CRAFT Dallas: A Menu That Goes Everywhere and Leads Nowhere

Craft beer both arrived and peaked in Dallas around 2011, just like it did nearly everywhere else. That didn’t stop CRAFT Beer Market from migrating south from Canada to open a giant double-decker restaurant in the Park Cities in the year of our AI-generated Jesus Trump Overlord, 2026.

There are loads and loads of interesting beers on tap, with a wide variety of flavor profiles, so if you like sour ales, fruity brews and IPAs with a side of watching sports, you should go there. If you care about food, maybe don’t. 

The spot recently opened, and when I stopped by on a Tuesday at 7 p.m., the place was elbow-to-elbow with two- and four-tops full of people (the giant booths for six to eight were less occupied). The space is a whopping 10,500 square feet on the first floor alone, so the wait for a table without a reservation wasn’t long. The service was extremely attentive and polite, from the greeting at the door through to the check. At the table, some cracks began to appear.

A Fast Pace

There was a single hiccup in the flow of things — all my food was delivered at the same time. Apps and mains came flying, and suddenly there was no more space on the table. It’s not great experientially, nor if you like eating your food hot. 

Although this is a Canadian endeavor and Dallas is its first U.S. location, there are several Mexican dishes on the menu, including barrel nachos, which are a Guy Fieri invention that this place makes its own by using a beer keg instead of a bucket. I was born and raised in Texas, and if your nachos aren’t served flat on a scorching hot plate that just came out of an oven to perfectly melt the cheese, I don’t want them. So, I didn’t order that. 

Globe-Trotting Fare

I did want to see how Canadians make Mexican food, though, so I got the carnitas street tacos ($18). The issue wasn’t that the carnitas were unspiced; someone had dumped a whole lot of cumin in there. The problem was that they either omitted jalapeños or used the crappy A&M ones that have been defanged, so there was no bite to counter the richness of the meat and greasiness of the fried tortillas. Instead, these tacos are topped with pineapple salsa. The kitchen could have skipped a lot of extra steps by letting the peppers do their thing. 

The smashburger ($20) was recommended as a popular choice. It’s a double patty, which makes it roughly the same density as a plain old burger. Other than having grainy beef, which has a strange mouthfeel, it was fine. Served on a sweet-potato roll, the patties had nice, crispy edges, and the cheese melted just fine. The special sauce, which managed to look like McDonald’s and taste like bacon jam, was perhaps a bit much. The fries were not fried to the right crispiness and were already growing cold by the time they reached my table, so we’ll call that a wash.

Then there was the baked mac and cheese ($18), also recommended as a customer favorite, but I also wanted to order it because I’m interested in how this restaurant carefully offers and highlights vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options across every category on the menu. This version sounds so tempting, promising cheddar, Gouda, mozzarella and Swiss cheese, along with the less tempting “housemade cheese sauce” in place of a roux and cream. And it has more kick than I expected, courtesy of some poblano peppers. But while eating it, I wasn’t in cheese heaven. I’m bored. This is boring. With all these ingredients, I’m hoping it tastes like something, but it doesn’t — it’s surprisingly flat both as a dish and an experience. 

Too Many Identities

The issue with giant places like this and their giant menus is that they have no identity. Beer is not an identity. It’s not Canadian either. But somehow the menu features Korean sticky ribs, Japanese ramen, Mexican tacos, Cajun chicken, Italian pastas, Mediterranean hummus, Hawaiian ahi bowls, and two salad-based bowls paying homage to California as a stand-in for the word “healthy.” And yet, this is, according to the press release, a chef-driven concept. How many chefs are they hiding back there to touch this many cultures?

It also manages not to be for everyone. If you don’t enjoy beer, the cocktails list is both long and tedious. The most adventurous thing I spotted on it was a strawberry yuzu pisco sour, but it’s mostly classic cocktails and frozen options. You can make anything a frozen drink here, which is moderately disturbing. The wines are a list of bottles you can buy at your local grocery store. Couple that with some mandate that all the staff are women dressed in all-black with slicked-back hair, like models pretending to play instruments in a Robert Palmer video from the 1980s, and a subtle vision of who the customer this place was built to cater to begins to emerge. 

I left feeling like I went to a chain restaurant that is as impartial about me being a customer as it is about its menu.

CRAFT Beer Market, 5947 W Northwest Highway, Monday – Thursday 11 a.m. – Midnight; Friday 11 a.m. – 1 a.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 1 a.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. – Midnight.