One of the only things I dislike about Dallas is the FOOD (Henderson: buy, contractors)

[TheOverdog]

raised in Southern CA and went to Mexico my entire life so I KNOW what good Mexican food is supposed to taste like-

So I spend 4 months a year in Southern CA, and in my opinion, the 'Mexican' food is almost exactly the same in Dallas. The differences are insanely minimal. So what are the names of all the joints I'm missing that are so authentic and so great? Location is anywhere between Laguna Beach and Granada Hills is fine distance, and I'm talking lunch places, not $20 a plate.

[jdallas]

Originally Posted by Zay24

That's the thing. I never said it wasn't good food.Its underwhelming for being the 4th largest metro.

If you rated the food in the Big 3. Each city is a 10.
Dallas is about a 7 and thats being very nice.

Dallas is not the 4th largest city. the entire DFW area is 4th 'metro area' but you only seem to reference Dallas as the metro area (which it isn't) but compare it to much larger and more dense cities.


Dallas alone is ranked between San Diego and San Jose. On those merits, I think it does pretty well in terms of shelling out cash to eat at places.


Anyway, I'm with you on the seafood but, as others mentioned, we are quite landlocked so it's irrational to expect 'right off the boat' quality. Steaks, however, are pretty great even in the average grocery store.

[LeagleEagleDFW]

Anyone who doesn't think Dallas has good Tex-Mex has never tried to the tacos nortenos at El Corazon.

[bemature9]

Dallas has pretty good food. I'd put it behind Houston and Austin (only slightly) in the state.

But still, you can find good food there, just not the breadth/variety of good food that you see in NYC, LA, Houston, Chicago, etc.

[JamesYaya]

If you can't find food in the Dallas area, then one of two things is going on. 1) You have specific tastes which means that it's just luck if its satisfied or 2) you haven't tried hard enough.

If one can't find fantastic Asian food (as in *any* kind of Asian food) in Garland, Richardson, parts of Plano and N Dallas then you aren't going to find it.

[J.Thomas]

Dallas is not a great food city OP, agreed.

And since you grew up in LA you'll have higher standards.

I would rate Chicago and NYC tied at top and LA next.

DFW area needs to have a cool factor, we're not cool

We're not talking about chains and burger joints here.

[LeavingMA]

Originally Posted by hokiepoke

Really? I must be missing out because the thing I miss the most moving away from Dallas is the food and all the variety it has: Burger joints, BBQ, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Viet, TexMex, Mediterranean...you name it. And for some reason when you order a steak in Texas, it just tastes better.

Agreed. The variety and quality of food in the Dallas area is very good. I've been to most of the major cities in the country and overall Dallas food is just as good as any place. I'm not originally from here, but I know many people always protect their home area because that is what they are used to.

[alastrian2]

Originally Posted by JamesYaya

If you can't find food in the Dallas area, then one of two things is going on. 1) You have specific tastes which means that it's just luck if its satisfied or 2) you haven't tried hard enough.

If one can't find fantastic Asian food (as in *any* kind of Asian food) in Garland, Richardson, parts of Plano and N Dallas then you aren't going to find it.

Don't forget Arlington for Vietnamese, Northwest Highway in Dallas for Korean

There is so much community diffusion, you have to search harder- but it's there. I'm also curious if the poster actually follows any food blogs- even the basic ones like Eater, Observers food blog, etc. Hell, the Taco Trail would lead to some legit Mexican versus TexMex.

[Johnhw2]

I have lived in Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Houston as well as DFW area (dare I say Plano with the two many threads issue around lol). I find Houston has the best day to day restaurants for all types of food. Dallas has better and more high end fine dining optioins. NJ and Pa both have some great restaurants but more average if not worse as heavy handed zoning keeps competiton out so the weak do survive longer. Houston's no zoning is a help to it in affordable mid market restaurants. DFW is zoning light and has a number of great middle market places just not as many as Houston in my experience. I miss great affordable seafood the most about Houston. I miss one great Italian restaurant in NYC from NJ and not much from Pa. Oklahoma is a whole other country is all I will say but Durant has a graet BBQ place now that is tops above DFW ones Ive tried now.

[RonnieinDallas]

The only thing that sucks about the Dallas food scene is the excessive use of valet parking! That's my only real gripe. I guess that's what also pressures us to buy more expensive cars

I agree with the consensus. If you can't find good food here you aren't looking hard enough or you aren't going to the right places.