About Greenville Avenue

Dallas' young and trendy locals congregate in the area referred to as Greenville Avenue. This long street stretches from near Garret Park all the way into Richardson and features one-of-a-kind shops, restaurants, and clubs. Mockingbird Lane divides Greenville Avenue; attractions to the north are referred to as being on Upper Greenville, and those to the south are located on Lower Greenville. Upper Greenville appeals to an urban yuppie crowd and is more upscale and expensive than the more bohemian Lower Greenville, which is known for its festive bar scene.

No matter the occasion or budget, the Greenville Ave. neighborhood has it all! If you're in the mood to kick back on a patio and enjoy a cold drink with your meal, Greenville Ave. is the place to go. Choose from a wide variety of cuisines in this unique spot. If you're in the mood for good ole' Tex Mex, go to the Blue Goose. More in the mood for international cuisine? Cafe Izmir serves up delicious Mediterranean foods. Looking for Texan food - don't miss Ozona Cafe. Planning a romantic date? Take her to The Grape.

Greenville Avenue's Best Restaurants

Greenville Avenue has a reputation as being one of the best nightspots in town, as visitors can easily walk from bar to bar on the crowded strip. You can also catch a live concert at the Granada Theater or a comedy show at several area venues, such as Backdoor Comedy or Hyena's. Looking for a chill bar that has a DJ? Go to Zubar. More in the mood to kick back with a pint of imported beer? Go to the Libertine Bar, which also features delicious food. If you're lucky enough to be in town in the middle of March, Greenville Ave. is the place to be for the annual St. Paddy's Day Parade and street party.

Greenville Avenue's Best Bars

Planning on staying in the Greenville Avenue neighborhood during your trip to Big D? One of the best hotels in the city is there - Hotel Palomar, a Kimpton Hotel. This trendy spot features a world-class spa and family-friendly amenities, as well. Budget travelers can stay at the Radisson Hotel, just off I-75, near the SMU campus.

Visitors who love to shop will not be disappointed with Greenville Avenue's stores. For unique, European styles and fashion, go to HD's Clothing, located in the heart of the neighborhood. For more traditional stores, like the Gap and Ann Taylor Loft, head on over to Mockingbird Station. Browse up and down Lower Greenville Ave to find interesting pieces at fun resale shops. There's even an old-school, independent record store, Good Records, on the popular street.

Explore Greenville Avenue

Dallas restaurant Standard Service on Lowest Greenville closed permanently on July 2, 2023, but its owners are already painting and planning for its next two identities in East Dallas.

First, a Latin-themed pop-up restaurant from the across-the-street wine bar Leela’s will open in the Standard Service space on July 12, 2023. Summer House, as the pop-up is called, is a remodel by Karla Gallegos, who operates the Planting Hand garden shop in a neighboring storefront on Greenville Avenue. Inspired by Gallegos’ surfing trips in Central America, Summer House will have a tropical twist, with some new food and drinks added to the typical Leela’s menu of pizza and wine.

The original Leela’s, which is about 250 feet away from Standard Service and owned by the same company, will close for about six weeks. It and the cocktail bar above it, Milli, are being renovated, says co-founder Elias Pope. Plans call for new paint and tile and some unseen adjustments to the kitchen.

The same Summer House pop-up will take place at all three Leela’s: in Uptown Dallas, in Trophy Club and at this reinvented spot on Greenville Avenue.

After the six-week Summer House pop-up, Leela’s will reopen across the street on Greenville and the Summer House pop-up will end.

Then comes the second restaurant in place of Standard Service. Pope didn’t share details yet on the style or cuisine.

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Why did Standard Service close?

From its inception, Standard Service was meant to be a sprawling kid- and adult-friendly hangout, with food, pickleball and bar games like cornhole, Pope says. Standard Service first opened on 2 acres in Heath, a small town near Rockwall, in early 2020. We called it “worth the drive” from Dallas for its wide-open spaces.

When the Dallas restaurant opened on Greenville Avenue, there was no room for a backyard or games. Standard Service had a similar menu to Rockwall, but didn’t share much else.

“We can’t replicate it in Dallas,” Pope says. “We decided to change that building into a more Greenville Avenue appropriate restaurant.”

