The owners of North Texas burger joint Fred’s Texas Cafe have opened a new restaurant in Crowley, a town about 15 miles south of downtown Fort Worth, near Burleson.
This company started in 1978, serving burgers and fries in a dive on Currie Street in Fort Worth. The original restaurant closed after 43 years — a tough move, co-owner Quincy Wallace told The Dallas Morning News in 2021 — but its burgers lived on.
Fred’s continues slinging chili, chicken-fried steak, cheeseburgers and cold beer at two addresses in Fort Worth.
The new Crowley restaurant, which opened Feb. 3, 2026, is the third in the fleet. It marks the first time the company has moved outside of Fort Worth in its nearly 50-year history.
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When a new Fred’s Texas Cafe opened in Fort Worth in 2022, the owners brought over art from the original restaurant.
Lola Gomez / Staff Photographer
The restaurant has always exuded old-school charm, even as it grew across Tarrant County. In Crowley, the corner spot Fred’s took over was a former general store and post office, then a farm store in the early 1900s.
There’s a green chuck wagon parked in the middle of the dining room, an artifact important to Wallace and Terry Chandler, who is the son of the original Fred’s owners. Both are chuck wagon cooks.
The restaurant, newly renovated, has room for 220 people inside and 60 people on the coming-soon patio. The mayor called the Tarrant County restaurant “a Texas institution.”
“We are thrilled that Fred’s has chosen Crowley as part of its next chapter and honored to welcome this beloved brand into the heart of our downtown,” Mayor Bill Davis said in a statement.
While Fred’s Texas Cafe is known for its burgers, the menu is lengthy and includes tacos, chili, chicken-fried steak and even a “salad burger.”
Fred’s Texas Cafe
Though the restaurant has been a staple in Fort Worth for years, Wallace said customers come “from all over the country and the world.” Fred’s was featured on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2009 and on Triple D Nation in 2024.
Customers often ask for a dish filmed on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives more than 15 years ago, the chipotle brown butter rib-eye. It’s not on the menu, but Wallace recommends the restaurant’s popular Diablo burger instead. Similar to the steak Fieri ate, Chipotle peppers are sauteed in brown butter and served atop a burger with grilled onions.
Fred’s Texas Cafe is at 101 Magnolia St., Crowley. The other locations are at 7101 Camp Bowie West Blvd. and 2730 Western Center, both in Fort Worth.