The 100 Best Places to Eat and Do in Dallas

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

Ten counter seats inside a renovated gin building, and getting one of them is genuinely the hard part. This is an intimate edomae omakase, Michelin-starred, where the chef sequences around fourteen nigiri pieces so the flavors build steadily from delicate to deep. The rice comes from Hokkaido, the movements are unhurried, and the chef will quietly adjust the size of a piece if you ask. Everyone sits down together, so don't be late.

1. Michelin Guide 1 Star
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Omakase · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine 2025 · Best Omakase · Best of Big D

Post oak from nearby farms fuels the pits at this Fort Worth BBQ shop, open just a few days a week until the meat runs out, which it does. The young crew behind Goldee's earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand and landed at number three on Texas Monthly's 50 Best BBQ Joints, so the line forms early and long. Black Angus brisket, cooked low and slow, is the draw; the sweet-tart mustard sauce alongside it is quietly non-negotiable.

1. Food & Wine Best New Chefs · Jonny White, Jalen Heard, and Lane Milne
2. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
3. Texas Monthly #3 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas

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

The bagels here are kettle-boiled and hand-rolled, and the owner once won New York's Bagelfest twice, which is its own kind of declaration. This is a counter-order bagel shop with a line out the door and spreads that work for both the plain-schmear traditionalist and whoever orders the avocado toast-but-make-it-a-bagel sandwich. A James Beard nominee two years running, and on Eater's Dallas essentials list. Get there early, or just accept the wait.

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Bakery
2. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery

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

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Bakery
2. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery

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

The dough here is made by hand in the Neapolitan tradition, soft enough that a margherita lands on the table looking almost too relaxed to be pizza. Partenope is a full-sit-down Italian restaurant on Main Street, the kind of place that takes its time with both the pasta and the service. It landed on 50 Top Pizza USA, which for Dallas is a meaningful data point. The room feels warm rather than scene-y, which in this city counts for something.

1. 50 Top Pizza #18 · 50 Top Pizza USA
2. 50 Top Pizza 2026 · Made in Italy · 50 Top Pizza USA Special Awards
3. D Magazine #25 · The 50 Best Restaurants

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. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

1. Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Four Star

The line wrapping around the building is the first sign; the smell of oak and hickory smoke is the second. Cattleack is a beloved Dallas BBQ shop with a Michelin Bib Gourmand and a spot on Texas Monthly's 50 best list, where pitmaster Andrew Castelan runs brisket and pork ribs as the anchors but keeps daily specials, like wagyu pastrami brisket, for the regulars who know to look. Tangy house sauce sits on every table, not because the meat needs it.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
3. D Magazine #10 · The 50 Best Restaurants

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. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

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

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

1. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. Texas Monthly #3 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
3. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America

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. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. D Magazine #31 · The 50 Best 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

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

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

The restaurant is named for chef Michelle Carpenter's grandmother, whose fried chicken recipe anchors the menu at this contemporary Cajun and Creole spot in Oak Cliff. Dark-meat, deeply seasoned, and handed down through generations, it's the kind of dish that makes everything else feel like a warm-up act. The charbroiled oysters with Parmesan and andouille crumbles suggest the kitchen has range. A James Beard nominee for Best New Restaurant in 2023.

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

The open kitchen gives you a view of the whole operation, and it runs with what looks like choreographed precision. Tiffany Derry's modern Southern restaurant in Farmers Branch earns James Beard nominations alongside regulars who could probably recite the menu cold. Duck fat-fried chicken is the calling card, the gumbo is serious, and the cast-iron cornbread arrives first for good reason. Dressy-casual, suburban, and worth the drive from anywhere in Dallas.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Tiffany Derry
3. Esquire #19 · The Best New Restaurants in America

Smoked brisket finished with awaze, an Ethiopian spice sauce, is the move that separates this casual Arlington barbecue joint from every other spot selling half-pounds off butcher paper. The team built it from a trailer smoker and weekend pop-ups into something the New York Times noticed and a James Beard semifinalist nod confirmed. Order a platter if you want range, and reach past the mac and cheese toward the lentil stews.

