Front Room Tavern

This is a cool place for the hotel guests as well as locals. With large windows looking out Hillcrest to the outdoor patio and SMU, there is a lot of natural light and openness to the atmosphere which I love.
I had the lamb sirloin for dinner which was delicious! Highly recommend. I shared the Chocolate Trifle with my dad, and there was not a scrape left. The pastry chef was nominated best in Dallas by some organization, I don’t remember which. All I know is that I LOVED that dessert. Light yet perfectly fulfilling. The bar has a great selection as well and good bartender or bar craftsman as some may say with their unique cocktails.
The only reason I take a star away if for the slow service. I was not in a hurry, so all was well, but it was pretty empty (about six or seven other tables) with two or three waiters, and it took a while to place our entrée and dessert order. The were very friendly and did everything right, so I cannot complain much. It was just not quite a 5-​star experience for a casual chic restaurant in this area. Maybe after my next meal, it will reach that 5-​star status. Here’s to hoping!

We stopped in at the Front Door Tavern. Some friends made the reservations. I had stayed at the hotel years ago. Let me tell you we had a treat! Our waiter John took fantastic care of us.
We tried the off menu crab cakes with an awesome sauce. The Deviled Egg appetizer was very tasty. Again a great sauce. We tried both the shrimp and Grits as well as Pork dish.
We finished the the sea salt caramel dessert.
John made sure everything was perfect and was fun to be part of our evening.

I have been looking for a new place to try out. I read the reviews and figured I would give it a shot. Here are the positives: I ordered the shrimp and grits… it is freaking amazing. They give you 10 jumbo shrimp, yummy grits, and top it off with a vinaigrette salad. The overall taste is fantastic and one of the best shrimp and grits I’ve ever had. They have a nice bar with two TV’s. The inside of the restaurant has dim lighting but it’s not too dark, and they have a nice patio. If you need to wait for a table there are several couches right next to the restaurant, in the hotel. Their dessert menu looked pretty good, but I was so stuffed so I didn’t get to try anything.
Cons: The server was attentive but wasn’t all that friendly. In fact none of the staff was all too friendly. But it could be that it was a few hours before closing time and maybe they were tired or something. I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. There is valet parking, but if you don’t want to valet you have to find street parking where your car won’t get towed. I paid $ 30 for my meal including tip. Their menu is small and could have a few more items on there.

Love to meet my bestie here for wine and yummy food! The Brussel sprouts are So good! Great wine selection and I Recommend you ask for Michael his service is the best!

Strong drinks and interesting menu. We try a new restaurant every Saturday and this one is an above average diamond in the ruff in Dallas. If you like strong drinks and a diverse menu, check this out at least once. We had dirty martinis w blue cheese olives– yummy. The lamb and chicken were delicious. The beet salad and pea soup were also better than most. The dim atmosphere made it a cute place for a Saturday night with our group of 9. Service could be faster but otherwise we had a nice experience.

This is the restaurant located in the Lumen hotel. We had an amazing dinner here last night! Great service, great menu and food.
Today we had a business meeting this morning which left us 30 minutes to order a light quick breakfast. We said we were in a hurry when we sat down and gave our order and requested the check first.
As we were getting up 30 minutes later our good arrived = 2 stars!
Hopefully they credited my card back–

This cute restaurant is in University Park, so finding parking can be tricky. However, they offer complimentary valet. We were seated next to a window overlooking the streets so it was very nice, but the whole
restaurant was too dark. My friend ordered the Dry Aged Duck Duo and I got the Roasted Chicken. My friend liked her entrée and I enjoyed mine as well. The chicken was crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. But my favorite part of the dish was the side of whipped sweet potato! Although we were stuffed, we wanted to try their Chocolate Trifle. It was very good, but a bit heavy due to the rich chocolate cake. We ended up not finishing it. Service was attentive, and the manager came out to talk to us.

I checked in my room and decided to grab a cold one I’m glad I did. They are open until midnight for late night dinner. The food is excellent cooked to perfection the guys behind the bar are cool cats and know there booze. I ordered the burger and it was delicious just a perfect example of how it should be cooked. If your in town or traveling to Dallas it’s a great little gem not to pass up. Keep on going guys I sure to visit next month. Cheers

My husband and I stopped downstairs at the Front Room during our stay at the Hotel Lumen expecting a typical hotel restaurant. We were wrong! This restaurant is top notch, so much so that we stopped here twice. The appetizers are delicious, the drinks are well made, and the desserts we had were perfect. In addition, the staff was friendly and helpful without being overbearing. I would definitely recommend visiting the Front Room Tavern.

