed vegetables.

Didn’t get the sautéed onions that we ordered. Staff at beginning was great but service was very slow and there were only a handful of tables occupied. Food was tasty.

This was my second time here I have enjoyed the food

Was very nice place, the staff were very kind and food was perfect! Ambience was a littler but noisy...

Biggest complaint was the wait!
Hostess called 2.5 hours prior to 8pm reservation to confirm- great
Arrived at 7:55. They ask us to wait for table in approximately 20 minutes
They placed multiple couples before us. One group of 5 told me they had 8:30 reservation. -- they were seated 10min before us.
Finally I approached them as to why this was occurring. A table "opened up" 5 min later.
Btw when they Finally seated us; there were no less than 15 open tables dressed for party of two!!

Always wonderful!

Horrible experience. There is so many things that went wrong that it take me 3 paragraphs to write. Suffice it to say under cooked and cold food, wait staff uninformed and slow, management that was no help, and couldn’t seem to even get a drink at the bar! We will never be back or recommend to anyone if asked.

Overall the worst experience I've had here to date. I visit Cool River 6-8 times a year but this one was the poorest showings we've had. The waiter just poured the wine without offering a taste first - good thing for him we liked it. I had to ask for bread to be brought to the table, the steaks were under cooked (again, good thing we aren't too picky) and then I had to ask for the dessert menu. I really was embarrassed for our group at the level of service received.

We've traditionally enjoyed our service and the food here so I'm chalking it up to the Valentine's day "hangover" but it sure made for a poor experience on my daughter's 18th birthday :(

Food and service were outstanding and the price for all was reasonable.

Great service. Food great except for Cool River Salad. We ate at 5:00 so was not crowded.

Valentines

We had reservation for 9PM and we had to wait around 15 minutes, we were not seated on the main area which was way nicer and at some point the manager came and apologize and offered to take care of the drinks but we were charged so it didn’t happen. It was our second Valentine’s there and likely the last.

We had a 9pm reservation. When arrived the host said it’s a 30minute wait and you can wait at bar area and we would send a text or call. We never received the call or text and just ended up eating at bar area. I mentioned this to the host at front and her response was - Hope you give us another chance.

Came for Valentine’s Day. We were 18 min late for our 8:15 reservation and ended up having to wait about 40 min for our table. When I asked one hostess (kind of tall, black hair, with glasses) about my table...she was very rude...the other hostesses were nice.

Took forever for anyone to come and take our order, but I do understand it was very busy...so I’ll give the waitresses a pass. Ordered surf and turf (Steak and lobster). The steak was not cooked as asked (had to send back and when it came back still wasn’t cooked right)...lobster was rubbery.

The manager was very apologetic though and provided recompense for the issue. For that reason I will give them another shot, as customer service is very important to me and in the off chance that my experience is not the norm.

We have been here on several times for special occasion. Birthday Anniversary Valentines Day.
Last night was without a doubt the worst. There was apparently only one valet person working because I waited for almost 20 minutes to park my car. Then the hostesses acted as if everyone was putting them out by being there. It’s a restaurant and it’s Valentines Day what did they expect. Waited a good 5 minutes for a waiter. Another ten for drinks and then had the worst Caesar salad ever. Guys you actually have to put Caesar dressing on the salad. Then noticed people around us getting food that hadn’t been there half as long as us. Not sure when or if we will go back.

We were put in a converted cigar lounge that wreaked of smoke. Dinner was server on fold up tables. No flexibility on the fixed menu at all. Wife’s Chilean Sea Bass wasn’t even as good as a Gordons fish stick. Breaded, dry and Luke warm. It was an awful dining experience.

Valentine’s Day - I’m speechless. Everything that could possibly go wrong, did. Service almost didn’t exist. We had 8 of us. Waiter never wrote down anything so drinks were screwed up and several didn’t get theirs. Reservations were at 7:15. Ate around 9:30. Begged to see manager after food was cold. He/she never came by. Charged for drinks we never received. Food was buffet quality. Will NEVER go back.

The overall quality has gone down. I had higher expectations.

Terrible venue for Valentines Day. They took reservations and had tables setup next to bar area with big screen TVs. This special occasion turned into the worst date in history. Most folks that were sat in this area, including me, left.

What a joke!

Excellent service and great food ! We will be back for sure.

I haven’t eaten at Cool River in quite some time. But the last time I ate here, I remember it being a superb experience. Well, my latest visit fell short of my expectations based on my prior visit.

First off, the dining room temperature was entirely too warm to make for a comfortable dining experience. We voiced that concern and were told by our waiter that a number of guests mentioned the same thing but that the General Manager was “set in his ways.”

We then ordered our food with a house salad to start. The next person to come to our table was one of the kitchen staff, not our waiter. He was delivering our entrees. We never did get the salads. The entrees were served with the wrong sides and the steaks were cooked entirely too long. Our waiter did not come back to check on us after our entrees were delivered to make sure everything was prepared correctly. That’s a relatively minor point, however, because at that point there wasn’t going to be an opportunity to get the order straightened out.

Despite the conditions, lack of service, wrong entrees and wrong meal preparation, the General Manager did do his best to remedy the situation by comping us a bottle of wine.

I’m not one to complain but I don’t see it as likely that we’ll entertain at Cool River again anytime soon.

Nice dinner with my girlfriend .

I’ve been coming to Cool River for about 17 years. I have always ordered the filet oscar style and recommend the filet oscar to friends and customers. I brought my wife to Cool River for Valentines Day and ordered the filet oscar style for both of us..: huge disappointment. I have never had a bad filet at a Cool River, but this was bad. The steak was undercooked, warm and tasteless. The oscar sauce was looked like it was left under a lamp and tasted fishy. 🤢 on top of the bad steak, the service was slow and not the typical great Cool River experience. All disappointing...

Ps - the interior hasn’t changed a bit since I started visiting in early 2000. It may be time for a remodel...

It took us 25 minutes to be greeted. Three tables that arrived after sitting right next to us were greeted sooner, so I had to inform the hostess that we haven't seen a server even though our waters had been refilled twice. I think our server was running late, but she also greeted us after a table that was there maybe 3 minutes. Fortunately, we weren't in a hurry.

Once we were finally greeted, the service was decent enough. The food was immaculate and perfectly cooked. For the price point and white table cloth atmosphere, I would expect the service staff to be more aware about their tables. Otherwise, it was a decent experience.

We were seated very quickly & our waiter was very attentive during a busy lunchtime. Our food was exactly as we ordered it & was served within a shorter period of time than expected--which was a nice surprise. The green beans almandine was delicious!

Great food and service

Great food and service. Highly recommended.

Bar service is virtually nonexistent. Bartenders are slow and disappear frequently. Very inattentive. Food quality is pretty good but service is lacking.