Resturant Review: Cacharel, Arlington Texas

I am going to review the fine dining venue, Cacharel in Arlington Texas.

I was looking for somewhere fancy and classy, the place I was hoping the Reunion Tower would have been. (Read my review of the Reunion Tower to get the whole story on that DUMP.) I haven't been able to find the place of my sophisticated and classy dreams....UNTIL NOW!

Trust me when I say Cacharel IS the place you're looking for if you want a fine dining experience, and I carefully and purposely use the word experience, because that is EXACTLY what you'll get when you dine there, and I use the word DINE because that is EXACTLY what you'll be doing there, not eating, not hanging out, but dining. This place is the romantic, old world restaurant that is perfect for an elegant night on the town or special occasion.

When you first arrive at Cacharel you will notice it is on the 9th floor of a 9 story building. This makes the view the best in all of Arlington. Not nearly as high as the Reunion Tower, HOWEVER, the view actually was ten times better for ten reasons. The second you step off the elevator you realize very quickly that this place is going to be fancy. When I walked in they addressed ME, not the other way around. They called me by my name, (i had made a reservation before hand), I didn't have to say who I was and that I had reservations there, I was COMPLETELY IMPRESSED at this point and this was the first minute. They told us we had to wait just a few minutes, which surprised me because I could see many empty seats plus I had made reservations. We waited in a very high class area with leather sofas and fine art on the walls. We were told we had to wait because they were getting a very special table ready for us, ok, I forgave them for this wait, IF it were true. It was true. Our table was a table set for two in a corner with two big windows, very cozy, romantic, and secluded enough to be personal but open enough to still feel part of the restaurant, in a word.....perfect. The view was wonderful as well, you could see all of Arlington lit up at night and Dallas in the distance. Right away we knew what kind of a night we were in for, and it was the first 5 minutes.

The atmosphere was exquisite, that's right, I said exquisite and for the first time in my life I get to use that word to describe something. The lighting was low not just to create an ambiance, but so you could see out of all of the windows without an annoying glare, UNLIKE the Reunion Tower. There was classical music playing, should you expect anything less??? No, you shouldn't. The tables had elegant table cloths and EVERYONE sitting at them was dressed up, not a single pair of jeans in the entire place. At this point our waiter approached us with the menus.

Here is the difference between real waiters and the ones we are all used to. This waiter was a true waiter, he didn't bring us water, he didn't bring us the bread, he knew what he was doing and he did it well. He was overqualified to do his job and THAT'S who you want waiting on you. Oh he knew his stuff and his timing was perfect, there was NO waiting, NO rushing, NO wondering where he was or what he was doing. He explained the menu and the food, after we ordered the wine, which he got RIGHT when he brought it to us, we looked over the menu and the others brought us bread and filled our water glasses. We were being waited on hand and foot the way you would expect, UNLIKE the Reunion Tower.

The menu was amazing in itself. It is changed DAILY and seasonally. The date was printed right on the page which proves that it is changed daily. Everything on it sounded so good and they had classics like lobster and steaks, but I went with the pork chop. This was no ordinary pork chop, it was a huge, so thick and cooked so perfectly I was confused at how they did it. There was a sauteed mushroom sauce and it was all on top of mashed potatoes. It was by far the best pork chop I've ever had in my life. When I first bit into it I was shocked because I thought it was raw in the middle, but after a few chews I realized that it wasn't raw, it was cooked perfectly and was sooooooo juicy I had first thought it was raw. Yes the three course meal was expensive but I have never had a Caesar salad made like that before, everything was hand made from scratch, not a single boxed prepackaged frozen food item in the whole kitchen. And it showed.

All in all I give the Cacharel an A+ for the view, atmosphere, ambiance, and class. I give it another A+ for the food, arguably the most important part of any restaurant. I give it an A+ for our waiter, Captain Chris and for the service. I give it an A+ for location, it was only 15 minutes from home and being on the top floor of a tall building gave it that little something extra special. For the Cacharel as a fine dining experience I give it my best score ever, an A+++. If you want a romantic, classy, refined, cultured, special night with excellent food, service, and atmosphere, then there is ONLY one place that can give you all this and more. Cacharel. Do yourself a favor and make a reservation tonight, as for me I'll be getting ready to make one for Valentines Day because there is no where better for a romantic evening, but that's just my two cents.