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Best Seats At The American Airlines Center
There are flashier arenas in America now, and there are certainly newer ones, but American Airlines Center still looks like it belongs to Dallas in a way most modern buildings don’t. Architect David M. Schwarz gave it a million bricks and a run of limestone arches instead of glass and steel, so from Victory Avenue it reads more like a grand train station than a spaceship, and the barrel-vaulted roof earned the nickname fans still use — The Hangar. This is where Dirk Nowitzki spent his entire career, where the Mavericks raised the 2011 banner, and where the Stars have played every home game since the doors opened in 2001.
The honest part is that it’s twenty-five years old and starting to show it, with concourses that clog at intermission and parking scattered across a dozen separate lots. Here’s how to pick where you sit.
Seating Overview at the AAC
Three public levels ring the floor, and the middle one is what confuses people. The Plaza Concourse is the lower bowl, sections 101 through 124. Above it sits the Platinum level, sections 201 through 224 — not an upper deck but a genuine club tier with its own lounges and concourse. The Terrace Concourse, sections 301 through 334, is the true upper level.
That extra tier means the Terrace sits higher above the floor than the upper deck in a two-level arena, so the drop-off between levels is sharper here than the seat map suggests. What separates a good seat from a mediocre one is which way you’re facing, not how close you are: sideline seats watch plays develop across the length of the floor, end seats compress everything into one plane. That gap punishes hockey fans harder than basketball fans, because tracking a puck end to end from behind a net is the hardest sightline in the building.
Best Non-Premium Seats
Lower sideline, the 105–108 and 117–120 blocks. These are the center-court and center-ice sections on both sides of the floor, and they’re the reason people say there are no bad seats here — you’re close enough to hear the boards rattle but square to the action. The tradeoff is that they price like premium seats without any of the premium access, so you’re paying a club-tier rate for a general concourse.
Lower bowl corners, the 102–104, 109–111, 114–116 and 121–123 ranges. Corner angles are underrated at both sports: floor-level proximity and a diagonal view that shows offensive sets developing, at a real discount to the sideline blocks beside them. You lose detail at the far end, which bothers hockey fans more than basketball fans.
First rows of the Terrace level. The AAC’s footprint is compact enough that the top level never feels remote, making the front of the upper bowl the sleeper pick here. You trade intimacy for a full tactical view of the floor — a trade plenty of hockey fans make on purpose.
Best Value Seats
Lower bowl ends, behind the basket or behind the net. These sit in the same lower ring as the sideline seats at a fraction of the cost, and for basketball the end view is genuinely good — you see the arc on every shot at your end. Hockey is the harder sell here, because the puck spends half the night at the other end of the ice.
Terrace sideline sections. The upper ring runs 301 to 334, and the sections facing the length of the floor rather than the ends give you center-court sightlines for upper-deck money. Pick these over a corner or end section on the same level even when they cost a little more; the difference in view is much bigger than the difference in price.
Cheapest Way In
Terrace corners and ends on a weeknight. Against a non-marquee opponent midweek, the upper-level sections at the extremes of the ring are often the cheapest ticket in Dallas sports. You’ll be watching the video board as much as the floor for anything happening at the far end.
Stars games generally price below Mavericks games for comparable locations, which surprises people given how consistently good the hockey team has been. It’s supply, not quality — 41 NHL home dates into a metro that treats basketball as the bigger draw.
Our Pick
The 117–120 range in the lower bowl, ten rows up or higher. For hockey those rows clear the glass and the dasher boards, which the first few rows do not, and for basketball you’re at center court in the cheapest tier that still puts you at floor level. It’s the seat we’d hand a first-timer without a second thought.
What to Avoid (and What’s Worth Trying Once)
The first two or three rows behind the glass at a Stars game. People pay up for these expecting the best view in the building and get the worst sightline in the lower bowl instead — the glass distorts, the stanchions cut across the ice, and play at the far end disappears entirely.
Terrace end sections for hockey. Height plus a straight-on angle down the length of the ice is the one genuinely bad combination at the AAC, and it’s the seat most likely to leave a first-time hockey fan cold.
Worth it once: actual glass seats, further along the boards rather than dead behind the net. You will feel every check land through the glass, hear the chirping between shifts, and understand why hockey people talk about the sport differently than everyone else. Do it once, then go sit somewhere you can see.
Best Seats for Concerts at American Airlines Center
Concerts here default to an end-stage setup with the stage built at the 101–103 end of the building, which flips the whole logic of the seat map — the sections that are prime for hockey and basketball are suddenly behind the performer.
