Upscale Bar with a View in Arlington, TX

Book a table · Private dining · See the menu

What the bar looks like

Most bars in the Arlington Entertainment District are at street level, inside a stadium or a hotel. The bar at Mercury Chophouse – Arlington is on the top floor of the Brookhollow Two office tower, Suite 910, and the difference is the window. The counter is marble, the back bar is full and lit, screens hang above it, and a few steps away a grand piano sits against the curved wall of floor-to-ceiling glass.

From that glass the whole district is laid out: the Six Flags tower about 1 mile off, Globe Life Field, AT&T Stadium about 1.5 miles away, Hurricane Harbor along Lamar. The sun sets behind all of it to the west and southwest, around 8:35 PM in July, 7:35 PM in September and 5:40 PM in January, and the bar is the best seat in the building for it because nobody has to wait for a window table. A glass-front wine wall stands behind the hostess stand, with the bar directly behind it.

What is poured

The cocktails page prices all seventeen house drinks and the whiskey page lists the shelf; rum, cognac and amaro are on the book as well.

Hours, and the absence of a happy hour

The bar keeps the dining room’s schedule. It opens at 11:00 AM Monday through Friday with the lunch menu, runs through dinner, and closes at 9:00 PM Monday through Thursday and 10:00 PM on Friday. Saturday it opens at 4:00 PM and closes at 10:00 PM. Sunday it is closed.

There is no published happy hour and no advertised drink discount, so the printed prices are what you pay at 4:30 on a Tuesday and at 9:30 on a Saturday. What changes by the hour is the light, not the bill. The happy hour page says the same thing at more length for anyone who searched for one.

The game on the screens, the stadium out the window

The TVs above the back bar carry sports, and the arrangement is unusual: you can watch the Rangers on the screen while Globe Life Field, where the game is being played, sits in the window a mile away. Cowboys home games fall mostly on Sundays, when the restaurant is closed, so the bar’s football nights are Thursday and Monday games and the Saturday dates.

For a private version, The Boardroom seats 8 to 20 at one long table with a fully integrated AV system and a large screen, and semi-private arrangements go up to 28; inquiries through the event inquiry form are answered within 48 hours. The watch-the-game page explains both options.

What to eat at the bar

The starter list is the natural bar order: Filet Mignon Cigars at $17, Chophouse Calamari at $17, the MCA Shrimp Cocktail at $19, Savory Meatballs at $18, and the Signature Wagyu & Black Truffle Ravioli at $34 for a guest who wants the kitchen’s showpiece with a Manhattan. Hand-Cut Fries at $11, or $13 with truffle oil and Parmesan, and the Mac-n-Cheese at $15 are the sides that travel to a bar stool.

At weekday lunch the Chophouse Burger at $17 and the Marinated Steak Sandwich at $19 come with steak fries, a small salad or a cup of soup, which is how a working lunch at the bar usually goes. The restaurant does not publish whether the full dinner menu is served at the bar itself; ask the host when you arrive.

Dress code, parking and the elevator ride

The bar follows the restaurant’s business casual code. Unripped jeans and collared shirts are fine; graphic T-shirts, baseball caps, beanies, hoodies, athletic wear and flip-flops are not, and the staff can decline entry over it. That is part of what keeps the room the way it is on a game night, when the rest of the district is in jerseys.

A free garage and outdoor lot are at the tower, and the elevator from the lobby goes straight to the ninth floor. Because 2221 E Lamar Blvd sits north of the stadium lots rather than inside them, leaving after the last drink is quicker than from the district core. Live piano plays on select evenings; the restaurant does not post a schedule, so call 817-381-1157 to ask which nights.