In 2025, a spate of historic restaurants in Dallas-Fort Worth closed, including a nearly 40-year-old Carribbean kitchen, one of the city’s most iconic Chinese restaurants, and a drive-in from the 1950s serving shakes and burgers.
We expected the legendary Zodiac Room in downtown Dallas’ Neiman Marcus to join the list of dearly departed restaurants in 2025, but its popovers with strawberry butter and orange soufflé will live on — for now. Neiman Marcus will stay open through the holidays, our business team reports.
As restaurateurs survived a challenging second half of 2025, Dallas’ cherished Chili’s served up a surprise: It would cancel its Skillet Queso. No! Chili’s quickly changed its tune, bringing it back after a social media uproar. Whew. We can’t handle the death of another icon.
We said “bye” to Salt Bae and his gimmicky Nusr-Et steakhouse. We shut the door on Dallas’ rudest restaurant, Dick’s Last Resort.
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As we brace for a topsy-turvy ’26, we remember 15 of Dallas-Fort Worth’s beloved restaurants that didn’t survive ’25.
Hong Kong Restaurant in East Dallas
Hong Kong Restaurant, pictured here decades before its closure in 2025, was open on Garland Road in Dallas since 1962. Photo courtesy of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society, Pon Family Collection.
Pon Family
Dallas’ longest-running Chinese restaurant, Hong Kong on Garland Road in East Dallas, closed in mid-2025. It is one of the oldest restaurants in North Texas on this list — and a significant part of Chinese-American history in Dallas, said Stephanie Drenka, co-founder of the Dallas Asian American Historical Society.
Hong Kong’s menu included orange chicken, egg foo yung, fried rice and egg rolls. The restaurant boasted that it sold “101 authentic Chinese foods” several decades ago.
With the closure, Royal China is now the oldest Chinese restaurant in Dallas. It opened in 1974.
Hong Kong Restaurant was at 9055 Garland Road, Dallas.
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Meddlesome Moth in the Dallas Design District
What will become of the three stained glass sourced from Dallas’s erstwhile Hard Rock Cafe and placed inside the Meddlesome Moth? Restaurateur and art collector Shannon Wynne is working on it.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
After 15 years serving brunch and beers in the Dallas Design District, the Meddlesome Moth closed in May 2025. “We can’t afford to stay,” said co-owner Shannon Wynne. It’s a five-word sentence we’ve heard from other Dallas restaurateurs in the months since.
The Meddlesome Moth was an early addition to the Dallas Design District, offering comforting gastropub fare long before the neighborhood was flush with restaurants. Rent prices at the Moth went up more than 75% from the original rate in 2010, as ingredient prices and labor costs surged in the past year or two.
“I think that the local operators are slowly being forced out, economically,” Wynne told The Dallas Morning News.
The space has since been leased to Ospi, an Italian restaurant run by a Top Chef contestant in California. Ospi is expected to open in 2026.
The Meddlesome Moth was at 1621 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas.
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El Califa de León taco pop-up in University Park
Can a temporary restaurant make this list of heartbreaking closures? The fiasco around Mexico City Michelin-starred restaurant El Califa de León’s two-week pop-up caused enough heartache — and heartburn — to be included.
Dallasite Drew Stephenson shows off his taco plate at the El Califa de León taquería pop-up in University Park. He was lucky to get in line early: The pop-up ended quickly.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
Curious diners lined up for hours in the Texas heat to try El Califa de León’s food across the street from Southern Methodist University, in a vacant Asian restaurant. The event got off to a rocky start when the organizers complained of a gas leak and permitting issues, which delayed its debut. Once open, some customers complained of canceled private tables or underwhelming food.
The chef team pulled its participation in the pop-up less than a week after it started. So much for Michelin-starred tacos in North Texas.
El Califa de León pop-up was at 6501 Hillcrest Ave., University Park.
Elaine’s Kitchen in South Dallas
Elaine’s Kitchen sold Jamaican food in Dallas for decades.
Angela Piazza / Staff Photographer
Jamaican restaurant Elaine’s Kitchen closed after nearly four decades in South Dallas. Its namesake Elaine Campbell died two years ago, and her nephew kept the restaurant running until it served its last plates of oxtails in fall 2025. He wanted to keep the restaurant open into 2026, he told our Claire Ballor, but increased ingredient costs accelerated his plan to close.
