The Second Floor
13340 Dallas Parkway
Dallas, TX 75240
(972) 450-2978
http://www.thesecondfloorrestaurant.com/
Price: $$-$$$
So we took advantage of their happy hour which lasted until 7PM. The Friday specials are half price appetizers, $2 off cocktails and some discounts on wine and beer as well. I mainly go for the food of course! :P
The place was pretty empty when we got there. The bar had some people, but the dining room was empty. We were immediately seated.
Half of our group was running late so my friend and I decided to get a cocktail and appetizer to start. I wanted to try the Treetini (veev acai spirit, hanger one mandarin, pomegranate, blueberry) $13~ but I didn't want all of it so we were going to share it.
All the cocktails were expensive in my opinion. The reason I chose the Treetini was this line in the menu: "A tree will be planted in your honor for every treetini purchased." I thought that was pretty cool. Since I'm going to spend the money, might as well do some good too! haha. The cocktail was very fragrant and fresh. I really liked the fresh blueberries in there. It was slightly too strong for me though, so my friend finished it.I also got the Grilled Flatbread (red pepper pesto, english pea hummus, spinach artichoke dip) $10~ The happy hour special makes it $5!
That's a good deal! The flatbread was warm and soft. It went so well with all the dips. While all 3 dips were good, the red pepper pesto was my favorite and the hummus not too far behind it. The hummus also had some shaved truffles on there. Mmmm!! This was so good we eventually ordered a second one before happy hour was over. :)The rest of the group showed up and one guys got the Fennel Sausage Pizza (wild mushrooms, marinated olives) $14~
It was a good sized pizza with plenty of toppings. The sausage was super flavorful and I loved the assortment of wild mushrooms on top. It was really delicious. Slightly expensive...but tasty.I was already kinda full at the point but I don't know why I continued to order stuff. haha. I think partially I just wanted to try it and I also wanted some greens to balance out all the carbs.
I got the half order of the Wilted Spinach Salad (bacon, pecans, blue cheese) $5~
For the price, this was a good deal. There was plenty of pecans and blue cheese on there which can be expensive. But I'm not a huge fan of blue cheese so it was a little overwhelming and I ended up picking most of it out. The spinach was really fresh and I liked the big pieces of bacon in there. It was quite a big portion for a half salad too!I had known before going in that I wanted to try the Roasted Corn Soup (truffles, crème fraîche) cup $4.50~
They pour the soup for you tableside so that was kinda fun. And I love corn..it sounded so good! The soup was creamy and silky but I prefer corn soups to have chunks of corn in there. I like the texture. This was lacking in texture. The corn was super sweet so maybe they can add a bit of heat to add some depth of flavor or something. It didn't meet my expectations. :( I guess I was expecting more of a corn chowder or something.We saw their specials menu when we arrived and immediately decided we have to get the dessert. "Exclusive Creations from Chef J. Chastain": Bacon Peanut Butter Brownie Sundae (hot fudge sauce, vanilla bean ice cream, bruleed banana) $9~
BACON was the key word. haha. I totally love bacon in everything including sweets. I've written about different bacon desserts in my blog already. It's just so versatile! The dessert was quite large and looked awesome. The brownie was packed full of bacon! I think there was a layer of peanut butter brownie, then a layer of bacon, and the bottom was a chocolate brownie. It was totally interesting and I thought it was great! There were lots of different textures between the brownie, bacon, creamy ice cream, and the bruleed banana (had a nice crispy sugar shell). If you like sweet and savory, you just might enjoy this dessert!Overall the food was pretty great. Our waitress was super nice and helpful. The bill still came out a little higher than I wanted. And I actually could've done without the soup and salad. I was soo STUFFED! Definitely had a massive food baby bump. hahaha. I'll be back for their happy hour again in the future. I really enjoy the atmosphere there. :) I just hope they get more customers so they can stay in business!
Quality of Food:
Service:
Cleanliness:
Value (including HH):
Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
I'm not a cheese and crackers person at all, but I think I'm slowly starting to be ok with it. Brie has to be one of my favorite cheeses I think. It's creamy and mild and goes really well with sweet or savory things. The brie with the honey and almonds was really good. And for $6 this was a great value for a cheese plate.
We chose the Spinach Artichoke Fondue (Fontina and Butterkase cheeses, white wine, spinach, artichoke hearts and a touch of garlic). Comes with chips, bread, veggies, and granny smith apples for dipping. 
The bartenders heat up and mix the fondue for us right at the bar so we get to see them put everything into the pot! :) They also added tabasco and chopped jalapenos into the mix. A nice touch! The Spinach and Artichoke fondue was really good! The cheeses were mild so it didn't overpower anything. There was lots of spinach and artichoke bits in the mix as well. It was quite tasty. And fun to do with your friends! :) AND it doesn't break the bank!!
