Top 20 Things That You Need To Know About Living In Dallas

Are you new to Dallas? Here are the top 20 things you need to know about living in Dallas!

1. Restaurants: Dallas has one of the best restaurant scenes in the country, and therefore the world! Here’s some “must have” spots broken down by price:

• $: Mia’s (Tex-Mex), Lucky’s Hot Chicken (Southern), Recipe Oak Cliff (Vegan), Wabi House (Ramen)
• $$: The Henry (American), Las Palmas (Tex-Mex), Pecan Lodge (BBQ), Yardbird (Southern/Brunch), Cane Rosso (Pizza/Italian)
• $$$: Al Biernat’s (Steakhouse), Fachini (Italian), Javier’s (Tex-Mex), Tei-An (Japanese/Sushi)

2. Bar Scene: The Bar Scene in Dallas is bountiful, because let’s be honest: eating and drinking is the number one thing to do in Dallas, here’s some notable bars in Dallas by category:

• The Biggest: Happiest Hour, The Rustic, Katy Trail Ice House
• Breweries: Brain Dead Brewery, Peticolas Brewery, Manhattan Beer Project Co.
• Hole in the Wall: Whippersnapper, Louie’s, Time Out Tavern

3. Notable Suburbs & Fort Worth

• West Plano/Frisco – Full of walkable areas like Legacy West, Shops at Legacy, and Frisco Crossing
• Las Colinas – Popular area for young professionals with lake views and a great running trail
• Lakewood – eclectic area with character around White Rock Lake, great for all outdoor activities around Dallas
• Addison – “Restaurant Row”, Addison is home to one of the highest concentrations of restaurants in DFW
• Ft. Worth – Ft. Worth is becoming one of the funnest areas in DFW. Not so crowded but still gives you the feel of a city. Their Museums are not to be slept on either.

4. Traffic: The Metroplex does a great job with traffic considering the nearly 8 million people who live here. It’s nice and spread out but know that 75, the Dallas North Tollway, 30, 35, and 635 are going to be heavily congested from 7-10 am and 4:00-6:30 pm.

5. How to Meet Friends:

• Meetups based on Hobby – Meetups are awesome because you choose based on what you’re interested in and get to meetup with groups of folks in DFW interested in the same thing!
• Networking Groups – There are close to 8 million people in DFW and let’s face it: it’s not because of the mountains or the beach. DFW is clearly one of the best places to work in the nation, and there are several thriving groups. Check out the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce’s YP group as a good starting point here.

6. Best Coffee Shops: Let’s be honest, the highest concentration of awesome coffee shops is in Bishop Arts, here’s a few:

• Wayward Coffee Shop
• La Reunion
• Wild Detectives (great bookstore too!)
• Tribal All Day Cafe
• La Reunion
• White Rhino
•  

For those looking outside of Bishop Arts:

• Fiction Coffee (Old East Dallas)
• Ascension Coffee (Design District & Victory Park)
• Stupid Good Coffee (Downtown)
• Merit Coffee Co. (Deep Ellum)
•  

7. Things to do Outside

• Hit an apartment pool
• Golf
• Frisbee Golf
• Hiking/Biking
• Kayaking
• Arboretum
• Hit a Patio!

8. Big 4 of Dallas Sports Teams

1. 1. Cowboys
   2. Rangers
   3. Stars
   4. Mavericks

9. Live Music

• Big Venues: Dos Equis Pavilion, Toyota Music Factory, Verizon Theatre, American Airlines, Bomb Factory
• Mid-Size/Small Venues: Trees, Club DaDa, It’ll Do, The Kessler Theater, Granada Theater, the Majestic

10. Theater

• AT&T Performing Arts Center, Kalita Humphreys Theater, Moody Performance Art Center, Dallas Theater

11. School Districts – There are 37 school districts in the DFW area. Looking for the best school district in DFW for your kids? Our Realtors® can plug you in with the best resources available to make the best decision for your family

12. Museums

• Dallas Museum of Art
• Perot Museum of Nature and Science
• Nasher Sculpture Museum
• The Modern in Ft. Worth
• George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum
• Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
• Rainbow Vomit
• Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth

13. Hiking/Biking Trails

• The Katy Trail
• White Rock Lake Trail
• Oak Cliff Nature Preserve
• Arbor Hills Nature Preserve
• Frisco Mountain Bike Trail

14. Most Walkable Neighborhoods

• Deep Ellum
• Bishop Arts
• West Village
• Uptown
• Knox/Henderson
• Lower Greenville
• Downtown

15. Weather

Dallas is one of the hottest cities in the nation. Both from a humidity standpoint and temperature. Make sure to plan pool days in the summer, and take advantage of March, April, October, and November when the weather is perfect!

16. Construction

There’s a lot of it, and it’s mostly apartment complexes! https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2020/10/24/multifamily-dallas-apartment-construction-demand.html

17. Housing Market

One of the fastest developing Multi-Family (apartment) markets in the world

Real Estate – https://www.realwealthnetwork.com/markets/dallas-texas/

18. Travel

DFW airport is one of the largest international airports in the country. The massive travel hub can get you just about anywhere, and the great part: most flights you can find direct.

Love Field is a much more convenient location for Dallasites looking to fly domestic or close to it. Right in the Medical District, it’s usually not much more than a 10 minute drive for anyone in the city. 

There’s also a few great local vacation spots around the Metroplex you can drive to. Tons of lakes for the lake enthusiast, Austin is a 3 hour drive, along with Fredericksburg (Texas Wine Country) a convenient 4 hour drive. You can even go North to Oklahoma about an hour and a half away to hit Winstar or Choctaw, some of the biggest casinos in the world.

19. Businesses

There are truly hundreds of notable large companies headquartered in DFW, but here are the top 5:

1. 1. 1. (3) Exxon Mobil (Irving)
      2. (7) McKesson (Irving)
      3. (9) AT&T (Dallas)
      4. (59) Energy Transfer Equity (Dallas) 
      5. (68) American Airlines Group (Ft. Worth)

20. Skyline/Views

• Reunion Tower
• St. Rocco’s Italian Food, Trinity Groves
• Klyde Warren Park, for a unique view in the middle of Victory Park and Downtown

There’s roughly 100k people moving to DFW every 10-12 months because of our job market. This makes competition to find a home higher and higher, so make sure to get connected with one of our highly experienced Realtors to know WHEN to lease or buy to give you the most options!