by Terry F.

My girlfriend and I dined at Samar just a few weeks after it opened and really enjoyed the experience.  The variety offered on the menu was quite broad and unique.  Unfortunately, I didn't take copious notes on what we had, but I don't think you can make a poor selection.  Prices were very fair, the portion size were a bit lacking and the overall seating capacity a bit tight.  We dined at the bar and it was really interesting to watch the chefs at work.  I wish they took reservations, because when word spreads about Samar, it will be standing room only.

by V V.

YUM!!! Another masterpiece by Mr. Pyles!!! This restaurant is very small, so I would recommend reservations for the weekend. Great patio, however, it is only for drinks and smoking (they have hookahs!!!), not eating. The restaurant is a  bit more casual than the original Stephan Pyles restaurant. I'd still wear something trendy and nice. A few ladies were in dresses, but nice jeans and very nice shirts (maybe a blazer for men) would be fine, whereas I would feel very underdressed in jeans at the Stephan Pyles restaurant.The menu is broken into 3 pages, Influences from Spain, Middle East, and India. It is also all served Tapas style, so most items are about $6 - $15. While nothing on the menu really called to us, we ordered about 9 different items and ALL of them were fabulous! Bar far the BEST item we had was the very last item on the Middle East page (sorry, don't know the name and the menu is not on their website yet). It was a beef stuffed pasta with a yogurt sauce. TO DIE FOR!!!! The coctails were also VERY yum. My fav was a bellini style drink, except it was made with pear instead of peach....sorry, don't know the name of it either. After we ate, we moved outside and ordered up a Apple Mint hookah. It was good and the hookah was beautiful and the seeting was great, however, the guy setting up the hookah didn't really seem to be that experianced with it and took FOREVER and it never really smoked very good (meaning it wasn't lit well). But...it is only their 3rd week open, so I cut them some slack.

by TJ F.

Samar,Nice Start, I missed the Grand opening a couple of weeks ago but decided to try it out with a friend last nite. I wasnt hungry at all so it helped me with my Budget. Its a few blocks away from Stephan Pyles Flagship Restaurant. I noticed the Valet guys in front of the 2100 Ross Ave Building as we pulled up. Dont know if it was coincidental or planned for them to be middle eastern since the restaurant has a middle eastern theme.As we approached the entrance it looked very lively inside and on our way in we noticed the Cabana type tents which we later got a tour of and found the Hookah stands and people sitting around the beautiful fire. The tents are on a first come first serve basis. You can order desserts and Turkish Coffee and even get your fortune told by the Hookah expert if you believe the residue from the coffee can plan your whole life out lol.We were seated immediately thanks to the fact that they havent done any marketing because i envision in a few months it will be practically impossible to get any type of seating due to the opening of the ATT Complex and word of mouth in the area.The menu comprised of three Areas, namely, Spain, Middle East and India. We started with some Arroz Negro and fried squid. The Rice was delicious and the itsy bitsy spider sized squids too if you ate it very slowly. Warning, The Tapa plates are not the generous tapa sized plates elsewhere and is almost impossible to share unless you are not hungry or plan on stopping by Mickey Dees for a nite cap.The ambience was great, Decor was beautiful. I loved the Syrian/Arabic lamps and Chanderlier around the restaurant. Its only 2800 sq feet but has two private room areas called the Red room and something else which our server Mark was kind to give us a nice tour of. It can probably seat up to 12 people and can be reserved ahead. There were lots of uniformed staff attending to details and making it out to a very well run establishmen. Now back to the food. We ventured on to the Pasta that was stuffed with Whole Ground Beef and immersed in a Yoghurt /garlic sauce. It was delicious but then again it was only about 5 pieces and me being a male got 3 by default. We also tried the Tiger Shrimp which came with some Mango Chutney and it was amazing but dont get fooled by the  singular/plural cos its just one Shrimp on the plate. We ordered some Sun Dried tomato Naan which was great tasting and good to dip into the Pasta sauce and we also ordered the Tandoori Chicken which also had a great masala type sauce which helped fill the stomach by dipping the Naan in the sauce, Now this plate was absolutely delicious and small as usual. I think we had about 4 or 5 plates total and thank God my friend wasnt a voracious eater so we jumped to dessert. I asked Mark to choose. He brought a Cone with ice cream in it which was a great choice and then there was  like 2 fried pudding balls dipped in some sauce which wasnt bad either. For Cocktails i tried out the House Margarita which was very well made on the rocks and my friend had the Samartini which had pama liquer suspended in the drink giving it a very exotic look. Overall Samar was great to visit and i will definitely come back. I dont know if it is a good place for a group since it will be practically impossible for 3ppl to share a bite off one plate but its definitely a cool place to take a client from out of town or a skinny date you are trying to impress.

