lonesome dove western bistro

finally got around to trying lonesome dove and it is worth all of the hearsay and hoopla. easily on a short list for knoxville's best of the best. the ingredient quality really shines, but not as much as the creativity, which is at a world class level. not many places serve, rattlesnake, quail, rabbit, and elk under one roof. you can literally close your eyes and pick something on the menu and not be upset in the least. chef love was an awesome host and i did not know he was a winner on tv network's iron chef. thefoodis a tad pricey, but the kind of pricey that is oh-so justified. one of knoxville's must tryfoodexperiences.

very overpriced! had lunch for 4 of us with 3 appetizers and each a main dish $250.00 before tip! the appetizers where $120 alone! we each had one drink also. thefoodwas not great an service was bad. will not go back no advise anyone to ever go.

note to the manager if he cares, tell the server to better explain prices. when an appetizer says $15 most people think you going to get 4 or so pieces for $15 not 15 each!

go elsewhere. fort worth has many many better restaurants to choose from than any of tim loves disapointments. went here for 5 year anniversary awful servicefoodovercooked ask to see mgr whome never came to table. spent $250. emailed them 3x was never responded to. sure this place will go under someday like all this guys junk. the rest of us needs to know fw cant stand this guy. ruined colonial golf tourfoodthis year also.

please budget accordingly.......... this place must be competing with the steak houses in downtown ftw by just looking at their prices on the menu yet they dont even offer a kids menu. so warning, do not bring your kids here if they are not adventurous eaters. my daughter did not like their version of mac and cheese (orzo version) or their fries (i will call it matchstick type) nothing traditional about it. the chefs could of made a normal version of french fries as i am sure they had a spare potato in the back........that being said.....a glorious feeding of epic hamilton's....
first off, we arrived with a party of 7 (5 adults, 2 kids) without reservations and they accomodated us with no problem and we were thankful for that.
proceeded to review menu items and started out with a bottle of wine and 3 appetizers to share among 6 of us.
apps were: rabbit and rattlesnack sausage with crusty rosti, grilled shrimp, and blue corn lobster hushpuppies.
for the advertised price on menu-it must be for a party of two but in actuality, we were charged $5 for the bite of sausage and for one shrimp (i think i got the smallest one) at least the shrimp could of been bigger. the hushpuppies came out to be $5/each but i couldnt taste the lobster in them and i prefer the outside to be a litle more crispy. the boar ribs were $4/each for a plate of 3. each item was very good and it was gone in an instant and made us wanting more.
we skipped the second course (salad or soup offerings) and went straight to the main course. i ordered the most popular dish of roasted garlic stuff beef tenderloin-grilled medium. it was good but not as tender as i liked. the demi glaze was ok as well as the western plaid hash with sauteed onions. i think i would of prefered mashed potatoes. i will know next time (once i win the lottery....lol). i also ordered the beet home fries. they were diced up and i was expecting the look of french fries and i did not taste or get any heat from the chili. they were good tho but could of been a little more tender as they still had a firm bite to them.
the other main courses ordered from the party ranged from hand cut steaks of beef tenderloin and pork tenderloin. my son did order the boar ribs and he like them but didnt eat all 3 ribs.
there were alot of good compliments about thefoodand all the plates were cleaned off.
so after 3 bottles of wine, one beer, one michelada (i liked smoke of dallas the best so far) the bill came out to $487.xx with tax. which reminds me i need to review smoke but its been so long since i been there (maybe another visit).
we were still charged for the dishes that my daughter didnt like even tho i ate half of her mac and cheese-it was delicious-but her fries werent touched......perhaps could of negotiated that but didnt.
service and our server was top notch and very attentive.
will i go again? yes i would but sometime in the distant future.

kitchen too damn hot!!. tim love's western bistro has undoubtedly driven stockyard rent too damn high but apparently the beautiful old building was not up to heat coming from the kitchen either. cool place, greatfoodbut the kitchen was too damn hot. hope the floors survived. i thought somebody was bbqing. it was a fire!! ain't nobody got time for dat!! good guy greg (john?) and maybe the best valet doods evar will flawlessly take your keys to chef love's, conveniently closer to billy bob's, white elephant valet station if you have late night billy bob plans and i don't usually forget shiat in the car but when i do i want these car jockeys on it as they will quickly and gladly fetch the car when your most interesting (drunk) ass remembers, in the middle of dinner, you just need to grab what you've forgotten there.