Elaine’s Kitchen was at 2717 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Dallas.
Morton’s The Steakhouse in Uptown Dallas
Previously on the menu at Morton’s The Steakhouse in Dallas: a filet and lobster oscar on New Year’s Eve.
RALPH SMITH STUDIO
The single most clicked-on restaurant closure story of 2025 was about Morton’s The Steakhouse, a business with nearly 40 years of Dallas history. Morton’s started in Dallas’ West End in 1987 and moved 24 years later to Uptown, before closing on New Year’s Eve in 2024.
Dallas diners’ shock over the closure bled into 2025. The restaurant once sold the most expensive steak in town.
But this isn’t the end for steak at 2222 McKinney Ave. Locally-owned restaurant Andreas Prime Steaks and Seafood opened in Morton’s place just a few weeks ago.
Morton’s The Steakhouse was at 2222 McKinney Ave., Dallas.
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The Porch on Dallas’ Henderson Avenue
The Porch closed suddenly in 2025 because of the ‘challenging financial climate’ in Dallas.
Liesbeth Powers / Staff Photographer
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Southern restaurant The Porch was neighbors with Fireside Pies, Cuba Libre, Hibiscus and Victor Tangos. All of those iconic Henderson Avenue restaurants closed over the years, while The Porch swung on.
The Porch got a makeover in 2023 to make it more bar-focused. It offered a $5 cocktail deal at happy hour on weekdays and placed an emphasis on reasonably-priced martinis.
It wasn’t enough, company execs told The News in 2025, and The Porch closed in fall 2025. “The restaurant simply couldn’t sustain long-term operations in today’s challenging financial climate,” a company statement said in early September.
It was “the perfect storm of losses,” its chief marketing officer said.
The Porch was at 2912 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas.
The Whippersnapper in East Dallas
Usually a dive bar, The Whippersnapper was painted in bright pinks in 2023 for a BAR-bie pop-up.
Courtesy of Special Collective
Head east on Henderson Avenue from The Porch to The Whippersnapper, the bravest little bar in East Dallas. Most days, it was a homey watering hole, good for a stop between dinner and drinks. But every few months, the owners would tempt a lawsuit and open a pop-up bar, redesigned in a matter of days. The Whip has turned into a life-size Barbie Dreamhouse, a Game of Thrones den, a Breaking Bad lab (complete with meth-themed cocktails), a real-life version of The Office and more.
Did they have permission to spoof all these high-profile brands? Not likely. And if they got their hand slapped, The Whip could transform — overnight — back into a regular bar.
Today, this address is Boogies, a dance bar and discotheque. It fits the changing neighborhood better, the owners say. But we’ll miss the mischievous Whip.
The Whippersnapper was at 1806 McMillan Ave., Dallas.
Maiden in Fort Worth
Poached cream of cauliflower with zucchini peanut pasta was one of the tasting-menu options at Maiden, a vegan restaurant in Fort Worth.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
Possibly the most unique restaurant on this list, vegan tasting menu restaurant Maiden closed in mid-2025 in Fort Worth. It was the first Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant to serve an entirely meat-free, dairy-free menu in a fine-dining setting.
Owner Amy McNutt called it “cruelty-free cuisine.”
Maiden was locked out in mid-2025 after a tough start for sales that year. Rising costs, slower business and an inability to renegotiate their lease contributed to the closure.
Maiden Fine Plants and Spirits was at 1216 Sixth Ave., Fort Worth.
Trova Wine Bar in University Park
Trova’s staff was knowledgeable about wine.
Ben Torres / Special Contributor
If 2025 was the year when more Americans started taking GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, it was also the year to blame those drugs for decreased food and alcohol sales. Trova Wine Bar, a warm little hangout with good food, closed in early 2025 after nearly five years open. Owner Michelle Bonds said consumers’ use of weight-loss medications contributed to the closure of the restaurant, as did Dry January and the sober curious movement.
“We saw some traction when we marketed our salads as having 30 grams of protein if you add chicken — as those taking the drug should be consuming high amounts of protein with each meal. But at the same time, we saw a decrease in alcohol consumption and the amount of food ordered per customer,” Bonds told The News.
The reasons for Trova’s end feel so tied to the times.
