The fancy dining guides pick their favorite Fort Worth restaurants: barbecue joints, taquerias, birrerias.
They’re fine — if you just landed from France.
For the rest of us, we need to know the best restaurant. Not just the best brisket.
So these might be Fort Worth’s two best restaurants right now. Write bud@star-telegram.com and tell me about yours:
The Chumley House
Years ago, classic restaurants in Fort Worth were all named “house”: the Old Swiss House, the Carriage House, Mac’s House.
Now, the best restaurant in Fort Worth might be The Chumley House.
It’s a London-style steakhouse in the Cultural District. It’s decorated like a British hunt club.
Mimi’s ice-box pie from the dessert menu at The Chumley House restaurant in Fort Worth.
Yes, the menu has plenty of steaks.
But it has also more worldly flavors: a huge beef Wellington, or a tenderloin stroganoff, or a potpie with Indian butter chicken and saag paneer, or caramelized Georges Bank sea scallops with Lebanese tabbouleh.
The desserts are worth a stop anytime: “Mimi’s” icebox pie with blackberry, or beignets with huckleberry. There’s a British Biscoff cookie trifle and of course, sticky toffee pudding.
It’s fun. Yes, it’s expensive. And yes, it’s loud.
(Try the patio.)
Chumley House opens nightly at 4:30 p.m. at 3230 Camp Bowie Blvd.; 469-960-6541, thechumleyhouse.com.
A mahogany-paneled “study” in The Chumley House restaurant in Fort Worth.
Almacén El Gallo
The best newcomer in Fort Worth might also be the best restaurant.
Almacén El Gallo is the new downtown restaurant by former Cafe Modern and Don Artemio executive Adrian Burciaga.
It’s the interior Mexico restaurant Fort Worth has wanted.
The menu is familiar, but it’s also dialed up a notch: six tacos or quesadillas, chicken in mole sauce, duck carnitas, salads and tortilla soup plus a couple of steaks with shishitos and a beef short rib.
Online commenters praise the chorizo-potato flautas, the tuna tostada and, the strawberry pavlova dessert.
El Gallo promises homestyle cooking with contemporary style.
The menu is by Michelin-star chef Rodrigo Rivera-Río of Monterrey, Mexico.
Daily lunches cost $16-$24. A new Sunday brunch menu of old favorites — red and green huevos “divorciados,” chilaquiles and enchiladas — costs $15-$22.
One big plus: El Gallo, behind 61 Osteria at 500 W. Seventh St., has free parking. It’s at street level in the driveway of the tower garage at 500 W. Sixth St.
El Gallo is open for lunch weekdays, brunch Sundays and dinner nightly; 817-937-2997, almacenelgallo.com.
More to try
Three new or newish restaurants worth your attention:
• Beren Meze & Grill House, 1216 Sixth Ave., is an elaborate Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant with a full bar, clever craft cocktails and $20 lunches.
It replaced a chef’s table restaurant four blocks east of Eighth Avenue; lunch and dinner daily, 682-232-2403, berentexas.com.
Pink Sultan red beet dip with yogurt at Beren Meze & Grill House.
• On the Rocks Italian Bistro, 135 W. Ellison St., Burleson, is a local steakhouse and wine bistro from the Benouared family, owners of the time-honored La Bistro restaurant in Hurst.
But the twist here is the addition of Dallas’ award-winning Kent Rathbun as executive chef. The whipped ricotta is a big hit. It’s open for dinner nightly; 682-214-7782, ontherocksbistro.com.
• Yindee Thai, 3950 NE Loop 820, Haltom City, is one of several fun new Asian restaurants in the H Mart shopping center.
Commenters talk about the lobster pad Thai, panang curry or khao soi coconut-curry noodles. Try a “coconut snowbend” smoothie with peanuts; serving lunch and dinner daily, 682-250-4776, yindeetx.com.
On the Rocks Italian Bistro in Burleson, Texas, has a piano bar and some equipment from cousin restaurant La Bistro Italian Grill in Hurst, Texas, as seen Sept. 8, 2026.
Shredded chicken kaphrao (in spicy Thai basil) at Yindee Thai restaurant in Haltom City, Texas, seen Sept. 12, 2026.
A mango sticky rice dessert at Yindee Thai in Haltom City, Texas, as seen Sept. 12, 2026.