You also have the option of milk or white chocolate fondues. The dark chocolate was delicious! Not too sweet with just a hint of that bitterness. The wide range of dipping items was cool. The actual desserts on their own though, were not that great quality. You really need to dip them in that luxurious chocolate bath! haha. My favorites were actually the fruits in the chocolate dip...
The crepes were nicely packed in a plastic container and came with mixed sweet potato and taro chips and salsa. The salsa was fantastic!! The crepe looked really good, but it was a little hard to eat. You really needed a fork and knife. I was quite disappointed. The pork had nice flavor, but was seriously overcooked. It was dry and instead of a nice crispy crust, it was hard... :( I liked the addition of the dijon and pickles but it was lacking a sauce. The entire thing was a little dry. Also, I noticed that they were making crepes ahead of time and just reheating it on the griddle when an order came in. I think that's a big mistake. The crepe is no longer fresh, and its not hot enough to melt the cheese inside. We got just random chunks of swiss cheese inside the crepe. If it was gooey and melty that would've made it soo much better. I ended up pouring all the salsa into the crepe. And the salsa was the best part of the entire dish! Sigh... not a good sign.
This was one of my top choices as well. Again...needs sauce!! It was too dry. The cheese wasn't melted. You can't have a philly cheese and not have melty cheese!! The flavors were ok, just wasn't all that spectacular. And she didn't get any salsa... booo...
The sweet crepe and savory crepe batters are different I believe. The savory crepes are a little softer, more pancake-y. The sweet crepes were a little harder, but since it was pre-made then reheated... it got hard instead of crispy. It was a little hard to even cut through with the weak plastic knife. I liked this cuz it was chocolatey, but if you didn't tell me it was tiramisu... I would've never guessed it. First of all, usually in a tiramisu the mascarpone/cream part is white. This one was completely mixed with chocolate so it looked more like chocolate mousse. Second, I didn't taste the espresso part...just chocolate. But you can never go wrong with chocolate, the filling was still tasty. Just didn't care for the texture of the actual crepe.
This is as standard as you can get for a crepe. I thought there was enough fruit to sauce to crepe ratio. So that was good. But again, tough crepe.. I've had much better sweet crepes than this.
I wanted a salad and my friends wanted some sashimi, so this totally worked out. It was a pretty large plate. The salad was really fresh and crisp. The sashimi was fresh as well. It was a much lighter dish than all our other orders so it helped balance things out.
Typically I see Volcano Rolls made with thick creamy mayonnaise or something baked on top of the California Rolls so I don't tend to order it. I find it just a little too heavy. I was pleasantly surprised with their Volcano Roll. First of all, the scallops on top were nice and plump and cooked perfectly! Soooo tender! And the white sauce/cream on top was actually kind of like egg whites or something. I'm not really sure what they used but it was light and fluffy! A really nice change to the mayonnaisey stuff. It was delicious!! I would totally order this again. It was definitely one of my favorite dishes of the night!
This was really good. They didn't skimp on any of the fish inside the rolls. The crispy flakes were awesome on top. They never got soggy or anything. I enjoyed the textural contrast between the soft fish and the crispy flakes. YUM!
I always like getting the Ahi Tower because it's interactive. Either they mix it up for you or I actually chose to do it myself. It's fun!! The components to the tower were really fresh and the colors on the plate were just so vibrant. It's a really aesthetically pleasing dish to look at. Until you mix it up that is.. hahaha. The spicy tuna had a nice kick and mixed with the creamy avocado and the slight popping from the fish eggs...it's very complex! Also I was surprised that one of the sauces on the plate is chocolate sauce!! I would've never thought to put that with sushi! But once you mix it all up it just all works together. Interesting!!
It was nicely presented the long plate. It looked really good. He ate it all!
He's never had a beef katsu before...most place only offer pork or chicken. It was like Japanese style chicken fried steak. The meat was tender and the outside was nice and crispy. I think he enjoyed it! :)
They were massive!!! I've had fried ice cream before but never presented in this fashion. It was definitely pretty to look at! The ice cream were still very much frozen inside the tempura shell which is great. I really loved the addition of the fried wontons. It added an element of color as well as that sharp crunch to contrast the creamy ice cream. The tempura batter was also more cakey than the batter on like tempura shrimp and stuff. Which is good since this is a dessert. I would recommend getting the fried ice cream. Not only is it cool looking, it's really tasty as well!
This was the one we had last time. It was just as good as I remembered. The special pork was super tender. The ramen was cooked perfectly and the broth was great. The broth almost has a creaminess to it which I love. YUMMMMMMY!!
The ramen was cooked perfectly as well and there were big pieces of tender and juicy pork in the noodle soup. It wasn't really that spicy but it was more interesting than the normal miso ramen. I liked it, but still liked the Toroniku better. The green onion rice bowl was interesting. For some reason we thought there was going to be meat in there...but there isn't. It really needed a protein, or sauce, or both. I ended up crushing up the egg and mixed some of the soup broth in there. Pretty good!
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