1. The New York Times The Restaurant List
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. Bon Appétit The Very Best Bagels in the US (Yes, Outside New York)
2. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery
3. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bakery

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Bakery
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Bakery · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Breakfast · Best of Big D

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

The tap pours house wine, which tells you something about this Italian restaurant's priorities. Via Triozzi, on Lower Greenville, runs one of the deeper natural wine programs in Dallas, sourced from small family vineyards, and the kitchen matches that energy with a lasagne al forno that commits fully to its Bolognese. Texas Monthly named it among the state's top new restaurants, and Eater lists it as essential. The room fills early and stays that way.

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

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

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. D Magazine #27 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

1. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
2. D Magazine #33 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. D Magazine 2025 · Best Barbecue · Best of Big D

A large-scale mural by the restaurateur's wife anchors the moody dining room, which looks out onto a park while downtown Fort Worth closes in around it. This polished Italian osteria threads West Texas cooking through the menu, leaning on wild game and simple ingredients to blur the line between the Hill Country and the Apennines. The wine list skews Italian and smartly so.

1. Texas Monthly #4 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. Eater Best New Restaurant
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

The view from the top of Reunion Tower has been making Dallas look good for years, and the steakhouse that lives up there now leans into it hard, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a dress code keeping things appropriately sharp. Sushi shares the menu with steaks from local farms, and the triple-cooked fries are the kind of side you order again before the first plate is cleared. Book well ahead; 200 seats fill faster than you'd expect.

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

1. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New Restaurants
2. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New 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 #9 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. Texas Monthly #2 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best New Restaurant · Best of Dallas
3. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

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. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Wine Program · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Brunch · Best of Dallas
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Brunch · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine #17 · The 50 Best Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Bakery

Fort Worth's nickname spawned this BBQ shop, which started as a food truck before graduating to a spot with both indoor and outdoor seating. Central Texas-style offset smoking is the foundation, but the menu slides comfortably into Tex-Mex territory with brisket burritos and street tacos. Arrive early, because the lines are not theoretical. Texas Monthly named it among the 50 best BBQ joints in the state.

1. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
2. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

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

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

The menu changes with the seasons, which sounds like a cliché until you notice the cocktail list follows suit too. This bright, energetic contemporary American restaurant in the Bishop Arts District leans heavily on vegetables and local produce, with occasional detours through dukkah, harissa, and miso that feel considered rather than restless. The focaccia is a reliable opening move. A Michelin Selected pick that also lands on Eater's essential Dallas list.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
3. D Magazine 2025 · Best Vegetarian Friendly · Best of Big D

The deviled eggs come six ways, no two alike, which tells you a lot about how this upscale dining saloon in Victory Park operates. Wild game and seasonal Southern cooking are the through lines, from venison tartare to wild boar lasagna, and the Texas wine list runs deeper than you'd expect anywhere, let alone here. The room leans into its saloon bones without winking too hard at them.

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. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Restaurant for Kids · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. Texas Monthly #7 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants

East and Gulf Coast oysters anchor the raw bar at this Knox Street seafood restaurant and oyster bar, where the menu runs from smoked whitefish dip and beef tartare through whole grilled branzino and chilled lobster rolls. The drinks are notably un-afterthought. A double cheeseburger quietly holds down the menu for anyone dragged in by a shellfish-obsessed friend, which is a gracious thing to offer.

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

A restored Masonic Lodge in McKinney's historic square is an unusual home for a farm-to-table American restaurant, but the vaulted ceilings and warm multilevel space make the whole thing work. The kitchen sources tightly from local farms and ranchers, and live music fills the room most nights. An American wine list leans toward small producers. The Michelin Guide has it on their radar, as does Eater's list of essential Dallas restaurants.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

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

The cocktail menu lists a drink called the Big Booty Trudy, which tells you exactly what kind of bar this is: East Dallas neighborhood spot, dressed up but never stiff. The drinks lean classic and a little cheeky, the bar food skews surprisingly serious, with a rotating kitchen pop-up from a James Beard-nominated chef. Furikake fries alongside a Mai Tai is a more natural pairing than it sounds.