Looking for someplace new to try the week after Christmas my hubby found Front Room Tavern.
We made reservations via Open Table and were set for family date night. Thankfully I’d read the Unilocal reviews and tips and learned the hotel connected to the restaurant offers free valet, because there was ZERO parking anywhere near the place. With SMU still on Christmas break, there still wasn’t parking to be found.
We valet-​ed the car and were greeted at the doors of the restaurant by two very friendly, and well dressed men. They quickly found our reservation (which wasn’t needed as there were only about six other people inside) and showed us to a table right at the window. The cool thing about this place is all the tables offer a seat near a window and at night, especially during the holidays, of all the beautiful lights decorating the street and SMU campus.
We’d already perused the menu online, but were interested to see what new items they had to offer. We did have to ask for the happy hour (daily 3pm-​7pm) menu as it wasn’t presented to us at first.
My hubby started with a beer on tap and I had a decaf latte, while our little man had a mighty cup of milk.
My hubby decided he’d order a couple items off the happy hour menu (chicken slider (solo) and beef slider (solo), while I decided I’d try the Ricotta Gnocchi. Our little man was getting the grilled cheese with fries. And we started with an order of fries and dips.
Everything, absolutely everything was really tasty. My Gnocchi was plate-​licking good! My hubby liked his sliders, but could have used more substance as there was only one mini slider in each order. He ended up helping me finish my Gnocchi. Our little man like his grilled cheese, although the bread was a bit rough, so he mostly ate as much as he could.
We were too stuffed for dessert, although we tried to muster up enough room since the dessert menu looked amazing too!
We’ll definitely be back — we can’t wait to try their brunch and desserts!

EXCELLENT Christmas brunch! I might have to make this a tradition with the fam bam every year. The spinach eggs benedict is absolutely on point. They had some pretty killer desserts as well (French macarons in all kinds of flavors, YUM) as well as some tasty adult libations. If you haven’t tried the Austin East cider you must get some here! Service wise it was a bit on the hit or miss side but the atmosphere makes up for it. This restaurant is located inside of a boutique hotel in the University Park area. Not sure about their lunch and/​or dinner options but I’m definitely coming back for brunch! Make reservations for their holiday brunch next year if you are looking for a place. You’ll absolutely love it! Live music too!

Excellent choice for dinner if interested in great food, unique vibe and awesome service.
Being Christmas Eve and about to step into a church service, I realized we had neglected to make reservations after winding down from a hectic few days. I pulled up my trusty Unilocal app and got to searching. Lucky for us Front Room Tavern had seating available 3 hrs later.
Located on the ground floor of a hotel, we were pleasantly surprised the location was off the beaten path and not overly crowded. We used the complimentary valet parking and found our way into a cool yet intimate, dimly lit gem. Before being seated we noticed that most the tables sat two across from each other and with the two of us being foodies, we tend to order different items to share and like being able to sit on the same side of the table. We asked if there was room for us to be able to sit together and without hesitation our request was happily accommodated. Yay!
To add to the wonderful experience, our waiter, John, was exceptional and provided a first-​class evening. You can tell John enjoys what he does (and does it very well) bc he has a genuine smile, much menu knowledge and is just a pleasant person — adding to the evening and making it that much more of a memorable eve.
We went with many of John’s recommendations and were delighted by every single bite. If I could’ve licked my plate without being caught or embarrassed, I would have! Seriously wonderful eats and hats off to the chef. Loved the shrimp & grits (best grits ever! a bit of a mellow kick) and the lamb is some of the best I’ve tried. Mac & cheese spot on and the drinks were heavenly as well. Dessert in one word — mouthwatering! Please see the accompanying pics, don’t do the meal justice but wow was it great!
Highly recommend and look forward to going back. And if you do visit this foodie paradise, don’t forget to ask for John. Super wonderful asset to the Front Room Tavern.

We were really disappointed in this place. My wife and I waited more than 20 minutes before someone came to take out order or give us water. There were at least 4 or 5 servers who looked at our table but never approached us to let us know they would be with us soon etc. When the waitress came she did half apologize. The food was over salted and not impressive. The oysters were just ok and so was the charcuterie board. I asked for another drink and it never came out. After we almost finished our dinners she came back and said the tickets were backed up even though my wife was looking at all the other tables who ordered after us get their drinks. The last dish we ordered was dropped off to a table next to us. No one bothered to correct the mistake, so the other table ended up passing it over. Save your money and time, this place is not worth either.

