TRAIL DUST, ARLINGTON TEXAS, RESTAURANT REVIEW

Trail Dust, the steak house famous for cutting off your tie if you wear one, a place known for its live country western music, dance floor, and steaks! A real Texas experience for anyone who wants to be a cowboy for a night! I couldn't wait to eat here and have been waiting for months to get a chance to eat a steak at Trail Dust in Arlington. I, unfortunately, was disappointed beyond belief at this joke of a place. 


Trail Dust is in a giant barn, because yet again, it's a Texas themed western place! YEE HAW! Well their giant lighted sign is a neck tie being cut in half by scissors, they are famous for this and have 1,000 ties hanging from their walls from people that dared to wear a tie inside! There are signs all over saying they will cut your tie off if you wear it. Not sure why the hatred for the ties but it's just what they do.........or so they think. I'll bitch later. For now let me discuss the atmosphere. 

So far so good, a giant BBQ pit cooking up ribs and steaks and a live band was playing some familiar music with the dance floor full of kids and people dancing away. Really rustic on the inside with wooden walls and wagon wheel lights and pictures of famous cowboys all over the place. Not too bad, I was already enjoying myself a few seconds into this dining experience. This is where the enjoyment ended as well. Once seated at our table we began to look at the menu and talk about what was good or what we wanted. The problem here was the music was so loud you literally couldn't hear the person beside you. This was annoying. The music wasn't that good either it was just 3 guys, a guitarist, a bass player and a drummer. They did some famous songs we all know and love, just not as well as the original bands. Also, NO AIR CONDITIONER. Yes, you heard me, NO AIR CONDITIONER. I was just plain pissed at this idea of fans and being an old time place that would refuse to use air conditioners, or maybe they were broke, beats me, either way it is July in freaking Texas, if you don't have an air conditioner at your establishment, you don't have me as a customer, PERIOD. 

As we sweated in our noise filled section I looked over the legendary steak menu! I was shocked and horrified at how few choices there really were. A steak place, in my opinion, should have more than a few steaks, some of which were the same steak just different oz. sizes. Call me crazy but a steak house specializing in steaks and it doesn't even have a New York strip steak.......really? Come on Trail Dust. The prices were also just plain outrageous and ridiculous. Laughable comes to mind when thinking about the prices. The steaks were big, I will say that, but almost too big. It took me a very long time to find something I actually wanted, it ended up being the smallest steak on the whole menu. Good thing it took me so long to find something because our slow-ass waiter took even longer. By the time he came for the drink order we were like, WATER...NOW, PLEASE...NO AIR CONDITIONER REMEMBER??? Well it took a very long time before we ever saw him again and the second he put down my cup of water, yes I said cup and not glass, it was styrofoam, I drank the whole thing and considering there was more ice than water, that didn't take very long. I know its a very common trick to use a ton of ice so there isn't much drink in a glass but this was water! How cheap can you get Trail Dust??? Let's find out. Oh btw when was the next time he filled up my cup of water? Half way through  eating my steak. 

We were waiting and waiting and then we waited some more. The music, although too loud to have a conversation with anyone around you, wasn't too bad considering there was nothing else to do. Finally our salads came and let me tell you, I'm not a big salad guy and I wasn't going to pay the extra to upgrade to a Caesar but what they brought out was a joke, even for a salad. Some lettuce, dried and shriveled lettuce I might add, some chopped up cucumbers, and officially the worst croutons I've ever had. That's what they called a salad. Congratulations Trail Dust, maybe not the worst salad I've ever eaten but definitely the worst croutons I've ever had, and folks, I've had homemade croutons. 

