The Top 100 Restaurants Near Meridian

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Chef · Junior Borges
2. Dallas Observer New Restaurants on the Observers’ Top 50 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Latin American · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
2. Dallas Observer New Restaurants on the Observers’ Top 50 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. D Magazine 2025 · Best Day-to-Night Combo · Best of Big D

1. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas

1. D Magazine 2024 · Best Tex-Mex · Best of Big D
2. Eater Frozen Margarita · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

The dining room runs peach and carrot tones with a retro-meets-modern feel that signals a proper occasion, and the uniformed servers confirm it. This is upscale New American with a wink: potato "churros" with caramelized onion dip, roasted chicken with sauce vin jaune, a chocolate candy bar for dessert. The chef is a James Beard Emerging Chef nominee, and the Michelin Guide has taken notice. Prices are serious, but so is the kitchen.

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Emerging Chef · RJ Yoakum
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Chef · Best of Dallas · R.J. Yoakum
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

A warm raisin scone arrives before you've even looked at the menu, which tells you everything about the priorities at this intimate neighborhood bistro tucked into Henderson Avenue. The contemporary American cooking leans seasonal and unfussy, and the hospitality earned a James Beard nomination to prove it's not an accident. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and the room fills with the kind of regulars who stopped reading the menu months ago.

1. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality
2. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
3. D Magazine #19 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. Eater Sleeper Hit of the Year
3. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas

Tucked behind an auto repair shop on Lewis Street, this narrow Vietnamese restaurant with exposed brick and wood floors is easy to miss and hard to forget. A Serbian-born chef runs the kitchen, which tells you something about the cooking: contemporary Vietnamese with French technique and Texan instincts folded in. The Michelin Bib Gourmand recognizes what regulars already know. Bao, brisket, nuoc cham, and coconut lemongrass panna cotta somehow all belong on the same table here.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. D Magazine #7 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

The forest-meets-island room on Greenville Avenue hints at the chef's New Zealand upbringing before a single plate arrives. Quarter Acre is an intimate fine dining spot offering both à la carte and a multicourse tasting menu that moves from delicate raw and seafood preparations toward bolder, fire-driven dishes. Classical European technique runs underneath cooking that roams pretty freely across the globe. A Michelin Selected Restaurant, and the kind of room that makes a Tuesday feel like an occasion.

1. Texas Monthly #3 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Tasting Menu · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Chef · Best of Dallas · Toby Archibald

Carol Nguyen's Lower Greenville Vietnamese restaurant pulls its menu straight from Hanoi street food, the kind of cooking where portions are generous and every bowl arrives already fragrant. Rustic wood, a lively room full of families and groups, and a kitchen that keeps things bright and balanced. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, which tracks: this is the neighborhood Vietnamese spot Dallas didn't know it needed until it had one.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

The chef behind this Contemporary French bistro spent nearly a decade running the kitchen at Restaurant Joël Robuchon in Vegas, and the sauces here will remind you why that matters. Mamani holds a Michelin star, and the room is glitzy enough to justify the à la carte prices. The menu skews shareable and French-classical: Dover sole, a veal Cordon Bleu, a Paris-Brest that arrives looking like it was sent from Paris to make a point.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Texas Monthly Dishes We Wanted Seconds Of: Rosa Sposa · The Best Things in Texas
3. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas

1. Texas Monthly #8 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
3. D Magazine #36 · The 50 Best Restaurants

A French team runs this relaxed bistro on Knox Street, and the room reads more neighborhood than tourist trap, with no beret-shaped light fixtures in sight. Classics like duck à l'orange and rabbit in mustard sauce anchor the dinner menu, while lunch keeps things simpler with oysters and fish rillettes. The Paris-Brest is the kind of dessert you order, then immediately resent whoever you brought with you. The Michelin Guide has it selected.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. D Magazine #27 · The 50 Best Restaurants

The baked Alaska arrives tableside with the kind of theater that makes you glad you dressed up. Mister Charles is an Italian-influenced French restaurant in Dallas where the room is sweeping and the menu runs from fusilli with caviar to wagyu beef Wellington, with canapes and showy presentations filling the space between. The wine list is substantial, the cocktails are deft, and nobody here is pretending this is a casual Tuesday.

