- Fort Worth offers the second best dining experiences on average in Texas, with 17.79% of the reviews for its top 100 restaurants praising the ambience of its restaurants.
- Plano is first, with 17.99% of reviews for its top 100 restaurants praising restaurant atmosphere, and Dallas is third, at 17.16%.
- The restaurant with the best dining experience in Fort Worth and fourth best in Texas overall is Booger Red’s Saloon, with 34.94% of its reviews praising its atmosphere.
A new study has revealed that Fort Worth is the second best city in Texas for dining out.
Commercial furniture manufacturer, Restaurant Furniture.Net, determined the American cities with the best dining experiences by analyzing the percentage of reviews for the top 100 restaurants by Tripadvisor rating in each of America’s 100 most populous cities that were positive and mentioned a restaurant’s atmosphere.
A review was positive if it had a rating of at least 2.5, and reviews that included at least one of “atmosphere,” “atmospheric,” “ambience,” “ambiance,” “intimate,” or “cozy” were counted as mentioning a restaurant’s atmosphere.
The study also found the best restaurants for an amazing dining experience in each city by finding the percentage of reviews that were positive and mentioned restaurant atmosphere for each restaurant with at least 50 reviews.
Texas cities ranked by average dining experiences
| State rank | City | Total reviews | Positive reviews that mention restaurant atmosphere | Percentage of reviews that are positive and mention restaurant atmosphere | National rank |
| 1. | Plano | 15,172 | 2,729 | 17.99% | 8. |
| 2. | Fort Worth | 34,598 | 6,154 | 17.79% | 12. |
| 3. | Dallas | 47,251 | 8,109 | 17.16% | 19. |
| 4. | Lubbock | 12,817 | 1,979 | 15.44% | 45. |
| 5. | San Antonio | 79,718 | 12,231 | 15.34% | 48. |
| 6. | Austin | 64,021 | 9,703 | 15.16% | 53. |
| 7. | Houston | 52,820 | 7,944 | 15.04% | 55. |
| 8. | El Paso | 15,188 | 2,274 | 14.97% | 57. |
| 9. | Arlington | 14,262 | 2,131 | 14.94% | 58. |
| 10. | Corpus Christi | 19,929 | 2,697 | 13.53% | 70. |
| 11. | Irving | 9,673 | 1,294 | 13.38% | 71. |
| 12. | Garland | 4,026 | 491 | 12.20% | 77. |
| 13. | Laredo | 2,951 | 304 | 10.30% | 95. |
Fort Worth is Texas’s second best city for dining experiences and America’s twelfth best, with 17.79% of the 34,598 reviews left for its top 100 restaurants praising restaurant ambience. Booger Red’s Saloon offers the best restaurant atmosphere in Fort Worth, with 34.94% of its reviews advocating for its ambience.
Plano offers the best dining experiences in Texas and the eighth best in America, with 17.99% of the 15,172 reviews for its top 100 restaurants being both positive and mentioning restaurant ambience. The restaurant with the best dining experience in the city is Fillmore Pub, with 32.61% of its reviews lauding the restaurant’s atmosphere.
Dallas ranked third best in Texas and nineteenth best in America for dining experiences. Dallas’stop 100 restaurants recorded 8,109 positive reviews with mentions of restaurant atmosphere out of 47,251 total reviews, which is a rate of 17.16%. Saint Martin’s Wine Bistro ranked as having the best atmosphere of any restaurant in the city, with this being mentioned positively in 40% of reviews. This is also the second best rating in Texas and twenty-second in America overall.
Lubbock offers the fourth best dining experience in Texas and forty-fifth in America overall, with 15.44% of the 12,817 reviews left for its top 100 restaurants being positive and mentioning restaurant ambience. Lubbock’s most atmospheric restaurant is La Diosa Cellars, with 44.54% of its reviews praising the restaurant’s atmosphere. La Diosa Cellarsis also the most atmospheric restaurant in Texas and the second most atmospheric nationally.
