These 10 Restaurants Rank Among Texas’ Most Expensive Dining Destinations
You can order afternoon tea in Texas and then add caviar to it. That is a real option, and my pinkie finger is already nervous.
Fancy dining here goes way past giant steaks, though the steaks show up too.
One menu switches regions of Mexico every few months, like a passport with dessert.
Another kitchen cooks over a 20-foot wood-fired hearth, which sounds like a campfire that went to finishing school.
The checks match the ambition, since each spot here sits in the top price tier for a night out.
I love a place that treats dinner like the main event. Reservations are smart, and so is a savings jar.
So which one gets your next anniversary, birthday, or brave little raise?
1. March
Most restaurants pick a cuisine and stay put, but this Houston dining room has its heart set on Portugal.
March builds a Mediterranean tasting program around that country’s culture, history, and cooking for its current season.
The Montrose restaurant holds a Michelin star, and dinner unfolds as a seven-course experience.
It begins with a series of small bites in a separate lounge before guests move into the dining room. Think of it as a culinary trip with a proper introduction, rather than a quick stop for a main course.
This season explores Portugal’s Atlantic coast, inland traditions, and international culinary connections.
The menu has included peixinhos da horta, delicate vegetables with a crisp coating, and a bacalhau-inspired crudo prepared with almaco jack, cabbage, and olives. Caldo verde takes on a refined form through roasted potato and greens.
A soft pink palette, brass details, and carefully chosen furniture create an intimate setting. There’s a private dining space for celebrations, and reservations are arranged in advance because each evening follows a planned progression.
Find March at 1624 Westheimer Rd, Houston. Dinner is offered Tuesday through Saturday; Sunday and Monday are closed. Discuss dietary requirements before booking, as the kitchen cannot adapt every course to every restriction.
Give yourself an entire evening. Seven courses deserve more attention than a hurried glance at the clock.
2. Monarch Restaurant
Forty-nine floors up, your pasta comes with a view most pilots would envy. Monarch sits high inside The National building in downtown Dallas, where enormous windows bring the city skyline right to the table.
The restaurant opened in 2021 at 1401 Elm St, 49th Floor, Dallas, combining a glamorous dining room with modern Italian cooking and a wood-fired hearth.
Its selection includes house-made pastas, premium steaks, and seafood. Whole Maine lobster spaghetti is a particularly elaborate option, while wood-roasted prawns and meatballs offer smaller ways to begin.
For an especially generous order, explore the larger cuts from the butcher’s selection, including dry-aged beef and Japanese wagyu.
Momma’s Spicy Rigatoni is another familiar favorite on the pasta side. Dessert can involve tiramisu or a chocolate soufflé, depending on the evening’s selection.
The room has a dress code, so this is a good excuse to wear something sharper than your everyday sneakers.
Window tables can be reserved separately, while ordinary reservations may have different seating arrangements. The glass-fronted setting is spectacular even before the first plate arrives.
Dinner begins at 5 p.m. every day, with Friday and Saturday service running later than the rest of the week.
For a Texas celebration with genuine height, a sunset reservation gives you the skyline in two different moods: daylight first, glittering towers afterward.
3. Jeffrey’s
Popovers before steak might be the most Austin power move around. Jeffrey’s opens dinner with that kind of buttery confidence, serving warm, airy bread before the serious decisions begin.
This longtime Clarksville dining room at 1204 W Lynn St, Austin, has been part of the city’s restaurant landscape since 1975.
Its focus is dry-aged prime beef and French-American classics, presented in an intimate setting with a fireplace and richly furnished rooms. You can dress for an occasion without feeling as though dinner has to be a formal ceremony.
Truffled deviled eggs offer a small and luxurious start. Crispy Gulf oysters and lobster bisque have also appeared among the opening courses.
Then comes the steak selection, with prime cuts prepared to showcase careful aging and cooking. Wood-roasted vegetables, creamy potatoes, and other substantial sides help complete the table.
Dessert deserves its own decision. Chocolate soufflé offers a rich finish, while Baked Alaska layers cake, frozen filling, and toasted meringue into something considerably more theatrical.
Its dining room opens at 4:30 p.m. daily and serves until 11 p.m., with complimentary valet parking available.
Those wonderful original popovers are reason enough to resist filling up on appetizers. Save some appetite for whatever cut of beef calls your name.
4. Mixtli
Named after the Aztec word for cloud, Mixtli never lets its menu sit still for long.
The San Antonio tasting room changes its culinary focus seasonally, exploring different chapters of Mexican culture through food.
The current theme draws on Mexican art across centuries, using color, texture, and ingredients to reflect artistic traditions.
Earlier menus explored regional cooking and the influence of Middle Eastern communities on Mexican dishes. So your dinner might feel a little like touring a gallery, only the artworks arrive on plates.
Mixtli holds a Michelin star. Its space at 812 S Alamo St, Suite 103, San Antonio, has an intimate dining room and open kitchen that make the progression feel personal, with each course connected to a larger story.
Rather than picking a main dish from a lengthy menu, guests reserve an arranged experience and follow the kitchen’s sequence.
Past courses have included lobster with pineapple and heirloom corn, snapper with mole blanco, and a floral tres leches dessert. Ingredients change with the theme, which makes return visits genuinely different.
Service runs Tuesday through Saturday evenings and requires advance ticketed reservations. Sundays and Mondays are closed.
Vegetarian and vegan adjustments can be arranged with notice, although certain dietary restrictions cannot be accommodated. Share your needs while reserving rather than at the table.
5. Don Artemio Restaurant
Cactus tacos and a deconstructed tres leches are not your average Tuesday lunch. In Fort Worth, Don Artemio turns the culinary heritage of northeastern Mexico into an elegant, contemporary experience.
The restaurant at 3268 W 7th St, Fort Worth, draws inspiration from Saltillo and the surrounding region, where desert ingredients, handmade tortillas, and slow-cooked meats hold an important place at the table.
Its dining room combines polished finishes with decorative elements inspired by the traditional Saltillo sarape.
Begin with nopalitos fritos, tender cactus prepared with a savory topping and served with blue corn tortillas for assembling your own tacos.
Ceviche tatemado combines fish and octopus with chile seasoning and charred avocado. For a heartier meal, consider slow-cooked cabrito, filet mignon with black bean purée, or a dry-aged steak.
Brunch has its own personality. Chilaquiles rojos with burrata add a creamy twist, while machacado with eggs brings a northern Mexican breakfast tradition to the menu.
Save room for Tres Leches del Desierto, a reconstructed dessert featuring ice cream shaped like an ammonite shell and berries. It’s a wonderfully specific ending to a meal rooted in regional geography.
Lunch and dinner are served throughout the week, and Sunday brunch begins at 10 a.m.
Reservations are especially useful for weekend celebrations. Arrive curious, because the cactus alone deserves a proper introduction.
6. Bohanan’s Prime Steaks And Seafood
Few things feel fancier than a steak carved right beside your table. At this downtown San Antonio steakhouse, the Chateaubriand for Two gets that tableside treatment.
Bohanan’s has served diners since 2002 at 219 E Houston St, San Antonio, with an upstairs dining room that combines classic furnishings, understated lighting, and an Old World steakhouse atmosphere.
The location opposite the Majestic Theatre makes it a natural choice before an evening performance.
The centerpiece is prime aged beef, including filet, ribeye, and New York strip prepared over mesquite.
Chateaubriand arrives with vegetables, duchesse potatoes, and traditional sauces. The presentation turns a shared main course into part of the entertainment without distracting from the food.
Seafood offers plenty of alternatives. Gulf red snapper, crab cakes, salmon, and lobster tail appear among the selections, while a wedge salad or sweet-and-spicy thick-cut bacon can begin the meal.
Lobster creamed corn and truffle-seasoned fries turn the sides into their own decisions.
The dining room occupies the upper floor. Dinner begins at 5 p.m. seven nights a week, ending at 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Polished attire is part of the upstairs dining experience, and advance reservations help when you’re arranging a celebration. For a classic Texas steak dinner, the tableside carving is a delightful finishing touch to the main event.
7. The French Room
Crystal chandeliers, rococo trim, and finger sandwiches walk into a hotel. That isn’t a joke setup, it’s afternoon tea at The French Room in Dallas.
The ornate dining room is part of The Adolphus, a historic downtown hotel at 1321 Commerce St, Dallas.
Marble floors, gilded chairs, detailed wall decorations, and Murano glass chandeliers bring a grand European atmosphere to the space. Even choosing a chair feels like a small occasion.
Afternoon tea is the main attraction, served in three courses with delicate sandwiches, scones, pastries, and loose-leaf teas.
Feeling extra? Guests can add caviar service with buckwheat blini, crème fraîche, and shaved egg yolk. Yes, a teacup can accompany a surprisingly extravagant afternoon.
The service usually takes about two hours, giving everyone time to enjoy the different courses without rushing. Children have their own tea offering, and dietary adjustments may be possible when arranged ahead of time.
Afternoon tea runs Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m., and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m., with later final seatings on weekends.
Regular dinner is offered separately in The French Room Bar, rather than the main tea dining room. Make the appropriate reservation for the experience you want.
A polished outfit fits the setting nicely. The chandeliers are doing their part, so your favorite dress shoes might as well join in.
8. Hestia
A 20-foot hearth sits at the center of the action in this downtown Austin kitchen. At Hestia, live fire isn’t a gimmick, it’s the whole game plan.
Its open kitchen at 607 W 3rd St, Suite 105, Austin, lets you watch cooks work the flames.
A hint of wood smoke moves through the contemporary dining room, where the menu brings together carefully selected Texas produce, seafood, and meats. Hestia holds a Michelin star for its inventive cooking.
There are two ways to approach dinner. Order individual plates, or choose a chef-curated tasting menu that moves through a dozen courses.
Many preparations involve the hearth directly, whether ingredients are smoked, roasted, dried, or gently warmed over coals.
Cornbread with honey butter makes an appealing beginning. Scallops paired with mushroom miso and pear seasoning show how delicate ingredients can work alongside live-fire cooking.
For larger plates, the menu features Berkshire pork chop, Red Ranger chicken, halibut, and aged wagyu beef. A maitake mushroom main course adds a thoughtful meat-free option.
Desserts change with the seasons, sometimes using fruit, toasted grains, or caramelized flavors that continue the hearth’s influence.
Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday beginning at 5:30 p.m., and the kitchen closes Monday.
Plan ahead for the tasting experience and allow time between courses. Watching a kitchen turn a single fire into so many different flavors is half the attraction.
9. Potente
9. Potente
Caviar with a downtown address sounds like a Houston flex, and Potente owns it. The menu even includes an elaborate caviar service for diners who want to start their evening in style.
This modern Italian restaurant stands at 1515 Texas Ave, Houston, across from Daikin Park, combining a polished interior with a kitchen devoted to handmade pasta, steaks, and seafood.
Its low lighting and elegant furnishings create an atmosphere suited to a long dinner rather than a quick meal before heading home.
The standout is spaghetti al tartufo nero, finished with shaved black truffle and a rich cheese sauce. It’s an indulgent dish that puts pasta at the center of the evening.
Other selections have included crab-filled agnolotti, branzino, scallops, and carefully prepared cuts of beef.
Start with Wagyu carpaccio or burrata if you’d like something to share. For seafood lovers, the kitchen regularly works with fresh fish and shellfish, creating dishes that combine Italian techniques with Gulf Coast ingredients.
Dinner service generally runs Monday through Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m., while Sunday is the regular closing day. Valet parking is available for downtown arrivals.
Special occasions can also take advantage of private dining spaces. If the plan involves an anniversary or a significant celebration, book ahead and give that memorable truffle pasta the attention it deserves.
10. B&B Butchers
Some steakhouses brag about beef, but B&B Butchers backs it up with paperwork.
This Fort Worth spot is certified to serve authentic Kobe beef from Japan, a distinction that reflects closely controlled sourcing.
It’s both a steakhouse and a butcher shop, which tells you where its heart lies. The Fort Worth restaurant sits at The Shops at Clearfork, with an adjoining retail counter for carefully selected cuts to prepare at home.
Its address is 5212 Marathon Ave, Fort Worth. The dinner menu includes USDA Prime beef dry-aged in-house, American wagyu, and Japanese A5 selections.
Kobe tenderloin and ribeye are among the most exclusive cuts, while a classic filet offers a familiar alternative. Beef Wellington wraps tenderloin in golden pastry, turning the main dish into a little ceremony.
Not every great dish here is a steak, though. Brisket ravioli combines house-made pasta with richly seasoned filling and mushroom sauce.
Jumbo crab cakes, seafood towers, and pan-seared fish provide plenty of other directions. Side dishes include lobster macaroni and cheese, creamed spinach, and fully loaded mashed potatoes.
Dinner begins at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, while weekend service starts at 11 a.m. and includes daytime menus. The butcher shop operates daily as well.
Reservations help secure a table for celebrations. Between the premium beef and the adjoining shop, it’s a destination built for anyone who takes steak seriously.