Next, parent company UNCO plans to open a Standard Service in Willow Park, a booming area west of Fort Worth, near Aledo. It’ll be a bigger version of the Heath restaurant, this one on 7 acres. In addition to pickleball and other outdoor games, Standard Service in Willow Park will have mini golf.

UNCO owns several restaurants and bars in East Dallas, including longtime Greenville Avenue spot HG Sply Co. UNCO also operates Leela’s, Hero in Victory Park, Culpepper steakhouse in Rockwall, a new martini bar in Deep Ellum called Tina’s Continental, and others.

Standard Service closed at 5631 Alta Ave., Dallas, on July 2, 2023. A pop-up bar called Summer House will open there on July 12, 2023, while Leela’s Pizza and Wine Bar is renovated at 1914 Greenville Ave., Dallas.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

This coming Tuesday, both the Greenville City Council and the Greenville ISD School Board plan to vote on calling special elections for proposed bond projects.

If called, the bond election for the city will be for its proposed $65 million recreation facilities project – which includes both a new 100,000-square-foot recreation center located at the Greenville SportsPark and a 25,000-square-foot expansion to the existing Reecy Davis, Sr. Recreation Center.

As for GISD, the district is planning to call elections for three propositions, each for a specific major facility project – with Proposition 1 being for a $120 million 1,400-student capacity middle school that serves grades 6-8; Proposition 2 being for a $36.4 million 500-student capacity early childhood center; and Proposition 3 being for $41.6 million-worth of renovations to Greenville High School as well as some district-wide improvements.

With both the city council and the school board expected to call their respective bond elections Tuesday, the ultimate fate of each of the bonds will be up to Greenville voters on Nov. 7.

For the city’s proposed new recreation center, representatives of Barker Rinker Seacat (BRS) Architecture spoke at the July 25 city council meeting, where they repeatedly emphasized the potential of using the new recreation facility as a way to both keep local residents from going elsewhere for recreation and also draw people in from outside the area for tournaments and other events, with the goal of energizing Greenville’s economy.

Meanwhile, BRS Architecture described the proposed expansion and improvements to the Reecy Davis Recreation Center as being geared toward it being a “community focused recreation center” so that “while the Sportspark facility is potentially being used for tournaments,” Reecy Davis can continue to be an “asset to the community where people can come and gather.”

Listed features for the project include:

At Sportspark Recreation Center

• Drop-in basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts

• Indoor walking/jogging track

• Multi-generational game lounge

• Fitness area/cardio workout

• Indoor playground

• Indoor leisure pool

• Lazy river/current channel

• Open swim/lap lanes

• Child watch free with resident membership

• Dry sauna

At Reecy Davis Recreation Center

• Drop-in basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts

• Fitness area/cardio workout

• Multi-generational game lounge

• Teen lounge

Meanwhile, on the Greenville ISD side of things, if a bond election is called, it will be the district’s third attempt after the previous two (in May and November of 2022) both failed.

It is worth noting, however, that GISD’s most recent attempt at passing a bond was a narrow loss of 49.22% to 50.78% (a difference of only 140 out of 8,920 votes).

With such a large segment of Greenville’s voters apparently supporting the previous bond proposal, the district has been considering giving it another try.

“I have been approached by community members who say they want a bond,” GISD School Board President Aletha Kruse said at an open-to-the-community “coffee talk” discussion in May.

In an effort to offer voters more flexibility in deciding which major projects they specifically support, the district is trying a multi-proposition approach this time, Kruse explained at a “town hall-style” school board meeting in June.

Like the previous two GISD bond elections, the two prospective bond projects that were identified by a community advisory committee as being top priority are a proposed new middle school and early childhood center – as both existing campuses are 73 years old, deteriorating, and out of compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, Texas Education Agency standards and updated building codes.

While the general designs for proposed new middle school and early childhood center will be the same as was presented in the previous two bond elections, one major difference will be the proposed location of the new middle school.

This is because the previous proposed location was nestled against existing neighborhoods to the south of Ridgecrest Road and to the west of Sayle Street and just east of a new development off of Old Dallas Highway, which proved to be a sticking point for voters who lived in and around those neighborhoods.

Currently, the district's proposed location for the new middle school, if approved by voters, is some land the district already owns near the Lamar Elementary School campus.

