Harwood District Dallas Restaurants: Where to Eat After the Closures

"In select locations, we are exploring new concepts as well as conversions to amenities that further support our existing and prospective tenants and patrons." A Harwood International spokesperson gave that line to the Dallas Observer in late August, after four Harwood Hospitality restaurants closed in Uptown almost overnight. Six weeks later, the clearest answer to what it meant sits at 2801 N. Harwood Street. Docent Steak opened there on Oct. 1, a two-story Japanese steakhouse with a certified Kobe beef program.

Harwood has removed the cheap, walk-in, after-work tier of its district and put a destination dinner in its place. For anyone who lives within walking distance, the inexpensive Harwood evening still exists. It now runs earlier in the day and from other doors.

The Four That Closed

The Observer reported that Elephant East, Poco Fiasco, Tequila Social and Dolce Riviera were all removed from Harwood Hospitality's concepts page at once, and that their Google Maps listings now show them as permanently closed. The four had opened at different points over the last decade:

• Dolce Riviera opened in 2016, closed during the pandemic and reopened in May 2022 with a refreshed dining room, a new patio and a bar called Parlor.
• Elephant East opened in 2021, recognizable from McKinnon Street by the large elephant out front.
• Poco Fiasco opened in 2022 with a pizza window, build-your-own martinis, $6 happy-hour bites and $7 to $8 cocktails.
• Tequila Social opened in summer 2023 at 3100 McKinnon Street, with a courtyard that seated 200.

Tequila Social's closing was planned well in advance. According to the Dallas Morning News and the Observer, the ground floor at 3100 McKinnon was already slated for redevelopment and the restaurant was always set to close before the World Cup. Harwood kept it open through the four weeks of matches in Dallas, and it served its last night on Friday, Aug. 21.

PaperCity counts the district as once home to around 15 culinary concepts. Ten remain after the closures, before Docent is added. In other words, about a third of the district's restaurant roster left in a single month.

What a Night Out Costs Now

The best way to read the change is by price. Poco Fiasco's happy hour served bites at $6 and cocktails at $7 or $8. At Docent, a post-opening review reported prime steaks from $72 and HWD Texas Wagyu from $85. An Oct. 6 review from Focus Daily News listed a glass of wine at $34 and a cocktail at $20.

So one cocktail at Docent costs about what two and a half Poco Fiasco happy-hour cocktails cost, a few blocks from where Poco Fiasco poured them.

Docent took a long time to arrive. The Dallas Observer described it as one of Dallas's most anticipated openings in spring 2024, before its website and social accounts went quiet for nearly two years. It is in Harwood No. 14, the Kengo Kuma-designed building, and displays more than 100 pieces from the Barbier-Mueller family's collection of art and cultural objects. The family owns Harwood International. The menu is built on HWD Beef, the group's own program, which uses Akaushi cattle from Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico ranchers and is served only at Harwood restaurants. There are several A5 Wagyu selections from Japan sold by the ounce, and a rotating Kobe flight of five cuts.

Docent's Downstairs Is the Closest Thing to the Old Patio

Docent is really two restaurants in one building, and the lower level is the part that matters most to a neighbor who misses Tequila Social. The first floor is a traditional white-tablecloth steakhouse with access to a wraparound patio. The lower level is a more relaxed bar and dining room with TVs, meant for drinks or a game. There are also private rooms that hold up to 80 guests.

That downstairs room is where Harwood now offers the game-on-a-screen evening it used to offer outdoors on McKinnon, only now under a steakhouse and with steakhouse prices for drinks. Monday through Thursday it runs 4 to 10 p.m., and Sunday 5 to 10 p.m. Pre-opening and post-opening reports give different weekend start times. Check before planning a Friday around it.

The Everyday District Now Runs on an Earlier Clock

The remaining venues still cover the low-key, any-day visit, but their hours lean toward morning and early evening. Here is how they lay out across a day, based on each venue's current listings:

Harwood Arms carries the most weight here. Its $7 bites are almost exactly where Poco Fiasco's happy hour used to be priced, and it adds modern British pub food, live music, karaoke, darts and trivia. The Observer counts it among the long-running Cedar Springs Road restaurants that have kept their place while newer openings arrive around them.

The two Hôtel Swexan rooms pick up the evening at both ends. Stillwell's holds a Michelin Guide Recommended designation, and its Cowboy Hour gives a lower-cost way into that kitchen before dinner, which runs 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Isabelle's is in the hotel lobby and is open to the public. It serves breakfast at 7 a.m., brunch on weekends, and stays open later than anything else in this lineup.

Taken together, the casual district is still there, but it no longer has a big outdoor courtyard as its center. It runs through a café at the bridge, a French bistro counter, a pub with darts, and a hotel lobby.

The Free Ticket Around the Corner From Docent

Docent's interior is built around a museum a few blocks away. The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum: The Samurai Collection holds one of the world's largest collections of samurai art, and the restaurant's sculptures, armor, and horse and cattle imagery come from that same family collection.

Admission is free with timed tickets. The museum is open Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Monday through Wednesday, and it notes that the schedule can change for installations or programs. The current exhibition, IRON MEN: The Artistry of Iron in Samurai Armor, shows more than 80 works focused on samurai ironwork. On select dates the museum also runs $40 after-hours cocktail tours that include a $25 Harwood District dining voucher. No fall dates were posted at the time of writing.

For a neighbor, the museum is the best-value way to see what Harwood is building around. Spend a Saturday afternoon on the armor, then decide whether dinner means Docent's dining room or a pint at Harwood Arms.

October Dates Within a Short Walk

Most of this month's nearby events fall just outside the district, in three places.

1. Thursday, Oct. 15, 6 to 10 p.m. MATA's Taste of the Trolley fundraiser at the Fashion Industry Gallery, with food from Uptown and downtown restaurants, an open bar, music and auctions supporting the McKinney Avenue Trolley.
2. Saturday, Oct. 24, 5 to 9 p.m. Free Trick-or-Treating in the Park at Klyde Warren Park, with costume contests and a screening of Toy Story 5.
3. Friday, Oct. 30, 6 p.m. Uptown Dallas Inc.'s 10th annual Block Party at Griggs Park, 2200 Hugo St., which also hosts free Movies in the Park on Tuesdays, Oct. 13, 20 and 27.

What Happens to the Empty Rooms

No replacements have been announced for the former Poco Fiasco, Dolce Riviera or Elephant East spaces. The Observer described plans for this part of Uptown as still underway and undetermined. The ground floor at 3100 McKinnon is slated for redevelopment, but as of late August its timing and scope had not been made public. Harwood District's own online dining directory still lists all four closed restaurants with hours. For now, the venue pages and the news coverage are a better guide than the district map.

Harwood's own statement, that some spaces may become new concepts and others "amenities" for tenants and patrons, leaves open whether the old McKinnon storefronts return as restaurants at all.

At Identity House Real Estate, we watch shifts like the Harwood District's because how a block spends its evenings shapes what it is like to own a home nearby. If you are weighing an Uptown address and want a clear picture of what is within walking distance this year, Begin Your Lifestyle Search with us.