ld damaged. success kid. comes back even better.

awfulfoodpairing & overpriced wine. thefoodpairings were awful. the heavy crawfish sauce overpowered the snapper. the foul fritters overpowered the duck, and the sweet potato stuffing overpowered the poblano pepper. the wine list was extremely overpriced (i.e., 300 percent mark up) and included no decent wine under 65 dollars a bottle. thefoodwas pretty awful. i would recommend leaving this one lonesome.

poor customer service. bad service from the start. reservation was for 7:30 p.m. hostess blew us off and told us to wait in the bar; we were seated for dinner 35 minutes later. barstaff acted like we were invisible. received drinks same time as seating. our server acted like he was doing us a favor by taking thefoodorder and then tried to push a bottle of expensive wine at "special pricing" ($180 bottle discounted to $120 - according to server "so worth it" …not an impulse purchase we wanted to make.) we declined and he continued to try to sell other bottles of wine. setting aside poor service, thefoodwas delicious. we will give this restaurant another chance but not at prime time on a weekend.

delicious food, horrible service sounds like a title of a great novel, right? from the moment my party and i walked in we were greeted with the lack of respect that you would receive at places like "dicks last resort" (due to the experience they provide). from too good "shirley" the hostess on the phone and bartender "betty" who ignored us, i figured this was going to be a wild ride. enough with chit chat, deliciousfoodhorrible service should really tell you everything you need to know.

wonderful decor butfoodwas ok. i had the lobster hushpuppies very bland inside i added salt which helped a lot! ordered the signature filet which despite being "stuffed" with roasted garlic it was bland, but then filet is always bland but i was hoping they would raise it up in flavor. i ordered the newest dessert apple pie with jalapeño ice cream and white cheddar on the side. it was good and different. pie was a little under cooked but tasty. the cheese was a great chaser to get rid of that lingering sweetness.

superlative. thefoodwas nothing less than amazing! the suggestions made by the waiter were excellent. my dinner companion ordered a jalapeno margarita that was awesome. it was a perfect evening--the company, the food, the service!

my coworkers' fault, not lonesome dove's. although i'm giving lonesome dove a negative review, i think thefoodis very good. for the price you pay to eat dinner there, you would expect nothing less. that being said, my one experience eating there was so wrought with annoyances that i vowed never to return.

first and foremost, i went to lonesome dove with a large group of coworkers. being in fort worth, i fully intended to order a steak, but the woman next to me began talking about how she wanted a chile relleno plate but didn't think she could finish an entire plate. being in a good mood at the time, i offered to share the plate with her. when we ordered drinks, she remarked that she'd like a beer but didn't want a whole one, so i offered to share half her beer with her. meanwhile, the rest of the table ordered a gantlet of appetizers, of which a sampled a few, and a large quantity of wine, of which i had none. after the group reached a non-unanimous agreement that we should divide the bill equally, i ended up paying $100 for half a beer, half a chile relleno, and a few samples of appetizers. if that's not enough to leave a bad taste in one's mouth, i don't know what is.

now for my minor grievances. although thefoodis tasty, the chef clearly goes out of his way to offer a selection of meats that border on bizarre. offering one or two dishes with rattlesnake or ostrich is appropriate, but when you offer at least half a dozen unusual meats, it appears over-the-top and feels like you're in a recreation of the restaurant scene from the movie "the freshman."

during the visit with my coworkers, we were nestled in a back room with a table large enough to accommodate our group. joining us in that room, at a separate table, was a couple that appeared in almost every way possible to be an older gentleman and a young woman who couldn't possibly have been his wife. he was all over her so much that it was creepy-- i'm sure that they were kissing each other withfoodstill in their mouths. in any case, the scene reeked of sleaziness and didn't help the ambiance.

next time i'm in ft. worth and want to spend $100 on a meal, i'll drive over to texas pit bbq and get 25 brisket sandwiches and an iced tea.

i love this place! greatfoodand atmosphere! highly recomend the buffalo ribeye!!