One minute, and I mean one minute after the terrible salads were dropped off we got our dinners. Thank you Trail Dust for waiting so long before giving us those terrible salads that our entrées came out a minute later. It did save me from having to finish that lettuce crap, even though I doubt I would have. I ordered a loaded baked potato with my meal. How nice for Trail Dust to bring me a potato still wrapped in aluminum foil with all the loaded part on the side so I could make it myself, thank you Trail Dust for allowing me to do your job for you! The steak was.....how you say.......boring. It really didn't look like something I wanted to dig into but this was after 9pm and we were all so hungry who cares at this point?? The flavor was good, I will say that of Trail Dust. Not the best steak ever, not even close, I know I have made better in my own kitchen, let alone my own grill. It was warm btw, not hot, but warm as if it had been sitting a while. Not worth the money by any means. And the "basket of bread" that was listed with our meals was literally a half of slice of white bread on our plates with no butter. Thank you again Trail Dust for not only lying, but letting us watch our carb intakes without you knowing we wanted to do that! Talk about a bunch of cheap bastards. 

So after the subpar steak, well hell, it was a subbogey steak, or even a subdoublebogey steak if you want to get technical, we were done and ready to get out of this stupid place. Not so fast! That was our waiter's speed, "not so fast." Again, not the worst waiter of all time, (that record still belongs to Vice from my Reunion Tower review, and one I doubt any waiter will ever top) but pretty bad. At one point we asked if he could check on something on the menu, he said he had no idea if they had that there but he would go check. We never heard from him again on that. It took forever to get the bill and it took just as long for the guy to come back and get it. You'd think a place like that would be trying to get their money as fast as they could. 

One thing our waiter did do was tell us about the famous tie cuttings. He told us that if you ask, they will cut your tie off and they cut ties off for birthdays only, OR if you ask them to cut them off. When specifically asked "Do they cut your tie off if you just walk in here with one on," he said, no, they wouldn't do that. WAIT WHAT??? It's the ONLY thing you're known for, because your bad steaks sure as hell aren't going to be what draws people in! Your giant sign outside has a tie being cut off, there are 1,000 ties on the wall and there are signs on every wall saying they will cut your tie off!!! But the truth is, they don't actually do that. Ask to have your tie cut off? What stupid idiot asked for that? Let me tell you I purposely didn't wear my tie in that place because I don't want my Calvin Klein's to be cut in half and IF somebody there tried it I would be cutting off something of more value off of them. Either way, I didn't need to worry because it wasn't my birthday and I didn't ask for them to cut it off. What a joke Trail Dust, you're such a liar. Perhaps our moron waiter just didn't know what he was talking about, I believe that could have been the case as he was a moron. 

I couldn't get out of there fast enough, and I mean that, I really couldn't because of how slow our waiter was and how bad the service was. To rate the atmosphere I will give it a high rating of B-, that is, IF there was air conditioning and since I was sweating and starving and annoyed with the music, I give it a D-, I did expect it to be country and rustic so I can't complain about that. For the service I give it a nice solid F, could have been worse (Vice...you know what I'm talking about) but nothing I would consider to be great, good, decent, or even bad service. The food as a whole counting the salads and unloaded baked potato and half slice of bread I didn't even touch I give it a nice big fat D- BUT if we add the steak it would bring that up just a bit to a D+. The steak alone, while not the worst I've ever had, (Truck Stop in Clearfield PA, congratulations for the worst steak of all time had by me) it certainly was not the best, or even a very good steak. Outback steak house has ten times better steaks than what I had at this famed steak barn. The steak itself would be a B-, very flavorful but not hot, not juicy, not appealing, and zero fat, the best part of any steak. It was also very dry, I'm dropping that down to a C now that I think about it. 

All in all Trial Dust of Arlington, the big red barn steak house famous for cutting off ties sucks. It really sucks. At least it did that night. What a waste of time, money, and sweat. Would I try it again? Maybe, but just one more time to confirm how bad it truly is. The problem is I've heard nothing but amazing stories of their food and atmosphere but the person that told me most of them said how terrible the food and service was this night. Trail Dust you get a nice solid D+ from me. Go at your own risk, oh and people.....go ahead and wear a tie, they won't do shit to you. And THAT'S my two cents.