Formerly Shuttered Punch Bowl Social Reopens in Deep Ellum

After a tumultuous couple of years, Punch Bowl Social, the massive Denver-based game room and restaurant, will reopen in Deep Ellum.

The 24,000 square-foot venue, which includes games like putt putt golf, foosball, bowling, and arcades as well as cocktails and food, will reopen on Wednesday, April 28.

Punch Bowl’s Deep Ellum location, at 2600 Main Street, first closed in March 2020 due to Dallas County and the state of Texas’s safe at home ordinances meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. The venue briefly reopened in September, then closed again in December when its parent company filed for bankruptcy.

But the troubles for Punch Bowl Social started before the pandemic. In 2019, the company received a $140 million investment from Cracker Barrel with the expectation that Punch Bowl Social would open 100 locations throughout the United States. At its peak, the chain operated just 20, according to Restaurant Business Online. In September 2019, the Deep Ellum outpost received the first ever zero star review from Dallas Morning News food critic Michalene Busico. A few months later, Punch Bowl’s smaller $2.5 million Fort Worth location shuttered after being open for just three months.

But now that social distancing restrictions are loosening in Texas and vaccines are becoming more widespread, Punch Bowl Social is giving it a second go. “There is no time like the present,” said Robert Cornog, Jr. Chairman and CEO, in a statement.

The massive location allows for plenty of room to social distance, and the restaurant is launching new menu items, including seasonal drinks like sangria and a Topo Chico paloma, to help entice visitors. The Deep Ellum location will offer a happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday with drinks and bites at $7 or less, and brunch on Saturday and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Plus, the company may still have its sights set on Fort Worth. As rep for the company told Eater in 2019, “We very much believe in Fort Worth and know we can be as successful there as we are in Dallas and other markets. It is our hope to relocate to another part of the city in the near future.”

• ‘Millennial Magnet’ Punch Bowl Social Sets an Opening Date for June in Deep Ellum [EDFW]
• Are we having fun yet? Rolling gutterballs at Punch Bowl Social in Deep Ellum [DMN]
• Punch Bowl Social Shutters Its $2.5 Million Fort Worth Outpost After Three Months [EDFW]
• A Deep Look at Punch Bowl Social’s Long Year [Restaurant Business Online]