lonesome dove western bistro

***please read to the end! that’s where the magic is!*** (ok, skipping forward is acceptable, but you’ll miss something!) when my wife and i go out to blow out for special events like our anniversary, we take on a money is no object, live life large mentality. this lead us to the lonesome dove western bistro by renowned chef tim love in fort worth. with a price point of $$$$ on many web sites and foodie related apps, finding it along main st. adjacent to the fort worth stock yards might at first seem out of place. i don’t want to give too much away too soon, but trust me on this… it was worth every red cent. unassuming for what is absolutely fine dining, the location along main street in north fort worth would be easy to miss if it weren’t for the valet parking out of nowhere. we entered the lonesome dove about 15 minutes before our reservation. *pro-tip* don’t arrive to your reservation early. be as close to as on time as possible. once we entered and was met by our host, we noted a well appointed bar taking up the entirety of one wall. being as well appointed as it was, anyone else that was early to their reservations was already enjoying a spot. there were a few diners that were enjoying their meals seated at the bar as well. the reason i say to “not” show up early, is that standing room is very limited and with “social distancing” being the norm, it could potentially be awkward. while at the front of the restaurant, we were able to see the “cowboy chefs” flying around the intentionally displayed kitchen in the back among servers and small *poof*s of flame from time to time. the room we entered was dimly (appropriately) lit with couples seated at tables across from the bar. little did we know, that there was a huge dining area on the other side of the wall behind the bar. this also included an outside seating area through open double doors where we were seated. the décor was spot on texas class and the whole layout allowed a nice flow of servers and guests alike to move in comfort. ok… now that we got the “boring” stuff out of the way. lets get into the real reason you are still reading my review. chris, our server, was “all business” when getting us seated and taking care of our initial drink orders. he allowed us to go over the menu and answered any questions when he returned to the table. we finally ordered 2 appetizers. the bbq duck spring rolls with hoisin sauce and the blue corn lobster “hushpuppies”. i will start with the latter, the quotation marks around “hushpuppies” is accurate. it’s actually how it is on the menu, and forgoodreason. forget your ideas on some chain restaurant filler that comes with your fries and whatever “fest” is going on for the month. these are fork and knife flavor bombs! the outside is a flavorful shell of fried blue corn flour and spices, but the magic is in the middle! i honestly cannot tell you what exactly the filling was, but the sauce that accompanied the lobster pieces was delectable. i highly recommend this! the duck spring rolls are a horse of a different color if you are expecting your traditional asian fare. they are perfectly fried so that the wrapping expands, and the filling and associated duck is juicy and perfectly seasoned. the hoisin sauce was a perfect fit and added a little more moisture to the rolls, but they were able to completely stand on their own. now hang on folks… i have to start a new paragraph for the main course. it was a masterpiece! we ordered the wagyu tomahawk ribeye with grilled langostinos, wild mushroom-truffle orso and roasted asparagus as our main course. it may seem pricey, but when you see it serves 2, and then you see what you get when it comes out in all of it’s glory… like i said before. worth every cent! this brontosaurus chop of a bone on wagyu beef tomahawk presented on a bed of rice, wild mushrooms, and a sauce i cannot adequately explain, served with halved prawn and roasted asparagus was a meal fit for royalty! chris, our “all business” server, kicked back and allowed himself to become a part of the continued preparation at our table as well as our evening of celebration as he expertly cut the steak and portioned everything on to our plates for us. that… first… bite… look, there is no way to maintain your professional and culinary appreciative integrity by ever putting “omg” into a review. so i will simply say this. as a man that believes in jesus christ as his personal lord and savior, if ever i was given the chance to treat him to dinner, i would take him here. i don’t say that lightly! this ribeye was cooked to culinary perfection at medium at the recommendation of chris. the marbling was absolutely perfectly rendered adding a softness and flavor i have yet to have experienced anywhere else! expertly seasoned, picking up the rice, sauce, and mushrooms with each bite of the wagyu was absolutely interplanetary (read out of this world)! the prawn was succulent and certainly drove me to prioritize when to eat what, saving as much as that steak and rice to the last bite! chef love and his crew at the lonesome dove have created a masterpiece with this dish so much so that i simply cannot wait to share this meal with my friends and family. i rarely end a review like this because it simply sounds like shameless gushing, but… thank you to all of the lonesome dove family for truly giving us a night to remember!