The floor is broken into sections numbered 10 through 18, laid out flat with no rake, and rows run A through V. Productions vary, so always pull up the specific show’s chart before buying; what’s true for an arena tour is not true for a theatre-style setup or an in-the-round stage.
Best Concert Seats
Floor sections 10, 11 and 12, front rows. Section 11 is the head-on block and the closest thing to a perfect seat in the building for a concert, with 10 and 12 flanking it at a slight angle. The tradeoff is real and worth knowing before you spend: the floor is dead flat, so once the crowd stands — and it will — a tall person two rows ahead becomes your view.
Lower bowl sideline facing the stage, the 117–120 and 105–108 blocks. If you want to actually see the whole production rather than be inside it, these are the best seated views in the arena: elevated enough to clear the floor crowd, square to the stage, and you keep your sightline whether people stand or not.
Best Value Concert Seats
Platinum level sides, sections 201 through 224. The club tier is the smart-money concert seat here. You’re high enough that the floor crowd is irrelevant, close enough that the stage still reads without the video screens, and you get the Platinum concourse and its shorter bar lines — which matters far more at a concert than at a game, because everyone arrives in the same twenty-minute window.
Cheapest Concert Tickets
Terrace sides, and behind-stage blocks when they’re released. Upper-level sections along the length of the floor are the cheapest honest seats. Behind-stage and side-stage inventory in the 101–103 and 122–124 areas goes cheaper still, and for a production with big screens and a stage that extends into the crowd it can be a genuine steal — but for a straightforward end-stage show you’re looking at the back of the rig. Check the stage plot before you commit.
One thing to skip: general admission floor unless you actively want it. GA at the AAC is standing room with no chairs at all, for the entire night including openers, and leaving for the bathroom means surrendering your spot.
Premium Seating & Clubs
The premium inventory here is organized by level rather than by lounge: Flagship sits just above the lower bowl, Platinum is the club tier in the middle, and Admiral sits at the top. Most of it is sold as leases rather than single-game tickets, which is worth knowing before you go looking.
The Best Premium Experience
The Admiral Theater Box Lounge. Thirty-six theater boxes on the top suite level, sold with all-inclusive food and beverage for Mavericks and Stars games, VIP covered parking in the Lexus Garage, and a private entrance. What makes it work is the lounge attached to it — you get suite-level treatment without being sealed in a private room, so you can wander out for a drink and still be among people. It’s a lease product with a season or half-season commitment, not something you book for one night.
Best Value Premium
Platinum level seats, sections 201 through 224. This is the call a friend who’s been here would make. You’re in the middle tier with a genuinely elevated sightline, you get access to the Platinum concourse and its lounges, and you pay a fraction of what a suite costs for most of what makes a suite pleasant — shorter lines, better bars, somewhere to stand that isn’t a crowded ramp. For a big game where you want the night to feel like an occasion, it beats spending twice as much on a lower-bowl sideline seat.
Other Premium Options
The Regions Bank Champions Club covers loge boxes 1 through 25 on the Flagship level, the closest premium product to the floor. The RYSE Energy Club takes in lofts 1 through 17 on the Admiral level, and the Yuengling Flight Club is a Platinum-level space for Platinum ticket holders. Courtside and glass seats come with private entrances and lounge access, priced accordingly.
Suites & Group Options
Suites run across three levels — Flagship (1105–1160), Platinum (1201–1218) and Admiral (1306–1318 and 1339–1356) — hosting groups of roughly 12 to 50 or more for Mavericks and Stars games, with a narrower range for concerts. Catering is in-house. Single-event rentals and full leases are both available through the arena’s premium sales team, and the current lineup is published in the premium seating brochure on its site.
American Airlines Arena Seating Chart and Capacity
American Airlines Center holds 19,200 for basketball and 18,532 for hockey, and about 21,000 for a concert depending on the stage setup. Add standing room and the basketball number climbs to 21,146 and hockey to 19,323 — which is how the Dallas Wings drew a crowd of 20,409 here for a WNBA game in 2025, a franchise record and the largest WNBA crowd ever in Texas. You’ll see the building called an “arena” as often as a “center” in searches; it’s the same place, at 2500 Victory Avenue.
The one quirk of the chart worth knowing before you buy: the 200s are not the upper deck. Sections 201–224 are the Platinum club level, sandwiched between the Plaza lower bowl (101–124) and the Terrace upper level (301–334). Buyers who assume the middle number means the cheap seats end up either overpaying or pleasantly surprised, depending on which direction they guessed. The arena publishes an interactive seating map on its official site with views from individual sections.
