Dallas has always been a drinking city. The bars here range from underground mezcalerías hidden behind bridal boutiques to century-old hotel lounges where the bartenders know the difference between a proper Negroni and a lazy one. With the World Cup arriving in June and hundreds of thousands of visitors coming from every country on earth, the question of where to drink becomes suddenly more interesting. Here is the answer, neighborhood by neighborhood. Remember, this is not a directory but rather our suggestions. We can add to this list.
DEEP ELLUM
The Free Man at 2626-2630 Commerce Street is the Deep Ellum Cajun bar and live music venue that has been doing its own thing on Commerce Street long enough to have earned a loyal crowd that shows up regardless of what else is happening in the neighborhood. Jazz bands, local artists, Cajun wings, sweet potato fries, cold beer, and the kind of room where the music is genuinely good and nobody is pretending otherwise. Open daily 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 377-9893.
Three Links at 2704 Elm Street is the intimate live music venue with a punk rock heart that has become one of Deep Ellum’s most reliable rooms for catching something you’ve never heard before. Small capacity, good sound, local and touring acts most nights. Multiple Dallas Observer Best Of awards. The bar is straightforward — cold beer, well drinks, Tullamore Dew all day. Open Monday through Thursday 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday through Sunday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 484-6011.
Electric Shuffle at 2615 Elm Street is the tech-enhanced shuffleboard bar that has become one of the neighborhood’s most reliably fun evenings — cocktails, full food menu, and enough competitive energy to keep a table going for three hours. Open Monday through Thursday 3 to 11 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Punch Bowl Social at 2600 Main Street is the multi-level entertainment bar with bowling, arcade games, ping pong, and a full bar running cocktails alongside a kitchen that actually tries. Every World Cup match on the screens. Open Monday through Thursday 3 to 11 p.m., Friday 3 p.m. to midnight, Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to midnight.
Backyard Dallas at 505 N. Good Latimer Expressway is the open-air, climate-controlled 12,500-square-foot outdoor bar with 45 TVs, two 20-foot LED screens, bar swings, painted picnic tables, ping pong, cornhole, shuffleboard, pool, and a dog-friendly patio. The kind of space that was built for exactly this summer. Open to furry friends. The patio energy on a warm June evening with a World Cup match on every screen is exactly what Deep Ellum does best.
LOWER GREENVILLE
Ships Lounge at 1613 Greenville Avenue is the oldest dive bar in Dallas — open since 1947 and occupying the same address ever since. Pink and orange lights, boat-themed décor, a jukebox stocked with Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash, pool, and a no-cussing policy enforced by the old-timers at the end of the bar who have been here longer than most of their fellow patrons have been alive. Cash only. The regulars on one end haven’t changed in decades. The musicians and artists who showed up more recently sit a few stools down and everyone gets along. Open Monday 4 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Wednesday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Thursday through Saturday noon to 2 a.m., Sunday 4 p.m. to midnight.
Christies at 2817 Greenville Avenue runs 69 TVs and a 120-inch projector. The draft list rotates seasonally — Shiner Bock, Karbach, Kona Big Wave — and the game-day menu and happy hour specials are some of the best on the strip. Open Monday through Thursday 3 to 11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Phone: (469) 972-6946.
The Dubliner at 2818 Greenville Avenue is directly across the street from Christies and has been doing the opposite of everything Christies does since 1994. Small, dim, packed when there’s a match on, and proud of it. Longest-running Irish pub in Dallas. Guinness on draft. Open Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 1 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Stan’s Blue Note at 2908 Greenville Avenue is Dallas’s oldest continuously operating dive sports bar — in business since blues player E.E. Stanley opened it in 1952 and the closest thing to a neighborhood living room that Lower Greenville has. New owners have freshened it without breaking it. 30 big-screen TVs, 50-plus beers on tap, two outdoor patios, karaoke, trivia, shuffleboard, made-from-scratch menu. Sections designated by team during World Cup matches. Happy hour Monday through Friday 4 to 7 p.m. Open Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 827-1977.
BISHOP ARTS
Revelers Hall at 412 N. Bishop Avenue is the jazz hall that anchors the Bishop Arts nightlife scene — a 1,500-square-foot room with live music every single night, cocktails, a short food menu of flatbreads and charcuterie boards, and a $6 music fee added to your tab that goes directly to the performers. The house band plays New Orleans brass and funk. Other nights bring jazz, blues, hip hop, and things harder to categorize. The sound often drifts out the door and down Bishop Avenue, which is the best advertisement any bar has ever had. Open Monday through Thursday 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (972) 982-2661.