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overrated. love isn't so great or original. i'm impressed he actually manages to keep more than one restaurant open, guess that's due to the mass simpletons who haven't actually had realgoodfine dining. try again love and this time don't piss everyone off in nyc when you bad mouth flay even though both of you are one and the same.

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 verygoodand 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 wasgoodbut 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 weregoodtho 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 ofgoodcompliments about the food and 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, great food but 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!!goodguy 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.

yum!. i mean it is really expensive, but i think its delicious and the atmosphere is totally cool! agoodplace to go when the parents come in town and want to experience fort worth at it's finest!

chef loves beef tenderloin was a delicious main entree as well as the rattlesnake sausage. chef love makes it easy to try his appetizers cuz his wait staff is eager to give u deal on those items. you can mix and match appetizers at agoodprice. the waygu beef skirt was asgoodas the tenderloin. this is a place i would be a regular at.( if only i lived in ft. worth)

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 toogood"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, delicious food horrible service should really tell you everything you need to know.

happy tummy dove. we eat out a lot, many times at fairly nice restaurants but this really sticks in my memory. subtle flavors that i don't get anywhere else and every course was done perfectly. the tenderloin is outstanding and it was cooked to perfection. i don't remember the salad name but it was simply great; flavors i did not expect exploded in my mouth. the missus raved over the pork chop. to top it all off, the red velvet made with mascarpone almost took me to my knees; bar none, the best ever. nice wine list. make reservations as there are only 12 tables and 10 seats at the bar. forgoodreason, this place is always packed.

wonderful decor but food was 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 wasgoodand different. pie was a little under cooked but tasty. the cheese was a great chaser to get rid of that lingering sweetness.

out of this world awesome!. upon first glance of the menu i was feeling constricted because of the 1st course, 2nd course, 3rd course options, but our excellent waiter walked us though the menu and made amazing recommendations. we ended up (3 people) getting an appetizer sampler where you pick however many appetizers and they make sure to plate enough for everyone at the table to have a taste. this was amazing! the appetizers (1st course) were sogoodi didnt even want an entree (3rd course) so i just got two 2nd course options at the suggestion of the waiter. these were so great and the flavors were really complementary. my co-worker had a steak and it was delicious as well.

i recommend this restaurant for special occasions especially for out of town guests to give them a little taste of exotic texas offerings. some of the items like rabbit rattlesnake sausage sound crazy, but sausage is a great way to introduce eclectic foods and i was pleased to return to louisiana and tell all my friends i ate rattlesnake for dinner.

my coworkers' fault, not lonesome dove's. although i'm giving lonesome dove a negative review, i think the food is 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 agoodmood 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 the food is 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 with food still 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.

highly memorable, especially for visitors. after hearing about it forever, i finally made it over to the lonesome dove with some colleagues from new york. with a big group, i was fortunate to be able to sample rattlensnake sausage, kangaroo nachos (with great guacamole), elk sausage sliders, and lobster hushpuppies as appetizers. all were fantastic and the server was happy to split them up for everone to partake. if i had to choose just one, i'd go with the lobster or the rattlesnake. i had the cucumber jalapeno margarita which was really nice. my buddy said his organic margarita wasgoodtoo. for my salad, i had the butter lettuce with bacon lardoons and chili buttermilk dressing. it was very good. my friends had postive feedback on the bacon and egg salad and the seared diver scallop (e,g, "cooked perfectly"). for my entree, i thoroughly enjoyed my red deer chop, although the mushrooms on the side were a bit underwhelming. i also sampled the garlic beef tenderloin and the buffalo ribeye, both fantastic. of the three, i liked my chop the best. we shared lots of sides on the table, allgood- but the truffled mac and cheese was outstanding. do not skip it. we had severalgoodred wines, just pick what you like. for dessert, i had the cappucino flan. even if you don't like flan, you should have this. it was ridiculous. my second favorite on the table was the mexican donuts, hot and sugary - i watched a guy abandon his atkins diet for them!!! the pumpkin bread pudding and chocolate cake get honorable mentions. all in all, everyone was totally satisfied with the meal, even those from manhattan where variety and quality abound. i was very proud to show-off some of our local talent and can't wait to return with my wife and friends. spying their lunch menu, it appears you can get all the variety at a lower price... :) speaking of, dinner was not cheap, but for what you got, i'd say it's agoodvalue.