by christina r.

dined in the "red room", smack in the middle of the restaurant and featuring a chandelier brought back from chef pyles from the middle east. good service overall, but staff still had that new restaurant anxiety albeit eager to please. chef pyles and his jovial presence was fairly dominant. chef vijay made an appearance at our table. seemed a bit distracted, but friendly.recommend staggering order, especially if you are in a large group. amongst us, we probably ordered over half of the menu. i personally ordered a couple selections each from Spain, Mediterranean and India. must try item: foie gras brulee topped with crispy serrano ham. can order separately from the "tres vasos" offering. heck, just order a trio of the brulee. absolute best dish of the evening. also enjoyed the halibut with garam masala. the haloumi-stuffed squash blossoms were nice, but not sure how the herbed pomegranate salad added?  a pass: chorizo dish a bit greasy and mediocre. plain naan quite good. great texture and taste. must be due to the special tandoor they have. apparently they have a chef's tasting available, but it's not published. i think it's only applicable to the white and red dining areas. need to try that next. mindless dining if you will. it was so difficult to decide as there were so many tasty choices!bonus: scored complimentary desserts from chef pyles and sadhu: parfait and fried pastry with ginger creme. delicious! i ordered the crema - similar to a traditional creme brulee, but more complex. located in the san jacinto building. valet is $5.

by Coco L.

