The Resy Guide to Outdoor Dining in Dallas-Fort Worth

Surround yourself with plants, duck confit chilaquiles, and 250 handmade clay pots on Don Artemio’s patio in Fort Worth. Like the restaurant’s tapestries, bricks, and plates, the clay pots were formed by artisans in Saltillo and brought to Cowtown for the purpose of decorating chef Juan Rámon Cárdenas’s first U.S. restaurant, where his son, Rodrigo Cárdenas, is executive chef.

While it’s easy to order the mezcal-based Güera Rodríguez with a jamaica-chile salt rim, don’t skip the excellent and surprising Mexican wine list. For a crunchy snack to go with, try a mound of the fast favorite nopalitos fritos, or get truly experimental with Mexican cuisine and add chapulines (crickets) to a cazuela of guacamole.

Since the original Flying Saucer opened in Fort Worth nearly 30 years ago with 100 beers on tap, this pub has been the original outdoor drinking den for hopheads and “beerknurds,” as frequent drinkers in the restaurant’s UFO Club are called. With a menu including burgers of various types, giant Bavarian pretzels, and classic fish and chips, the Fort Worth patio has major Anglo-Saxon biergarten vibes. At the Cypress Waters location in Coppell, picnic tables lend a view to the business park’s playground for dogs. And to feel like you’re on vacation, head to the Garland location on Lake Ray Hubbard and listen to the waves lap at your feet while the beers disappear.

Find more info about locations in Coppell, Fort Worth, and Garland.

It’s no secret that José is one of the most coveted patio reservations in town. Its brightly-tiled central water fountain tricks the mind into believing you’re in a Guadalajaran haven, instead of University Park.

Mahi-mahi ceviche mounded into a coconut husk similarly soothes the senses, especially when sipping on a Tequila or mezcal flight. Executive chef Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman is a master of presentation and regional Mexican cuisine that includes stimulating vegetable-forward offerings. See: the lion’s mane (mushroom) huarache or tacos de jamaica with marinated hibiscus flowers and guacamole. For meat-eaters, the pollo en mole or beef tenderloin enchiladas with chipotle crema will fit the bill.

Dallas’ longest-serving vegetarian restaurant, hidden in a Hare Krishna temple, offers a dreamy buffet of Indian-inspired fare prepared in the Ayurvedic tradition. The cholesterol-lowering dal, curries, and simply steamed vegetables can be savored in the outdoor courtyard to the tune of a hypnotic Indian flute and babbles from the water fountain. The zen-inducing experience transfers post-yoga class bliss — without tight, sweaty pants (well, maybe).

The salad bar is truly righteous; the tamarind lemonade is cooling; and the always impossible dessert choice between vanilla rice khir or pineapple-coconut halvah is the only difficulty in this mind-calming paradise.

Find more info here.

For white tablecloths, rattan chairs, and traditional bread service, reserve a table on the shaded patio at Le Bilboquet on Travis Walk, something like the Rodeo Drive of Dallas. A spinoff from the see-and-be-seen original in New York, Le Bilboquet’s second location opened in Dallas 10 years ago this May with Momo Sow as executive chef.

Originally from the Ivory Coast, Sow began working at the original New York restaurant in 1986 to pay college tuition, and says he became a chef “by accident.” His signature thin-sliced Cajun chicken breast soused with eight-hour beurre blanc is an excellent example of his tasteful approach to French-American fusion. And the choice to offer a traditional Floating Island for dessert — a tall, fluffy meringue with slivered almonds “floating” in crème anglaise — shows he understands what overheated, figure-conscious diners want.

Situated near the back of the bustling WestBend shopping center in Fort Worth’s Riverside district, find one of Fort Worth’s newest transplants from Mexico: Quince. Once seated along the verdant banks of the Trinity River, you might wonder if it’s even prettier than the globally acclaimed rooftop at the original location in San Miguel de Allende. Fort Worth’s two-story patio seats up to 150 people, who by this summer will receive treatment from a modern mister system. While the bar is busy shaking up more than 600 Lalo skinny margaritas a day, the kitchen is rolling out sunny ceviches, sashimis, and sushi rolls.