“We believe that more people will be for that location because it’s not right smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood,” Kruse said.

As for Greenville ISD’s third proposition, which includes renovations to Greenville High School, one of the main recommended components to the project is the removal of the lockers (since student use few books these days due to modern technology), to “recapture” the area for more instructional/collaborative space.

Other proposed improvements to the high school include renovated restrooms, updated lighting, replacing air conditioning units, and replacing about 8,000 square feet of roof.

Also included under GISD’s Proposition 3 are several improvements to elementary schools across the district as well as to Travis Intermediate School. These proposed projects are:

• Bowie Elementary School – New paint, a sign with an electronic marquee, playground shading and picnic tables, an update landscape, and more parking spaces.

• Carver Elementary School – New carpet and tiling, a new gym floor, emergency lighting, new paint, bathroom upgrades, padding on the gym walls and bleachers, playground fencing and equipment, and a new divider wall on the school’s stage.

• Crockett Elementary School – New electrical panel, new boilers, new carpet and tiling, new HVAC, and new paint.

• Lamar Elementary School – Fire panel, new carpet and tile, new HVAC, parking lot lighting, new paint, and improvements to the playground.

• Travis Intermediate School – New boiler, new carpet, new painting, new HVAC, parking lot improvements, and adding a bus lane.

As mentioned earlier, both the Greenville City Council and Greenville ISD School Board plan to call the bond elections this coming Tuesday.

The city council’s special meeting is planned for 6 p.m. at the Greenville Municipal Building at 2821 Washington St., and the school board’s regular monthly meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Wesley Martin Administration Building at 4004 Moulton St.

In fall 2023, Lowest Greenville is going to see a flurry of restaurant activity. Within a few short blocks, diners heading to this neighborhood in East Dallas will find a homey Italian restaurant, a bagel shop, an izakaya, a flashy doughnut place, and a family-friendly ice cream spot.

Restaurants listed in order of expected opening date

Via Triozzi

Restaurant Via Triozzi is an Italian love letter written by owner Leigh Hutchinson. Within these four walls — some of which she sanded herself — are Hutchinson’s grandmother’s recipes, photos of her family members, and a dining room that feels familiar. Via Triozzi is Hutchinson’s first restaurant, opened after she spent several years learning to cook in Italy to honor her grandmother’s Sicilian upbringing. Hutchinson says she’s been wanting to open a restaurant since 2006. She’s patient, and 17 years later, Via Triozzi is just about to make its big debut.

Abby’s Bagels

It’s a big time for bagels in Dallas right now: Lubbies just opened in East Dallas, Shug’s will soon open a second location on Lemmon Avenue, and Abby’s will debut on Greenville. Its founders are Abby Backlund and her husband Nick Backlund, who operate Hide cocktail bar and restaurant across the street. They’re bagel fanatics who want to add a little pizzazz to the traditional breakfast-and-lunch menu. They’re workshopping a truffle cream cheese and a bananas foster cream cheese, and they plan to sell sandwiches and wraps in addition to the expected lineup of bagels.

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Kaiyo

Construction is about 60% done at Kaiyo, chef Jimmy Park’s casual Japanese restaurant in the heart of Greenville Avenue. Park and his team also operate Shoyo, a show-stopping omakase restaurant a few blocks south that seats just 12 people. Park describes Kaiyo as the “opposite” of Shoyo: no reservations needed, just a cool izakaya with sushi, sashimi and Japanese cocktails.

“Shoyo is the place you come for the journey — the show,” he says. “Kaiyo is its brother — it has more availability, more seating, and it’s just going to be good times.” We called it one of the most exciting new restaurants landing in Dallas in 2023.

Voodoo Doughnut

The team from Portland’s Instagram-famous Voodoo Doughnut has already painted the exterior wall pink to prepare for the Dallas debut. (They’re asking for ideas for what to paint on the wall; put in your two cents at artsubmissions@voodoodoughnut.com.)

The restaurant is next-door to Via Triozzi and neighbors with the Gym of Social Mechanics — which longtime East Dallasites remember as the former Good Records. Voodoo is known for its crazy-sweet, stacked-high doughnuts. Some of the greatest hits that will make the Dallas menu include the Bacon Maple Bar, a pink sprinkle doughnut called the Homer, and a banana-cinnamon fritter with chocolate and peanut butter called the Memphis Mafia. The shop also sells vegan doughnuts, which is fairly rare. Will there be a Dallas themed doughnut? We sure hope so.

