Best Happy Hours

Where to drink in Dallas right now: 5 special happy hours for September

Cocktail from Malai Kitchen.

Photo courtesy of Malai Kitchen

This is a most distinguished edition of Where to Drink, CultureMap's monthly column bringing news of the best happy hours around. Distinguished, because these aren't just the cheapest deals. These happy hours are all a little extra, whether it's gourmet chef-driven food, unique location, or a special Korean twist.

Here are the best happy hour destinations for September 2026:

Cipher Lounge
Unique new entertainment venue and lounge in downtown McKinney is an escape room-plus-restaurant and bar, combining food, cocktails, and escape-room experiences under one roof. The Cipher Lounge is not your typical bar or escape room. The lounge boasts a sophisticated atmosphere with craft cocktails and upscale bites. You can stop in before or after the escape room, but you can also just come in for food and drink. And fortunately, they do a happy hour Wednesday-Friday from 2-6 pm with $3 off flatbreads & dips, $3 off well cocktails, $2 off domestic beers, and $1 off import and craft beers.

Malai Kitchen
Small local chain specializing in southeast Asian cuisine is a perennial, with four locations including the original at West Village in Uptown Dallas. They recently expanded their already generous happy hour with more to eat and more to drink, still with the same scratch-made kitchen behind all of it. Signature cocktails are $4 off. Their celebrated house-brewed beer is $6, and their happy hour wines are a cut above: Aveleda Vinho Verde white from Portugal, and Vina Eguia Tempranillo red from Spain, $8 per glass. Bites are $8 or two for $15 including Vietnamese meatballs, cucumber salad, shishito peppers, grilled satay, fried imperial rolls, spicy edamame, Thai chicken wings, and potstickers. Hours are Monday-Friday 3-6 pm, and all day Sunday.

Nuri Steakhouse
Korean steakhouse in Uptown recently launched "Geonbae Hour," its elevated take on happy hour, inspired by the Korean tradition of “Geonbae,” meaning cheers. Featured bites include oysters, bulgogi beef tacos, steak tartare cigar, and truffle popcorn, $7 to $9, plus a Wagyu burger with kimchi-glazed bacon and white cheddar for $20. Drinks include their unique renditions of classic drinks like an old-fashioned, margarita, and negroni for $10; plus beer, wine, and soju, the Korean spirit. It's offered Monday-Thursday 4- 6 pm and all day Sunday.

Two Hands
Australian-style all-day cafe founded in New York, which opened a location at The Quad in 2025, has what it calls a "snacky hour," which is short and to the point: a smashburger for $10, plus $10 cocktails, $3 off glasses of wine (including red, white, and sparkling), and $5 draft beer. Cocktails include martinis (dry or dirty), espresso martini, margarita, aperol spritz, old-fashioned, Negroni, and bloody Mary.

Written By the Seasons
Chef-driven concept has two locations in Dallas: Bishop Arts and The Quad. Both host an admirable happy hour 3:30-5 pm Monday-Saturday, with half-off on bottles of wine and significant snacks, including some of their signature dishes. There are smoked Texas pecans, cheese & charcuterie board, boquerones with arugula & crostini, mutabal (the middle-Eastern eggplant dip) with olives and crispy flatbread, and their acclaimed kimchi pancakes, priced from $5 to $12. There's also a burger with American cheese, and a veggie sandwich with cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts, and shaved carrots on wheat — both $18.

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Got the goat

Rodeo Goat fires up its crave-worthy burgers for new Allen development

Photo courtesy of Rodeo Goat

Rodeo Goat's 'Hatch Me if You Can burger,' offered during Hatch chile season.

Popular Fort Worth-born burger chain Rodeo Goat is joining the growing lineup of Allen's new Sloan Corners complex.

According to a release, the burger joint has signed a lease for a location in the mixed-use development from Billingsley Company at the southwest corner of SH-121 and US-75.

Opening date is still TBA.

Rodeo Goat is known for its creative house-ground burgers, hand-punched fries, craft beer, and casual, industrial-style atmosphere.

The menu includes more than 20 signature burger selections including the popular Bodacious Burger (American cheese, bacon, crispy onions, grilled jalapeños pickles, smoked jalapeño mayo, bodacious BBQ sauce); the Blue Jeans Burger (double smash patty, melted blue cheese, applewood smoked bacon, grilled jalapeños, crispy onions strings, whipped blue cheese, 501 steak sauce); and the Inspector Clouseau (double smash patties, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions, black peppercorn aioli and French onion pan sauce on an onion bun). The “Hatch Me if You Can” burger is a popular choice during Hatch chile season, which just concluded in August.

The extensive drink menu offers domestic and imported brews with a large selection of “mostly” Texas craft beers and a quirky cocktail menu featuring signature concoctions such as the B-L-TX, blackberry lemonade spiked with Texas whiskey, and the “Moontang” with Firefly Moonshine, Tang and “other things.”

A popular happy hour, AKA "Rodeo Time" offers drink and food specials - like $6 margaritas and 1/2 off queso - each Monday through Friday.

Rodeo Goat was founded by Dallas restaurateur Shannon Wynne and partners Keith Schlabs and Larry Richardson, with its first location opening in Fort Worth in 2012. A second location followed in Dallas’ Design District, where Rodeo Goat became part of the neighborhood’s restaurant resurgence.

The brand has since expanded across North Texas, with current locations in Dallas, Fort Worth, Frisco, Plano, Addison, Denton, Rockwall, and Cypress Waters. There's also one in Houston.

Wynne, the founder, has a close relationship with Billingsley Company, the release notes. He currently operates four restaurants at Billingsley’s Cypress Waters development: Rodeo Goat, Flying Fish, Flying Saucer, and Miriam Cocina Latina. The Allen location will be the group’s fifth restaurant in a Billingsley development.

Rendering of Sloan Corners' 121 retail corridor.Photo courtesy of Billingsley Company

The Allen restaurant will have prominent visibility from SH-121, an intersection that sees more than 300,000 vehicles a day, the release notes. It will be part of the development’s Bravo Park area, which is planned as a central gathering space with trails, green space, public art, dog parks, and pickleball courts.

“Rodeo Goat is exactly the kind of restaurant we want at Sloan Corners: local, fun, distinctive and already loved by people across DFW,” says Lucy Burns, partner at Billingsley Company, in the release. “We have a wonderful relationship with Shannon and his team at Cypress Waters, and we’re thrilled to grow that partnership at Sloan Corners. With the visibility along SH-121 and everything happening around Bravo Park, Rodeo Goat will be a fantastic addition.”

Rodeo Goat will join several other food and entertainment concepts planned for Bravo Park, including Mexican Bar Company, Flat Grounds Coffee, and City Futsal.

Sloan Corners is envisioned as a major mixed-use destination spanning Allen and Fairview, with office, residential, retail, dining, parks, trails, and other outdoor amenities. The first phases in Allen include more than 180,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and nearly 4,000 multifamily residences, with future office development also planned.

“We place a lot of value on bringing authentic local favorites into our developments,” Burns says in the release. “Rodeo Goat brings that energy naturally.”

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