Alright look – this is a cool little «joint» in the ground floor of the Hotel Lumen (hotel on stilts) behind SMU that years ago looked pretty sketchy to me when it was a Holiday Inn or something. Clearly while I’ve been away from that particular area in recent years, someone has bought and re-​done the place because it is now a fancy boutique-​looking hotel for richy visiting SMU parents and is super-​nice! Neat pool on the rooftop apparently, but I didn’t get to see that.
What I did see was THE FRONT ROOM! Above I referred to it as a joint in quotes mainly because it is laid out in a long, thin rectangular property with a bar running the length of it that smacks of having previously been a café/​diner slinging ham & eggs. The finish out transformed it into a hip, loungey kind of vibe and you feel very comfortable in this classy, darkly-​lit place, so a joint it is now no more.
Why you should be here? Taylor. Taylor is the chef and man, he is a super guy. Came out and visited with us and turns out he’s from Caddo Mills just east of Dallas! He has a badass pedigree too that I won’t get into (suffice to say, he’s inhabited some of Dallas’ super high-​end other «joints»), but trust me they nabbed a good one to man the kitchen here.
We’d already eaten earlier and came here for drinks. My friend, who frequents the place, decided to order his favorite dessert, some kind of chocolate thing that turned out to be PHENOMENAL. When Taylor appeared again, I asked what dessert he particularly liked and he ended up sending out all 4 of their offerings for us to sample! A. Super cool. B. the answer is: coconut crème pie. Trust me on this.
Jackie was behind the bar and was super! Although their menu features scads of craft /​prohibition-​style cocktails, I pulled my usual bit of asking Jackie to just make me something awesome, and that I liked gin. Sometimes a bartender takes this and runs with it, and sometimes they are beaten by the request. At first it seemed like Jackie was kind of «oh great. can’t you just order something?», but then she produced this absolute magic that she concocted herself, complete with gin, egg white, who-​knows-​what-​else, and maybe a basil leaf garnish. She really came through and turned out to be very cool.
By the way, my friend said he would’ve gotten the filet had we eaten dinner here. I asked Taylor what was good on the menu and he immediately said to get the duck. I LOVE DUCK. Can’t wait to come back here and have that! Will update this review once I do.
Meanwhile, stop in here on a weeknight (or heck, weekend too) instead of Oichi or Gemma or God-​forbid Taco Diner. Your friends will think you are extra hip just for knowing about it.

This place is seriously delicious with very fresh ingredients. The chef is quite creative with his (or her) combination of flavors. This is surprisingly good and worth trying — the atmosphere here is upbeat without being over the top frenetic. Highly recommend it when you are in the Dallas area (across from SMU)!

Went there on a Monday night. It was our second time there and once again we were so pleased. My server Shannon was professional and so nice. Her steps of service were spot on. I had the Green goddess drink which is like a cucumber martini, my boyfriend had the old fashion and they were both amazing. The food was spot on, everything from the ceasar salad to the BBQ shrimp appetizer and the steaks were wonderful. Kudos to the chef! April the manager came by and talked to us. She is super sweet. For dessert got the Carmel pudding and that was sooo good! The restaurant is beautiful, very clean and visually appealing. I definitely recommend everyone to go there!

Good cheeseburger! Even better, it was cooked to what I ordered and actually cooked that way! Good stuff!

Joined a friend for dinner last night and drink was great as in good pour. It was night so dark inside and outside. I ordered roasted chicken (half of a chicken) and was delighted with the first 2 – 3 bites — quite moist. As I continued to carve into this bird It seemed that I was hitting some stringy portion of the chicken which when I saw what I am sure were veins explained that the chicken while cooked on the outside was under cooked on the inside. I did not finish nor did I say anything out of respect for my guest who likes the place. My first time.
I likely will give it another try just to see if things improve as I did like the ambiance (great) and service (good).

Great seating inside and especially outside off of Hillcrest Avenue. Service was prompt and attentive and certainly friendly. Thankfully we missed the crowd right before the end of an SMU game, but we noticed it didn’t overly crowd after the game either. The Louisiana barbecue shrimp was amazingly good and had a beautifully, breaded crisp on the outside. The grits frim the shrimp and grits plate were buttery and creamy and the shrimp were huge!
The drinks were strong and reasonably priced. Definitely a place for me to come to and enjoy good-​sized appetizers and cocktails.