Here is the updated Seating Chart for The AAC for Basketball, Hockey and Concerts
American Airlines Center Tickets
Ticketmaster and the two teams’ own account managers are the only authorized sellers, and the box office — on North Houston Street across from the Lexus Garage — is cashless and open limited weekday hours plus event days. Screenshots of tickets are not accepted at the doors, only live barcodes in the Ticketmaster app or your phone’s wallet, which trips up people buying through third-party resellers.
Expect rivalry games and playoff dates to price like premium events the moment the schedule drops, while midweek games against rebuilding opponents stay soft right up to puck drop or tip-off.
Get your Stars, Mavericks, Concert Tickets Here! Vivid Seats will get you the best seats for any event at the AAC, or in the great state of Texas for that matter.
American Airlines Center Bag Policy
Wristlets, clutches and wallets no larger than 4.5″ x 6.5″ are permitted at every entrance. Larger purses up to 14″ x 14″ x 6″ are allowed only at the four main doors — North, South, East and West — where they go through X-ray. Backpacks and large totes are prohibited outright, at any size, at any door. Clear bags are permitted but not required, so the 12x6x12 clear stadium bag you use for football is unnecessary here and still counts against the size limit.
Medical bags and diaper bags accompanying a small child are permitted at all entrances subject to inspection. There is no bag check anywhere on the property — no lockers, no coat check, nothing. If your bag doesn’t clear the limit, your only option is walking it back to your car or hotel.
Is the American Airines Center Cashless? And Other Policies
The building is completely cashless. Two cash-to-card ReadySTATION kiosks convert bills to a prepaid Visa card at no fee, up to $500 — one on the southwest Plaza level next to the Modelo Golden Lion, one on the northeast Plaza level next to the Michelob Ultra Club. Spend the card down before you leave, because it can’t be reloaded and a monthly fee kicks in after 92 days of inactivity.
There is no re-entry at any event. The only exception is the two designated smoking patios — the Patrón Tequilería Patio and the ULTRA Club Patio — and stepping out to either means going back through screening to return.
Doors open 90 minutes before tip-off and puck drop. Concerts vary, typically an hour to ninety minutes. Alcohol service stops at the end of the third quarter for the Mavericks and with 12 minutes left in the third period for the Stars, with a two-drink limit per ID per purchase.
A few odd ones worth knowing. Sign size limits differ by tenant: 22″ x 28″ for Stars games, 11″ x 17″ for Mavericks and Wings games, 8.5″ x 11″ for everything else, and never attached to a stick. Laptops and tablets are allowed in for Mavericks and Stars games but usually banned at concerts. Umbrellas are permitted only if they collapse to 12″ or shorter and have no pointed tip. Children under 24 months don’t need a ticket if they sit on a lap.
Accessible seating, wheelchair escorts and assistive listening devices are all handled through Guest Relations, located on the Plaza Concourse across from section 104 and on the Terrace level across from section 326.
Getting To American Airlines Center
Most people drive, but the AAC is one of the rare American arenas where the train genuinely stops at the door — Victory Station sits on the property’s west side, which makes transit a real option rather than a consolation prize.
American Airlines Center Parking
More than 5,000 spaces sit within two blocks of the building, with another 3,000-plus to the south and east. The arena’s official parking partner is JustPark, and passes are worth pre-buying for anything busy. The main options are the Comerica Garage at 2503 Victory Avenue (card and pre-paid pass only), the Commons Garage at 2601 Victory Avenue, the D Garage at 2400 Victory Avenue about a block from the South entrance, the Lexus Garage at 2620 North Houston across from the East entrance, and Lot K at 2235 Victory Avenue, roughly a third of a mile out. Grilling, open flames and drinking are all prohibited in every lot, so there’s no tailgating scene here.
Two timing details do the most work. The Lexus Garage opens at noon on event days while every other lot opens two hours out, which makes it the answer if you’re making an afternoon of it downtown. And every lot closes two hours after the event ends with no in-and-out privileges, so you can’t park, go eat somewhere across town, and come back.
The parking hack worth knowing: Lot F at 2721 North Houston, directly across from the North entrance, is ADA parking and requires no pre-purchased pass at all — you pay by card on arrival. It’s first-come with only 105 spaces, but it’s the closest ADA parking to the doors and most guides never mention that it doesn’t need a pass. Separately, the Lexus and D garages have an 8’2″ clearance, which quietly rules out a lot of lifted trucks and roof boxes.
