Central Track Contributor
Don't Overlook Saint Ann For Lunch.
Saint Ann Ambiance:
2501 North Harwood Street
Downtown Dallas
Service: 3.5 out of 4 tartares
Food: 2.5 out of 4 Tartares
It's a popular spot for dinner, drinks and as a place to check out the who's who of Dallas, but — go figure — downtown restaurant Saint Ann also offers a quick and satisfying business lunch.
Situated on Harwood Street near the Crescent Hotel and other high profile buildings in downtown Dallas, the location makes parking somewhat difficult what with the restaurant being surrounding by a maze of one way streets.
Fortunately, the restaurant looks great inside and is set up nicely with the linens and decor. There's a main dining area and a bar area separated by a massive patio that just screams “Happy hour!”
The service was prompt and attentive, and the kitchen turned the food out quickly for a power lunch. But the food? Well, it was just average to good — depending on what is ordered.
As an appetizer, the marinated chicken and jalapenos wrapped with bacon and served with ranch dressing sure sounds awesome — and, to be fair, it does have some flavor — but the bites, which cost $8 for a plate of six, just doesn't have the “Wow” factor you'd expect from such a dish. It was grilled to perfection, but the chicken was bland, and all the flavor came from the bacon. The ranch dressing, meanwhile, was good enough as a dipping sauce, but it mostly served to highlight the fact that the batch of jalapenos presented on this day were surprisingly mild.
On the other hand, the BLT is pretty solid: Served with applewood-smoked bacon, avocado, grilled tomato, Boston bib lettuce, aioli and buttered toasted bread ($9 with a side of fries or a side salad), the sandwich is not for the dieting type. But the bacon was crisp and the boston bib lettuce complimented the sandwich. And the fries were hand cut in-house, fried perfectly to go very well with the sandwich.
Saint Ann definitely has a cool scene to it. But the food is only decent. Lucky for them, “decent” is often good enough when one's looking for a quick lunch.
