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Where to Watch March Madness in Dallas

Here are 11 places with tons of TVs, good bar food, and plenty of booze

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Finding a tolerable bar to watch sports can be a bit of a pain. Sure, many places have several TVs in sparkling HD, but the food is subpar, or the drinks are overpriced, or maybe they turn out great burgers but won’t put the sound on even during a Mavs game.

Don’t put up with that anymore. It’s March Madness, for crying out loud! Here are 11 spots where you can enjoy tasty food and solid drinks while sobbing over busted brackets.

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Buffalo Brothers

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Close to the TCU campus, Buffalo Bros. has a million TVs, fantastic pizza (the meatball is recommended), and peppery, vinegary wings. Pizza, wings, sufficient TVs: that’s the holy trinity of sports bar dogma. It’s unique, too, because in addition to TCU students, many upstate New York expats will flock here for the hot wings, the nostalgia, and the Labatts.

Buffalo Bros/Facebook

Time Out Tavern Sports Bar

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Dear Time Out Tavern: Please never change. Time Out is like grandma’s house if it had the SEC Channel and shuffleboard. It’s been frozen in time for at least two decades, and ordering a round of cheap booze here and slinking into a surprisingly comfortable booth to yak about hoops is the equivalent of a hug from Granny. While there’s no kitchen, TO invites patrons to BYOF (bring your own food) or order take out from one of the many nearby restaurants that deliver to the dive bar. Otherwise, it does sell some frozen snacks that can be heated in its microwave.

Time Out Tavern/Yelp

Wheelhouse

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This American joint in the Design District fulfills patrons deepest desires for sipping craft beers or expertly made cocktails in an upscale setting. TVs in the bar area will satisfy game-watching needs, or gather round the large projection screen suspended at the far end of the dog-friendly patio for an al fresco experience that’s on point.

Wheelhouse/Facebook

The Owners Box

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The Owners Box in the Omni Hotel doesn’t mess around with its sports watching. There’s nary a wall in sight that doesn’t have a TV on it, so patrons can get all of the action no matter what direction they turn. There’s a lengthy list of beers on draft and a large eats menu as well. Check out the giant soft pretzel or the Red Neck burger with brisket, cheddar, bacon, and onion strings.

The Owners Box/Facebook

Christies

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Christies happens to be tolerable while also being in the middle of Uptown, maybe because it lives up to its reputation as the Cheers of the neighborhood. The patrons are sports fans first, “I work in finance” second, and the wait staff is helpful and down-to-earth. Plus Christies fulfills the two basic and non-negotiable requirements for sports bars: a comical amount of HD TVs and calorie-dense, cheese-smothered food that doesn’t suck.

Christie’s

The Loon

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The long-lived and relocated Loon looks like a nondescript Uptown bar: It’s in an old house (trendy) with an expansive patio (naturally). But then order a drink — one good-God-this-is-strong drink — and take a bite of a burger that’s better than it has any right to be and, ah yes, it’s obvious why this has been an Uptown standby for more decades than most of its patrons have been on earth.

The Loon/Yelp

Press Box Grill

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Don’t be deceived by this unassuming Downtown spot, the Press Box knows how to party on game days. With TVs in every corner, including a large projection screen on the back wall, and delicious and hearty pub fare like loaded cheese fries, brisket sliders, and the buffalo chicken sandwich stacked with three melty cheeses (cheddar, jack and bleu cheese), this is a great under-the-radar option for Downtown dwellers to walk over and catch the game.

Press Box Grill/Facebook

The newly reopened Statler Hotel boasts several bar-eateries, and Scout’s laid-back, playful atmosphere is perfect for game watching on one of its many TVs. Plus if the game gets boring there’s a bowling alley, foosball, and pool tables nearby.

Bryan Street Tavern

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The bar food at Bryan Street is about as good as bar food gets: sloppy wings, crispy thin-crust pizzas, oozing cheesesteaks, deep-fried you-name-it, queso, quesadillas, hot dogs. Plus the patio is better than average because it (presumably) was designed with game watching in mind. Too often, it seems, this is not the case. Instead of TVs haphazardly placed, Bryan Street bakes comfortable sports-watching into the patio experience.

Bryan Street Tavern/Facebook

Stan's Blue Note

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Stan’s drinks served in mason jars are awesome; the patio that spills out onto a busy street is as dangerous as it is awesome; the loaded nachos are awesome; and the people are loud and inebriated and awesome. Stan’s is a place where people from different backgrounds, countries, and creeds come together to scream proud, unashamed, and unabashed at mostly underage athletes on television (at least in March’s case). And that is a huge compliment. Stan’s, put simply, is awesome.

Stan’s Blue Note/Facebook

Lakewood's First & 10

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This sports bar’s sign with its “pennant font” looks so generic that it almost seems like a gag, but there’s nothing inauthentic about this East Dallas spot. A wood-paneled room has all the familiar trappings of a sports bar: framed jerseys, team pennants, neon beer signs, and a healthy amount of TVs lining the walls. Oh, and it also has the best kind of bar food (sliders, fried pickles, chili with Fritos in it): shareable, salty, and finger-licking good.