1. Texas Monthly Dishes We Wanted Seconds Of: Loaded Nugs @ Rainbowcat · The Best Things in Texas
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best New Bar · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bar To Meet Your Tinder Hookup · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Brunch · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Brunch · Best of Big D
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

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 #28 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Birria · Best of Dallas
3. Dallas Observer Taquerias, Tex-Mex and More · 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. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Scott Girling

The signature dish here is called the Whole Beast, built from leftover proteins, noodles, and produce so that nothing walks out the back door. The Heritage Table is an innovative restaurant where the chef, a James Beard semifinalist, runs the kitchen around whole-animal and whole-vegetable thinking. Saturday evenings bring a tasting menu sourced entirely from the Blackland Prairie, reservation required, which tells you the room takes itself seriously without being smug about it.

1. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Restaurant in Frisco · Best of Dallas
2. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants
3. James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Rich Vana

1. D Magazine #40 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Brisket · Best of Dallas
3. Dallas Observer Barbecue Shops · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now

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. 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 #18 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Sushi · Best of Big D
3. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Koji Yoshida

Both the bartender and the chef are named Hugo, which tells you something about this cocktail bar and seafood spot in Bishop Arts. The cocktail program gets the same obsessive treatment as the kitchen, where oysters and small plates keep people settled at the bar longer than they planned. Someone here is pureeing salted plantains for a rum cocktail reduction, and that level of commitment runs through all dozen house cocktails.

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. 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. 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. Wine Enthusiast Top 50 New Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Place to Celebrate an Anniversary · Best of Big D

Pastel walls and a view of downtown Dallas set the tone at Mirador, an elegant tea room where the finger sandwiches arrive in forms you haven't quite seen before: wagyu on milk bread, foie gras mousse tucked into a macaron. The chef's whimsical take on classic tea service draws a lunch crowd that takes the occasion seriously, as they should. The patio earns its own following on sunny afternoons.

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

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

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. Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Barbecue · Best of Dallas

You enter through the back of a neighboring cafe, down a hallway, through a wooden door, and suddenly you're somewhere else entirely. This moody Oak Cliff speakeasy-style cantina stocks only bottles sourced from Mexico, and the cocktail menu is organized by historical era, walking you through the evolution of Mexican drinking culture. A James Beard Outstanding Bar semifinalist, it also does pre-Hispanic Oaxacan small plates for when the mezcal needs company.

1. Esquire The Best Bars in America
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
3. D Magazine #20 · The 50 Best Restaurants

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

The name is shorthand for Design District, in case you were wondering. This cocktail bar and late-night dancehall is dressed like your coolest grandmother's basement, all shag rugs, old couches, and polished brass knickknacks. Cocktails are taken seriously, and local DJs eventually take over, turning the lounge crowd into a dance floor. Dallas Observer named it the city's best nightclub in 2025.

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Nightclub · Best of Dallas
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best After-Party · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

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

1. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Desserts · Best of Dallas
2. D Magazine #42 · The 50 Best Restaurants

Red umbrellas cover the ceiling, a dumpling-making station runs in full view, and various family members compete to greet you at the door before George can get there. This Chinese American restaurant in north Dallas has been around forever, and co-owner April Kao still travels to China each year to pull regional ideas back into the menu. Handmade noodles and egg foo young anchor the regulars, but the dumplings are why Dallas Observer handed them a Best Dumplings nod.

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

1. D Magazine 2024 · Best Spicy Cocktails · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas
3. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

The Sunday wait stretches to three hours, which tells you most of what you need to know about this South Indian restaurant tucked into a former Tex-Mex spot on Highway 635. The menu leans into Andhra Pradesh home cooking: dosas in several forms, idli, bisi bele bath, filter coffee, all landing on tables full of Telugu conversation. The New York Times put it on their Restaurant List in 2024, and the regulars looked unsurprised.