Nova at 1417 W. Davis Street sits about a mile west of Bishop Arts proper but earns the trip. A neighborhood gastropub with a full bar, a chef-driven menu that changes with nightly specials, a patio, and a kitchen that runs until midnight every night of the week. The cocktail program is solid. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The bar stays open until 2 a.m. daily. The kind of late-night option Oak Cliff needs and usually doesn’t have. Open Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 484-7123.
THE DIVES
Every bar guide that skips the dive bars is lying to you about something. These are the rooms where Dallas actually drinks.
Cosmo’s Bar & Lounge at 1212 Skillman Street in Lakewood has been exactly what it is since the day Gerald and Debra opened it in 2000. They wanted a retro dive in a neighborhood going modern everywhere else — turquoise chairs, bubble lights, geometric art, red awning, black tinted windows, and vintage furniture that takes you somewhere between a 1970s living room and a bar that never bothered catching up with the rest of Dallas. Jackson Tran joined the operation and brought his family’s Vietnamese recipes with him — the pho and the egg rolls at a dive bar are legitimately some of the best in the Lakewood area, which is still the most surprising sentence you’ll read in this guide. Half-price pizza on Sundays. Late-night menu until 1:15 a.m. Open daily 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 826-4200.
Lee Harvey’s at 1807 Gould Street in The Cedars is one of the great outdoor dive bars in Texas — a sprawling backyard patio with picnic tables, string lights, a bar cat named Bacon, live music on weekends with no cover charge, half-pound burgers that won a Best of Dallas award in 2007 and haven’t changed since, and the kind of crowd the bar has always described as a National Endowment Poet sitting next to a heavily tattooed film cameraman. Dog-friendly Sundays. Neon Schlitz signs and scuffed pool tables inside. The patio out back is the reason to go, weather permitting. Open daily 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 428-1555.
The Cottage at 3006 W. Northwest Highway near Love Field is the kind of place that takes thirty seconds to feel at home in. Live blues on Tuesdays and Fridays. Karaoke on Mondays and Wednesdays. A covered patio with motorcycle parking. First-class burgers. Friendly bartenders who act like they’re glad you came in, because they are. Open daily 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Adair’s Saloon at 2624 Commerce Street in Deep Ellum is the honky tonk that refuses to leave. Christmas lights and neon beer signs are the only meaningful light sources. The walls are covered floor to ceiling in graffiti and stickers — decades of it, from people who were there before you and left their mark. Live outlaw country every night, no cover. The legendary grilled ham-and-cheese has its own following. Happy hour Sunday through Friday 2 to 8 p.m. This is what Deep Ellum looks like without the art installations and the cocktail menus. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday through Thursday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday through Sunday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 939-9900.
Twilite Lounge at 2640 Elm Street in Deep Ellum is the heavy black door and the red-shaded windows you walk past before you notice the retro neon sign. Inside: dark paneling, cozy booths, a hidden back patio, free live music when there’s a band, and a drinks menu that leans New Orleans — House Sazerac, frozen Irish coffee, authentic cocktails made by bartenders who have clearly made them before. A home base for New Orleans Saints fans with more soul than any bar on the block. Open Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 741-2121.
Lakewood Landing at 5818 Live Oak Street in Lakewood is the East Dallas neighborhood dive that has been somebody’s regular bar for longer than anyone can remember. Cheap beer, pool tables, a jukebox, and jalapeño corndogs for $2 that have their own cult following. The crowd is the neighborhood — the people who actually live nearby, not people who drove across town. Open daily 3 p.m. to 2 a.m.
A Step Up Lounge at 3720 Walnut Hill Lane, Suite 115 sits in a double-decker strip mall at the corner of Walnut Hill and Marsh Lane in Northwest Dallas and is exactly what D Magazine once described it as: chatty barflies, friendly bartenders, and stiff drinks. Pool tables, a Golden Tee machine, an outdoor patio, live music on weekends, and the occasional crawfish or catfish boil when the mood strikes. The bartenders and regulars make this place what it is, and they’ve been making it that way for decades. Open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 351-5881.
OLD EAST DALLAS — THE ONE YOU NEED TO KNOW
Walk up to 2513 N. Fitzhugh Avenue and what you see is a bridal shop. Wedding dresses in the window. A sign for gowns and alterations. Nothing that suggests you are about to walk into one of the best mezcal bars in Texas. That is the point.
