For my 30th birthday, we took a weekend roundtrip getaway to downtown Dallas to explore the city and enjoy some good food. And my goodness, did we have fun. Neither Chris nor I had properly explored Dallas before this weekend so we decided to make the best of our weekend and do as much as we could. We started our weekend by stopping in to Deel Ellum, which reminded me a lot of 6th street in Austin. It is a fun, upbeat part of town with some really unique restaurants and clubs.
Deep Sushi-Deep Ellum
We ate at Deep Sushi in the heart of Deep Ellum and were blown away with how incredible the food was. We had gyoza to start with some Asian inspired cocktails like a sake margarita and a lychee martini. We ordered several of their specialty rolls which were all delicious. I especially loved the Firecracker and Red Dragon rolls. The service was great and we got to sit and look out onto Deep Ellum which was fun to people watch.
AC Hotel Marriot Downtown Dallas
We stayed downtown at the AC Hotel my Marriott which is in the heart of downtown Dallas. We chose this hotel because it was in close proximity of a few things we had planned and it had great reviews. The hotel itself it modern with lots of places to sit and a nice bar to sit and relax after a long day. It is a fairly low key place that actually shares the building with a Hampton Inn so there are shared areas (including a Starbucks) between the two hotels. I was impressed with our corner room with a nice view of downtown Dallas. We didn’t use the pool, but it looked spacious and family friendly.
Exploring Downton Dallas
On Saturday morning, we slept in but got up early enough to venture out to explore the Grassy Knoll and a few of the other neighborhoods in downtown. I especially loved exploring the West End neighborhood. They had so many cute parks and community areas everywhere with lots of local restaurants and placed to explore. We found this cute park and decided to just sit and enjoy the nice weather and the fountain for a while.
The Adolphus Hotel-The French Room Tea
The main attraction of our trip was afternoon tea at the Adolphus Hotel. Built in 1912, The Adolphus is one of the most grand hotels I have ever seen, with impeccable design and esthetic. I loved every minute of being there. We had 1pm reservations in the French Room, the hotels main dining room, that serves traditional afternoon tea in the mornings and afternoons before dinner. This grand room was modeled after European tea rooms and reminded me of being at Kensington Palace in England.
Tea itself was glorious! Served in three courses, we enjoyed delectable finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts. My favorite was the coronation chicken, which I have since learned to make because we loved it so much. The service was slow and relaxing and staff gave you plenty of time to enjoy each course and linger over your tea. The champagne was a perfect pairing with such delicious food. It was fun to see all the groups of mothers and daughters and bridal showers having a delightful time at this beautiful spot. If you are thinking of having tea, I HIGHLY recommend a reservation, which can be made on the Adolphus’ website. Both weekdays and weekends are busy so a reservation ensures you get a table in a timely manner.
Central Downton Dallas
After a long afternoon tea, we decided to explore more of downtown and walked around the area we were staying for a while. It turns out it was Derby Weekend, which neither of us knew, so that explained all the people out in dresses and large hats! We found the AT&T park in the middle of downtown which has a Derby viewing area set up, so we spontaneously grabbed some cocktails and watched some of the races. There was a live jazz band playing, and with the weather unusually cool, we were happy to simply sit with our drinks and watch the world go by. We found an Irish pub that had cheese curds and a cold pint so we sat some more and chatted over our food and mused about the skyscrapers.
Sunday Brunch- Henry’s Majestic
Sadly, our trip did have to come to a close, so after sleeping in and watching a documentary about JFK’s assignation (inspired by our trip to the Grassy Knoll the previous day), we packed up our room and headed out to get some Sunday Brunch. We found a fun place in Henry’s Majestic which was listed as a top brunch destination in Dallas. I wish we would have made a reservation for the patio rather than inside, because the patio looked like the perfect place to enjoy a mimosa and the nice weather we had all weekend. We ended up sitting in side where the music was a little too loud for comfort, but the food was delicious. We both got chiliqueles and split their loaded tots which were amazing. It was a great way to close out the indulgent weekend and fill our stomachs before we made the drive back to Austin.
Overall, it was a lovely weekend of relaxing and trying new things. I would recommend tea at the Adolphus to anyone looking for a traditional tea experience. We loved staying downtown and can see why Dallas is such a popular destination to work and live. We hope to make it back soon to see the zoo and the aquarium as well as a few other things we didn’t have time for this trip. Hopefully soon!