Public Transit
DART’s Green and Orange lines serve Victory Station directly, seven days a week. Riders on the Red and Blue lines transfer to a Green or Orange train at West End Station. DART bus Route 49 also runs to the arena, boarding at Rosa Parks Plaza at Elm and Lamar and dropping at Houston and Payne across from the East entrance; after the event it picks up on Victory Avenue beside Victory Station.
The Trinity Railway Express also stops here, on platforms 3 and 4, which connects Fort Worth and the mid-cities. The trap: TRE does not run on Sundays unless specifically scheduled, so a Sunday matinee is a driving day if you’re coming from the west side of the Metroplex.
Rideshare
Lyft is the arena’s official rideshare partner, with pickup and drop-off staged on the north side of the building and frequently redirected to Valor Place on the west side when volume builds. Post-game surge here is steep and predictable, so walking three or four blocks toward Uptown before requesting will usually beat the queue. Two taxi stands operate after events — Houston Street south of Payne, and the south side of Nowitzki Way. Cars, limos and buses drop off at PNC Plaza, but can’t park there.
AAC Insider Tips and Hacks
These are the random tricks I’ve learned, or read about from going to AAC over the years. Some will The AAC rewards people who know the building’s rhythms. Doors open ninety minutes out, the neighborhood around it is walkable in three minutes, and the difference between a smooth night and a frustrating one usually comes down to which door you pick and what you’re carrying through it.
Are the Mavericks and Stars Leaving American Airlines Center?
Yes — both teams have announced plans to leave when their leases expire in 2031. On June 1, 2026 the Mavericks signed option agreements to buy roughly 104 acres at the former Valley View Mall site in Far North Dallas, near the Dallas North Tollway and I-635, where they intend to build an arena and mixed-use district. The following day the Stars signed a non-binding letter of intent with the City of Plano for an arena and entertainment district at The Shops at Willow Bend.
The Plano project goes to a public vote in November 2026. Plano’s city council voted unanimously in August 2026 to put the funding package — a mix of hotel occupancy, event parking, admissions and rental taxes — on the November 3 ballot. Residents have pushed back hard, mostly on traffic; the city logged more than 2,400 written comments during public input, the large majority of them about congestion.
Nothing changes for years. Mavericks CEO Rick Welts has framed the move as a hospitality problem rather than a structural one, arguing the building lacks the food, beverage and social spaces fans now expect. Whatever you make of that, every Mavericks and Stars home game through the end of the decade is still played at 2500 Victory Avenue, and downtown Dallas keeps its gameday until then.
The Dallas Wings Are Moving In for 2027
The WNBA’s Dallas Wings announced in August 2026 that they will play all of their 2027 home games at American Airlines Center, ending eleven seasons at College Park Center in Arlington. It’s a temporary arrangement while construction on their permanent home at the renovated Dallas Memorial Auditorium — a roughly 8,400-seat building a few blocks away — runs behind schedule into 2028.
Wings games at the AAC have drawn well. Their June 2025 game against the Indiana Fever sold out at 20,409, and the three games they played here during the 2026 season pulled solid crowds. With Paige Bueckers established and 2026 top pick Azzi Fudd arriving, a summer WNBA game is now the cheapest way to see this building at full volume.
Inside American Airlines Center: How the Levels Work
Guest Relations sits on the Plaza Concourse across from section 104 and on the Terrace level across from section 326, handling lost and found, stroller check, wheelchair escorts and Lost Child wristbands. First aid is on the Plaza near section 111 and the Terrace near section 313. Free Wi-Fi runs on AACWIFI.
Arrival Strategy and the Chime Lane
Use the Chime Lane if you’re carrying nothing. The arena runs an expedited entry lane for guests carrying no more than a small wristlet, wallet or clutch — no purses, nothing needing X-ray. It’s the single fastest way into the building on a sellout night and almost nobody writes about it.
Pick your door by your parking, not by habit. The East entrance on Houston Street serves the Lexus Garage, the West entrance on Victory Avenue serves the DART station, the South entrance opens onto PNC Plaza off Olive Street, and the North entrance is on All Star Way. Walking to the “main” door from the wrong garage costs you ten minutes you didn’t need to spend.
Arrive early for a Stars game specifically. Warmups start well before puck drop and the building fills late, so the first thirty minutes after doors is the quietest the concourses will be all night.