La Viuda Negra — The Black Widow — is the Mexico City-style mezcal speakeasy that brothers Luis and Javier Villalva built behind the façade of that wedding shop, connected to their taco restaurant El Come Taco next door. Duck through the bridal shop entrance and you find yourself in a narrow, dim room with green walls, shelves of unusual agave spirits glowing under low light, a La Catrina statue overseeing the bar from atop the refrigerator, and a projector running black-and-white films on the far wall. No more than 30 people fit comfortably. The music tends toward strange and excellent — synth remixes, cumbia, things you haven’t heard before.
The bar is mezcal-forward but not exclusionary. The bartenders know the back bar deeply and will walk you through it if you want them to — the difference between a joven and a reposado, why the espadín from this producer is worth the extra money, what to order if you’ve never had mezcal before and what to order if you’ve been drinking it for years. The cocktails are built around agave spirits and seasonal ingredients. The food comes from El Come Taco next door — tacos, empanadas, chicharrones. Order something. Eat it at the bar. Stay longer than you planned.
Open Tuesday and Wednesday 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 5 p.m. to midnight. Closed Monday. Phone: (214) 821-3738. Go on a Thursday. The crowds are real on weekends and the room is better when it’s not at capacity.
KNOX-HENDERSON
The Old Monk at 2847 N. Henderson Avenue has been the neighborhood’s pub since 1998 — more than 200 beers, a large patio with TVs, and a kitchen running until midnight. It is the most natural World Cup viewing bar on Henderson because it has always been a place where people come to watch things together. Open Monday through Wednesday 3 p.m. to midnight, Thursday 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to midnight. Phone: (214) 821-1880.
Barcadia at 1917 N. Henderson Avenue is the full-service bar with classic arcade games, skeeball, air hockey, foosball, and life-size Jenga on a sprawling patio. Exactly the right place for a match day that turns into an afternoon that turns into an evening without anyone quite noticing. Open daily 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 434-1287.
UPTOWN
Katy Trail Ice House at 3127 Routh Street is the Austin-style beer garden on the Katy Trail that has been one of Uptown’s most consistently full outdoor spaces since it opened. A 50-foot bar with 50 beers on tap, Texas BBQ brisket tacos, a massive patio that fills up on any day the weather cooperates, and a crowd that ranges from morning trail runners to late-night regulars. On warm June evenings during the World Cup this place will be exactly what a Dallas summer is supposed to feel like. Open Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 468-0600.
Parliament at 2418 Allen Street is the Prohibition-era cocktail lounge that barman Lucky Campbell built in 2014 — wood-paneled walls, serious drinks, no reservations. The Parliament Royale with gin, yuzu, apple, bitters, and Champagne is the house signature. The bar program is genuinely one of the better ones in Uptown. A 20% gratuity is added to all checks. Open daily 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The Standard Pour at 2900 McKinney Avenue is the McKinney Avenue cocktail bar that has managed to be both serious about drinks and genuinely fun, which is harder to pull off than it sounds. One of the top 50 bourbon selections in America. Large outdoor patio, late-night bar menu, happy hour daily Tuesday through Sunday 5 to 7 p.m., weekend brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Open Monday through Friday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 935-1370.
DOWNTOWN
Midnight Rambler at 1530 Main Street in the basement of The Joule Hotel is the underground bar with a Michelin Exceptional Cocktails recognition and one of the best bar programs in Texas. Curved leather booths, brass barstools, the kind of room that makes the rest of the evening feel like the prequel. Open Tuesday and Wednesday 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday through Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Closed Sunday and Monday.
The Woolworth at 1520 Elm Street, Suite 201 is the multi-level bar in the heart of the Discovery District with a rooftop, solid food, and a crowd that skews international and curious. Open Monday 4:30 p.m. to midnight, Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to midnight, Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight. Closed Sunday. Phone: (214) 814-0588.
DESIGN DISTRICT
Harwood Arms at 2823 McKinnon Street, Suite 100 is the official bar for Chelsea FC’s Dallas supporter group and Bayern Munich’s Dallas contingent — which tells you exactly what kind of World Cup atmosphere to expect. Every match on screens, extended happy hour on Fridays, and part of the Harwood District’s Around the World bar crawl on June 13. Fish and chips worth ordering. Open daily 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
Peticolas Brewing Company at 1301 Pace Street is the family-owned brewery with a tri-level taproom, 18 beers on tap, and the kind of crowd that has been treating soccer as a serious religion since long before the World Cup came to town. Open Tuesday through Friday noon to 10 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m. Closed Monday.