I can't tell if all the hype is because it's Stephen Pyles or if someone's paying off these reviewers.  I was underwhelmed.A few caveats - I have never been to another Stephen Pyles venture but I am an adventurous eater and am always on the lookout for ethnic eateries or interesting concept dining options.  I'm not an expert in Spanish, Mediterranean, or Indian cuisine, but I've had more than my fair share of all three.A long review follows, but here is the summary:PROS:  (Almost) impeccable service (see below)CONS:  Miniscule, overpriced portions.  Concept was not as creative or as excitingly executed as I had hoped for.We went on a Saturday night with a larger group.  We tried to call to get reservations, having heard that the restaurant is quite small, but apparently there are only 2 tables available for groups of 6-8 and they were both booked for the weekend.  We tried our luck anyway and were able to get a table outside without much of a wait.What a mistake!  There is a nice patio and outdoor seating area, but the menu reads that it is only for drinks and hookah.  Apparently that doesn't hold for crowded nights.  Unfortunately, the restaurant is not currently equipped to seat people outside for dining.  There is a fire in the middle of the outdoor seating area but no other source of heat (read: no heat lamps).  One word:  COLD.On to the food.One reviewer wrote they thought Samar was a good deal, given the pricing of Stephen Pyles' other restaurants.  Now, when I hear "tapas-style" paired with a high-end chef's name, I know to expect small, over-priced portions, but this exceeded even my most cynical expectations.  Each dish was literally about 3 bites!  The portions were MINISCULE.  If you've had Spanish tapas in Spain, the portions served here would be about a 1/3 to 1/2 of a typical tapas portion.  Even high-end tapas in Spain are not served in such microscopic portions.  Ridiculous.  I felt the portion size was anathema to the concept of "tapas restaurant" -- you could hardly share three bites of food with the rest of the table.  If every bite of food had been heavenly, I might not feel so miffed -- the food was decently executed but overall was maybe just above average.  Given the $$ and portion size, I'd probably rather go an ethnic hole-in-the-wall eatery and get my money's worth.  The experience wasn't worth it for me.  I felt like I was in a bad SNL skit parodying a fine restaurant experience.Can't remember the exact names of the dishes.  Our server recommended 3-4 dishes per person (each dish priced at around $7-9 on average).  We ordered some dishes to share and some to keep to ourselves.The dishes:Hummus, labneh (a tangy, yogurt-based dip), moutabal (basically baba ghanoush, a smoky eggplant dip) trio, $10.  Comes with three small, but well-portioned bowls of drip and four triangles of naan.  Excellent dips, but ridiculous that you have to pay $2 for every additional 4 triangles of naan.  We ordered two for the table at our server's suggestion -- I would probably get 1 order and just get extra naan for the table.From the Spanish menu:Almond gazpacho, $7.  About 1/2 cup of soup served in a HUGE bowl.  Rated as "okay" by a tablemate.Foie gras brulee with dark sherry poached figs and crispy serrano ham, $9.  Comes in a small shot glass with a long spoon.  Delicious and rich but don't expect to be full.  I was hungry...AND they took away my portion with a third of it left!Pork tenderloin with green apples, ?$8-9.  Two or three slices of tenderloin with three melon-ball sized apple lumps.  Delicious sauce apples, tenderloin slightly overdone.  Would prefer solomillo al whisky.From the Mediterranean menu:Red lentil and pumpkin koftas (fried patties) topped with caviar and served with a crab salad.  ?$8-9.  Three slightly larger than half-dollar sized fried patties which mostly just tasted fried.  The crab salad was a few bites worth but was tasty and refreshing.Squash blossoms served with halloumi cheese and pomegranate seeds, $7.  Two squash blossoms stuffed with cheese, battered and fried with a few tablespoons of pomegranate seeds.  My fave...but a tiny portion.Lamb pizza, ?$9.  I saw this one from afar, but it was the largest dish I saw.  Didn't taste it - was wolfed down quickly by a hungry tablemate.Chicken kebab with apricot sauce, $8.  Mildly spiced and pretty good.  The equivalent of one very small kebab (?4 bites) cut in half and served on two skewers.Persian fried chicken fenugreek mashed potatoes, $9.From the Indian menu (my least fave):Roasted tri-color cauliflower, $7 - literally one floret each of white, green, and purple cauliflower, mildly spiced and roasted, served with a tangy vegetable salad.Samosas, $7 - two tiny samosas, each about 1/3 the size of a regular samosa.Chicken butter masala, ?$8 - Decent tapas portion size but mostly just buttery and underspiced.Hookah, $25 on the patio.If you go, be forewarned.

by Ashley A.

I went on a Friday night around 8:30-9 p.m. and had no wait.  Like some other reviewers mentioned, I think that this place will have a larger crowd once the word gets out about it.I can't think of much to improve at Samar.  The food was fantastic (we tried all Indian options), the wait staff and hookah attendant were attentive, and the ambiance was enjoyable.  We also tried the sangria (yes, random choice with the Indian food) and it was delicious.  I would recommend this place as a fun place for a group and also enjoyable for a romantic evening.  It's a great place all around, and I will be going back!

by Rickster Q.

