best bars in dallas libertine bar

Dallas

Where to Get Your Drink On in the Big D

The best bars in Dallas are the ones with the best chance of meeting locals. Case in point: The Libertine Bar. (Photo: Madison Partners LLC)

When you’re parched in the Big D, you’ll find yourself faced with a collection of smaller neighborhoods boasting unique personalities and watering holes to boot. But don’t be fooled. Every bar, bartender and local has something in common: The genuine Texas hospitality you’ve always heard about. So relax, take a load off and get your drink on at some area favorites.

Rooftop Sippin’

The stars at night actually are big and bright in Texas, while you enjoy the view of Uptown from the rooftop of HG Sply Co. Sip the clean, earthy goodness of beet-infused tequila cabeza, lime, and rosemary turbinado with a Double Under and surprise your DD with a lively list of non-alcoholic cocktails. Rub elbows with the urbanite next to you and walk away with a thoughtful recommendation for farm-to-table brunch.

Join the Party, Y’all

Remember that bar you loved in college because it was always fun? That’s the Single Wide on Lower Greenville. Relive the cheap wells and beer specials of your school days but “splurge” on the Yoohoo Yehaw – consider it a rite of passage into the Dallas party scene, where you will meet doppelgängers of friends back home.

Everything Really Is Bigger

Dirty and unassuming by day, electrified by lights and a deeply rooted music scene by night, Deep Ellum will send you home in need of a shower (but with a Texas-size smile on your face). Use both hands to grab an Anvil Pub Bloody Mary, replete with skewered bacon cheeseburger slider and fixins’, while a long-time musician pulls up alongside you and tells the tales of Deep Ellum’s good old days.

Craft Heaven

Are you of the handmade, handcrafted, craft beer, jeans-and-a-T-shirt scene? Enough said. Stay true to your house brewing roots at Deep Ellum’s Braindead Brewing. Feel right at home as the young couple next to you orders snacks for the kids, while egging on Grandma and Grandpa to try the Beer Float. For your selection, keep it light with a Gritz Cream Ale or get serious with the Oatmeal Extra Stout.

Kick Up Your Spurs

This tiny corner of Big D brings together the work-hard-relax-hard set. Join these folks while they choose the perfect filter to photographically capture and ‘gram a tableful–table full, that is–of craft beer, cocktails, brunch, small plates, shared plates and sandwiches. Brace yourself for The Libertine Bar’s Que Srirach Srirach, while you bond with Lower Greenville locals over your shared need of respite from an overdose of work and one too many trips to Whole Foods.

Everyone’s Favorite Dive Bar

Only the best dive bars cause you to hesitantly seek out a “condemned” sign as you approach, while offering a hidden gem upon entry. East Dallas favorite Strangeways does not disappoint. Expect a super-chill atmosphere and rustic-meets-industrial interior fave of the aughts, enhanced by the often unexpected: The Smith’s songs on heavy rotation, a thoughtfully curated craft beer and liquor collection, and a pretension-free crowd.