CEDAR SPRINGS / OAK LAWN — THE LGBTQ+ STRIP
Cedar Springs Road is Dallas’s LGBTQ+ district and has been since the 1970s. The half-mile stretch known as The Strip is one of the most welcoming bar corridors in the American South, and during the World Cup — when visitors arrive from countries where LGBTQ+ life ranges from restricted to illegal — it carries an added significance. Every bar here is open to everyone. That has always been the point.
JR’s Bar & Grill at 3923 Cedar Springs Road has been the neighborhood’s gathering place since 1979. Two levels, a covered patio balcony with views of the entire strip, a kitchen running through midday, drag race watch parties, and happy hour daily. Three full bars. Open Monday noon to 1 a.m., Tuesday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday noon to 1 a.m. Phone: (214) 528-1004.
The Round-Up Saloon at 3912 Cedar Springs Road has been the country-western gay bar since 1980 — voted Best Damn Gay Bar in America by Instinct Magazine. Six bars under one roof, free line dance lessons three nights a week, karaoke six nights a week, and a wooden dance floor that earns every reputation it has. Open Monday through Friday 3 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday and Sunday noon to 2 a.m. Phone: (214) 522-9611.
Sue Ellen’s at 3014 Throckmorton Street is Texas’s oldest lesbian bar — open since January 19, 1989, named after Sue Ellen Ewing of the Dallas TV series, the sister bar to JR’s one block away. Two floors, live music, dancing, karaoke. One of fewer than 25 lesbian bars remaining in the entire United States. Phone: (214) 559-0707.
Station 4 (S4) at 3911 Cedar Springs Road is the mega-club at The Crossroads — 24,000-plus square feet of dance floor, multiple bars, enormous patio. Upstairs, The Rose Room is the most celebrated drag venue in the South, running shows since 1986. Shows Thursday through Sunday at 11 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. Open Wednesday 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., Thursday through Sunday 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. Phone: (214) 526-7171.
Woody’s at 4011 Cedar Springs Road is the sports bar with 28 screens and the most genuinely welcoming crowd in any Dallas bar during any sporting event. Happy hour until 8 p.m. daily. Open Monday through Thursday 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday through Sunday noon to 2 a.m.
The Tipsy Alchemist at 2101 Cedar Springs Road, Suite R125 is the theatrical cocktail lounge built on smoke, fire, and vapor. Dress code, $30 minimum, and a bar program that earns both. Open Tuesday through Saturday 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.
NORTH DALLAS
Renny’s at 11661 Preston Road, Suite 153 in Preston Forest Village is the neighborhood American grill and bar from Mark Maguire — the restaurateur who ran Maguire’s Regional Cuisine in North Dallas for 24 years before moving into this fresher, more casual concept in 2023. The room is open and contemporary, the menu carries some Maguire’s favorites alongside new additions, the cocktail list is well-built, and the wine list is curated without being pretentious. Happy hour runs Tuesday through Friday 3 to 6 p.m. And hidden inside the back is The Stache — Renny’s speakeasy, a dim, vintage-accented private room with rich textures and a sophisticated atmosphere that makes the whole evening feel like it has two acts. The North Dallas neighborhood that built Maguire’s shows up here with the same loyalty. Closed Monday. Open Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Phone: (972) 818-0068.
ADDISON
Memphis at 5000 Belt Line Road, Suite 500 opened on New Year’s Eve 1981 and has had live music every single night since. Jazz, blues, rock, retro bands — whatever is on the stage, the music starts at 10 p.m. and runs until 2 a.m. seven days a week. It is right next door to Shuck N Jive, which is either a coincidence or the perfect evening on one block. Smoke-friendly. Open Monday through Friday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday 7:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Phone: (972) 386-9517.
Shuck N Jive at 5000 Belt Line Road, Suite 530 has been open since 1983 and has never left. A Cajun oyster bar that serves fresh shucked oysters, boiled shrimp, gumbo, po’boys, and ice cold beer until 2 a.m. every night of the week. The easiest late-night decision on Belt Line and possibly in all of North Dallas. Open daily 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.
The bars in this guide cover every neighborhood, every price point, and every kind of evening. The one thing they share is that none of them will pretend the World Cup isn’t happening. Dallas has been waiting for this summer for a long time and the bars figured that out before anyone else.
