Feeding twelve people on holiday is a logistical event. Restaurants near us handle it better than most, but it helps to know where to point the cars.
For barbecue, Lockhart Smokehouse in Bishop Arts is the one worth the drive. Central Texas rules: you queue at a counter, order by weight, and it arrives on butcher paper with no fork and no sauce. Order brisket — ask for moist, not lean. Ordering by the pound is quietly brilliant for a group, because you are not negotiating twelve separate menu choices. Go by half twelve. When the brisket is gone, it is gone.
For Tex-Mex, Oak Cliff is the right part of Dallas to be in. This is a neighbourhood with a genuine Mexican food tradition rather than a themed approximation of one. Breakfast tacos are a legitimate meal and cost very little. Ask us for current recommendations before you travel — places open and close, and we would rather give you a live answer than a list that went stale.
Bishop Arts District generally is the answer when the group wants options within walking distance of one car park. Independent restaurants, coffee, a bakery or two, and enough choice that the fussy eaters and the adventurous ones can both be satisfied without a second journey.
Now the honest part. Taking twelve people out to eat every night is expensive and slow, and with young children it is often not much fun. This is why the kitchen at Game Room Oasis is built the way it is — open to the living room, cabinets labelled, a floating island that works as a buffet, seating for six at the table, four at the bar and six more on the patio.
If cooking is not what you came for, we can arrange a private chef through yhangry to shop, cook in the kitchen and clean up afterwards. For a group of twelve it is often cheaper than a restaurant and considerably less hassle.
Message us before you book and we will sort it. Check availability for your dates, or ask us what is good this month.