Trova Wine and Market was at 4004 Villanova St., Dallas.
Spurlock’s Malt Shop in Anna
Spurlock’s Malt Shop was a long-time restaurant in Anna.
Kristi Perez
Retro restaurant Spurlock’s Malt Shop, which dates back to the 1950s, closed Nov. 1, 2025 in Anna. The landlord sold the building and the family that owns Spurlock’s is now looking for a new spot to move its historic shop.
“Thank you for every prayer, every message and every ounce of love you continue to send our way,” the owners wrote on Facebook. “We can’t wait to be back in the kitchen flipping burgers, mixing malts and dipping Superdogs again!” No new address has been announced yet.
Spurlock’s Malt Shop was at 504 N. Powell Parkway, Anna. More to come if the shop relocates.
The Blue Fish on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue
Tiger’s Eye sushi was one of the top sellers at The Blue Fish on Greenville Avenue in Dallas. It opened in August 1998.
Natalie Caudill / 119984
For more than 25 years, The Blue Fish was a staple on Dallas’ Greenville Avenue. “The Blue Fish is quite a catch,” write our restaurant critic the year it opened, in 1998.
But as pricey Japanese omakase restaurants opened in the 2020s in Dallas, The Blue Fish remained the same, for better or worse. It closed in early 2025.
A Dallas-owned fajitas and margaritas restaurant, Escondido Tex-Mex, is coming to this address in 2026.
The Blue Fish was at 3519 Greenville Ave., Dallas.
Be Home Soon in East Dallas
Madison King, co-owner of Be Home Soon, pours a drink at her homey East Dallas restaurant.
Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer
The youngest restaurant on this list, Be Home Soon, closed less than a year after opening in Casa Linda. Co-owner Madison King cited a nearly impossible economic situation where liquor sales plunged and summer traffic was down.
Be Home Soon was a low-key fun place where its owners would change the comfort-food menu often. It was “as neighborhood-y as they come,” Ballor wrote. But it needed more neighborhood support.
Be Home Soon was at 9540 Garland Road, Dallas.
Sabar Barbecue in Fort Worth
Zain Shafi owns Sabar Barbecue.
Elías Valverde II / Staff Photographer
One of D-FW’s best barbecue joints, the one-of-a-kind Sabar, is closing Dec. 20, 2025. No more serving Pakistani-Texas ‘cue from a blue barbecue trailer in a Fort Worth parking lot. Owner Zain Shafi says he has a mysterious, new plan for 2026, and we’re eager to hear what’s next.
Sabar Barbecue is at 194 Bryan Ave., Fort Worth. Open until Dec. 20, 2025. Service starts at 11 a.m., and food goes fast.
Campo Verde in Dalworthington Gardens 
You like Christmas, right!? That’s a given at Campo Verde, where twinkling Christmas lights are plugged in year-round.
Rebecca Slezak / Staff Photographer
After serving Tex-Mex with a side of Christmas cheer year-round since 1983, Campo Verde is closing near Arlington on Dec. 24, 2025. The restaurant has had a rollercoaster year: It closed in January, reopened in the summer under new ownership and is now shuttering for good just before Christmas.
“Trying to recreate something so tied to the past comes with real challenges,” said chef Mouhssine “Moose” Benhamacht, one of the new operators. He and partner Liesl Best are celebrating one last yuletide season with “a joyful, heartfelt sendoff.”
Campo Verde is at 2918 W. Pioneer Pkwy., Dalworthington Gardens. Open until Christmas Eve 2025.
Adelmo’s Ristorante near Dallas Love Field
Adelmo Banchetti, photographed at Adelmo’s Ristorante in Inwood Village, hopes he can relocate his 36-year-old Italian restaurant.
Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer
Dallas restaurateur Adelmo Banchetti hopes it isn’t goodbye forever for Adelmo’s Ristorante, the 36-year-old family business at Inwood Road and Lovers Lane. But it’s at least goodbye for now, as Adelmo’s is expected to serve its last osso buco and lasagna on New Year’s Eve.
The Banchettis haven’t found a new place to move Adelmo’s yet, but they’re looking.
Adelmo’s Ristorante is at 5450 W. Lovers Lane, Dallas. Open until Dec. 31, 2025.
Did we miss your favorite restaurant, gone too soon? Tell us in the comments.