1. The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
2. Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants

The hardwood dance floor in the center of the main room is the whole argument here. This sprawling gay bar on Cedar Springs has multiple bars, several rooms, and a two-story outdoor patio, all draped in western kitsch and framed cowboys doing cowboy things. Two-stepping lessons run weekly, alongside karaoke, trivia, and drag shows. The crowd skews as welcoming as the staff will tell you: everyone's invited to the boot-scootin'.

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Karaoke Spot · Best of Dallas
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

1. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. D Magazine 2025 · Best Chinese · Best of Big D

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. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Dallas
2. D Magazine #44 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

1. D Magazine #35 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Korean · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Korean · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Japanese · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Japanese · Best of Big D

The tequila and mezcal list at this Deep Ellum bar is long enough to constitute a philosophical commitment. Ruins leans hard into Latin culture, with original artwork on the walls and cocktails that come with actual folklore attached. The Limbo Room out back hosts live music in close quarters. It reads like a dive bar that got serious about agave spirits without losing the plot.

1. The Infatuation The Best Bars In Dallas
2. D Magazine #14 · The 50 Best Restaurants
3. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide

The cypress wood counter is the only seat that matters at this omakase spot tucked into Ross Avenue, where the format blends kaiseki composed bites with a procession of nigiri. Chef Paul Ko's cooking reads refined and quietly global, duck confit in phyllo giving way to delicate anago dusted with sansho pepper. "Kozy" is doing some heavy lifting in the name, given how sleek the room actually is, but the Michelin Guide listing is not.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. D Magazine The Best New Restaurants in Dallas

1. D Magazine #41 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Dumplings · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Chinese · Best of Big D

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. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Fusion in a Wrap: Phorrito · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Fusion Food · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Cafe · Best of Dallas
2. Eater The 15 Coolest Coffee Shops in Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Restaurant With No Extra Fees · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer Classic Dallas Restaurants · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Place to Celebrate an Anniversary · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer Neighborhood Staples and Gems · The Top 50 Restaurants in Dallas Right Now
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Former Mayor's House · Best of Big D
3. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Mediterranean · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine #29 · The 50 Best Restaurants
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Pizza · Best of Dallas

An upscale steakhouse on the seventh floor of a hotel that bills itself as Swiss hospitality in Texas, which tells you something about the room before you even sit down. The draw is the house Akaushi beef, raised by the team's own breeding program just north of the Red River, and it shows up across a menu built around the classics. White-jacketed service, a clubby feel, and a cocktail list you'll need before deciding.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Steakhouse · 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

The menu has exactly one protein, and the place is named after it. This casual taqueria built its following on birria, the slow-braised beef that started on a food truck before the team landed a brick-and-mortar spot on Rosedale. Tacos, quesatacos, flautas, tortas, burritos, and quesadillas are all on offer, but it's all birria all the time, served to a lunch crowd that already knows what it's ordering.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Baristas · Best of Dallas
2. Eater The 15 Coolest Coffee Shops in Dallas

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Day-to-Night Combo · Best of Big D
2. Eater The 15 Coolest Coffee Shops in Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Place to Have Coffee and Not Work · Best of Dallas
2. Eater The 15 Coolest Coffee Shops in Dallas

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

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

Wagyu meatloaf and croissant bread pudding sit on the same menu, which tells you everything about how Stock & Barrel operates. It's a casual American restaurant in the Bishop Arts neighborhood, with an open kitchen, a convivial bar counter, and booths that fill fast with locals who clearly have a standing reservation in their hearts. The kitchen leans into Texas comfort food, then nudges it somewhere unexpected.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant

1. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Specialty Lattes · Best of Dallas
2. Eater The 15 Coolest Coffee Shops in Dallas