This North Texas restaurant has Christmastime decor and $10-20 dinners
One of Arlington’s best old Christmas traditions is not changing.
Candlelite Inn, an American highway landmark from the 1950s, is about to begin its 70th year serving everything from pizza and pastas to Tex-Mex combination platters, burgers and steaks.
If you want enchiladas but the kids want pizza or spaghetti, Candlelite Inn is your place.
If you want an intimate Italian or steak dinner by candlelight in an old-time cozy, enclosed booth, Candlelite Inn is your place.
And every Christmas, if you want to see lights and decorations but don’t want to see the sad remnants of some other fading restaurant, Candlelite Inn is definitely your place.
Four years before Six Flags Over Texas opened on the prairie between Fort Worth and Dallas, Candlelite Inn opened as almost an amusement park of dining at 1202 E. Division St., on what was then the busy federal highway from Fort Worth to Dallas and points east.
It initially emphasized steaks, Italian food and pizza — the first in Arlington, in a setting very similar to Fort Worth’s long-gone Italian Inn or the original Margie’s.
But Tex-Mex combination plates were just as popular, and the founding Keith family also owned La Fiesta in Denton. So Candlelite Inn serves enchiladas and tacos, too.
The time-warp building is lined with neon signs advertising all the types of food, plus a giant sign for the charcoal-grilled chopped steak special. It’s still only $10 weekdays at lunch.
Now, Candlelite Inn is not for foodies.
Everything is pretty much the same as it was in 1957, with the addition of cocktails and a bar.
The Italian dishes ($16-$19) are your basic red-sauce or Alfredo pastas. The pizzas ($10-$15) are on a simple but very light scratch-made crust.
The Tex-Mex combination plates ($13-$16) are familiar. The one distinction is Candlelite’s special, spicy green sauce, like a chopped escabeche. It’s so good you’ll want to take more home.
In a classic Candlelite bow to tradition, each table gets chips and hot sauce even if you’re there for pizza.
Candlelite also has charbroiled steaks for remarkably low prices: $14-$21 with a small lettuce salad and baked potato. The pork chop dinner is a good pick at $19. Ask to have steaks or chops rolled in cracked peppercorns.
Burgers and chicken sandwiches sell for $11-$15.
Weekday lunch specials are even cheaper: $10 for specials such as Tex-Mex platters, a pork chop lunch or chicken Parmesan.
Desserts one recent day included German chocolate cake, orange-coconut cake, strawberry cake, banana cake and Arlington’s traditional favorite, red velvet.
Overall, Candlelite serves a good lunch or dinner for $10-$20, with a big helping of history.
It’s across from AT&T Stadium on Texas 180, a quarter-mile east of North Collins Street (Farm Road 157) or 2 miles west of Texas 360.
Candlelite Inn is open for lunch and dinner daily, but closes in midafternoon weekdays between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.; 817-275-9613, candleliteinnarlington.com.
This story was originally published December 9, 2025 at 4:17 AM.
