Grapevine Restaurants

There are some fancy restaurants in Grapevine (mostly at the recently developed resort hotels) and some not worth the mention, but if you are new to Texas and want an excellent introduction to that special type of bar-b-q indigenous to Texas, stop by Bartley's. It is a storefront type eatery in a L-shaped strip mall. The fare is very good but not fancy. Perhaps the best part of the restaurant is the staff. For example, the last time I was there, Casey Wilkinson, the catering manager, was on her way to a meeting to plan a wedding reception. As she walked by my table, she asked how I was enjoyng my meal. After telling her that it was fine, I also asked a question about a new dessert which I had not seen before, anywhere. She stopped, pulled up a chair, and gave me a detailed history of how they had developed that particular dish. The serving format is cafeteria-style so you do not have to wait on wait staff to bring you a menu, come back to take your order, and then wait again for your food. The down-side of cafeteria service is often that the food gets dry or otherwise unpalatable. I have not found that to be the case at Bartley's. The staff behind the serving line are also very hospitable and patient with those of us who have trouble making up our minds as to what we want to eat.
They have been in business since 1968, a pretty good tribute to a family owned restaurant, especially in an area which is growing as fast as the DFW Metroplex is.

Favorite Dish: Bar-b-q, of course. Since Carolininas often have trouble thinking of barbecue as anything other than pork, I think that mesquite-smoked beef bar-b-q is my favorite and Bartley's does a great job of it.