1. D Magazine 2024 · Best Place for Dessert · Best of Big D
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
2. D Magazine #30 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Hospitality

1. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New Restaurants
2. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

The corner windows at this Mediterranean restaurant pull you in before you've even touched the door, and the room inside delivers on the promise: open, sunny, and staffed by people who seem to mean it. The kitchen ranges from Morocco to Syria to Spain without breaking a sweat, and the booths fill fast enough that the long counter bar exists for a reason. The wine program earned a James Beard Semifinalist nod, which in Dallas is its own kind of conversation starter.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. D Magazine #15 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Place to Go On a Monday · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Place for Dessert · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Tasting Menu · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine #12 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer Splurge Worthy Spots · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Seafood · Best of Dallas

Dean Fearing's restaurant inside the Ritz-Carlton looks like a traditional steakhouse until the food arrives. It's a polished Southwestern dining room where the menu wanders confidently into buffalo and antelope territory alongside filets, and a carpaccio riff assembles tuna, wagyu, salmon, and barbecued eel into something resembling stained glass. The kind of place that earns a Forbes Four Star and still manages to serve a baklava s'more without embarrassing itself.

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star
2. AAA Four Diamonds
3. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

The house-made soba is the point here, though the menu at this elegant soba house in the Arts District runs wide enough to spark a real argument about what to order. Cold or hot noodles arrive with seasonal toppings that range from strictly traditional to a Bolognese that has no business working as well as it does. Grilled freshwater eel comes with its crisped spine, exactly as it would in Japan. The Michelin Guide has it listed among its selected restaurants in Dallas.

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Omakase · Best of Dallas
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. D Magazine #8 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Regino Rojas
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Tasting Menu · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine #1 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Dumplings · Best of Dallas
3. Eater Local Legend

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Fried Chicken · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Fried Chicken · Best of Dallas

Walls of VHS tapes set the tone at this Vietnamese restaurant and bar that's been an East Dallas fixture forever. The '60s lounge vibe makes it feel like a party someone threw and never quite ended. The menu runs eclectic but Vietnamese dishes anchor it, and the espresso martini is made with house-brewed Vietnamese coffee, in limited supply each night. Order the garlic noodles if they have them, and hope quietly that they do.

1. D Magazine #44 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
3. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Espresso Martini · Best of Dallas

The blind-covered windows in a Highland Park strip mall don't exactly shout "neighborhood Italian restaurant," but that's partly the point. Inside, exposed brick and modern art set a casually stylish tone, and the menu leans seasonal with a wood-fired oven doing steady work. Up to ten pastas rotate through, though the white clam pie and Maine lobster ravioli are permanent fixtures. The wine list is all-Italian and quietly interesting. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand

Pool tables in the back, a fireplace den up front, and a patio pulling double duty as meeting spot for both SMU students and regulars who've been coming since the place was one of Dallas' oldest bars. Under new ownership with a fresh look, Milo Butterfingers is a sports bar and neighborhood hangout that hasn't lost its original ease. Homestyle daily specials run cheap, and the booths are big enough that nobody has to go home.

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bar Upgrade · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Upscale Dessert · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Steakhouse · Best of Dallas
3. Eater Steak · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Tacos · Best of Big D

1. Texas Monthly #5 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Brunch · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine #11 · The 50 Best Restaurants

A wood-fired grill anchors the dining room at this lively Mexican restaurant on the Trinity River, where the move is to start with a drink at the horseshoe bar and watch the kitchen work before settling in for a round of shareable plates and grilled meats. The tequila and mezcal list runs deep, and the crowd skews festive in the way places do when the patio has won awards and someone nearby is building tacos at the table.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
3. D Magazine #16 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Coffee Shop · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Place to Have Coffee and Not Work · Best of Dallas

Black-and-white floors and a curved bar overlooking an open kitchen set the mood at this Oak Lawn trattoria. Homemade pasta is the point, from spaghetti with meatballs to lasagna Bolognese, backed by an all-Italian wine list. The room is bright and lively, the kind of neighborhood spot where the menu reads short because the kitchen means it. A Michelin Selected Restaurant.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Non-Dallasy Dallas Bar · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Restaurant

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best German · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best German · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best German · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine #13 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Tacos · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Vegetarian-Friendly · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine #5 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. D Magazine #21 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Chili · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine #37 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

The owner is often spotted bussing tables or running food on a busy night, which sets the tone for this Lower Greenville bar and American kitchen that manages to feel like it's been around forever. Cozy enough for a quiet date, loose enough for drinks with friends, it occupies that useful middle ground between neighborhood bar and proper dinner spot. An English chef handles the kitchen, keeping things grounded rather than showy.