San Antonio is the fifth best city for dining experiences in Texas. 15.34% of the 79,718 reviews for its top 100 restaurants were positive about restaurant ambience. The best restaurant for an atmospheric dining experience in San Antonio is La Fogata Mexican Cuisine, with 29.7% of reviews praising the atmosphere.
Austin offers Texas’s sixth best dining experiences overall. Out of the 64,021 reviews for its top restaurants, 15.16% or 9,703 were positive and mentioned a restaurant’s atmosphere. The best restaurant for a great dining ambience in Austin is Fonda San Miguel, with 29.19% of its reviews advocating for its ambience.
Houston gives diners the seventh best dining experiences overall in Texas, with 15.04% of its top 100 restaurants’ reviews remarking on a positive dining atmosphere. Houston’s top restaurant, and Texas’s third best, is Hearsay Market Square, recording 35.01% positive reviews that also mention ambience.
El Paso offers Texas’s eighth best dining experience overall. 14.97% of the reviews for El Paso’s top 100 restaurants praised the restaurant atmosphere. El Paso’s best restaurant for an atmospheric experience is Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey’s, where 28.77% of reviews advocate for its atmosphere.
Arlington recorded 2,131 out of 14,262 reviews as positive and mentioning the restaurant atmosphere. This rate of 14.94% ranks Arlington as the ninth best city for dining experiences in Texas overall. The city’s top restaurant is Piccolo Mondo Italian Restaurant, with 34.86% of reviews celebrating its dining atmosphere.
Corpus Christi is the tenth best city for dining experiences in Texas. 13.53% of the19,929 reviews left for its restaurants were positive and mentioned the restaurant’s ambience. Bellino Ristorante Italiano and Bottega is the best restaurant in the city for dining ambience, with 32% of its reviews celebrating the restaurant’s atmosphere.
Irving offers the eleventh best dining experiences on average in Texas. 13.38% of the 9,673 for its top 100 restaurants mentioned restaurant atmosphere positively. Irving’s top restaurant for atmosphere is Bruno’s Italian Restaurant, with 28.92% of reviews praising its atmosphere.
Garland is twelfth for Texas’s best dining experiences on average. Out of the 4,026 reviews for its top 100 restaurants, 12.2% praised the dining experience. Flying Fish offers the best dining experience in Garland, with 25.81% rating the restaurant’s atmosphere positively.
Laredo is thirteenth in Texas for atmospheric dining experiences. 304 out of the 2,951 reviews for its top restaurants were positive and mentioned dining experience, which is a rate of 10.3%. Border Foundry Restaurant & Bar is the top restaurant for an atmospheric dining experience in Laredo, with 31.25% of its reviews lauding the dining experience.
The 10 most atmospheric restaurants in Texas
| State rank | Restaurant | City | Rating | Restaurant reviews | Positive reviews that mention restaurant atmosphere | Percentage of reviews that are positive and mention restaurant atmosphere | National rank |
| 1. | La Diosa Cellars | Lubbock | 4.5 | 238 | 106 | 44.54% | 2. |
| 2. | Saint Martin’s Wine Bistro | Dallas | 4.6 | 300 | 120 | 40.00% | 22. |
| 3. | Hearsay Market Square | Houston | 4.3 | 337 | 118 | 35.01% | 64. |
| 4. | Booger Red’s Saloon | Fort Worth | 4.4 | 166 | 58 | 34.94% | 65. |
| 5. | Piccolo Mondo Italian Restaurant | Arlington | 4.6 | 327 | 114 | 34.86% | 66. |
| 6. | Cook’s Garage | Lubbock | 4.1 | 52 | 18 | 34.62% | 70. |
| 7. | Truck Yard | Dallas | 4.5 | 288 | 99 | 34.38% | 77. |
| 8. | Spazzio’s Italian Cantina | Arlington | 4.5 | 67 | 23 | 34.33% | 78. |
| 9. | Twisted Root Burger Co. | Arlington | 4.3 | 318 | 106 | 33.33% | 92. |
| 10. | Rise Soufflé – Dallas | Dallas | 4.6 | 1,181 | 392 | 33.19% | 100. |
The study also identified the restaurants that offer the best dining experiences in Texas and nationwide. La Diosa Cellars in Lubbock ranks top in Texas and second nationally, with 44.54%of its reviews praising the restaurant’s atmosphere.
