Updated: 08/25/2021
After a day-long conference or a just a busy day on the job, it heals the heart to be able to get together in a group setting with colleagues, counterparts, and friends for good laughs over good food and drinks.
Below is a list of destinations around Plano that can accommodate a large group and make for easy planning. Two Plano spots even made USA Today’s 10Best list for Best Group Dining in Dallas Area – Ebesu Robata & Sushi (#5) and Haywire (#1).
Downtown Plano Arts District
Named one of the top 10 best downtowns in America by Livability.com, downtown Plano offers a charming setting for a unique dining experience for your group and is just minutes away from Plano Event Center. Whether you want to plan a dine-around or let your conference attendees loose, there’s plenty of options.
From wood-fired pizza at Urban Crust and specialty drinks at their 32 Degree Rooftop Bar to the famous barbecue of Lockhart Smokehouse and even Austrian cuisine at Jorg’s Café Vienna, there’s something for everyone.
Ebesu Robata & Sushi, located in downtown Plano, was named #5 on USA Today’s 10Best list for Best Group Dining in Dallas Area for their private dining and unique Japanese dishes.
Meet-up at McCall Plaza after dinner or on the patio of The Fillmore Pub for free live music in the heart of downtown on various nights.
Haywire
Named #1 on USA Today’s 10Best list for Best Group Dining in Dallas Area, Haywire offers a very unique dining opportunity for your group. Wouldn’t you like to host your group of 15 in a decked-out renovated Airstream trailer? That’s just one of the many offerings of this Texas-themed restaurant.
With private and semi-private options, the restaurant boasts lounge areas, an open kitchen, whiskey lounge, rooftop deck overlooking the Legacy Hall Box Garden, and a climate-controlled garden terrace. Guests will love the Texas themed menu with options like wagyu burgers, chicken fried steak, BBQ ribs, pan-seared gulf snapper, and several charbroiled premium Texas steaks.
Legacy Hall & Box Garden
For those who can’t decide, Legacy Hall has it all. In this one-of-a-kind artisanal food hall, attendees can wander from stall to stall to meet local purveyors and sample everything from lobster rolls to Philly cheesesteaks. There’s also an on-site brewery and live music stage in the outdoor Box Garden.
Legacy West
Another perfect dine-around location, this “city within a city” is the largest mixed use destination in North Texas and is a perfect place to play, shop, dine, and stay. The 255-acre development boasts 415,000 square feet of open-air high-end retail and restaurant space. Here, your group can satisfy every craving, whether for steak at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle or Fogo de Chão, French bistro fare at Toulouse, or a perfect plate of pasta at North Italia or Taverna. Legacy West’s anchor hotel, the Renaissance Dallas at Plano Legacy West, is walkable distance to all of these amazing restaurants at Legacy West and every restaurant has a patio.
Pinstack
Is your group the adventurous type? This 50,000 square foot fun zone features a 28-lane bowling alley, a ropes course suspended 20 feet above the gaming center, two-story laser tag, bumper cars, six lanes of LED-lit rock climbing walls, and hundreds of interactive games. Or maybe you just want to chill; they also have a specialty restaurant featuring a chef-driven menu and craft cocktails, an outside bar area, covered patio with fire pits, and a gelato bar. A luxury VIP bowling area is also available.
Shops at Legacy
Legacy Town Center is a mélange of homes, businesses, shops, hotels, restaurants and open spaces all in an urban village-style setting. The Shops at Legacy feature an upscale retail and dining mix. The development is also home to the area’s best restaurants like Kenny’s Smokehouse, Mexican Sugar, Mi Cocina, Cru Food & Wine Bar, Del Frisco’s Grille, RA Sushi, Main Street Bakery, and many others. After your meeting at their anchor convention hotel, the Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center, attendees can walk to over 40 restaurants around The Shops. After happy hour and dinner, groups can visit over drinks at Henry’s Tavern, Ringo’s Pub, Scruffy Duffies, The Ginger Man, Sambuca 360, and VNYL for some dancing or return back to the hotel’s swanky bar.
The Boardwalk at Granite Park
Across from the Hilton Granite Park convention hotel sits a new 30,000 square foot restaurant park, The Boardwalk, where groups enjoy eateries featuring cuisine from burgers at Chip’s to gourmet biscuits at The Biscuit Bar and even a new local brewery and restaurant, Union Bear. Each restaurant has a patio and there are Adirondack chairs along the Boardwalk to enjoy the view of the water feature.
For a complete list of dining options in Plano, click here.
Cover photo credit: Legacy Hall
Gallery photo credits (left to right): Union Bear, Legacy West, Legacy Hall, Visit Plano, Visit Plano, and Visit Plano.