Lakewood’s 1st & 10

Buffalo Brothers

Close to the TCU campus, Buffalo Bros. has a million TVs, fantastic pizza (the meatball is recommended), and peppery, vinegary wings. Pizza, wings, sufficient TVs: that’s the holy trinity of sports bar dogma. It’s unique, too, because in addition to TCU students, many upstate New York expats will flock here for the hot wings, the nostalgia, and the Labatts.

Buffalo Bros/Facebook

Time Out Tavern Sports Bar

Dear Time Out Tavern: Please never change. Time Out is like grandma’s house if it had the SEC Channel and shuffleboard. It’s been frozen in time for at least two decades, and ordering a round of cheap booze here and slinking into a surprisingly comfortable booth to yak about hoops is the equivalent of a hug from Granny. While there’s no kitchen, TO invites patrons to BYOF (bring your own food) or order take out from one of the many nearby restaurants that deliver to the dive bar. Otherwise, it does sell some frozen snacks that can be heated in its microwave.

Time Out Tavern/Yelp

Wheelhouse

This American joint in the Design District fulfills patrons deepest desires for sipping craft beers or expertly made cocktails in an upscale setting. TVs in the bar area will satisfy game-watching needs, or gather round the large projection screen suspended at the far end of the dog-friendly patio for an al fresco experience that’s on point.

Wheelhouse/Facebook

The Owners Box

The Owners Box in the Omni Hotel doesn’t mess around with its sports watching. There’s nary a wall in sight that doesn’t have a TV on it, so patrons can get all of the action no matter what direction they turn. There’s a lengthy list of beers on draft and a large eats menu as well. Check out the giant soft pretzel or the Red Neck burger with brisket, cheddar, bacon, and onion strings.

The Owners Box/Facebook

Christies

Christies happens to be tolerable while also being in the middle of Uptown, maybe because it lives up to its reputation as the Cheers of the neighborhood. The patrons are sports fans first, “I work in finance” second, and the wait staff is helpful and down-to-earth. Plus Christies fulfills the two basic and non-negotiable requirements for sports bars: a comical amount of HD TVs and calorie-dense, cheese-smothered food that doesn’t suck.

Christie’s

The Loon

The long-lived and relocated Loon looks like a nondescript Uptown bar: It’s in an old house (trendy) with an expansive patio (naturally). But then order a drink — one good-God-this-is-strong drink — and take a bite of a burger that’s better than it has any right to be and, ah yes, it’s obvious why this has been an Uptown standby for more decades than most of its patrons have been on earth.

The Loon/Yelp

Press Box Grill

Don’t be deceived by this unassuming Downtown spot, the Press Box knows how to party on game days. With TVs in every corner, including a large projection screen on the back wall, and delicious and hearty pub fare like loaded cheese fries, brisket sliders, and the buffalo chicken sandwich stacked with three melty cheeses (cheddar, jack and bleu cheese), this is a great under-the-radar option for Downtown dwellers to walk over and catch the game.

Press Box Grill/Facebook

Scout

The newly reopened Statler Hotel boasts several bar-eateries, and Scout’s laid-back, playful atmosphere is perfect for game watching on one of its many TVs. Plus if the game gets boring there’s a bowling alley, foosball, and pool tables nearby.

Bryan Street Tavern

The bar food at Bryan Street is about as good as bar food gets: sloppy wings, crispy thin-crust pizzas, oozing cheesesteaks, deep-fried you-name-it, queso, quesadillas, hot dogs. Plus the patio is better than average because it (presumably) was designed with game watching in mind. Too often, it seems, this is not the case. Instead of TVs haphazardly placed, Bryan Street bakes comfortable sports-watching into the patio experience.

Bryan Street Tavern/Facebook

Stan's Blue Note

Stan’s drinks served in mason jars are awesome; the patio that spills out onto a busy street is as dangerous as it is awesome; the loaded nachos are awesome; and the people are loud and inebriated and awesome. Stan’s is a place where people from different backgrounds, countries, and creeds come together to scream proud, unashamed, and unabashed at mostly underage athletes on television (at least in March’s case). And that is a huge compliment. Stan’s, put simply, is awesome.

Stan’s Blue Note/Facebook

Lakewood's First & 10

This sports bar’s sign with its “pennant font” looks so generic that it almost seems like a gag, but there’s nothing inauthentic about this East Dallas spot. A wood-paneled room has all the familiar trappings of a sports bar: framed jerseys, team pennants, neon beer signs, and a healthy amount of TVs lining the walls. Oh, and it also has the best kind of bar food (sliders, fried pickles, chili with Fritos in it): shareable, salty, and finger-licking good.

Lakewood’s 1st & 10

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