Okay, I'm cheating a tad here.While this is a review about Samar, it's not about the restaurant experience.  Actually, it's a review of their Grand Opening preview bash.  And since there was nothing "normal" about the event--that being, what you'd likely see when you visit the joint for a meal--I can't tell you what it's really going to be like.But, what I can tell you is that Samar is bound to be a pretty popular eatery.   Why so?  Samar is yet another creation of Stephan Pyles, who has had a long lineage of see-and-be-seen restaurants in Dallas for over several decades.  And, from the huge crush of humanity that attended the Grand Opening preview, I'd wager my eighty-nine year-old Aunt Mabel that Samar is going to be a tough ticket on a weekend--and weekday.The Rickster has been a cheerleader of SP digs for many years.  My ugly mug has been a regular at every one of his restaurants since the late eighties.  And, as a matter of fact, the SO and I somewhat sealed the deal in our early relationship over a long, and very expensive dinner at Aquaknox, a now shuttered SP restaurant on Knox Street back in the early 2000s.Samar will be slinging small plates inspired by the cuisines of Morocco, Middle-East, India and Spain.  However, at the Grand Opening preview, the offerings were somewhat limited and served-up hors d'oeuvres style, along with a small buffet type bar.  While we enjoyed the fare that we tasted, I can't really give a fair review given the small mouthfuls eaten while balancing a cocktail or glass of vino.As for the bash itself?  Nearly one-thousand people attended, making it a damn crowded scene.  However, lots of fun people watching to be sure.  (Given the amount of finger-pointing and snickering in my general direction during the evening, it appears that I was on the giving end of entertaining a few folks.)  From what I could tell, most of the crowd was hard-core foodies and SP devotees.  And, every once in a while, some high-profile characters were hanging out and gaggling in my general vicinity.The high points?  Red carpet entrance.  Free-flowing wine. A very visible and accommodating SP, who apparently recognized us from our many visits to his joints.  Belly-dancing action.  Hookahs.  Did I mention wine?While we got a little taste of Samar, I'm sure it will be placed in our regular rotation, as I've done with every SP joint dating back to Routh Street Cafe.I'm just hoping they keep the belly dancers.

by Tricia S.

Yes,  Yes, and OMG YES.  It's amazing that we spent almost a week in Vegas and ate at numerous celebrity chef restaurants and so few compared to this gem right in our backyard!!  After dining at SP's namesake restaurant across the street for RW I had a feeling that I was saving my special 200th review for Samar's opening.  Although I missed the Grand Opening party and the public opening was delayed, I got there as quick as I could.And thank goodness!!  You can tell this place is still getting it's act together and it's not that crowded yet, but we had a superb experience.  The setup is tapas style - but not just typical Spanish tapas, they've got selections from middle eastern and indian cuisine as well (about 8-10 choices for each cuisine, plus desserts).  Our waitress was clearly still learning the menu and cocktails, but I'm sure that will get worked out.  Everyone from the busboys to the servers to the guy bringing us our food to the managers to Stephan Pyles himself came by to check on us, and it was obvious that they all knew quite a bit about the menu and were committed to excellent service.  One of the managers, George, talked extensively with us throughout the evening and was really awesome.Unfortunately the cocktails had no descriptions and it would have taken awhile for her to explain them all so we went for the first two that sounded good: the pomegranate Samartini and the blueberry-mojito Susianne(?)  The 'tini was nice and smooth but the blueberry mojito was WAY too limey, and I didn't taste the blueberry.  Just OK.  We got a margarita after that, and it had an interesting twist...pear, maybe?  Anyway, I loved it.  The lowlights were that mojito, the almond gazpacho (although the liquid reconstituted grapes were fun), and the grilled prawn with crispy okra (just not enough to share with one big prawn and the okra was too salty for me).Very good dishes were the the tandoori halibut (although I didn't care for the eggplant puree), the sundried tomato naan and tamarind chipotle chutney, and the desserts we tried (chocolate samosa and apricot pudding).One of my favorites was the Persian fried chicken with fenugreek mashed potatoes (really like three fried chicken nuggets, but REALLY tasty), and Dr. S really liked the quail stuffed with rice and various nuts and berries.However, the standout of the evening, and dare I say one of the top 5 best things I'VE EVER EATEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!?!?!?!?  Srsly, listen to this: foie-gras brulee topped with sherry marinated figs and crispy serrano ham.  Need a change of panties?  Yeah.  Me too.  It was THE perfect mixture of tastes and textures.  My mouth is watering again just thinking about it.And the best part?  This place is incredibly reasonably priced (especially compared to his other restaurant)--each item is like $5-10.  We were out of there for about a hundred bucks.  (And we ordered more than what I mentioned.) Oh, and George comped us our desserts too as a welcome gift!  Hellz yes!I think I subliminally wanted so badly to come back that I forgot to get my credit card upon leaving, so I ended up back to retrieve it about an hour later and it was like a reunion of old friends.  I can totally see us being regulars here.UYE soon, please???Random other info:  valet is $5, hookah is available on the patio, and they will be offering lunch soon!!!

by Tori T.

