DASHI Chinese Kitchen + Bar

If I could give this location 6 stars, I would happily give it. We have been to their sister restaurant, and we have been impressed, so we had high expectations. DASHI didn't disappoint. It is an upscale type of Chinese restaurant with a bar. It has modern Oriental anesthetics. It is kinda dim inside but it fits the ambience. The staff was really friendly. They enthusiastically explained the menu and what Szechuan food is. Everything we tried, we loved. The green beans and eggplant dishes were amazing. Tasted fresh. They had the best egg drop soup I've had. The crispy duck was great with the dried chilies and honey dip. We also enjoyed tribute to grandma bao dish and the spicy noodle dish. The Mala spice is just really good if you like spicy food. Their dry beef salad is the best in the city. Rice is complimentary and unlimited. The owner/chef checked in with us... great touch! The staff engaged in friendly banter. We were having fun in our table, we were in a great mood...the friendliness of the staff added to the vibe. We will definitely be back.

Another great experience. If you are looking for heaping piles of white rice, breaded meats, and cloyingly sweet sauces you need to look to Panda Express. This is Sichuan food, freshly prepared like you have not experienced in San Antonio. They have an extensive menu and GGG stands or garlic, ginger, and green onion, staples of the cuisine. On this visit they offered a $75 prix fixe menu that let you select one appetizer, two entrees, and two sides. We would suggest they let us choose either two appetizers or two sides. The appetizer offering is amazing and would have enjoyed more of them. They have a very extensive wine and cocktail list to rival any local restaurant. So we went for the prix fixe menu and chose the garlicky pork belly rolls for an appetizer. So delicious. Long strips of pork belly and cucumber rolled up with this rich garlic sauce that almost reminded us of mole. For entrees we had the salt and pepper shrimp and Mongolian ribeye. Their shrimp are lightly battered and huge! The ribeye was so flavorful and tender. Our sides were the famous green beans and smoky cauliflower. The green beans were incredible with a flavorful garlic sauté on top. I would skip the cauliflower and get the garlicky noodles next time. Like I said you won’t find huge piles of white rice so you might want to order a starch if you want that to balance your meal. Our waiter was very attentive, though I cannot remember his name since I didn’t ask for a receipt. He did tell us they do not use MSG – a plus in my book. We did not want green onion and he told us the cooks only speak Mandarin. What to do? He translated our request using Google translate and the food came out just as we wanted. They have great perks on the San Antonio Gold Members app. But, did you know their Toast point of sale system has perks too? You can connect it to a credit card and when you check out the rewards pop up for you to use. I had earned $16 from a previous visit when I used the Gold Member perk and a $20 birthday reward. What a great deal!

I really really wanted to love Dashi. It has been on my foodie bucket list for a couple years, but my wife isn't a big fan of numbing & tingling spices. Unfortunately, the best thing I can say is now I can cross it off of my bucket list. I won't return. Tonight I got home after a Saturday working (when I am usually M-F), and my wife surprised me with reservations to Dashi! We arrived, greeted and immediately seated. Excellent. That was the best it got. Then our waiter arrived. Initially Freddy came across as very shaky and nervous. He talked too much about different dishes without listening to my questions. We assumed he was nervous and new. Now I have no idea. We had to flag others to help us because he spent too much time at other tables. We would ask for something, and he would agree and then stop at several other tables and bring them items. Eventually he would return but still not have what we had asked for. At the end of the meal we asked for another round of drinks and 2 expensive sipping tequilas (neat, not chilled, and lemon slices on the side). We received our Tom Collins and Old Fashioned cocktails... And waited. We finally asked Freddy and he said he would check on them... Then he stopped at 2 more tables and I lost sight of him. Eventually I saw him around the bar area but nothing. Finally after 30 minutes I flagged over the gentleman who seated us, and I asked him to check on our tequilas. About 5 minutes later Freddy brought them over and stated that the bartenders were backed up on orders and that he had been checking on them. Given that I was watching Freddy in other areas than the bar, I'm not sure how he was checking. Also, if we ordered 2 mixed drinks and 2 neat tequilas at the same time, why would the cocktails come out but not the shots? It's easier to pour 2 shot glasses than make 2 different cocktails. Eventually we had to ask for our check from someone else. They brought it, and Freddy came to enter our card into the handheld device, waited for us to enter tip, and sign. I requested a printed copy, which he had to go get from 10ft away. That was another 5 minutes. I never tip less than 20%. I usually tip more than 20%. Tonight I didn't even tip 10%. I feel badly about the tip but tonight I just couldn't. Ok, let's talk about the food ... And because I've already written a novel about the service I will keep this brief. Nothing was even remotely spicy, numbing, or tingling. We ordered: Hot & Sour soup for 2: it was meh. It wasn't hot (spicy) or sour. I love a good hot & sour soup. So disappointed. Pork soup dumplings: overall dumplings were decent. We also enjoyed the garlic cucumber dish that came with it. When we got home I made store-bought soup dumplings from the freezer. My wife enjoyed them more than Dashi 's. Signature Crispy Fish (whole bass) with steamed rice: Excellent fish! Flaky fish and delicious sauce. Tangy but not a bit spicy. Spicy heat was non-existent. MixMix Zha'jiang Noods: bland overcooked noodles topped with delicious minced pork. Pork wasn't able to overcome the horrible noodles. I took this home and added my homemade chili garlic shallot oil to them. We devoured them. To finish, the food wasn't able to overcome the service and not a single person, not one of the 5 people who came to our table, asked if we were enjoying our meal. Obviously we will not return. My wife talked with her coworkers about the experience, and Sichuan Garden was recommended. Is it owned by the same person? I hope not.

Highly recommend...Nico (our server) was as fantastic as the food we received! Experienced flavors not known to us before and we enjoyed every minute of the experience!! We stuck with mainly apps for the night... Pictured, burning man noods, green beans, soup dumplings, cured duck, Tiger(shishito) peppers and street potatoes! Not pictured but just as fantastic was , spicy pork wonton, cold garlic noods and bao buns. Update... Back for a 2nd trip and our server Riza was once again fantastic! So far they don't disappoint! Ordered much of the same except we tried new dishes..MixMix noods and the Tribute to Grandma (added those 2 pics)! Great dishes and once again we highly recommend!

The restaurant is beautifully decorated, and the service was extremely pleasant. The orders came out surprisingly fast, considering we were a party of twelve. We each ordered different things so we could get a good taste of the variety of dishes. There were definitely some stars of the show. Loved the spicy peanuts, smashed cucumbers, pork ribs, fried rice, green beans, eggplant, crispy duck, pork belly, soup dumplings, and so much more. The only thing I think we didn't like were the burning man noodles. They had zero heat or flavor. It was actually very surprising. Overall, there were a lot of items we liked, and I could see dining here again.