Dakota’s Steakhouse in Southlake has a foundation date now, and it also has a firm answer on when the doors open: 2027.
Southlake City Council approved the site plan for Dakota’s new location at its August 4 meeting, signing off on elevations for three retail buildings, updated designs for the event center, and revised parking for the project now known as Kirkwood Reserve. Developer Tim McEneny told the council crews have finished pouring an 820-foot retaining wall on the property and expect to pour the restaurant’s foundation soon. He put the total project cost at around $25 million.
“It’s been a difficult process getting this site stabilized,” McEneny told council members, adding that the site should start showing visible progress from here.
The site sits at 1901 W. Kirkwood Blvd., on the southeast corner of SH 114 and Kirkwood Boulevard. Per city documents filed earlier this year, the project includes a 10,000-square-foot restaurant, a matching 10,000-square-foot event center built to hold 200 guests, and just under 11,000 square feet of retail space split across three buildings. McEneny has said he wants a butcher shop and bakery combination among the retail tenants, a spot where guests could pick up a cut of meat or fresh bread on their way out.
The timeline has moved twice now. When the project first cleared zoning in January 2025, McEneny was targeting a late 2025 or early 2026 opening. That slipped, and as of the August 4 meeting, he’s telling the city 2027 is the year. Southlake Mayor Shawn McCaskill didn’t push back on the delay, telling McEneny the project would be worth it once finished.
Dakota’s has anchored downtown Dallas dining since 1984, built around an underground room reached by glass elevator, on land that once belonged to First Dallas Baptist Church. The restaurant closed during the pandemic and reopened in 2021 under Meredith McEneny, Tim’s wife, who took over as sole owner after years of running the books for his other restaurant ventures. The Southlake location is designed to echo that same partially subterranean layout.
For now, Southlake diners hoping for prime steaks get a concrete answer instead of a moving target. Foundation work is coming. The doors open in 2027.
