The Best Places in Deep Ellum & around

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. D Magazine 2023 · Best Tasting Menu · Best of Big D
3. D Magazine 2024 · Best Omakase · Best of Big D

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

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

1. Eater The 38 Essential Dallas Restaurants

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

The chicken tikka taco built this place's reputation, and it's still the reason the line forms. Velvet Taco is a fast-casual taco chain that leans global, folding Indian, Thai, and Southern flavors into flour tortillas without making too big a deal about it. The Deep Ellum flagship is the original, with a paid lot out back for anyone who's circled the block twice already. Finish with the red velvet cake, which is exactly what it sounds like.

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

The "trashcan" nacho, Dallas's contribution to stadium-snack culture, gets a serious upgrade at this Deep Ellum restaurant. The format is the same towering chip stack drowning in cheese, black beans, pico, guac, and pickled jalapeños, but the cheese here is worth caring about. The crowd skews young and loud in the best Deep Ellum tradition, which makes the nachos feel like exactly the right thing to order.

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

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

Hungarian comfort food in a Deep Ellum cocktail bar is a combination nobody asked for and nobody wants to question. Armoury D.E. runs a casual, lived-in room where the drinks are serious, the kitchen leans into paprika-forward territory, and there's usually a free live show happening out back. The burger of the week has a following. Dallas Observer named it home to the city's best Bloody Mary and best bar food, which checks out.

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bar Food · Best of Dallas
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
3. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Bloody Mary · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Post Bar-Crawl Grub · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bar for a One-Night Stand · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Bathroom · Best of Dallas
3. D Magazine 2023 · Best Live Music Venue · Best of Big D

The Venn diagram of bar and restaurant has Angry Dog planted right in the overlap, and nobody seems to mind. Cold beer, a game on, chili cheese dogs, burgers, and salads that have no business being this good for a place that smells like fried onions. Close enough to the American Airlines Center and Deep Ellum that it fills up fast on event nights, but regular enough that it works on a Tuesday with nothing going on.

1. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Hot Dog · Best of Dallas

The fried chicken gets a 24-hour brine before it hits the fryer, which tells you something about the kitchen's priorities at this Deep Ellum cocktail bar. Six house cocktails are priced like they want you to order a second round, and the vibe is the kind of loose, unhurried thing that feels increasingly rare on Commerce Street. The Dallas Observer handed it Best Fried Chicken in 2024, so the secret is somewhat out, but the room still has its own quiet momentum.

1. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
2. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Late-Night Grub · Best of Dallas
3. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Fried Chicken · Best of Dallas

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

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Breakfast Sandwich · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Breakfast Sandwich · Best of Dallas

The patio seating is made from repurposed toilets and road signs, which tells you everything about the vibe before you've ordered a drink. Double Wide is a Deep Ellum dive bar with a trailer park aesthetic, cheap and stiff pours, and a music venue across the patio hosting bands and DJs on most nights. Wildsam named it one of the 50 most essential bars in America, which somehow feels both surprising and completely correct.

1. Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
2. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
3. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine 2025 · Best Family-Friendly Restaurant · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer 2025 · Best Vegas Vibes · Best of Dallas

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Cocktail Vessel · Best of Dallas

A 99-tap draft list is the kind of thing that sounds made up until you're standing in front of it. This Deep Ellum bar and restaurant sprawls across a 10,000-square-foot dog-friendly patio, with heaters for the nights when Dallas pretends it has winters. Cocktails lean creative alongside the craft beer deep dive, and the kitchen runs brunch and bar food that takes itself seriously enough to matter.

1. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
2. Dallas Observer 2024 · Best Beer Selection · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Asian Barbecue · Best of Big D
2. D Magazine 2024 · Best Asian Barbecue · Best of Big D

A grilled pimento cheese sandwich and 24 taps anchor this low-key beer garden on the east end of Deep Ellum, where the patio comes equipped with heaters in winter and misters in summer, which is thoughtful given that Dallas has about nine months of summer. The beer selection runs deep into local cans and rotating taps, the bartenders actually know what's on them, and Wednesday brings a small Miller High Life with a Jameson shot for anyone who needs a Wednesday reason.

1. Dallas Observer The Ultimate Dallas Bar Guide
2. D Magazine 2023 · Best Place to Day Drink · Best of Big D

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

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Chicken Wings · Best of Dallas

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Paletas · Best of Big D

1. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Vegan Fast Food · Best of Dallas

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

1. D Magazine 2023 · Best Frozen Drink: The Peel Out · Best of Big D
2. Dallas Observer 2023 · Best Late-Night Grub · Best of Dallas