Humperdinks Restaurant & Brewpub (Arlington)
700 Six Flags DriveI beat my colleagues to North Texas by a couple of days so I got to explore a little bit when it came time for meals. By the time they got there, we had a lot of work to do and we didn’t eat out as much. After a couple of days, both my co-workers just really wanted a good pub burger.
We spent about half of our work day everyday in Arlington which is about a half hour from downtown Dallas. Most nights, we finished up at 5:30 and still had work to do back in Dallas before 9:00 so we would run back to the hotel and eat there while working. As we were leaving Arlington on Friday, we all agreed a little pub food would do us all some good.
I didn’t do much advance research on restaurants in Arlington, so I didn’t really have any good ideas. I had remembered a brewery that I thought looked decent so I tried to look that up. It took a while, but I eventually found it and without telling my colleagues where we were going, I told them I had a place.
Humperdinks Restaurant & Brewpub is a small chain in the DFW Metro area. The original restaurant is in Dallas on Greenville Avenue, but the original Brewpub is the Arlington location which was built in 1995 and that’s where we decided to stop for dinner.
The brewpub is on the corner of Six Flags Drive and Road To Six Flags Street. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s just down the street from Six Flags Over Texas. It’s also not far from AT&T Stadium and Globe Life Park nor is it far off of I-30.
Humperdinks is a pretty large restaurant which looks more like a chain than the neighborhood breweries I usually go to. I would compare it to something like a Rock Bottom Brewery, but just in the feel of the place. They only have four locations, but they have the slick set up and atmosphere that you get from the bigger chain restaurants.
There’s a huge parking lot on the Road To Six Flags Street side of the restaurant and that is where the entrance is. They have a big marquee in lights hanging over the door which is up a short flight of stairs and over looks a large outdoor patio area.
The restaurant is divided into a bar area which has open seating and a dining area where you’re seated by a host. I figured the three of us would be more comfortable sitting in the bar, so I headed that direction and found it to be pretty empty. We grabbed a four top pub table and started looking over the menus that were already on the table.
The bar area is actually quite impressive with liquor bottles and TV’s stacked to the ceiling. They have a nice big bar area with their beers on tap and a number of bottles from the macros if craft isn’t your thing.
Humperdinks has it’s own line of beers that they make right in the Arlington brewpub. They’ve won awards in the Great American Beerfest for some of their seasonal brews as well as local awards for some of the mainstays. They didn’t have any season or special brews that really piqued my interest so I went comfortable and ordered the Humperdinks IPA.
This IPA uses a combination of Bravo and Chinook hops to really bring out that bitter flavor that IPA drinkers look for. It’s a solid IPA selection and very drinkable for me. I was offered a 16, 22 or 32 oz glass and chose the 22. I’m glad I didn’t go bigger. It was a delicious beer, but I had trouble finishing off the 22 during dinner.
My co-workers went for a bottle of Bud Light and a Coke. They aren’t into craft beer so they stuck with what they know and enjoy.
The menu at Humperdinks is all sports bar. They do breakfast all day in addition to the regular menu of burgers, sandwiches, steaks, and seafood. The menu is actually quite large. I could keep going and add in they also have BBQ, entree salads, and pizzas….so if you can’t find something to eat, you must really be a picky eater.
We were all pretty much craving a burger so I don’t know if anyone got passed that part of the menu. I did the Brisket Burger to combine the thing I love about Texas and my want for a big juicy burger right at that moment.
The Brisket Burger is a fresh burger patty with smoked brisket, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion on a brioche roll. The sandwich also includes a aioli which I left off…seriously, at that point just call it mayonnaise. Most of the veggies came off as soon as it was set down including the red onion which was actually cooked and made it a little harder to get rid of. The meat and cheese on this bun was fantastic. The burger was very juicy and slightly pink in the center and the brisket was slightly salty and crumbled in mouth on contact. I don’t get why people ruin meat with veggies because this one with all animal products (minus the bun of course) was insanely delicious.
The sandwiches come with tater tots or one of their regular side. One of those sides is fries so that’s what I did. No need to get fancy on me. I never seem to like tots and I almost always like fries. These were skin on fries that came with a little cup of ketchup for dipping. Delicious and perfect accompaniment to the burger.
Both of my co-workers got burgers of some sort, but I didn’t document them. Just know both enjoyed them and we all left not being able to stuff any more food into our mouths.
Now, stop there and we had a pretty good experience at this restaurant. But why would we stop there?
We happened to be in the restaurant on the night of UFC 207 which was the Nunes v. Rousy fight. We walked in for dinner a little after 5:30. The PPV didn’t start until 7:00. We were never told at the door that there would be a cover charge in the bar area later in the night but I figured it out when I noticed black sheets hanging up in the bar area blocking it from the dining room. I thought it was awfully dark in the bar and those black sheets didn’t look like they belonged there because…well…it just looked bad. I noticed on the way out it was on the marquee, but it didn’t have times listed and, again, no one said anything when we entered the building. We had no intention of being there at 7:00. In fact, our plan was to eat and get out as quickly as we could as we still had things to do. During the course of our 45 minute stay, (we were gone by 6:15), four people came to our table and told us we either had to pay the cover or get out before 7:00. I understand the bar wanting to make a little money, but it wasn’t even close to the start of the PPV yet so there was really no reason to keep trying to squeeze money out of us when we had no intention or interest in staying for a fight. Honestly, it took what was an enjoyable dinner and really just made it annoying to the point I wouldn’t go back if we actually lived in the area. It really felt like they were trying to rush us when 90% of the bar area was still empty. It’s not like we were taking up a table for customers wanting to watch the fight.
Now, cut that last part out and Humperdinks was an enjoyable experience. The food was delicious and the beer was solid. I’d like to taste some more of the seasonal’s and specials, but the mainstay I had is very drinkable. The cost for my meal was a little under $20 before tip and my co-workers bills were about the same.
SW Michigan Dining 