My mom and I had lunch here today and we were very pleased!
We started with the Black-​eyed pea hummus with little corn bread muffins. The hummus was a delicious revelation. I’m totally stealing that to make for myself! And the corn bread was moist and flavorful.
I had the oyster po boy. Very good! There was little enough breading to actually taste the oysters and the French fries were beautifully seasoned with coarse salt.
Mom had the Thai tempura shrimp salad. She loved it and she’s not the easiest person to please.
Then for dessert, we shared a chocolate trifle! It was so delicious. Our waiter called the pastry chef a goddess and after that dessert, I must say I agree! It was the right amount of differing flavors and not too sweet, so we didn’t feel over-​sugared when we were done. With a French press of amazing local coffee, we felt well fed and very happy.
Our waiter was a real pro, so helpful and friendly, with that professional server ubiquitousness, where we never wanted for anything, but he never got in our way.
It was a great experience that we plan to repeat for dinner as soon as we can!
(Photo is of the trifle!)

The Front Room Tavern is off the radar and making a big splash with taste buds one dish at a time. The Front Room is located within the boutique style Lumen Hotel, which is conveniently located across from the SMU campus. Let me just say this is not your typical tavern. The space is very modern, sexy and zen. I arrived for a late lunch/​early dinner. The staff was very friendly and social. It took me more than the usual 2 seconds to decide on a beverage. Right away I noticed they have a good scotch selection. (I will revisit the scotch and cigars soon). Chef Taylor Kearney has recently taken over the menu and it shows. It’s upscale southern cuisine. I found out a lot of the meats are cured on site. As I looked over the dinner menu, I realized this was going to be awesome! I ordered the BBQ special. My guest and I was a bit ambitious, because it was enough to share with 2 others. We were served chicken, brisket, ribs, and sausage. Our sides were potato salad, baked beans and cole slaw. It was delicious. If I was a toothless grandpa, I’d still be able to eat without using a knife. Every bite was tender and flavorful.
Make sure you leave room for desert. The chef pastry’s creations are amazing.
There is a apple crisp ala mode, a chocolate truffle (to die for), and a coconut cream pie. My favorite was the chocolate truffle. And I don’t even like chocolate which is a testament to how good it is.
After eating, we decided to take our drinks to the rooftop patio and just enjoy the view. Will I come back? Heck yeah! I’m looking forward to trying more items on the menu.
I can see myself eating here before or after SMU home games.
Front Room Tavern has a great patio that faces Hillcrest Ave. Which means it’s shaded for your late afternoon shennigans.
Parking: Complimentary valet is available through the hotel. I recommend taking advantage of it.

Great food. Great service. What more can you expect?
Came for restaurant week. (I will be sad when these restaurant weeks are over.) Will definitely return for the regular menu.
Eats:
frites with aioli (not on the restaurant week menu, just ordered because, hi, carbs)
pan roasted flat iron (medium rare or go home)
strawberry trifle
sweet corn soup

After seeing a great show from Barnone at SMU, came by the Front Room at Hotel Lumen.
Waiter Garrett was absolutely amazing! Considering we came in about 10 minutes before they closed… the staff treated our party with fantastic service.
Garret and the bartender served me a drink of Woodford Reserve over one large ice cube… which was the perfect amount.
Had the munchies so went with the gulf shrimp, which was great!
Definitely coming back again for some dinner and MORE drinks!

Always a fave when staying at Hotel Lumen. Service is excellent and the entire team is aimed to delight their guests. There have been a few changes over the years in teams, concepts and menus but in the end it’s better than ever. Go… just avoid anytime that remotely caters to SMU events

Chef Michael Ehlert is putting out some amazing food at Front Room Tavern at Hotel Lumen in Dallas! My Book Club met on the patio for lunch. We do tend toward the foodie side of book clubs, probably should limit our books to cookbooks! Standouts were the Burrata, huckleberries and blackberries oh my! Then a special «Texas Au Jus» that we gave a name I can’t remember, and we ended with a decadent shared dessert.

We were really looking forward to going to the restaurant at the lumen. The positives are: the place is great looking, valet parking very hospitable, onion soup was great, spaetzle and mushrooms were very good and service was good. On the needs to improve, the scallops were ok, mixed green salad was very salty, and pork schnitzel was a brick. The sides finally showed as we were finishing our entrees. The waiter picked up on our unhappiness around the timing and did not charge us. Had the pork schnitzel at stock and barrel a couple days ago and it was awesome. Recommendation for future visit: go for drinks at bar and have the onion soup.

Great ambiance, food and drinks! Eclectic wine list
Rooftop with music and great views
Nice patio with lots of TVs and BBQ on weekends