Holiday dining

Best Fort Worth restaurants open for Christmas 2021 dining in or to-go

Leave the cooking to someone else this Christmas.

Photo courtesy of Blue Mesa

Families and friends are choosing to gather again in 2021, and it shows. Reservations are going fast for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dining, but many restaurants have kept the family meal to-go option that was so popular in 2020. Here’s where to let someone else do the Christmas cooking this year in Fort Worth, whether dining in or ordering for pick-up.

97 West Kitchen & Bar
The Hotel Drover restaurant will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to serve a four-course, Texas-inspired menu. Highlights includes buttermilk fried quail Johnny cakes, lobster bisque, black angus beef tenderloin with lump crab, Cornish hen with fingerling potatoes, and bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Prices vary per choice of main course and range from $79 to $94 per person. Children 6-12 are $28. Dinner will be offered from 4-10 pm both days.

Bacchus Kitchen + Bar
The Grapevine dining destination inside Hotel Vin will serve a four-course feast featuring salad, chestnut bisque, prime rib roast with potato pave and petite vegetables, and spiced chocolate mousse with ginger cream. The meal is $85 per person, with an option to add wine pairings. Seating times are at 5 and 6:30 pm both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

B&B Butchers & Restaurant
The super festive Shops at Clearfork steakhouse is offering an impressive a la carte takeout menu with items ranging from ready-to-bake beef Wellington with foie gras and mushroom duxelles ($425), to roasted prime rib with whipped potatoes and Yorkshire pudding ($650 for whole, $325 for a half). There are also a la carte sides and hors d’oeuvres to-go, including that famous bacon. Place orders with 48 hours’ notice. Or dine in on Christmas Eve and enjoy Christmas carolers during brunch or dinner.

Blue Mesa Southwest Grill
Ready-to-heat Christmas dinner family packs ($130, feeds four to six) include festive cheese enchiladas with red and green sauce along with glazed ham, cinnamon-roasted butternut squash, corncakes, green beans, salad, green chile potatoes, coconut lime tres leches cake, and even a treat for Christmas morning: French toast bread pudding. Order online by December 21 for pick-up December 23-24. For those who wish to dine in, Blue Mesa will be open Christmas Eve and closed Christmas Day.

Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine
The deadline is quick (Thursday, December 16) to order Christmas dinner to-go from Bonnell’s. All items will be ready for pick-up Thursday, December 23 with reheating instructions. Meals range from a whole beef tenderloin dinner for eight ($450) to a pepper-crusted buffalo tenderloin with whiskey cream sauce for eight ($525). Both meals come with house salad, two sides, and a dozen rolls. Or choose from several a la carte sides and desserts like bourbon-buttermilk pie. Bonnell’s will be closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse
The downtown steakhouse will be open at 3 pm both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, serving its normal menu along with a prix-fixe three-course menu ($77 per person) of prime rib, choice of lobster bisque or salad, and pecan pie or butter cake for dessert.

Eatzi’s Market & Bakery
The grab-and-go market will load up on Christmas spread favorites like lobster mac and cheese, mini jumbo lump crab cakes, orange bourbon vanilla glazed ham, bacon-chipotle roasted turkey breast, and smoked Wagyu prime rib roast. Don’t forget dessert, like mocha buche de noel, bourbon pecan pie, and Christmas cookies. All orders must be placed by December 23. Eatzi’s will be closed on Christmas Day.

Omni Fort Worth
The downtown hotel is bringing back its family-friendly Christmas Day brunch buffet. Visit for a smorgasbord of carpaccio, charcuteries, eggs to order, chilled seafood display, coffee-rubbed beef roast, redfish with crawfish gastrique, Christmas yule logs, mince meat pies, and more. The buffet is $70 for adults and $40 for children 6-12. Seating is available every half-hour from 11 am-3 pm.

Toro Toro
The Latin steakhouse inside the Worthington Renaissance Hotel will serve a three-course Christmas dinner featuring roasted prime rib, pork tamales, chorizo and cornbread pudding, and Café de Olla flan. The menu is $65 per person and will be served from 4-10 pm.

Il Modo
The Italian restaurant on the ground level of the Kimpton Harper hotel downtown will host an Italian Christmas Eve tradition: Feast of the Seven Fishes. The five-course dinner will include fried calamari, artichoke crab salad, seafood broth with lobster, shrimp and mussels, linguini with branzino and clams, and tiramisu. The dinner is $68 per person and seating times are 5, 7, and 9 pm.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House
The fine dining steakhouse chain is offering a holiday feast ($195, serves four) that comes with roasted beef tenderloin with horseradish cream, choice of salad, garlic mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, and four personal chocolate cakes — all served hot and ready-to-eat. Holiday sides to-go start at $27.95 and can be picked up hot or chilled with reheating instructions. Must be ordered 48 hours in advance. Ruth’s Chris will be open Christmas Eve and all day starting at 11 am on Christmas Day.

Silver Fox
The high-end steakhouse will be open Christmas Eve from 5 – 8 pm serving its tradition menu, but for those who wish to dine at home, there’s a beef tenderloin family pack ($200, feeds three to four) available to-go. The pack comes with sliced beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and creamed corn. Order on or before December 24. Silver Fox will be closed Christmas Day.