1. D Magazine #46 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Deep Ellum Restaurant · Best of Dallas
2. D Magazine #50 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Ramen · Best of Big D

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. D Magazine #34 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
3. D Magazine #24 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Chocolate · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. D Magazine #49 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer New Restaurants on the Observers’ Top 50 · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Tejano Nightclub · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Tejano Nightclub · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Tejano Nightclub · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bar for Beer · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Beer Selection · Best of Dallas

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. D Magazine #14 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Mexican · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Late-Night Eats · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine #42 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Tea Time · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Meal With a View · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer Taquerias, Tex-Mex and More · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

Wood floors, marble-topped tables, round-backed chairs: Mercat Bistro commits to the French bistro formula without a trace of irony. Escargots in parsley butter, French onion soup, moules frites, a croque monsieur at lunch. Nothing on the menu is surprising, and that's entirely the point. Business lunchers and neighborhood regulars share the room, and the service handles both without fuss. Grab a seat near the open kitchen if you want a little more noise with your classics.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Thai · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Sushi · Best of Dallas

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Restaurant for a Special Occasion · Best of Dallas
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Elizabeth Blau - Blau + Associates

Perched high inside The National, this Italian fine-dining room looks out over Dallas in a way that makes everyone feel like they're closing a deal. The menu runs handmade pasta, wood-fired meats, and premium seafood, with a wine list broad enough to keep the table arguing pleasantly. Dress up, bring an occasion if you don't already have one, and let the room do the rest.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. Texas Monthly Dishes We Wanted Seconds Of: Pan de Elote · The Best Things in Texas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Restaurant for a Special Occasion · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer Splurge Worthy Spots · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. D Magazine #38 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer Taquerias, Tex-Mex and More · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Oxtail · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bakery · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Park Cities Restaurant · Best of Dallas

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Reyna Duong
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Bánh Mì · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Vietnamese · Best of Dallas

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bakery · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Restaurant with a Mission · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bakery · Best of Big D

1. Eater Brisket · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

House-made pasta and cured meats anchor the menu at this classic Italian restaurant in Bishop Arts, where the kitchen leans on seasonal Texas produce to do the talking. The menu rotates, so regulars rarely eat the same meal twice. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand, and the chef earned a James Beard nomination for Outstanding Chef. Book ahead; the room fills fast and stays that way.

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Chef · David Uygar
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Maggie Huff

1. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bistro · Best of Dallas

1. Eater Chopped Meat Sandwich · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

1. Eater “Trashcan” Style Nachos · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

1. Eater Chicken Tikka Taco · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

Perched above the old Lakewood Theater, this dimly lit jazz bar has the kind of second-floor intimacy that makes the rest of Dallas feel very far away. The dance floor leaves just enough room for cheek-to-cheek, which is either charming or a fire hazard depending on your mood. Bring someone you want to know better, because the room will do the rest of the work. D Magazine named it the city's top jazz bar in 2025.

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Jazz Bar · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Agave Bar · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Agave Bar · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Agave Bar · Best of Big D

1. Eater Enchiladas · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

1. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. D Magazine #47 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bakery · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Bakery · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Bakery · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Pub · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Dallas

1. Eater Corny Dog · 14 Iconic Dallas Dishes Locals and Tourists Must Try

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. D Magazine #22 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Bakery · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Holiday Treats · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best New(ish) Gay Bar · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Hotel Bar · Best of Big D

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Place to Get a Beer Before 8 AM · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer Taquerias, Tex-Mex and More · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Diner · Best of Dallas