Metropolitan Restaurant and Bar By Jim White Our stated goal with our restaurant reviews through the years is always to talk about good restaurants.  There are lots of mediocre restaurants you never hear about on the KRLD Restaurant Show, because there’s no reason to waste your time with them.  As a result, most of the things we say about the restaurants we review are positive.  This week’s restaurant of the week is pretty good in many ways.  It needs to improve in several areas before it gets really good, and frankly after our last meal, it better improve if the owners expect it to remain open.  I mention it to you this week because Metropolitan Restaurant and Bar—open for about a month—could be part of the much needed renaissance of Downtown Dallas.  As a longtime resident of the Metroplex, I remember when downtown Big D was vibrant and filled with energy, entertainment and excitement.  I want it to be that way again. I want people in downtown Dallas again like they are in downtown Fort Worth.  Besides lofts, a nice museum and a symphony hall, it’ll take shops, grocery stores and great restaurants, along with a few other attractions to do it.  So, if the folks at Metropolitan are listening here are some suggestions. Number one—you’ve got the entire first floor of the restaurant open to smoking, why pollute the air in the dining room upstairs by allowing smoking at the 2nd floor bar and various dining room tables?   In essence, there is NO non-smoking section in Metropolitan. Number two—train your waitstaff to pay attention to orders and keep an eye on tables to see that orders are being delivered.  You say “well that’s a no-brainer”.  You would think.  On our last visit to Metropolitan, one of our party was given an outdated menu.  An appetizer order was taken but nothing else. Wine pours—for the $10 glasses of wine—were slow.  We had to flag someone down to get the server back to the table to take our entrée orders—AFTER we finished our appetizers.  30 minutes later, 3 out of four main courses arrived—brought by someone other than our server.  This person was completely oblivious to the fact that one of us—me—had no food.  We finally found a management type who managed to get the order out.  Number three—if there is a service glitch, train the servers not to blame it on the kitchen.  Getting a steak and a spinach salad is not rocket science.  Train the servers to pay attention and not disappear from the dining room for long periods of time.  And instead of blaming the chef, offer the table a round of drinks or a dessert for the confusion and inconvenience they’ve endured. Number four—if the kitchen is downstairs, why not make the main level the dining room and upstairs the bar and smoking area?  It would improve air quality and might improve the lag between courses.  Did I see servers running up and down stairs with food—or was there a dumb waiter in operation?  No comment. Actually there is a lot to like about Metropolitan.  Location: on Main Street across from historic Neiman-Marcus.  Great look:  Original brick interior, funky urban design, with great contemporary artwork.  A very good chef: Tony Knight—with Mansion roots, chef of North/South, Lombardi Mare, and owner of Aransas Pass credits. The menu is American brasserie comfort food.  Starters are the usual suspects like calamari (rubbery here, alas), satay style skewers, shrimp cocktail and steamed mussels.  Salads are more appealing with a wonderful baby spinach with warm apple smoked bacon vinaigrette and jack cheese croutons, a serviceable chop salad and hearty Texas Caesar with red chiles and cayenne croutons. Entrées feature a meat loaf mom would be proud of, herb roasted chicken and several fish selections, including a daily seafood special, plus a rather lifeless chicken scaloppini picatta left mostly untouched by one of our dining companions.  The menu succeeds, though, with steaks, which include a juicy 20 ounce cowboy bone-in ribeye, a peppered 12 ounce sirloin, filet mignon and slow roasted prime rib. The wine list is short, uninspired and fairly expensive, with only a couple of decent by the glass offerings. Metropolitan seems to be focusing on the BAR part of its name.  For the establishment to succeed and be part of a downtown Big D revival I hope the owners of Metropolitan will pay more attention to the RESTAURANT side of things. On the KRLD Restaurant Show Review Scale of One to Five Forks, Metropolitan rates 3 Forks. Food is 3 Forks. Service is 2 Forks (based on somewhat better service on a previous visit) Atmosphere is 3 and a half Forks. Price is expensive. Metropolitan Restaurant and Bar is located at 1525 Main Street on the Stone Street Plaza in downtown Dallas.  It’s got promise, it just needs work.  Call 214-977-9205 for reservations.  See all our KRLD Restaurant Show reviews at EatsandDrinks.com.   Send me an Email: jwdineline@aol.com