The best restaurants in Arlington, TX depend on the night you are planning. For a dinner with a view, steak and seafood on one menu and a wine list past $600 a bottle, Mercury Chophouse – Arlington sits on the ninth floor at 2221 E Lamar Blvd, about a mile from Globe Life Field, and opens at 11 AM weekdays.
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Best for what, and on which night
Arlington has two dining worlds. One is the Entertainment District core, built for crowds of more than 15 million visitors a year and dominated by high-volume rooms. The other is everything around it, where the restaurants are smaller and the pace is set by the table rather than the game clock. Which is best depends on what you need that night.
| The night | What to look for | Where Mercury fits |
|---|---|---|
| Dinner before a weeknight Rangers game | Close to the ballpark, an easy exit, a kitchen that respects a 7 PM first pitch | About 1 mile from Globe Life Field, north of the event lots |
| Client or business dinner | Quiet tables, a private room, one check | The Boardroom seats 8 to 20 with AV |
| Anniversary or proposal | A window, a sunset, music | Curved window wall; grand piano on select evenings |
| Weekday lunch | Prompt service, real food, easy parking | Lunch from 11 AM, Monday to Friday |
| Sunday family meal | Sunday hours | Not Mercury; closed Sundays |
| A quick bite on the way somewhere | Counter service, 30 minutes | Not Mercury; dinner is paced for an evening |
One menu that covers steak, seafood and the rest
Most best-restaurant arguments come down to whether everyone at the table can find something. Mercury is a steakhouse, and the steaks run from a $59 double-bone pork chop to a $210 Wagyu Long Bone Ribeye, but the menu is wider than that.
Seafood includes a seared sea bass at $57 (add jumbo lump crab and Gulf shrimp for $20 to make it Imperial), cedar plank salmon at $48 and crab cakes at $44. Off the grill there is an espresso-rubbed elk at $85, a braised bone-in short rib at $82 and a prosciutto-wrapped chicken saltimbocca at $42. Two pastas, a tortellini Bolognese at $32 and a grilled chicken pappardelle at $29, cover the lighter end. Starters open with the house signature, a Wagyu and black truffle ravioli at $34, and a Land and Sea sampler at $26 per person. The non-steak entrées page walks through the rest.
The room above the district
What sets the room apart is the vantage point. Mercury occupies the top floor of the Brookhollow Two office tower, nine stories up, and the dining room’s outer wall is glass from floor to ceiling. Sit along it at dusk and the district lights come on beneath you: the Six Flags tower, the roofline of Globe Life Field, AT&T Stadium further off.
Timing matters. In June the sun sets around 8:35 PM; in December it is down by 5:25 PM, so a 6 PM winter reservation gets the lights rather than the sunset. The view page lists sunset times by month.
The room itself is dressed for the view: white tablecloths, leather chairs, tufted booths and crystal chandeliers, with a grand piano by the windows near the bar that is played on select evenings. Ask which nights when you book, since the schedule is not published.
A bar that stands on its own
The bar is marble-topped with a full back bar and TVs, and it opens with the restaurant at 11 AM on weekdays. Seventeen house cocktails run $16 to $20; the Steakhouse Old-Fashioned at $19 is built on tallow-washed Knob Creek bourbon and rye with Fonseca port, and the MCA Smoked Manhattan at $18 arrives under smoke. Three Manhattan Project drafts from Dallas pour at $7 to $8. The cocktail list has every drink and price.
Whiskey is poured in 2 oz servings, with about 40 American labels from Buffalo Trace at $14 to Booker’s at $42, and the wine list runs from a $78 Willamette Pinot Noir to Opus One 2022 at $686, with a glass-front wine wall at the entrance to browse on the way in.
Two restaurants from one Arlington owner
Jim Ross, who moved to Arlington in 1983 and served as an Arlington police officer before law school, owns Mercury Chophouse and its sister restaurant, Hearsay – Arlington, a Prohibition-era style seafood room inside Choctaw Stadium about 0.7 mile away. Between them they answer most best-restaurant questions in the district: steak and the view at Mercury, seafood in the ballpark at Hearsay. The sister restaurant page explains when to pick which.
Where Mercury is not the answer
A best-of claim is only credible if it admits limits. Mercury is closed Sundays and opens Saturday at 4 PM for dinner only. Dress is business casual, and the host can turn away athletic wear, caps and hoodies. Parties of six or more pay a 20% gratuity, and a $25 fee applies when a composed entrée is split. None of that is a problem for the dinners in the table above. It is a problem if what you wanted was a Sunday brunch or a meal in a hurry.
One more limit: the restaurant does not publish a walk-in policy, so on a Friday or Saturday, or any night the Rangers or Cowboys are at home, book through OpenTable or call 817-381-1157 rather than assuming a table.
Book a Table
Reserve on the ninth floor at Mercury Chophouse – Arlington. Choose a date and time below, or call 817-381-1157.
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Open Monday to Thursday 11 AM to 9 PM, Friday 11 AM to 10 PM, Saturday 4 PM to 10 PM. Closed Sunday. 2221 E Lamar Blvd, Suite 910, Arlington, TX 76006.
Frequently asked questions
Which restaurant in Arlington is best for a dinner with a view of the stadiums?
Mercury Chophouse – Arlington, on the ninth floor of the Brookhollow Two tower, looks down on Globe Life Field, AT&T Stadium and the Six Flags Over Texas tower through a curved wall of floor-to-ceiling glass. Ask for the west side of the window wall if you want the sunset.
Does Mercury Chophouse serve lunch as well as dinner?
Yes, on weekdays. Lunch runs Monday through Friday from 11 AM with a $17 Chophouse Burger, a $14 club sandwich, a $24 chicken fried steak and a 6 oz center-cut filet at $54. Saturday is dinner only from 4 PM, and the restaurant is closed on Sunday.
What is a good non-steak dish at Mercury Chophouse?
The seared sea bass at $57, served with grilled asparagus, corn risotto and beurre blanc, is the best-known alternative; add crab and Gulf shrimp for $20. The espresso-rubbed elk at $85 and the prosciutto-wrapped chicken saltimbocca at $42 are the other two to consider.
Are the best restaurants in Arlington inside the Entertainment District?
Many are, and they share the district's traffic and parking on event nights. Mercury sits on E Lamar Blvd just north of the district, about a mile from Globe Life Field and 1.5 miles from AT&T Stadium, with its own garage and outdoor lot at the tower, both free.
How much should I plan to spend at one of Arlington's best restaurants?
At Mercury, dinner runs roughly $75 to $200 per person before tax and gratuity depending on the cut and the drinks. Two people sharing a starter, ordering an 8 oz filet and a hand-cut ribeye, one side, one dessert and a cocktail each will spend about $233 in total.
Is Mercury Chophouse a good choice for a large family dinner?
Yes, Monday through Saturday. Parties of six or more carry a 20% gratuity, groups of 12 or more in the dining room receive one check, and the private Boardroom seats 8 to 20 at a single long table. Semi-private seating goes to 28. Use the event inquiry form for 10 or more.