6 Best Restaurants in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas

This quintessential family-run Tex-Mex joint in an old home dishes up fresh versions of all the tried-and-true favorites, including cheese enchiladas, brisket tacos, and gorditas, and rice and refried beans. It attracts a loyal crowd that relishes the quick, personable service.

Southwestern and Tex-Mex flavors rule at this lively restaurant across a busy street from the fashionable NorthPark Center. Try painted desert soup (a harmonious blend of corn chowder and black-bean soup in one bowl), beef tenderloin tacos, or goat-cheese enchiladas. The bar is a popular spot for professionals most weeknights. There's a children's menu, and brunch is served on Sunday.

This is the ultimate Tex-Mex joint. There's usually a wait for tables, but with seating for more than 1,000 in the maze of dining rooms and patio areas, the line moves quickly. Dinner is limited to two choices: an enchilada-and-taco combo plate or fajitas. Lunch offers a more traditional menu, and on weekends there are Mexican breakfast specials, including purported hangover-cure menudo (stew made with tripe, hominy, onions, and chili). Folks from all over the area drive to Fort Worth to take out-of-town guests to this lively restaurant about three blocks from the Stockyards—and often hope they'll be seated in one of many relaxing outdoor spots.

The most mouthwatering mariscos (seafood) in Dallas, particularly the fish soup, keeps local customers coming back to this relatively undiscovered restaurant in the little blue house in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. The daily lunch specials are a bargain.

If you're lucky enough to find a parking space in Mia's tiny lot, consider it a sign that you were destined to dine in this colorfully decorated restaurant with legendary status. Diehard fans have been scarfing down brisket tacos and cheese enchiladas here for more than two decades. Other favorites include pinto-bean soup, tamales, and beef chile rellenos. There's nothing relaxing about the experience—the walls are filled with a crazy mix of Christmas lights, roosters, piñatas, paper flags, and other treasures, and the waitstaff hustles to keep the crowds moving.

The food here is more Mex than Tex, but you'll still find chips and salsa (red and green) and beans and rice, though both are considerably dressier than usual. Try anything made with corn masa, including gorditas de carne deshebrada (sturdy pastry pockets stuffed with chunks of stewed beef, tomatoes, and onions) and tamale de puerco en chile rojo (two giant pork tamales). The squash-blossom soup is creamy; every spoonful yields fresh vegetables. The burnt-orange dining room is warm and cozy, and the patio is a great place for West End people-watching.