Food and Drink at American Airlines Center
Zavala’s Barbeque is the move. Actual Texas barbecue inside an arena, not an approximation of it — chopped brisket and 44 Farms beef. Lines build fast once the crowd arrives, so go on the way in rather than at the first intermission.
El Taco Tex for street tacos. Carne asada, chicken carnitas and al pastor on preservative-free corn tortillas, plus dulce de leche churros made with a local churro maker and a vegan nacho that has developed its own following.
High Steaks for the Texas cheesesteak. A Texas-sized take on the Philadelphia sandwich, built on 44 Farms black angus with white American and provolone on a fresh baguette.
Big D Dogs for the Sonoran hot dog. Bacon-wrapped, smothered in salsa, crema and avocado pico — the most Texas thing on the concourse and better than the standard Niman Ranch dog next to it.
Skip the long line at Bonanno Brothers if you’re in a hurry. The pizza is genuinely good, made with Caputo 00 flour and real Italian mozzarella, but it’s the slowest-moving stand in the building at halftime.
Exit Strategy
Leave during the last TV timeout or don’t leave early at all. The ramps between the Terrace and Plaza levels are the pinch point, and beating the final buzzer by three minutes saves fifteen on the stairs. Since the lots stay open two hours, there’s no reward for anything in between.
The Two-Hour Conversion
The AAC’s signature engineering trick is the retractable seating that converts a basketball arena into an 18,532-seat rink in under two hours. Eight miles of one-inch pipe run beneath the ice and it takes about 10,000 gallons of water to build a sheet. On back-to-back Mavericks and Stars nights, the crew does it overnight.
Best Photo Spots at American Airlines Center
The Dirk Nowitzki statue on Nowitzki Way is the shot everyone comes for — uncrowded before doors open, mobbed afterward. For the building itself, the brick-and-limestone facade photographs best from Victory Avenue at dusk, when the arches light up with the skyline behind them.
Bringing Kids to a Game
Children under 24 months get in free on a lap. Register kids at Guest Relations before the event for a Lost Child wristband printed with your contact information — it’s free and takes two minutes. Strollers can be checked at the Plaza-level Guest Relations desk and are not permitted on escalators. There’s a dedicated nursing room on the Plaza Level across from the Modelo Gold Lion Bar & Grill, with a locking door and privacy curtain, and gender-neutral family restrooms on every concourse. Birthday messages on the video board are handled by the teams directly, with a lead time of a couple of days.
Venue Quirks Worth Knowing
Dress for 60 degrees at a hockey game. The arena runs about 72 degrees for most events but drops to roughly 60 for ice events, and colder still the closer you sit to the rink. A layer matters more here than at most arenas.
There is no bag storage of any kind. No lockers, no coat check, no bag check — a real problem if you’re coming straight from the airport or a hotel checkout. The nearest options are commercial luggage-storage services downtown.
Listen to the broadcast in your seat. Stars radio runs on 1310 The Ticket; Mavericks games are on 97.1 The Eagle in English and 99.1 ZonaMX Univision in Spanish, which is genuinely useful for a Spanish-speaking group and almost never mentioned.
Flat tire in the lot? Guest Relations can help. The arena runs an Auto Assistance Program for dead batteries and flat tires, staffed from before the event until an hour after it ends.
Things to Do Near American Airlines Center
The Perot Museum of Nature and Science is a ten-minute walk south at 2201 North Field Street and closes at 5pm, so it’s an afternoon-before stop, not an after. The Sixth Floor Museum about the JFK assassination is a very well done museum. The Arts District and Reunion Tower are a short ride out and better suited to a full day than a gameday.
Hotels Near American Airlines Center
Victory Park is a compact district, so “near the arena” genuinely means walking distance here — a handful of hotels sit within a three-minute walk of a door. Book early for anything landing on a Stars-Mavericks doubleheader weekend or a big concert night, when the whole district tightens up.
Best Areas to Stay
Victory Park itself is the obvious target if you want to walk to the doors and back. Uptown and the Harwood District, five to ten minutes northeast, give you a much deeper bar and restaurant scene for the same short walk back. Downtown proper, ten to fifteen minutes south, is the value play — more rooms, lower rates, and a straightforward ride or DART hop to Victory Station.
Hotel Recommendations
W Dallas at 2440 Victory Park Lane is the one you book if the walk is the priority — it’s directly across from the arena, and guests routinely describe the trip to their seats in seconds rather than minutes. It’s the splurge, and the tradeoff is that Victory Park empties out on non-event nights, so dinner means walking further than you’d expect.