As she does with her Vietnamese menu inspired by her mother’s cooking, chef Reyna Duong goes to meticulous measures to ensure her covered patio in the Cedars is comforting and inviting. Tarps, oscillating fans, and a newly added library with books by AAPI authors make even the hottest summer day seem a bit cooler when combined with the refreshing drink menu.

Get fruity with a guava thief slushie or jackfruit colada with passion fruit jellies. Make the frozen drinks even more fun with a shot of strawberry Korean soju. Or, keep caffeinated with bold Vietnamese iced coffees and frappes. For hungry bellies, Duong’s nem pork sausage bánh mì with housemade sausage and buttered fish sauce-scallion oil is one of Dallas’ most unforgettable sandwiches. For a carb-less bite of the sausage, try the fried nem nuggets with jalapeño fried pickles and nước chấm dipping sauce.

Find more info here.

Fill up on good times and nostalgic sandwiches at the coolest garage in Deep Ellum. Thunderbird’s monster Sloppy Jalopy is modeled after a sloppy Joe and heaped high with griddled bologna and onions, and the Gremlin with housemade pimento spread, green apples, and bacon on thick white bread will make the most burned-out grownups feel young and carefree again.

Cocktails keep the retro vibrations coming with the Peel Out, inspired by an orange Push-Up Pop. For brunch, the frozen vodka drink can be combined with prosecco in the ThunderMosa. Also try the Rattletrap, a peanut butter-whiskey cocktail with floating peanuts, which the menu says is inspired by nuttier times when seat belts and cup holders were non-existent.

Leashed dogs are welcome, but in order to keep it a safe space for adults to peacefully travel back in time, kids are only allowed in before 8 p.m. (Afterwards, it’s 21-plus only.)

Find more info on Instagram.

With more than 700 wines on reserve and dress code expectations, Carbone Vino from the Major Food Group enterprise presents an opulent and breezy patio for wine types. The traditional wine list is composed of prime selections from California, Italy, and Burgundies and Bordeaux from France, all of which pair favorably with antipasti, pizzas, and the famous spicy rigatoni vodka everyone should try at least once.

Price tags range from $64 a bottle to $7,100 grand cru white Burgundy, and they come in a stretch of sizes from multiple magnums to 30 quartinos (one-third of a bottle). So not only is this a great spot for a fancy date night or lavish blowout, but also a solo dinner where one can wax poetic with a book or journal.

Lovers of all things pink and Instagrammy will enjoy the patio garden at XOXO Dining Room, where photo ops abound with swings and neon lights. Enjoy lobster mac or fried chicken with truffle honey butter in the garden bar on evenings when the DJ comes in. Or nosh on chicken and waffles or a brunch burger on weekends while beholding the acrobatics of a live aerialist. Cocktails get the pink treatment too, like the large format Patron silver Tequila with strawberry purée that serves four for $75, or the Uptown Diva with Tito’s vodka and strawberries, which is $10 on Thursday Ladies’ Nights.

Huddle into Cafe Izmir’s intimate front porch for Mediterranean tapas, flawlessly hospitable service, and Dallas’ most garlicky hummus. Although the patio has always been covered and enclosed, it’s technically not outdoor dining, but it’s a fabulous family-owned eatery for couples and small groups who want to linger over the Turkish, Persian, Lebanese, Russian, and Greek recipes by Shahnaz Movaffagh, aka Mama Nazy, who conceded to open the restaurant for her two sons 27 years ago.

While every morsel from the Russian chicken salad to cabbage rolls to beef piroshkies packs in flavors of homemade goodness, couples on a first date might want to opt for the date night hummus with less garlic. Don’t skip the housemade saffron gelato sandwich with pistachios and wafer thins or the thick Turkish coffee for weekend party fuel.

Find more info here.

Beverley’s Bistro & Bar is a classically stylish bistro serving caviar and latkes, matzo ball soup, shakshuka, and a splendidly citrusy and crunchy chicken schnitzel. Dining in the restaurant’s lush courtyard that resembles a worldly café feels like being in the middle of a lifestyle spread. It also makes a great pre-game or finish line refreshment after a trot along the nearby Katy Trail. Inspired by owner Greg Katz’s travels to Cape Town, Tel Aviv, and New York, Beverley’s was his first restaurant after working two decades in restaurants when it opened four years ago. Whether espresso martinis or gin and tonics inspire a post-prandial nap, or a new personal best on the Fitbit, is your choice.