You should know what you're getting yourself into when you come to Samar so you can set your expectations accordingly. I just gonna get straight to it. AMBIANCE: The restaurant is at the base of office tower amidst the arts district giving it that nice downtown feel, like you're part of the hustle and bustle of the city. The interior is very well designed as an upscale restaurant with the key feature being a beautiful glowing green onyx bar lit from beneath. There is a nice patio out front with a central fire/fountain feature which kept us warm-ish on the cold, rainy November night while waiting 90 minutes or more for our table (party of 7.) ACCOMMODATION: As I mentioned we had to wait for-ever for a table as they apparently only have one or two available for larger parties. There was no where for us to wait inside without being in the way so we posted up under a canopy out on the patio to keep out of the drizzle. The waitstaff turned the wet cushions on the patio furniture for us. We each ordered a hot cider drink, which basically was a small serving of hot whiskey with an orange slice. We ordered 2 servings of hummus (which came with baba ganoush and the yogurt type dip.) The naan to dip ratio was very disproportionate so we ended up ordering 4 total orders of naan! Very tasty! We were most excited about the hookah, however it took quite a while sitting in the cold before the hookah dude came and set us up. We got somewhat reprimanded for having so many people per one hookah but he told us he would make an exception. For $25 for the hookah I felt that we should be able to let as many people smoke on it as we wanted to! The strawberry mint was very flavorful and everyone enjoyed it. 3 people got tired of waiting for our table and bounced making it easier to get a table inside. We had to close out the tab on the patio (annoyingly they wouldn't transfer the tab to our table.) We got off the patio for about $30 per person. At last we were warm and had very attentive waitstaff. Almost too attentive. He described in painful detail everything brought out to our table. While it would have been appropriate for some parties he should have adjusted to the people he was serving. We were cutting up and laughing and telling stories and clearly had no interest in hearing the painstaking details of every dish. At this point we were just ravenous! FOOD: My biggest complaint about the food is the serving sizes. I knew we were ordering tapas but for four people to get a taste of everything ordered we had to order double. Nothing we ordered made me truly excited. The plating itself was better than the food. I thought the butter chicken dish was the best. Samosas were teeny and boring. Lamb pizza was whatever. Houloumi squash tasty but not large enough to get a really good taste of it. Foie gras was decent. Rice pudding and yogurt for dessert were average. Everything was priced from about $7 to $12 and with a glass of wine each we were back at another $30 per person. OVERALL: Nice ambiance, teeny portions, average taste, attentive waitstaff. For $60 I expected a lot more!

by Kathryn E.

Nice addition to the Dallas dining scene.  The location is great as a pre- or post-dining spot for any event in the arts district.... easy walking distance to many of the art venues.This is a mixed cuisine restaurant (not fusion, just combines 3 areas of small plates) focusing on Spanish tapas, middle Eastern mezze, as well as small plates from India.  I think, on average, the tapas and mezze portions of the menu are far superior to the Indian offerings, though there were nice bites all around.My faves are the haloumi cheese stuffed squash blossoms - served with pomegranate relish.  A forkful of both together - delish!  A close second is the giant tiger prawn... yes, just 1 per serving, but makes a wonderful bite.  Other dishes which were nice - the 3 dips with naan consisting of baba ghanouj, hummus, and yogurt... the foie gras brulee... crab fritters... empanadas... roasted green chilis.There were a few that just didn't measure up.  I think the Indian lamb pizza was just so-so, and another dish from the Indian menu (sorry can't remember the name, but was down at the bottom of the Indian page) consisting of lamb on some pureed spice mixture was truly bad... tasted like refried beans done weird.  The desserts are also not the highest point of the meal, we had the chocolate samosa and the apple empanadas and they were OK, but nothing special.  But honestly, that is not so much of a problem, because that means you can just eat more of the good tapas or mezze.The service was enthusiastic, though occasionally inept, but more in an amusing "they'll get it together soon" kind of way than the "OMG I can't believe they just did that" arena.  Overall, a very nice venue, with outdoor seating options as well as a very hip feeling indoor red theme... good food, fair pricing.  Will be back again, though I will likely save it for times I am in the 'hood for other events as well.