Wicked Butcher
The Sinclair Hotel restaurant downtown will serve their normal menu on Christmas Day along with a la carte specials, including butternut squash soup ($12), rack of lamb with chipotle glaze and sweet potato and porcini mushroom gravy ($48) and pumpkin cheesecake ($12). The restaurant will be open from 11 am – 9 pm.

dinner lists holidays

Hottest headlines of 2024

The top 10 restaurant stories that Fort Worth devoured most in 2024

Courtesy photo

Three savory pancakes from A Taste of Europe.

Editor's note: Fort Worth readers were hungry for dining news in 2024. Which stories did they savor the most? News of a Guy Fieri-approved restaurant in Arlington facing closure; buzzy new Italian, burger, and chicken eateries; and Fort Worth's first H-E-B store topped the list. There was also the chance to vote for the city's best new restaurant, a new concept from McDonald's, and more.

Here are the 10 most-read restaurant stories of 2024 in Fort Worth:

1. Arlington restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives to close. A restaurant in Arlington that got the Guy Fieri bump announced it was closing: A Taste of Europe, the long-running, European-inspired restaurant in Arlington that was featured on an episode of the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, said they would close in August. After receiving an outpouring of support from local diners, however, co-owner and chef Daniel Tsalko said they would work to keep the restaurant alive; it would still close August 18 so repairs could be made to the building, but then would reopen in November.

2. 16 best new restaurants in Fort Worth compete for 2024 Tastemaker Award. The 2024 CultureMap Fort Worth Tastemaker Awards category for Best New Restaurant doubled in size from 2023, this year drawing 16 nominees. Best New Restaurant annually is the only category where readers decide who wins, in a fun bracket-style format. Plank Seafood Provisions took home the 2024 trophy.

3. Buzzy new burger joint is tucked inside Fort Worth convenience store. A Fort Worth chef has resurrected a convenience-store dine-in restaurant in the Fairmount area where he’s specializing in one of the city’s favorite cuisines: burgers. Ray’s Burgers, found inside the Corner Store at 1945 8th Ave., opened in early July and is serving old-fashioned hamburgers and cheeseburgers, made on an old-school flat top grill.

4. Supermarket chain H-E-B has good news about store at Alliance Fort Worth. Supermarket giant H-E-B continued its expansion in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2024. The Texas grocery announced it would officially open the doors of H-E-B Alliance, at 3451 Heritage Trace Pkwy., in Fort Worth on April 10. The store had been in the works since 2022. It opened with great fanfare, followed by a store opening in Mansfield, and one on the way in Bedford.

H-E-B grocery store H-E-B opened its first Fort Worth store in 2024. Photo courtesy of H-E-B

5. McDonald's to open its first CosMc's beverage spinoff in Fort Worth. McDonald's debuted a new concept called CosMc's focused on beverages, with its first location opening in the Fort Worth area. The smaller-sized beverage-led drink shop would open in Watauga, at 7304 Denton Hwy., on April 2. That would be followed by a location in Arlington and one in south Fort Worth.

6. Buzzy Filipino fried chicken chain to open a restaurant in Arlington. A buzzy Filipino chain came to Arlington: Jollibee, known for its kooky combination of fried chicken and spaghetti, opened its first location in Arlington, at 1700 W. Pleasant Ridge Rd., across from the Parks Mall near I-30 and Cooper Road, on August 16.

7. Miss Hooters beauty pageant to take place in Fort Worth for first time. An international beauty contest took place in Fort Worth for the first time: It's the 2024 Miss Hooters International Pageant, and it took place on Thursday, August 22 at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth. The event was open to the public for the first time since 2021. Cassidy Welch from Grand Prairie was the winner.

Meet the 2024 Miss Hooters International winner Cassidy Welch. Hooters

8. Amazing Italian restaurant with international roots to open in Fort Worth. A new family-owned Italian restaurant specializing in freshly made pastas opened in the South Main area. Called Bocca Osteria Romana, it opened over the summer at 411 S. Main St. #104 in the space last occupied by Rancho Loma Vineyards. The restaurant would be the first stateside concept from a trio of Texas-born family members and restaurateurs - brothers Alfonso and Alessandro Salvatore and their cousin Eduardo Mariel.

9. Devastating closures lead this round of Fort Worth restaurant news. This edition of Fort Worth restaurant news included some saddening closures, new menu items, and a couple of interesting company collaborations. There were also a couple of crawfish events going on, just in time for peak crawfish season.

10. Texas Fish Chicken Grill takes winning formula to new Arlington location. There's a new restaurant in Arlington serving fried fish and fried chicken in one convenient spot: Called Texas Fish Chicken Grill, it's part of a family-owned mini-chain, which opened on June 27 at 1030 W Arkansas Ln. #206, in the former D. Smith's Chicken and Fish (which relocated). Texas Fish Chicken Grill is owned by Obie Alananzeh and his five brothers, who debuted the concept in Fort Worth in July 2023.

Courtesy photo

Three savory pancakes from A Taste of Europe.

tastemaker awards closings lists miss hooters pageant openings hot-headlines