West Fort Worth restaurant will change its name and menu soon
The F1 Bar & Grill restaurant in the West 7th neighborhood will change names and menus this fall to become a second location of the Tavern restaurant, owner Felipe Armenta said.
Lawyers for the London-based Formula One auto racing circuit objected to the name as F1 racing expands in the U.S., Armenta said.
The restaurant, 517 University Drive, will serve a similar menu to the Tavern, Armenta’s original restaurant at 2755 S. Hulen St., he said.
The restaurant will change names this fall and will have a name similar to the Tavern, Armenta said. He is considering the name Little Tavern.
Armenta said he hadn’t planned to change the restaurant or open a second Tavern, but “obviously things happen for a reason.”
The menu will include the top sellers from the Tavern on Hulen Street, which opened in 2010 when Armenta moved from California to Fort Worth to be closer to his restaurant family in San Angelo.
The new Tavern will feature most of the same wide-ranging menu of salads, sandwiches, burgers, weekend brunch and a few steak and grill items, plus the Tavern’s Key lime pie, he said.
Armenta’s Far Out Hospitality also operates Le Margot, Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, Pacific Table, Press Cafe and Towne Grill restaurants in Fort Worth, Southlake and Aledo, plus restaurants in West Texas.
Armenta is also a partner in seven Cork and Pig Tavern restaurants. A Willow Park location will open near the end of October at 460 Shops Blvd., he said.
F1 opened in 2022 under the name F1 Smokehouse, but struggled with its original identity as a barbecue-themed casual bar and grill.
F1 was originally the name of Armenta’s barbecue trailer near the Shops at Clearfork.
“One thing that really messed us up was the name ‘smokehouse,’ “ he said. “People thought we had a smoke shop or sold smokers.”
The proliferation of smoke and vape shops in commercial shopping areas has caused confusion for restaurants with “smokehouse” in their names. Plus, customers searching online for “barbecue” don’t search for other terms.
Even the sign at the venerable Railhead Smokehouse in Fort Worth now proclaims “Railhead BBQ” in larger letters than “smokehouse.”
A number of restaurants have closed across West Seventh Street in the Artisan Circle and Foch Street Warehouses area, but not north of West Seventh. A new Terry Black’s Barbecue draws a regional audience.
F1 Smokehouse replaced a craft taco restaurant, Austin City Tacos.
“I still believe in the area and what we can do,” Armenta said.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 2:54 PM.