Milk & Cream

The owner of Ross Avenue dessert shop Milk & Cream plans to make the short trek — a third of a mile — to Lowest Greenville in late 2023. The restaurant will take the place of Creamistry, an ice cream shop that closed in early 2023, The Advocate reports. Milk & Cream founder Man Ho started the Ross Avenue shop in 2016, specializing in an ice cream “bun” that’s basically a doughnut ice cream sandwich. Ice cream flavors include birthday cake, red velvet, Cookie Monster, lavender and more. At the new shop, a Milk & Cream employee says they’ll have more room to expand the menu to milkshakes and swirls.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.

Great restaurants are often more than four walls and a menu. Via Triozzi, one of Dallas’ longest-awaited restaurants of 2023, has plenty of personality between those walls.

“I can tell a story about almost every single thing,” says chef-owner Leigh Hutchinson, walking past the pasta room that faces Greenville Avenue. In that special room, she placed photos of her Sicilian grandmother Nani Angie and her Grandpa Ward, of her parents on their wedding day, and of Italian chef Marcella Ansaldo, her mentor.

Related:5 new restaurants on Lowest Greenville in Dallas

Via Triozzi was the name of the street in a small town near Florence where Hutchinson studied Italian history and art as a young adult. She grew up in Coppell and learned to love Italian food from her grandmother. Her dreams of opening a restaurant came true after she dedicated two years learning to cook in Italy, then led the arduous process of building and opening a restaurant in Dallas.

Via Triozzi debuted Aug. 16, 2023, on Lowest Greenville in Dallas. Reservations are available now.

The restaurant was designed to feel welcoming and familiar, even though it’s new. Diners can nosh on ricotta montata — that’s house-made ricotta with summer squash and pistachios — as if they were in Hutchinson’s grandmother’s home. And while Via Triozzi achieves a homey feel, it’s stylish, too, with an arched bar painted a deep sage green.

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The bar was supposed to be painted yellow, surrounded by paintings, photos and mementos hung all around. But the yellow didn’t fit the room, so Hutchinson changed it. The look at the bar is nearly as important as “the wall” of stucco and brick across the room. It’s modeled after “the places in Florence I fell in love with,” she says.

Of course, the real draw to Via Triozzi will be the food, a mix of recipes from Nani Angie, chef Marcella and Hutchinson’s own adaptations.

She’s serving Italian food, her way, and that’s apparent in the arugula e bresaola, a light and refreshing salad with lemon vinaigrette and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

“This dish got me through the summers in Italy,” Hutchinson says. It might just work on a hot summer night in Dallas, too.

Everything on the menu is meant to be shared, and nearly all are backed with family history. Nani Angie’s chicken cacciatore is on the list because Hutchinson’s dad loves it, and she makes it for him on his birthday each year. Her cacciatore doesn’t have mushrooms or olives, as many recipes do, “because Grandma didn’t make it that way,” Hutchinson says.

Eggplant Parmesan makes the list because it’s Hutchinson’s mom’s favorite.

The most special addition to the menu — “my dish,” the chef-owner calls it — is the lasagna. Eventually, the restaurant will sell grab-and-go lasagna from cases near the front door.

Hutchinson hired a pasta maker, but she will be making some of the pasta herself.

“You’re not going to be able to keep me out of there,” she says with a sly smile.

The highest-dollar item on the menu — at market price — is bistecca alla Fiorentina, a dish Hutchinson always envisioned on her Italian restaurant menu.

It feels only right to experience Italy through Hutchinson’s eyes, so dinner ends with cannolo sbagliato. Cannoli filling, pistachios and chocolate are laced between pizzelle, an Italian waffle cookie that Nani Angie always had out on the counter.

“I love these things,” Hutchinson says, reaching in for a bite.

She smiles, savoring the memory it brings. “I could eat them for hours.”

Via Triozzi is at 1806 Greenville Ave., Dallas. Dinner only. Closed Tuesdays. A second-story terrazza will open eventually. Reservations on Resy.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.