When restaurant week time comes around, I’m ready. I live for the chance to set out on a journey across town to try the cusine of many different restaurants for a smaller price. Sure, there are plenty of times when I am okay with dropping a good amount for a meal I’m bound to enjoy, but for a period of time each year I enjoy the smaller check for a taste of Dallas’ best restaurants.

I made my choices this year based upon establishments I have come to love and those I’ve wanted to try. As someone who has traveled the world in search of adventure, great service and delicious food, I’ve been lucky enough to stay in my share of Ritz Carlton Hotels. The location in Uptown is no different, and it was a no brainer to include Fearings on my list of places to visit during restaurant week. Be it a fluke, pure luck or a RW first but this year I spotted that the restaurant was honoring the special restaurant week menu through September 1st as listed on the RW site on reservation day.  I made the reservation for 2 and counted the days until we made our way past the Rattlesnake Bar and into the culinary abode of Dean Fearing. Here’s where things took a turn for the worst…

The Friday before we were to dine at Fearings I received a phone call.

“We are excited to have you in the restaurant! We look forward to your reservation,” the maître d’ said. “I see on your reservation we have a note that you are coming in for our restaurant week menu, unfortunately we stopped doing that the first week of the promotion.”

I was shocked. A mere 48 hours before we were to dine, and they are just now informing us that the reason we are coming in is invalid.

“Apparently there was a computer glitch in the system with the restaurant week site,” he went on… “would you still like to keep your reservation.” I explained to him how disappointed I was and cancelled our date with Dean.

A few minutes later, after thinking about how let down I was, I called back. “Hi, yes, we just spoke about the restaurant week mishap. Could I speak to a manager?” I said. “Sorry sir, they’re busy. What’s this about?” He quickly shut down the conversation. “Well, could you please forward me to their voicemail?” I asked. Dial tone. He hung up.

I called back, explained that I had ben hung up on and politely asked to be transferred to a manager again, and again I was hung up on.

The next conversation went much better than the first two and a representative from the Ritz Carlton assured us we would have the restaurant week experience we’d so much been looking forward to.

Cut to Sunday night. We head into Fearings for our reservation, check in and are immediately told our table is not ready yet. 10 minutes later, we are brought back to the main dining room, our waiter sweeps in asks our water preference and guzzles a carafe of H2O into our glasses. He comes back, gets our drink order and says “you want the restaurant menu, yes?” We nod. He says “Caesar Salad. Tortilla Soup, Salmon or Filet.” This drill-sergeant firing off of menu items catches us off guard. We both turn to him and say “what?!” He repeats his verbal menu again and then leaves the table. An amuse-bouche of tomatillo soup lands on our table and he’s back with our cocktails and asks for our orders, we are bewildered and order based on our memory of what he’d said.

I know Fearings, I’ve met Dean and I have never, ever experienced the type of cold, mechanical and put-off service that I experienced that evening. “Fearing’s is the perfect blend of innovative design, elevated cuisine and the true spirit of Texas hospitality.” That is what reads on the website but this night, the hospitality aspect was on vacation.

The courses come promptly. The appetizers we’re spot on, the famous tortilla soup hits the right notes and the caesar pleases. Then come the mains. As if we were at a wedding banquet,  the plates couldn’t have been less exciting. My dining partner, who ordered a filet gets a side of asparagus and mashed potatoes. I get a piece of salmon with you guessed it, asparagus and mashed potatoes.

I knew something was wrong. Last I checked, the menu at Fearings for restaurant week the menu looked like this:

Starter
• Duo of: Cocktail Shrimp on Horseradish Mango Sauce with Pecos Melon/Baby Kale/Texas Feta Salad and Crushed Smoked Almonds
• Slow-Smoked Pork Carnita/Charred Corn Tacos with Avocado/Tomatillo Salsa and Summer Slaw with Cooper Farms Peaches

Entrée
• Watch Hill Rhode Island Judith Fluke on Fennel/Basil Purée, Fried Green Tomatoes and Three-Bean Salad with Barbecue Thousand Island Dressing
• Barbecue Glazed Beef Tenderloin Grilled over Live Mesquite with Baked Potato Enchilada on Stewed Chuck Wagon Greens, Canton Butter Beans and Okra Medley

Dessert
• Duo of: Warm Chocolate Cake with Cherry Chip Ice Cream and Pistachio Crunch with Lemon/Vanilla Custard Shooter with Blueberry Jam and Graham/Oatmeal Streusel

Lets just nip this one in the bud and say that we didn’t receive the listed desserts and we were actually told “I’ll ask them what they can come up with,” when we asked about the dessert course.

On top of everything, when the bill came, I noticed that we were charged for a convenience fee. Now I know the restaurant was only offering the $45 dinner option — $10 more than the usual prix fixe dinner — but when that price comes with the expectation of “high end cuisine, at a time when the food costs are at a premium,” as noted by a DFW RW press release, I can’t brush off this poor experience.

If you’ve read this far in one of the most unappetizing experiences in restaurant week history hopefully you can understand how I, as an appreciative and understanding guy, felt wronged throughout our meal. From the first phone call to the signing of the check, this experience was unforgettably awkward and disappointing.