We made this list of restaurants open on Christmas Day. Check it twice.
When you’ve sung the carols and opened the gifts on Christmas morning, what’s next?
Restaurants including one in a new Arlington hotel hope the next logical step is Christmas “dinner” — really brunch or lunch.
At least 24 restaurants will be open Christmas Day. Here’s the first look, with updates to come (keep checking this page):
Hotel buffets
▪ The Omni Fort Worth will serve the city’s definitive hotel brunch buffet in the ballroom foyer upstairs. It features seasonal favorites with a big dessert station; 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., $70. The Cast Iron cafe is also open, 1300 Houston St., 817-350-4106, omnifortworthhotel.com.
▪ LAW at the Four Seasons Resort will serve a buffet with favorites and a wide choice of desserts; 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m., $95, 4150 N. MacArthur Blvd., 972-717-2420, fourseasons.com.
▪ Riverwalk Cantina and Zeppole Coastal Italian: The Gaylord Texan Resort restaurants will serve a $76-$79 lunch buffet Christmas Day. There is no other description, menu or information; 1501 Gaylord Trail, Grapevine, 817-778-1000, gaylordtexan.com.
Prime steakhouses
Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Mercury Chophouse , Toro Toro Latin Steakhouse in the Worthington and Wicked Butcher in the Sinclair Hotel rule Christmas, along with Cut & Bourbon in Arlington, They’re the only prime steakhouses open at midday.
▪ Ruth’s Chris, 813 Main St., will open at noon and serve a holiday classics menu starting at $45.95 and featuring stuffed chicken, barbecued shrimp or steak-and-shrimp; 817-348-0080, ruthschris.com.
▪ Toro Toro Latin Steakhouse. 200 Main St., will open and serve a special $65 menu featuring a kale salad, jalapeno-stuffed tenderloin with an ancho sweet-onion demi-glace, crispy Brussels sprouts, “potato three ways” and a cinnamon sopaipilla with lemongrass-vanilla ice cream.
▪ Wicked Butcher, 512 Main St., will open its Wicked Bar and serve a holiday specials menu featuring filet mignon, a bone-in cowboy ribeye and a tomahawk chop, with desserts like cheesecake in a jar and lemon cardamom crème brulée; wickedbutcher.com.
▪ Cut & Bourbon will serve a brunch menu and seafood buffet. It’s a $56 brunch in the new Live by Loews! hotel in Arlington. Cut & Bourbon is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily at 1600 E. Randol Mill Road, 682-277-4950, loewshotels.com
▪ Both Mercury Chophouse prime steakhouses in Arlington and Fort Worth will serve lunch Christmas Day. The Arlington location offers a panoramic view of the entertainment district, while the Fort Worth location is downtown in the Tower near Sundance Square; 2221 E. Lamar Blvd., Arlington, 817-381-1157, mercurychophouse.com, or 525 Taylor St., Fort Worth, 817-336-4129, mercuryfw.com.
▪ Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse on General Worth Square will open at 3 p.m., along with the more casual Del Frisco’s Grille on Sundance Square plaza and presumably will serve their regular menus.
Family restaurants
For a less expensive Christmas Day dinner, here are the year-in, year-out favorites:
▪ Luby’s, praised for Thanksgiving turkey, will open and offer a $15.99 prime rib special or a $13.99 apple-cranberry pork chop. It has three locations in north, east and southwest Fort Worth, plus and one in Forest Hill; lubys.com.
▪ Saltgrass Steakhouse: The chain will be open 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Christmas Day, featuring pecan-pie bread pudding; saltgrass.com.
▪ Heaven’s Gate Restaurant, 3820 N. Main St. in north Fort Worth, is a weekday buffet restaurant and opens Christmas Day to serve families in its decorated dining room. More coming on the menu, but it’s about $15.
▪ Skillet N Grill Restaurant, 1801 W. Division St., Arlington, is expected to open again this year in its new location and serve a special along with its regular menu. Call to check; 817-795-8682, skilletngrill.com.
▪ The always-open Ol’ South Pancake House, 1509 S. University Drive near Interstate 30 in central Fort Worth, will start Christmas with breakfast at 7 a.m. and serve its regular menu plus a special; olsouthpancakehouse.com. (Most IHoP locations also open.)
▪ Furr’s Fresh Buffet, 300 Interstate 20 East in Arlington, is open Christmas Day and will serve pepper-crusted roast beef, ham and grilled pork chops.; furrs.net.
▪ One of the most popular Christmas Day buffets is always at the Iron Skillet Restaurant buffet, 2001 Santa Fe Drive, Weatherford; .ta-petro.com.
▪ Both Buca di Beppo and Romano’s Macaroni Grill open at lunch Christmas Day.
▪ R Bar & Grill in the Hilton Arlington will be open.
▪ Shell Shack locations are expected to open at at 3 p.m., including Arlington and the new north Fort Worth restaurant.
(Texas Live!, which opened last year, will stay closed this year.)
Tex-Mex and Chinese restaurants
▪ Tex-Mex restaurants open Christmas include Acapulco Restaurant, Amy’s Restaurant and Los Asaderos in north Fort Worth,along with Daybreak Cafe in west Fort Worth.
▪ Also open Christmas: Fuel City Tacos in Haltom City and Saginaw.
▪ For Chinese restaurants, the go-to choice is First Chinese BBQ in Arlington or Haltom City.
To be updated
Thanks to Eats Beat readers who keep an eye out for more Christmas options.
In particular, thanks to the readers in Facebook groups such as Fort Worth Foodies, Arlington Foodies and the Foodie Feed, who often know about openings and specials before anyone else.
If you know a Christmas lunch restaurant not listed here, email bud@star-telegram.com or send an online message to the https://www.facebook.com/diningguy Eats page, @EatsBeat on Twitter or @BudKennedy on Instagram.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 5:45 AM.
