How to Get Into Dallas’s Best Speakeasies and Secret Bars (2024)

By

Kevin Gray

Tucked alongside Houndstooth Coffee in the Sylvan Thirty development, Jettison is one of the best-looking bars around, with dim lights, leather bar stools and sofas, and wood accents. It’s also where you’ll find an ever-evolving menu of seasonal creations from award-winning barkeep George Kaiho. Drinks include an eclectic mix of spirits and ingredients, with inspiration pulled from Texas, Mexico, and Japan. If you’re new here, try the BLVD P.O., which combines Japanese whisky with Campari, sweet vermouth, and pour-over coffee. Come on Tuesday, when vinyl is played all night, or on Wednesday for half-price mezcal.
How to book: Reserve via Tock.

The massive Grandscape development isn’t the most obvious spot for a co*cktail bar, let alone a co*cktail bar with a phone booth for an entrance. Then again, maybe it’s the perfect spot—hidden in plain sight. Look for the red phone booth, then dial a secret number to gain entry. That number can be obtained from past patrons, a hotel concierge, or nearby businesses, so ask around and you’ll get in. Once inside, you can partake in classic co*cktails like the Sazerac, Aviation, or a Smoked Old Fashioned. Pair that last one with a cigar from the walk-in humidor.
How to book:Become a member for priority access, or stop by for first come, first served seating.

At first glance, Atlas is a pretty standard co*cktail bar. Moody vibes, good drinks, and a global food menu. But on select nights, the bookshelves in the back of the space open to reveal a second, smaller bar dubbed the Library, wherein bartenders pour co*cktails that explore rotating themes like Tiki or “tour of Japan.”
How to book: Stop by for first come, first served seating.

Step inside this unassuming laundromat and, unless you need to wash some clothes, head straight to the machine with the “out of order” sign. Yank on the door, and it’ll open to a bar, with laundry pinned to the walls and retro lounge furniture. Rather than Prohibition-style drinks, the menu leans fully into the environs and features laundry-themed co*cktails like the Fluff ‘N Fold (an Old Fashioned with maple cotton candy) and the Hot Iron, a mango-habanero Margarita with a Tajin rim.
How to book: Stop by for first come, first served seating.

This bar is set in the back of Chimichurri restaurant and can also be accessed from the alley—look for the red door. The menu was created by local bar star James Slater to highlight the convergence of Argentine and Italian cultures. co*cktails are served in unique glassware and include Order of the Foresters, with Fernet-Branca, green chartreuse, pisco, pandan, lemon, and basil, and the Rosae Crucis, with mezcal, amaro, turbinado, lemon, and lavender. The bar also makes its own amaro and vermouth, a meticulous process that results in drinks you can’t find anywhere else.
How to book: Stop by for first come, first served seating.

The Sova Hotel has small but comfortable rooms, perfect for nights out in Downtown and Deep Ellum. Most pertinent to the matters at hand, there’s also a secret bar. Ask the front desk for keys to “room 520,” which isn’t a guest room but a co*cktail bar hidden in plain sight. Once inside, you’ll find creative drinks, like the Prototype with brandy, rum, lemon, ginger, honey, and black peppercorn, and Flight of the Navigator, with rum, calamansi, pandan, and coconut.
How to book: Reserve via Yelp.

When Hotel Vin opened in Grapevine, it brought with it a host of new eating and drinking options, including Bacchus restaurant and the attached Harvest Hall food hall. But for a quiet drink away from the crowds, make a reservation at Magnum, an 18-seat bar that can be accessed by placing a call from the phone booth outside the hidden door. Order a co*cktail or glass of whiskey from the menu, or opt for the Dealer’s Choice, and leave your fate up to the bartender.

Neon Kitten is an izakaya serving co*cktails and dim sum. Blackbird Society is an intimate bar serving co*cktails and snacks. And the latter can be accessed through a bookshelf inside the former. Blackbird Society was named for a manga series and stays on theme with its decor and drinks—think brick walls, gilded mirrors, and leather couches set in a dark and moody room. Take in your surroundings, then order a co*cktail or splurge on a pour of hard-to-find Japanese whisky.
How to book: Reserve via Tock.

Most restaurants don’t appreciate you taking a stroll through their kitchen, but the team at Musume won’t mind. Because that’s how you enter Akai, the dimly lit co*cktail lounge serving Japanese-inspired drinks. Early in the evening, the bar’s atmosphere is fairly relaxed, then as the night goes on, the vibe turns toward bottle service and sparklers.
How to book: Text 214-444-5357 for reservations.