Fairmont Dallas at 1717 North Akard is the comfortable middle: a big classic downtown hotel with a pool deck between the towers, a genuinely well-regarded concierge team, and about a ten-minute ride to the arena. It’s the pick if you want the hotel to feel like part of the trip rather than a place to sleep.
Hyatt House Dallas/Uptown at 2914 Harry Hines is the walkable value option, with suites, kitchenettes and attached covered parking that make it work for families or longer stays. Service is inconsistent by most accounts and parking is charged daily, so go in with expectations set.
Hampton Inn & Suites Dallas Downtown at 1700 Commerce is the dependable mid-tier pick a short ride out — spacious rooms, good breakfast, and the better of the downtown Hiltons for families.
Budget Options
Aloft Dallas Downtown at 1033 Young Street is the value pick, and the reason is parking — it’s one of the few downtown hotels with in-and-out privileges at a reasonable daily rate, which matters in a city where valet-only at $50-plus is the norm. You give up proximity; it’s a ride or a long walk to Victory Park.
Victory Park: Bars and Restaurants Near the AAC
Victory Park is not an old neighborhood that grew a stadium — it’s a master-planned district built around the arena, a few blocks of ground-floor restaurants and bars along Victory Avenue, Nowitzki Way and Victory Park Lane with residential towers stacked above. It sat half-empty for years after the 2008 crash and has only really filled back in over the past few seasons, which is why some guides still call it a ghost town and why that’s now wrong.
The rhythm is the district’s best feature: arrive early, park once, eat and drink within a three-minute walk of a door, walk over when the doors open, and come back to the same block afterward because the lots take an hour to clear anyway. One planning note that catches visitors out — several of the best spots here close Mondays and Tuesdays, which is exactly when the cheap midweek tickets are.
Best Pregame and Postgame Bars
Hero by HG at 3090 Nowitzki Way is the biggest and closest — an enormous room with a wall of screens, arcade games and a quick-bites menu built for people with forty minutes before tip-off. It’s closed Monday and Tuesday, which surprises a lot of people.
The End of the Trail at 2588 North Houston is the small one directly across from the arena, with a strong draft list and staff who know it. The bar seats start filling around 5pm before a game and it stays open until 2am, so it works on both ends of the night.
Chop Sports Victory Park at 3030 Nowitzki Way opens at 4pm and is the easier table when Hero is three deep at the bar. Straightforward sports-bar food done well, and close enough that you can watch the crowd walk past.
Happiest Hour at 2616 Olive Street is three blocks out with a huge rooftop patio and the best postgame room in the area — big enough to absorb a crowd leaving the arena without a forty-minute wait.
Te Deseo at 2700 Olive Street is the upscale option, a Latin restaurant and rooftop bar with skyline views and a deep tequila and mezcal list. It opens at 5pm and is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Best Restaurants Near American Airlines Center
Billy Can Can at 2386 Victory Park Lane is the special-occasion pick, a saloon-themed Texas restaurant with taxidermy on the walls and cooking that considerably outclasses the concept. Opens at 4:30pm; book ahead on game nights.
Mesero Victory Park at 2375 Victory Park Lane is the Tex-Mex standby a block from the arena, reliable for a group and open from 11am. Reservations are worth making on event nights.
Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer at 2475 Victory Park Lane is the family answer — burgers, loaded fries and absurd milkshakes, with a patio pointed at the crowd walking to the doors.
Urban Italia at 3030 Nowitzki Way is the newer arrival and the best-rated restaurant in the district, serving lunch and dinner every day. It’s the one to know when everything else in Victory Park is closed on a Monday.
Saint Ann Restaurant & Bar at 2501 North Harwood, ten minutes northeast in the Harwood District, has the largest garden patio in Dallas and is worth the extra walk for a group in good weather. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Why You Should Go
There is a particular pleasure in a downtown arena that still feels like it belongs downtown — walking out of a brick building under limestone arches into a Dallas evening, with the skyline lit up over Victory Avenue and the train waiting a hundred feet away to take you home. The AAC has held a championship parade, a quarter-century of Dirk, and a hockey team that has spent the better part of a decade among the best in the league, and for a few more seasons it holds all of that in one place before the city’s teams scatter north to the suburbs. Go take advantage before its inexplicably gone.
Explore all of our arena guides as well as these:
Frost Bank Center In San Antonio and the Paycom Center In OKC
For college football fans check out our guides to Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech
Written by Brad Richards, Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday.