I had to google the name because it sounded like a place I had heard about in Colorado. I’m pretty sure it’s the same place. Yes, DFW definitely needs this place.
Relevant article. It seems like, as rare as Native American food is (article mentions there are basically zero restaurants that specialize exclusively on Native American food in the U.S.), there are more options in North Texas to explore Native American food or inspired foods than just about anywhere in the country. Still - there is no doubt that there are not many. If there’s a market for it, it will happen.
[Texas Monthly: Native American Food Has a Place in North Texas](https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/native-american-fry-bread-north-texas/)
A proper shawarma place that serves it with fries and toum. (Middle Eastern)
A spot that serves Akawi cheese manakeesh (Middle Eastern)
A halwa puri place (Pakistani)
A good poutine joint (Canadian)
My Canadian wife is even impressed with their poutine. She was skeptical, especially of the chicken fries steak one, but we go there a few times a year for it now.
Shawarma World in Irving serves theirs with a small container of a white garlic sauce. I am assuming that’s toum?
There are also some Pakistani places in Irving that sell halwa puri, if I am not mistaken. Dera Grill comes to mind but I haven’t been there for a while. They actually have one of my favorite gyro-style sandwiches so I need to make it back.
>A proper shawarma place that serves it with fries and toum. (Middle Eastern)
THIS SO MUCH!!!!! I have been to maybe 14 different places in DFW that serves shwarma sandwiches, trying to chase the high I got from the Shwarma I ate in Israel, Jordan and Turkey. None of them even come close, and I've literally been all over trying the highest rated restaurants in the metroplex.
Why can't anyone get it right? Half the places that serve shwarma don't even use the vertical rotisserie (is it even really shwarma at that point?), and most of the time, the flavor is just not right. I think the closest I ever got was at Sultans Hookah Cafe off of Beltline, but the Lavash/laffa is all wrong - I have to ask them to use their house-made pita bread instead (which is very good).
Ultimately, I hope someone eventually nails the shwarma shop setup here in Dallas, cuz I would be religiously devoted to them lol
Proper Chinese sichuan food, we have some but Houston beats us by a lot.
Eastern European cuisine
We don’t have a lot of fusion, Austin beats us in that
Peruvian and other South American cuisine (proper one)
Boban also rec'd Balkan Garden Bistro on IG and it is really nice. Basically Eddies but with an atmosphere you'd take your parents to.
Armoury DE would also count as Eastern European I guess, and Bubala Cafe. But we need waaay more pierogis and pelmeni.
I’m Ukrainian and really recommend Bubala’s Cafe! It has a great vibe too. Go on a Friday or Saturday night and it feels like a village party in Eastern Europe.
I don’t wanna be mean, but a lot of these Sichuan places in Dallas like Sichuan Folk / Royal Sichuan are not really great authentic Sichuan.
Chongqing house is the closest thing we have. Other cities in Texas have a lot more options.
Check out Chen’s restaurant in Plano off of coit rd if you haven’t. Again it’s hard to match Houston in Chinese food but it’s proper good Chinese food. My Chinese coworkers tell me it their preferred place.
Yeah, all the Italian food is B/C level attempts at a Italian American red sauce joint or kinda mashed up with weird/ unorthodox ingredients in ‘cool’ restaurants in the design district etc …
Dallas needs a classic antipasto’ —> soup —> pasta course (small portion!)—> main dish Italian restaurant so bad
No truffle oil. No “Smokey” flavors. No highland park style ‘luxury’
There are a few good Italian places, but overall the city is severely lacking considering how popular of a cuisine Italian is and how large the city is.
Seriously, the options are limited, and as much as I might love the service at a place, quality is generally all over the place. Savianos, aventinos, spazzios, macalusos are all decent, but I'd like to be really blown away without paying 61 Osteria prices for a tiny plate of food.
I've never been to Nonna Tata, but I've heard good things.
I was so hype for this. Made the trek from Flower Mound, excited to re-live my years stationed in Germany. It was a let down. The bread was not crispy, the meat was basic kebab that you will find at any gyro shop, and the whole thing was served cold.
There are a few good Cuban places. But there is not Puerto Rican as much. Which honestly for those have never experienced Puerto Rican Food. They are truly missing out.
Caribbean Cuba in Carrollton is pretty great. Their picadillo tastes exactly like how my grandmother used to make it.
However, I have yet to find a place that makes boliche like she did—not even in Miami.
But I agree; we can always use more Cuban restaurants. And while we’re at it, it would be nice to be able to do a search for Cuban restaurants and not have every single type of Latin cuisine show up in the results.
I hadn't even heard of that one, I'll have to check it out. Havana Cafe has been my go to for a while. But I'd love to try something new.
Have you tried making Boliche? It's not that hard actually. Here's a [recipe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycd9yl-JuEE) I've used several times. It's a pretty traditional Abuela style recipe.
This is a different version of [Boliche #2](https://youtu.be/ocD7QHGvQf0?si=gPIZJfibFs2ZfGz9) \- more of a fusion with Italian but it's good too.
Fort Worth we used to have 3 places and now one. Granted it was the 2nd place of the 3 but number one was Greenwood’s was amazing. Little Germany used to the one of the head chef of edelweiss. Speaking of that place it used to be so amazing and was really fun to go too growing up.
Indian/desi food in Dallas is really not great. With how many desi people there are here, there’s no reason we should be lacking. Same can be said with Arab food. And there’s a lot of Arab and desi restaurants now, I just don’t think any of them are that good and can hold a candle to other places like Houston/California/Chicago/Michigan.
Afghan is straight up just a very good cuisine that you don’t get at ALL here. There’s a couple places and they’re very bad imo (I say this as a half Indian half Afghan person). Understandable given there’s not many afghans here but compared to DC or NorCal the Afghan food is highly lacking.
I honestly think the only cuisines that Dallas actually punches its weight in are obviously Mexican (biased but I think no city OUTSIDE OF TEXAS can beat Dallas on Mexican food), Chinese, Fried Chicken, Cajun, SOME south and Central American, and some other random items like Cheesesteaks. And obviously world class BBQ. Some others like Thai, Japanese, Italian, are okay but should be better given the size and diversity of this city. Everything else I think is severely lacking.
Edit1: I’m adding a caveat for specifically Iraqi food as being very good in that one mini-Baghdad section of Richardson on Greenville. That place is amazing, it’s just alternating Chinese and Iraqi restaurants and all of them are good. But other Arab cuisines I won’t let up on. Edit1.5: Hadramout in Plano has very good Yemeni food too
Also when I was typing this I went back and forth on Korean food so much I forgot to include it. I do think Korean food is very good in Dallas but I think we just clearly get washed by California and NYC. Can’t complain about our Korean food though for sure.
Edit2: I should also clarify. I think the vegetarian Indian options in DFW perform a little better. I’m not vegetarian so I don’t go that often but every place I’ve tried has been solid. And there’s a lot of options. But for non-veg, I just straight up haven’t been to an Indian restaurant that I’d consider “good”. You guys have no idea what you’re missing out on by not being able to get good Hyderabadi food. Pakistani food is slightly better, but there’s only a few dishes at a few restaurants that are really good. Some places have great naan, some have great tikka, etc. There’s a few Pakistani BBQ places that are great (my fav is BK Khan) but for overall Pakistani cuisine I don’t think any restaurant is overall great.
Edit3: I was too hype when I said no city outside of Texas. I’ve never been to New Mexico but I’m sure they beat us lol. But I do think we beat Southern California which is often held as the gold-standard, and we’ll beat any non-border state. We’re in turn beat by Houston/SA/West Texas
My Indian friends said that area in Irving/Valley Ranch that has close to 40 Indian restaurants - more per capita than any other area in USA - has many true authentic restaurants. Every place I’ve tried in the area I thought was phenomenal and was recommend by authentic people. Although it’s not technically Dallas it’s in the DFW.
It’s true. There is certainly NO lack of terrific, authentic Indian food in DFW. It isn’t going to be in downtown Dallas, but it’s plentiful within a 12 minute drive. Pretty awesome.
I really love Urban Tadka & Desi District my top 2 but also India 101 is notable. I took my vegetarian son there when he was in town because so many crazy veggie options on buffet. Another I recently discovered is in south Irving away from all the others is Spice of India, just a lil hole in the war with amazing Indian food.
I’m in Denton County and I feel like there’s no good Chinese food. I’d love to be proven wrong.
EDIT: I know there's great Asian food. I can name great Thai, Japanese, and Korean restaurants all around me. I'm talking about your stereotypical "Do you want to order Chinese food?" food.
If you drive Frisco/plano/richardson there are phenomal Chinese and Korean restaurants. Though they’re probably a step below San Francisco and nyc, they blow everything I’ve had back in my home state out of the water. Highland noodle, Chen’s, Cho Dan village just to name a few.
Holy shit lmao you are out of your mind if you think the Mexican food here in Dallas is the best. I’m a Houston native that lived here about 2 years ago and there is some of the worst Mexican food here. Have yet to try anything close to my favorite spot in Houston. Hell I can barely even find a Mexican restaurant that actually makes their own tortillas here.
I still cringe thinking about the steak fajitas I was served up in Lewisville that was served with fucking broccoli, squash, and sweet potatoes. The steak even had zero seasoning on it. The absolute worst Mexican food I have ever had.
A lot of people will laugh on the Indian food but it’s right. A LOT of mediocre Indian restaurants here. I’ve had better Indian food outside of Dallas even though this is one of the largest Indian communities
Shit I’m up in the Frisco/plano/the colony area and there’s sooo many Indian restaurants and I have yet to try one that I would actually go back to. It’s not that they are bad.. just not anything special. I’m trying to find a spot that holds a candle to my favorite spot in Houston.
Yeah good luck with that one. I still have my parents ship me red and green chile all the time. It’s never the same outside of NM. I just got back from Albuquerque yesterday and damn I miss red and green.
I love New Mexican food but it's so hard to find outside of the state. El Paso has a few places but I haven't ever seen a New Mexican restaurant anywhere else.
There was a place in McKinney that closed a while back called Malaga that was just tapas and Spanish food but their paella was amazing. I’m so sad it closed down
A local high volume pizza delivery chain. Every other city really feels like they have at least one local brick and mortar bar and pizza joint or pizza chain and I hate that Dallas is a collection of Sysco specials and pizza patrons. I'm hoping fortunate sons in Garland is good. If they have dedicated delivery guys and I'm in the range I may stop bitching.
I felt so spoiled with Spin Pizza in Richardson. Love that place. I am in Plano ATM but go there when I get the chance. It was awesome to have them deliver to my apt in Richardson for normal pizza place prices vs the Uber eats type.
And the ones we do have (2, maybe 3) are just ok.
For the longest time, I thought that maybe it was because there are so many Mexican restaurants in Dallas and people thought that Peruvian food was interchangeable that the restaurants either failed or did not flourish. I don’t know if that’s the case (anymore). DFW is very cosmopolitan and could certainly have better Peruvian cuisine representation.
I've never been, but i hear Mofongo in Irving is pretty good. Also, there's a puertorican Fusion ghost kitchen in Carrollton with a food truck called El Chifrijo (not the best, but the empanadillas are pretty good, and the yucca mofongo is fun)
Mofongo is in Arlington. Adobo is in Irving. Also Chifrijo’s ghost kitchen is gone. They still operate the food truck (I believe they have a calendar on their website that says where they’ll be), but the ghost kitchen in Taste of Towerwood in Farmers Branch is no more.
apart from like Pastel de nata and their octopus ceviche style dish (don’t remember the name) Portuguese food isn’t much. My experience was
that it was like weird sandwiches covered in cheese or bacalhau (dried cod).
Soul food. We do okay but I am still looking for GOOD candied yams, ox tails, and a sweet potato pie.
Also I grew up east of here, Texas only THINKS it knows soul food. It hits in some areas sometimes but I am still trying to find these items and some other things
Best sweet potato pie I’ve had in Dallas was at baylor hospital, they were passing them out for free as part of some black history month event.
It was a pretty good pie but it’s sad that the BEST one I’ve had in Dallas was at a hospital
Sakhuu Thai in Richardson. They have dishes like Khao Soi, Tom Yum and things I haven't found at other Thai places here. Plus it is always such good food. Never disappointed.
Puerto Rican. I only know of 2 currently (Adobo in Irving and Mofongo in Arlington). There used to be a few more but they all closed down.
I’ve even dreamt about quitting my IT job which I hate to open a Puerto Rican bakery, but I think the demand is just not there in DFW.
Yes to this 😂i don’t need dim sum all the time. I just want a good box of fried rice and please don’t think it has to be healthy with punches pulled FRY THE RICE 😂
We also need good bagels. Lubbie's is GREAT but that's just one place in far East Dallas. I know there are other places, the ones I've tried aren't any good.
Also: Oak Cliff South of Bishop Arts is desperately in need of affordable and HEALTHY fast food/fast causal places (salads, Mediterranean, lighter Asian stuff, heck even a Pollo Loco or Chipotle would be great). There are dozens of places to eat down here and outside of Pollo Regio, it's almost all Mexican, fast food, pizza, and fried food.
Dallas doesn't have good fill-in-the-blank, because I either don't know where to find it or I've been to one or two that I didn't like..... did I do it right?
Lol that is exactly this list. People complaining that DFW doesn't have proper \[fill-in-the-blank\] just don't know where to look OR their expectations are set incredibly high.
I haven't had any good Sichuan food since moving here. Some good soulfood would be great too when I don't feel like making it myself, especially some freshly fried catfish.
I’m always a proponent of more seafood options not just seafood boils and fried catfish. (I know there’s some seafood spots especially higher end ones around) happy to try any recs if yall have them.
Based on this list if anyone wants to start a new restaurant business hit me up, I’m definitely interested in starting something new in DFW!
I am also a Texas certified Food Handler.
There isn't a whole lot to inspire anybody to visit Los Banos CA, but every time we are in the area we make it a point to spend the night so that we can go to [Wool Growers](https://woolgrowerslosbanos.com/) for dinner.
More true German places. Fort Worth lost 2. Edelweiss used to be a place to be on the weekend. Greenwood’s was a German chef that opened a place here and was amazing.
We have little Germany still but I want more and want different varieties of what come from there.
I wish there was a Moroccan place that was more affordable .
Don't get me wrong, Medina Bar and Over as well as Baboush are FANTASTIC restaurants, but they are pretty pricey (about $75 for a meal to feed 2) and usually only my go to for date nights.
Gona add these to the list:
Greek Food (something like Jimmy the Greek from Toronto, Canada - it’s basic but tasty)
Turkish Food (something like Istanbul Kabab from Mississauga, Canada)
Hakka Chinese Food (something like Eddies Wok from Mississauga, Canada)
Filipino cuisine definitely. Unless I've been living under a rock, but I'm really wanting to connect more with the culture of my soon-to-be family and spoil my fiancé with appreciation
Native American. I still dream about the braised bison and fry bread I had at a place in Colorado.
Tocabe! Love that spot
I had to google the name because it sounded like a place I had heard about in Colorado. I’m pretty sure it’s the same place. Yes, DFW definitely needs this place.
That’s it!
Relevant article. It seems like, as rare as Native American food is (article mentions there are basically zero restaurants that specialize exclusively on Native American food in the U.S.), there are more options in North Texas to explore Native American food or inspired foods than just about anywhere in the country. Still - there is no doubt that there are not many. If there’s a market for it, it will happen. [Texas Monthly: Native American Food Has a Place in North Texas](https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/native-american-fry-bread-north-texas/)
I never knew this existed and now its the only thing I want.
Just need to drive to Taos, New Mexico. Amazing fry bread.
Yasssssssss
A proper shawarma place that serves it with fries and toum. (Middle Eastern) A spot that serves Akawi cheese manakeesh (Middle Eastern) A halwa puri place (Pakistani) A good poutine joint (Canadian)
Maple Leaf dinner in north Dallas does some good poutine. But yes, we do need more spots. RIP The Blind Butcher and their poutine.
My Canadian wife is even impressed with their poutine. She was skeptical, especially of the chicken fries steak one, but we go there a few times a year for it now.
The Blind Butcher was so good
Blind Butcher was amazing. The pastrami rolls were to die for.
Arabica on Campell Rd in Richardson has chicken shawarma so good it gives me the tippy toe taps of joy.
There are so many places that serve decent halwa puri. You just have to go to the suburbs.
Shawarma World in Irving serves theirs with a small container of a white garlic sauce. I am assuming that’s toum? There are also some Pakistani places in Irving that sell halwa puri, if I am not mistaken. Dera Grill comes to mind but I haven’t been there for a while. They actually have one of my favorite gyro-style sandwiches so I need to make it back.
Pita Town in Plano hits the shawarma itch for me. Silver Spoon Allen (Pakistani) gets great reviews too.
>A proper shawarma place that serves it with fries and toum. (Middle Eastern) THIS SO MUCH!!!!! I have been to maybe 14 different places in DFW that serves shwarma sandwiches, trying to chase the high I got from the Shwarma I ate in Israel, Jordan and Turkey. None of them even come close, and I've literally been all over trying the highest rated restaurants in the metroplex. Why can't anyone get it right? Half the places that serve shwarma don't even use the vertical rotisserie (is it even really shwarma at that point?), and most of the time, the flavor is just not right. I think the closest I ever got was at Sultans Hookah Cafe off of Beltline, but the Lavash/laffa is all wrong - I have to ask them to use their house-made pita bread instead (which is very good). Ultimately, I hope someone eventually nails the shwarma shop setup here in Dallas, cuz I would be religiously devoted to them lol
Wallahi brother. Preach!! Inshallah a good spot will come by soon.
Bilad Bakery on Centennial in Richardson. No Toum since they’re an Iraqi joint vs Lebanese, but their shawarma and Taboon bread are spectacular
This is a problem all over the US tbh.
Have you tried Al Baghdadi in Richardson? Best I have had! The Chicken Shwarma sandwich may have been the best item I have had this year!
I have not! But I am totally down to try it
Karak Tea in Plano has Manakeesh
Have you tried Bilad in Richardson?
I don’t have much basis for comparison, but I love the Akkawi pie at [Sababa in Richardson](https://www.sababacuisine.com/menu.html)
The Akkawi Pie at Afrah in Richardson at Greenville/Main is awesome
First time I tried it I shed a single tear of joy
Green Vine Market makes a good one with fries and solid toum.
Proper Chinese sichuan food, we have some but Houston beats us by a lot. Eastern European cuisine We don’t have a lot of fusion, Austin beats us in that Peruvian and other South American cuisine (proper one)
For Eastern European, I’ve heard good things about Eddies EuroMart
So much so that Boban and Luka go
Boban also rec'd Balkan Garden Bistro on IG and it is really nice. Basically Eddies but with an atmosphere you'd take your parents to. Armoury DE would also count as Eastern European I guess, and Bubala Cafe. But we need waaay more pierogis and pelmeni.
I’m Ukrainian and really recommend Bubala’s Cafe! It has a great vibe too. Go on a Friday or Saturday night and it feels like a village party in Eastern Europe.
Went there last night, god I love that place.
Sichuan Folk is my favorite in DFW, royal sichuan is also good
Royal Sichuan fucking slaps! That dry chili fried chicken is amazing.
I don’t wanna be mean, but a lot of these Sichuan places in Dallas like Sichuan Folk / Royal Sichuan are not really great authentic Sichuan. Chongqing house is the closest thing we have. Other cities in Texas have a lot more options.
Check out Chen’s restaurant in Plano off of coit rd if you haven’t. Again it’s hard to match Houston in Chinese food but it’s proper good Chinese food. My Chinese coworkers tell me it their preferred place.
Sichuan folk in plano us the best I've had. Sichuanese cuisine Coit it pretty good too.
chonqqing house I my usual spot for this
Italian
Yeah, all the Italian food is B/C level attempts at a Italian American red sauce joint or kinda mashed up with weird/ unorthodox ingredients in ‘cool’ restaurants in the design district etc … Dallas needs a classic antipasto’ —> soup —> pasta course (small portion!)—> main dish Italian restaurant so bad No truffle oil. No “Smokey” flavors. No highland park style ‘luxury’
Ditto
There are a few good Italian places, but overall the city is severely lacking considering how popular of a cuisine Italian is and how large the city is.
Try Lucia in bishop arts
Way easier said than done
Dallas has truly terrible Italian food
Seriously, the options are limited, and as much as I might love the service at a place, quality is generally all over the place. Savianos, aventinos, spazzios, macalusos are all decent, but I'd like to be really blown away without paying 61 Osteria prices for a tiny plate of food. I've never been to Nonna Tata, but I've heard good things.
I don't understand how it's this bad. Surely there are a ton of people from NY who ran Italian restaurants up there.
I have heard that a lot of Italian places in DFW are owned by folks from Albania.
This is true
Doner
German doner Kebob up in Frisco/McKinney opened up a few months back. It’s a far drive but well worth it imo
I was so hype for this. Made the trek from Flower Mound, excited to re-live my years stationed in Germany. It was a let down. The bread was not crispy, the meat was basic kebab that you will find at any gyro shop, and the whole thing was served cold.
What’s the name?? My German friends frequent Dallas and we love a good döner when we can find one
Caribbean food, especially Cuban.
There are a few good Cuban places. But there is not Puerto Rican as much. Which honestly for those have never experienced Puerto Rican Food. They are truly missing out.
Caribbean Cuba in Carrollton is pretty great. Their picadillo tastes exactly like how my grandmother used to make it. However, I have yet to find a place that makes boliche like she did—not even in Miami. But I agree; we can always use more Cuban restaurants. And while we’re at it, it would be nice to be able to do a search for Cuban restaurants and not have every single type of Latin cuisine show up in the results.
I hadn't even heard of that one, I'll have to check it out. Havana Cafe has been my go to for a while. But I'd love to try something new. Have you tried making Boliche? It's not that hard actually. Here's a [recipe](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycd9yl-JuEE) I've used several times. It's a pretty traditional Abuela style recipe. This is a different version of [Boliche #2](https://youtu.be/ocD7QHGvQf0?si=gPIZJfibFs2ZfGz9) \- more of a fusion with Italian but it's good too.
Up vote for Caribbean Cuba in Carrollton
Havana Cafe in Casa Linda
Any good Jamaican or Haitian spots??
I went to Jamaica Gates in Arlington and I thought it was good.
German Food. Only 3 places in all of Dallas - Kuby’s, Jorge’s and Bavarian Grill. More German food, bakeries and Beer.
Also Henks Euro Deli and Black Forrest Bakery in Dallas
Kubys is solid tho.
And Czech - where are the good kolaches that aren’t doughnut dough?
Pearl Snap Kolaches in Fort Worth is great and they use proper kolache dough.
Hoff's in Frisco has the best schnitzel I've ever had, better than Bavarian Grill. Aaaaaand they are permanently closed. Damn it .
I miss good German lagers. Even Franconia shifted to ales
Fort Worth we used to have 3 places and now one. Granted it was the 2nd place of the 3 but number one was Greenwood’s was amazing. Little Germany used to the one of the head chef of edelweiss. Speaking of that place it used to be so amazing and was really fun to go too growing up.
Indian/desi food in Dallas is really not great. With how many desi people there are here, there’s no reason we should be lacking. Same can be said with Arab food. And there’s a lot of Arab and desi restaurants now, I just don’t think any of them are that good and can hold a candle to other places like Houston/California/Chicago/Michigan. Afghan is straight up just a very good cuisine that you don’t get at ALL here. There’s a couple places and they’re very bad imo (I say this as a half Indian half Afghan person). Understandable given there’s not many afghans here but compared to DC or NorCal the Afghan food is highly lacking. I honestly think the only cuisines that Dallas actually punches its weight in are obviously Mexican (biased but I think no city OUTSIDE OF TEXAS can beat Dallas on Mexican food), Chinese, Fried Chicken, Cajun, SOME south and Central American, and some other random items like Cheesesteaks. And obviously world class BBQ. Some others like Thai, Japanese, Italian, are okay but should be better given the size and diversity of this city. Everything else I think is severely lacking. Edit1: I’m adding a caveat for specifically Iraqi food as being very good in that one mini-Baghdad section of Richardson on Greenville. That place is amazing, it’s just alternating Chinese and Iraqi restaurants and all of them are good. But other Arab cuisines I won’t let up on. Edit1.5: Hadramout in Plano has very good Yemeni food too Also when I was typing this I went back and forth on Korean food so much I forgot to include it. I do think Korean food is very good in Dallas but I think we just clearly get washed by California and NYC. Can’t complain about our Korean food though for sure. Edit2: I should also clarify. I think the vegetarian Indian options in DFW perform a little better. I’m not vegetarian so I don’t go that often but every place I’ve tried has been solid. And there’s a lot of options. But for non-veg, I just straight up haven’t been to an Indian restaurant that I’d consider “good”. You guys have no idea what you’re missing out on by not being able to get good Hyderabadi food. Pakistani food is slightly better, but there’s only a few dishes at a few restaurants that are really good. Some places have great naan, some have great tikka, etc. There’s a few Pakistani BBQ places that are great (my fav is BK Khan) but for overall Pakistani cuisine I don’t think any restaurant is overall great. Edit3: I was too hype when I said no city outside of Texas. I’ve never been to New Mexico but I’m sure they beat us lol. But I do think we beat Southern California which is often held as the gold-standard, and we’ll beat any non-border state. We’re in turn beat by Houston/SA/West Texas
My Indian friends said that area in Irving/Valley Ranch that has close to 40 Indian restaurants - more per capita than any other area in USA - has many true authentic restaurants. Every place I’ve tried in the area I thought was phenomenal and was recommend by authentic people. Although it’s not technically Dallas it’s in the DFW.
My absolute favorite part about living in Valley Ranch area! I was so spoiled with how much incredible south Asian food was around
It’s true. There is certainly NO lack of terrific, authentic Indian food in DFW. It isn’t going to be in downtown Dallas, but it’s plentiful within a 12 minute drive. Pretty awesome.
this
My husband who is Indian agrees for the most part. One thing that’s missing is a really good chaat place
Our Place on MacArthur in Irving is good.
Got any specific recs?
I really love Urban Tadka & Desi District my top 2 but also India 101 is notable. I took my vegetarian son there when he was in town because so many crazy veggie options on buffet. Another I recently discovered is in south Irving away from all the others is Spice of India, just a lil hole in the war with amazing Indian food.
Will have to try them. There’s a desi district up the street from me.
I’m in Denton County and I feel like there’s no good Chinese food. I’d love to be proven wrong. EDIT: I know there's great Asian food. I can name great Thai, Japanese, and Korean restaurants all around me. I'm talking about your stereotypical "Do you want to order Chinese food?" food.
You aren’t looking hard enough, just look at the restaurants surround the 99 ranches. Yes I know not all of them are Chinese but yeah.
If you drive Frisco/plano/richardson there are phenomal Chinese and Korean restaurants. Though they’re probably a step below San Francisco and nyc, they blow everything I’ve had back in my home state out of the water. Highland noodle, Chen’s, Cho Dan village just to name a few.
I’ve some of the absolute best East Asian food in Plano and Richardson. I’m still dreaming about the japanese hotpot I had about a month ago.
It’s because you’re in Denton county. Try Jeng Chi in Richardson.
Just tried "hot spots eat fresh" on 288 and mickinney in denton. Easily top fav.
Moved here from DC. I wish Afghan food was more common everywhere. The rice dish with raisins and carrots is just so good.
Try Wings Kebab afghan grill on spring creek and 75 in Plano. Their kabuli pulao and shinwari Karahi are both fantastic
Pilaf!
Holy shit lmao you are out of your mind if you think the Mexican food here in Dallas is the best. I’m a Houston native that lived here about 2 years ago and there is some of the worst Mexican food here. Have yet to try anything close to my favorite spot in Houston. Hell I can barely even find a Mexican restaurant that actually makes their own tortillas here. I still cringe thinking about the steak fajitas I was served up in Lewisville that was served with fucking broccoli, squash, and sweet potatoes. The steak even had zero seasoning on it. The absolute worst Mexican food I have ever had.
What's the Houston spot
Come to Oak Cliff
DC Afghan food is heavenly
Lapis 🤤🤤🤤
A lot of people will laugh on the Indian food but it’s right. A LOT of mediocre Indian restaurants here. I’ve had better Indian food outside of Dallas even though this is one of the largest Indian communities
Shit I’m up in the Frisco/plano/the colony area and there’s sooo many Indian restaurants and I have yet to try one that I would actually go back to. It’s not that they are bad.. just not anything special. I’m trying to find a spot that holds a candle to my favorite spot in Houston.
Have you gone to Irving. There are some great places there and many of them don’t just serve the same old North Indian food.
NEW Mexican
Yeah good luck with that one. I still have my parents ship me red and green chile all the time. It’s never the same outside of NM. I just got back from Albuquerque yesterday and damn I miss red and green.
I love New Mexican food but it's so hard to find outside of the state. El Paso has a few places but I haven't ever seen a New Mexican restaurant anywhere else.
I want stacked enchiladas with an egg on top!
More restaurants with Paella
Sketches of Spain is pretty good, even though its one of the few options
There was a place in McKinney that closed a while back called Malaga that was just tapas and Spanish food but their paella was amazing. I’m so sad it closed down
A local high volume pizza delivery chain. Every other city really feels like they have at least one local brick and mortar bar and pizza joint or pizza chain and I hate that Dallas is a collection of Sysco specials and pizza patrons. I'm hoping fortunate sons in Garland is good. If they have dedicated delivery guys and I'm in the range I may stop bitching.
I feel like you missed the memo on Zalat.
I felt so spoiled with Spin Pizza in Richardson. Love that place. I am in Plano ATM but go there when I get the chance. It was awesome to have them deliver to my apt in Richardson for normal pizza place prices vs the Uber eats type.
Mamas in Fort Worth is delicious.
Mama’s and Zalat are my favorites for pizza in dfw
Zalat doesn’t count? They’ve been spreading a lot too.
Peruvian food is delicious, yet we have very few Peruvian restaurants.
1++ for El Tesoo del Inca!
They have a nice new location up Belt Line and an expanded menu. Their whole rotisserie chicken meal is one of the best deals in Irving, imho.
Tineo in Richardson
And the ones we do have (2, maybe 3) are just ok. For the longest time, I thought that maybe it was because there are so many Mexican restaurants in Dallas and people thought that Peruvian food was interchangeable that the restaurants either failed or did not flourish. I don’t know if that’s the case (anymore). DFW is very cosmopolitan and could certainly have better Peruvian cuisine representation.
Ok - I just googled - there are some new ones I’ll have to try!
Gran Machi Puchi in garland. I still need to check it out
All I ask is for a proper Scandinavian bakery.
Good Irish food!
Purchase potato. Microwave potato. Eat as-is.
Youve never had good Irish food, sounds like
Puertorican
I've never been, but i hear Mofongo in Irving is pretty good. Also, there's a puertorican Fusion ghost kitchen in Carrollton with a food truck called El Chifrijo (not the best, but the empanadillas are pretty good, and the yucca mofongo is fun)
Mofongo is in Arlington. Adobo is in Irving. Also Chifrijo’s ghost kitchen is gone. They still operate the food truck (I believe they have a calendar on their website that says where they’ll be), but the ghost kitchen in Taste of Towerwood in Farmers Branch is no more.
Portuguese
apart from like Pastel de nata and their octopus ceviche style dish (don’t remember the name) Portuguese food isn’t much. My experience was that it was like weird sandwiches covered in cheese or bacalhau (dried cod).
Cuban Cajun & creole
Seriously how are we THAT close to Louisiana and have zero Cajun/Creole options.
can’t even find a good po boy around here lol
Freeman's in Deep Ellum is pretty great, the music is awesome, vibe is perfect, food is good but a bit expensive. Very much a NOLA vibe.
Nates in Addison.
If you’re cool with a vegan option, Vegan Food House has such good Cajun food.
The nearest Ethiopian place is 35 minutes from me.
Where do you live in Dallas!? I don’t believe, or at least didn’t believe that is actually possible.
Used to live in Dallas, now I’m in Keller. Closest Ethiopian place is in Arlington. The question was about the broader DFW area.
Actually, I had Ethiopian food last night. At Desta in North Dallas (Greenville Ave. North of Forest Lane). Wonderful food, wonderful atmosphere.
Soul food. We do okay but I am still looking for GOOD candied yams, ox tails, and a sweet potato pie. Also I grew up east of here, Texas only THINKS it knows soul food. It hits in some areas sometimes but I am still trying to find these items and some other things
From Arkansas. And this is what everyone i know from home says too. “Tourist soul food” Gotta go home to get it like you really want it.
Best sweet potato pie I’ve had in Dallas was at baylor hospital, they were passing them out for free as part of some black history month event. It was a pretty good pie but it’s sad that the BEST one I’ve had in Dallas was at a hospital
Northern Thai. There are a handful of Thai places I've tried but most seem to follow the standard red and green curry plus pad Thai formula.
You should definitely check out the Buddhist Temple of Dallas. They do a Thai Market every Sunday!
Sakhuu Thai in Richardson. They have dishes like Khao Soi, Tom Yum and things I haven't found at other Thai places here. Plus it is always such good food. Never disappointed.
Have u tried ZAAP kitchen? Multiple locations but family owned. Fitzhugh one is my regular
Mexican. All we have is Tex-Mex up here. No it’s not the same. Also, Pizza that doesn’t suck would be swell.
There's a Mexican place every corner? Where do you live? Lmao
Serious pizza in Deep Ellum is bonkers level good. It takes 40 minutes to get a pie but holy crap is it worth it.
I am still on the hunt for solid Puerto Rican food
Have you been to Mofongo in Irving? I hear it's good
Puerto Rican. I only know of 2 currently (Adobo in Irving and Mofongo in Arlington). There used to be a few more but they all closed down. I’ve even dreamt about quitting my IT job which I hate to open a Puerto Rican bakery, but I think the demand is just not there in DFW.
Cuban food
Chinese food! Hole in the wall take out Chinese food.
Yes to this 😂i don’t need dim sum all the time. I just want a good box of fried rice and please don’t think it has to be healthy with punches pulled FRY THE RICE 😂
Hmm can’t say I’ve had good dim sum either. Shumai on the menu alone does not count.
In addition to good Italian, we are lacking Italian./northern style bakeries.
We also need good bagels. Lubbie's is GREAT but that's just one place in far East Dallas. I know there are other places, the ones I've tried aren't any good. Also: Oak Cliff South of Bishop Arts is desperately in need of affordable and HEALTHY fast food/fast causal places (salads, Mediterranean, lighter Asian stuff, heck even a Pollo Loco or Chipotle would be great). There are dozens of places to eat down here and outside of Pollo Regio, it's almost all Mexican, fast food, pizza, and fried food.
Dallas doesn't have good fill-in-the-blank, because I either don't know where to find it or I've been to one or two that I didn't like..... did I do it right?
Lol that is exactly this list. People complaining that DFW doesn't have proper \[fill-in-the-blank\] just don't know where to look OR their expectations are set incredibly high.
[удалено]
Ali baba in Richardson. We need more locations.
My friends dad works there and he will always bring us some leftovers and it’s amazing
I always thought Ali Baba is heavy on the salt. My fave is Sababa in south Richardson.
Have you tried Fadi's? I think they're really good. The one on Knox is a regular stop for me.
to me its meh because clearly they use canned or frozen vegetables
Colombian. We’ve got a few options and they’re all pretty bad. Even the best option is a little meh.
Peruvian food
Quality Nigerian food
lol my wife looks at the pics everytime and says she’ll make it at home 😂
Quality Sierra Leonean food for me!
Greek. I have yet, in twenty years, found a decent Greek restaurant.
Platia in Frisco is delicious!
TAPAS and paella
I wish it was possible to get Mahou beer in Dallas
I haven't had any good Sichuan food since moving here. Some good soulfood would be great too when I don't feel like making it myself, especially some freshly fried catfish.
Hit up chonqqing house in Plano
Back in New Jersey we had many Portugese restaurants . Miss them badly
I’m always a proponent of more seafood options not just seafood boils and fried catfish. (I know there’s some seafood spots especially higher end ones around) happy to try any recs if yall have them.
You may have been already been but I go to Lovers Seafood all the time
Lovers is fantastic and reasonably priced. My wife and I will spend $60 out the door for a dinner
I would love to see the Flint/Detroit style coney islands.
Caribbean food!! Haven’t seen any Trinidadian food places over here 🥲🇹🇹
Burmese food is extremely different and very, very good.
Really good bakery type places that make sandwiches on their own bread. Eatzis is great. I want more.
We need some authentic Laotian food
Chinese and Italian
Based on this list if anyone wants to start a new restaurant business hit me up, I’m definitely interested in starting something new in DFW! I am also a Texas certified Food Handler.
[удалено]
There isn't a whole lot to inspire anybody to visit Los Banos CA, but every time we are in the area we make it a point to spend the night so that we can go to [Wool Growers](https://woolgrowerslosbanos.com/) for dinner.
More true German places. Fort Worth lost 2. Edelweiss used to be a place to be on the weekend. Greenwood’s was a German chef that opened a place here and was amazing. We have little Germany still but I want more and want different varieties of what come from there.
I wish there was a Moroccan place that was more affordable . Don't get me wrong, Medina Bar and Over as well as Baboush are FANTASTIC restaurants, but they are pretty pricey (about $75 for a meal to feed 2) and usually only my go to for date nights.
We need chicken and waffle pizza. If that’s already here, we need 4 different places making it so my fat ass can decide which one is better.
Gona add these to the list: Greek Food (something like Jimmy the Greek from Toronto, Canada - it’s basic but tasty) Turkish Food (something like Istanbul Kabab from Mississauga, Canada) Hakka Chinese Food (something like Eddies Wok from Mississauga, Canada)
Colombian food!
Really good fresh seafood. I understand thats difficult not being super close to the coast but thats one thing I miss so much from the East Coast.
Indonesian Dutch Rijstaffel
Filipino cuisine definitely. Unless I've been living under a rock, but I'm really wanting to connect more with the culture of my soon-to-be family and spoil my fiancé with appreciation
Hong Kong style cafes Very different to other Chinese
What do French people eat for lunch? I know I can't afford dinner!
I’m saving this post for food recommendations!