A tiny sign on the patio railing is all that alerts you to Apothecary’s existence. Through the unmarked door is a dimly lit den of velvet furnishings, vintage chandeliers, and gilded mirrors, with a handful of bar seats and low-slung couches. The menu is filled with creative finds, including an Oyster Rockefeller shot with hollandaise-washed vodka, lemon, parsley, and a smoked oyster garnish. Does it sound kinda wacky? Yes. Is it good? Also yes.
How to book: Reserve via Tock.

Trick Pony has doors right on Main Street in Deep Ellum. You can’t miss it, but you can absolutely miss Pony Tail, because this bar-within-a-bar is stashed behind a nondescript door in the back of Trick Pony. The tiny room features a communal table and shelves lined with amari, small-batch bourbons, and coveted whiskeys. Taste your way through a few unfamiliar bottles, and you might discover a new favorite nightcap.
How to book: Stop by for first come, first served seating.

Located one floor below the Statler Hotel lobby, Bourbon & Banter marries Prohibition-era speakeasy vibes with the romantic aesthetic of the 1950s and 1960s—when The Statler version 1.0 was a destination for visiting film stars. Housed in what was once an onsite barbershop, the bar’s covert cred is supplied by a phone booth that opens a hidden door. Inside, the couches are inviting, the shelves are lined with bourbon, and the co*cktails range from strong and straightforward (Barrel-Aged Manhattan) to visually striking and hands-on. Channel the space’s barbershop past and order the Pompadour, an Old Fashioned riff made with bourbon, Venezuelan rum, bitters, and vanilla tincture that’s crowned with a creme brûlée candy top—access the liquid by breaking that top with a tiny hammer.

The unmarked door next to Basic Taco doesn’t look like much, but that’s the point. Rather than a dark, moody bar, the nondescript entrance hides a friendly enclosed courtyard plucked straight from the beaches of Tulum or the cantinas of San Miguel de Allende. Vines snake up the stone walls, Latin music arrives via a live musical act or DJ, and the menu features a variety of tacos, small plates (elotes, aguachiles), and refreshing co*cktails made with agave-based spirits, including mezcal, tequila, sotol, and raicilla.
How to book: Reserve via OpenTable.

It’s another bar using the old phone booth gag. Approach the red phone in the back of J. Theodore restaurant and dial the “librarian” to request entrance. You will need to give a password before the door opens, but don’t worry, you were born for this (and the password is posted on Instagram and Facebook each week). The swanky room hosts live music, and the bar stocks its shelves with a few hundred whiskeys, so you’ll never run out of things to do.
How to book: Stop by for first come, first served seating.

There’s an unwritten rule that any place declaring itself a speakeasy is probably not a speakeasy. However, self-billed as “Fort Worth’s worst kept secret,” there’s still something secretive about entering a bar through an unmarked convenience store refrigerator door. Once you get inside the unexpectedly large space, bask in the red glow of the neon “WanderLust” sign while partaking in signature co*cktails, local beers, and select wine. If you need more to occupy your time beyond sitting and drinking, the bar also sports darts, shuffleboard, pool tables, and big screen TVs broadcasting most major sporting events.
How to book:Stop by for first come, first served seating.

Don't let the wedding dress in the window here fool you. Instead, follow the clues: The shiny, black, faceless mannequin in the window looms like a specter, or maybe a black widow (“la viuda negra” in Spanish). Located next door to sister establishment El Come Taco (do yourself a favor and line your stomach with a couple tacos beforehand), this agave-centric bar highlights lesser-known spirits from small-producer mezcals to sotol and bacanora. co*cktails are nicely balanced and often served in whimsical glassware, but you can also sip those spirits straight if that’s more your vibe.
How to book:Stop by for first come, first served seating.

Boasting a vibe that is equal parts mysterious library and whispered-about underground lair, Thompson’s Bookstore, located in the historic Vybek Building in downtown Fort Worth, is a two-story ode to good drinks. Upstairs you’ll find a perfectly lovely bar. Within that bar lies a bookcase that’s really a door, and said door leads down to the underground speakeasy, complete with classic co*cktails, creative originals, and a solid whiskey selection.
How to book:Stop by for first come, first served seating.