Saint Martin’s Wine Bistro in Dallas offers the second best dining atmosphere in Texas and the twenty-second best in America, with 40% of reviews mentioning a positive dining ambience.
Hearsay Market Square in Houston is third best in Texas for dining experience and sixty-fourth nationwide, with 35.01% of its reviews praising the atmosphere in the restaurant.
Booger Red’s Saloon in Fort Worth ranks fourth for dining experience in Texas. 34.94% of its reviews were positive and mentioned its dining ambience.
Piccolo Mondo Italian Restaurant in Arlington has Texas’s fifth best dining experience, with 34.86%of its reviews advocating for its atmosphere.
Cook’s Garage in Lubbock recorded 34.62%of its reviews praising its atmosphere. This is the sixth best dining experience in Texas.
Truck Yard in Dallas offers the seventh best dining experience in Texas, with 34.38% of its reviews being both positive and talking about its dining experience.
Spazzio’s Italian Cantina in Arlington follows narrowly behind in eighth, with 34.33% of reviews praising the dining atmosphere.
Twisted Root Burger Co. in Arlington offers Texas’s ninth best dining experience, with 33.33% of reviews praising its ambience.
Rise Soufflé – Dallas in Dallas offers the tenth best dining experience in Texas, with 33.19% of reviews celebrating the restaurant’s ambience.
Nick Warren, Head of Ecommerce at Restaurant Furniture, commented on the findings,
“A restaurant’s ambience adds so much to a dining experience. A restaurant that makes customers feel comfortable and welcome is far more likely to stick in someone’s memory, which makes it far more likely that the restaurant will get returning customers and word-of-mouth recommendations.
“The right atmosphere can even add to the food itself, since customers associate certain themes and ambiences with certain cuisines. When these match, customers are far more likely to come away from a dining experience happy.
“This made us curious about which cities in America had the best dining experiences overall, and we found that Raleigh, North Carolina, was top nationally, while Plano, Texas, was best in Texas and eighth nationally. The top restaurant in Texas was La Diosa Cellars in Lubbock, ranking second overall in America.”
Sources:
Tripadvisor.com U.S. Census Bureau
Methodology:
Reviews for the top 100 highest-rated restaurants on TripAdvisor in the 100 most populated cities in America were scraped from Tripadvisor.com.
These reviews were analyzed, and any that contained keywords related to a restaurant’s atmosphere or dining experience were collected. These keywords were “atmosphere,” “atmospheric,” “ambience,” “ambiance,” “intimate,” and “cozy.”
Cities were ranked based on the percentage of their total reviews that were positive (reviews with a score of at least 2.5) and contained a keyword related to a restaurant’s atmosphere.
The most atmospheric restaurant in each city was found by repeating this methodology for each restaurant in each city. However, restaurants with fewer than 50 reviews were excluded from each city’s ranking.
The most atmospheric restaurants in each Texas city, for restaurants with at least 50 reviews
| City | Most atmospheric restaurant with more than 50 reviews | Rating | Restaurant reviews | Positive reviews that mention restaurant atmosphere | Percentage of reviews that are positive and mention restaurant atmosphere |
| Arlington | Piccolo Mondo Italian Restaurant | 4.6 | 327 | 114 | 34.86% |
| Austin | Fonda San Miguel | 4.5 | 788 | 230 | 29.19% |
| Corpus Christi | Bellino Ristorante Italiano and Bottega | 4.3 | 175 | 56 | 32.00% |
| Dallas | Saint Martin’s Wine Bistro | 4.6 | 300 | 120 | 40.00% |
| El Paso | Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey’s | 4.2 | 1074 |
Article brought to us from ResturantFurniture.net
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
