Aaren Prody
Audio By Carbonatix
Scarlet Lounge, a new lounge and kitchen, has sauntered onto the stage hosting weekly burlesque shows in the space where Truth and Alibi used to live in Deep Ellum.
While the candy shop facade outside has been remodeled for a more obvious approach and entry, the inside is very reminiscent of the space’s previous speakeasy. Pink waterfall chandeliers still hang from the ceiling, and the DJ booth is still up, except they’ve shifted from dance and nightclub venue to dinner meets nightlife.
The idea is that you go in for dinner, then when the kitchen closes, it turns into a nightclub at 10 p.m.
The “Deep Ellum Candy Company” has a new, more obvious, face.
Aaren Prody
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Many of the new restaurants coming to Dallas have a similar “club restaurant” vibe. Dare we say Scarlet Lounge straddles the line between the two?
During dinner, a DJ spins music at a socially acceptable volume and it’s a great pregaming spot before branching out to other Deep Ellum watering holes. We feel like a broken record encouraging folks to get out and support the neighborhood. But here we are. Telling you to once again.
Wednesdays at Scarlet are particularly noteworthy for burlesque shows from 8 to 10:30 p.m. We came out on a Saturday, so we did have dinner, but no show.
The menu has classic appetizers and entrees with a Mexican-American twist, plus a variety of interesting sides and a chocolate tres leches cake to round off the night.
The drink menu is the obvious highlight with classics, house-crafted cocktails and two interesting flight choices: French 75s or old fashioneds. Most, if not all of them, are visually appealing for photos.
The Scarlet bites and elote dip are two classic items on the lounge’s menu.
Aaren Prody
We can’t say much about how they taste since our dry(-er) January had us ordering a club soda with lime rather than the Pina Para La Nina, which is made with Lobos 1707 Mezcal, Lobos 1707 Joven, chipotle pineapple, fresh lime and pineapple juice.
It seemed a lot of people were coming in specifically for drinks, and now that it’s February, a revisit may be in order.
The table next to us ordered a head-turning Spanish Garden: a Bacardi rum and passion fruit cocktail served in a floral box.
We started with Scarlet Bites ($15), which are crispy chicken nuggets tossed in honey butter with a hint of chipotle. It comes with a Boursin ranch and pickles help balance it out. Try all three together for the best bite.
An elotes dip ($14) is made with grilled corn, Scarlet seasoning, melted cheeses, Tajin, fresh cilantro and lime. It’s really like queso with a Mexican flair. It’s a nice twist on a classic with plenty of flavor.
for a perfectly cooked filet at Scarlet Lounge ain’t half bad.
Aaren Prody
Curious, we ordered the stuffed poblano pepper for our main and our guest ordered the filet, which comes with asparagus, poblano mashed potatoes and a choice of chimichurri or cowboy butter.
The filet is sourced from Texas and hand cut in-house. The $29 price isn’t unreasonable, and it has a well-seasoned exterior. The potatoes are fluffy, and the asparagus was a highlight of the plate.
The poblano pepper is stuffed with chorizo, rice, black beans, corn and topped with cheese and crema.
Aaren Prody
The poblano pepper was good, but not something we’d return for. It’s served with chipotle and avocado salsa and is stuffed with chorizo, black beans and lots of cheese.
Our visit ended on a sour note when we weren’t aware of the 20% auto-gratuity on every check.
We’ve talked about our relationship with the tip prompt before, and while giving people a fair tip is not the problem, not being transparent about it is. Our $94 bill turned into a generous $140 (boasting a 40% tip).
They use handheld payment devices here, so when it was time to pay, our server just showed us the screen – we never got an itemized receipt. We remember them telling us our total was $120 without mention of a gratuity.
The space inside Scarlet Lounge is primed for dinner and a show on Wednesday nights.
Aaren Prody
Reading is fundamental, so we take partial blame for not inspecting the prompt, but because the concept of auto-gratuity isn’t too common, we weren’t looking for it. We gave them our card, picked a tip and signed. Only after we got home, adding up things in the car, did we look closer at our digital receipt.
We contacted management afterward. Victor Garcia wrote back that servers and bartenders are all trained to tell customers about the automatic 20% gratuity. He apologized (profusely), took full responsibility, refunded part of our gratuity and promised more training.
He also sent a screenshot of the last prompt for payment, and it clearly shows a line for the added 20% gratuity. So, we’re in part at fault for not looking closely.
We asked Garcia: Why even have the auto-gratuity?
“The 20% gratuity was implemented due to customers not tipping the servers for their services,” Garcia told us.
It’s too bad people walk on table service without tipping so often that it has to be automatically added.
This brings up a great conundrum for business owners: trust customers to tip servers or trust employees to tell every customer that 20% has already been added.
We’re not sure what the answer is here, but support Deep Ellum, have a cocktail, indulge in a good dinner and check out a show. Tip your servers. And check your receipts for good measure.
Scarlet Lounge, 2618 Elm Street, Tuesday – Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday – Sunday, 5 p.m. – 2 a.m.
