Another restaurant delivery service has hit Dallas. Called Caviar, it's so named to signal the upper-crust quality of the establishments on its client list, which have never participated in this kind of service before. Its database comprises mostly independently owned restaurants, all highly ranked on review sites such as Yelp, a surefire indicator of quality.
Yelp shots aside, the 26 Dallas restaurants on the list are actually all good, including Bob's Steak & Chop House, Cane Rosso and Mot Hai Ba. Customers can order breakfast, lunch and dinner and have it delivered straight to their home or office.
"You can have a prime cut bone-in rib-eye delivered to you within an hour," says Josh Tipton, general manager of the Dallas office.
You place an order on Caviar's website or via mobile app for Android and iOS. You can then monitor its status, even following along with your courier via GPS. Caviar works for corporate clients and large groups because you can place an order up to a week in advance, and then share the cart with colleagues so they can check in.
Caviar charges $4.99 per delivery in all markets, plus an automatic 18 percent tip for the driver.
The delivery area is fairly small. The southern border is downtown Dallas and Deep Ellum; to the east it's White Rock Lake, and to the west it's the Tollway. The northern border is Lovers Lane until it hits 75, and then all the way up to Northwest Highway. In a nutshell: downtown, Deep Ellum, East Dallas, Uptown, Park Cities, M Streets, Greenville Avenue and Oak Lawn.
Caviar would not be the first such service; we already have Favor, which delivers everything, not just food; the Favor clone Postmates, which just launched in Dallas a month ago; and Minibar, for your boozing needs.
But Caviar's different! Aside from never having done delivery before, the restaurants on the list are exclusive to Caviar. "I worked with these places for a long time, and I'm super proud to have them," Tipton says.
Another thing: Caviar has actual partnerships with the restaurants, rather than just serving as an intermediary. With other services, if your order is missing something and you call the restaurant, they might not know what you're talking about. Caviar has accountability.
Caviar also hired a photographer to get shots of every menu item. And they have their own drivers.
- Baboush
- Bangkok City
- Bob's Steak & Chop House
- Cafe Madrid
- Cane Rosso
- Capriotti's
- Ellen's Southern Kitchen
- Fadi's
- Free Man
- Garden Cafe
- Green Papaya
- HG Sply Co.
- Hypnotic Donuts
- Hypnotic Sushi
- Joyce & Gigi's
- Kenichi Sushi
- LYFE Kitchen
- Mesa
- Mot Hai Ba
- Nodding Donkey
- The Rustic
- State & Allen
- Urban Taco
- Zoli's NY Pizza Tavern
Based in San Francisco, Caviar was founded in 2012. Six months ago, it was acquired by Square, the credit card processing company, and now serves 16 major cities such as Boston, Chicago and New York.
Mot Hai Ba is another Dallas restaurant on Caviar's roster.
Pitmasters Damian Avila (left) and Tim McLaughlin of Crossbuck BBQ. Crossbuck BBQ & Smokehouse/Facebook