The GOAT restaurant brings cocktails and Mediterranean food to Uptown Dallas

Lebanese cousins James and Nabil Alame opened Uptown Dallas restaurant and bar The GOAT on April 3, 2024. It’s in a new tower called The Link, and the Alames picked that spot for its proximity to the American Airlines Center, where the Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars play.
Let’s get The GOAT’s name straight first: It stands for Greatest Of All Texas, and it isn’t to be confused with The Goat in East Dallas, a lauded (and unrelated) Texas dive bar.
The GOAT stands for Greatest Of All Texas. (Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)
The GOAT started in Tulsa, Okla., and there it’s known as the Greatest Of All Tulsa. The Alames joke that if The GOAT succeeds in North Texas, they’ll expand to another T spot. Tampa? Tucson?
Texarkana?
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This GOAT is nothing like the dive bar by the same name across town. This new spot is a two-story bar with a DJ booth that looks out over the main restaurant. On weekends, James Alame plans to hire an electric violinist to interact with the customers or have two professional dancers perform. The feeling here is Las Vegas at dinnertime. To wit: Its manager Matthew Mogg came from Vegas lounge Kumi and has also worked at Dallas dinner party spot Villa Azur.
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“We go for the fun, upbeat, entertaining dinner,” James Alame said. “In Oklahoma, we’re known as a place to have a birthday dinner.”
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The restaurant has plenty of room for larger groups.
James Alame says the menu is more upscale than the Tulsa original. They hired chef Oswaldo “Ozzy” Samano, who has worked at Nick & Sam’s, Bob’s Steak and Chop House and others. Samano also was a plaintiff in a high-profile restaurant discrimination lawsuit, now closed in the 101st Judicial District Court.
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The GOAT might naturally feel like a drinking place, though its owners are also focusing on dinner. The Mediterranean menu includes dishes inspired by the Alames’ Lebanese background, like a generous platter of chicken kebabs ($24) atop hummus, grilled vegetables and pita. The lobster oreganata ($33) is another shareable dish and has big hunks of lobster served with lemon-white wine sauce.
Samano explains the menu as “explosive.”
Lobster oreganata is served with slices of bread, to drag through the lemon-white wine sauce. (Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)
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A favorite among the owners and chef is the Mediterranean flatbread ($18), a thin-crust pizza topped with olives, tomatoes, red peppers, feta and artichokes and drizzled with Greek dressing. Other menu items include a falafel appetizer ($15), ratatouille ($22), scallops and mushroom risotto ($38), a burger with caramelized onions ($22), and three steaks ($39 for the filet, $46 for the rib-eye, $150 for the 32-ounce shareable Tomahawk rib-eye).
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Mediterranean flatbread pizza made with marinara sauce, olives, tomatoes, red pepper, garlic cloves, feta cheese, parsley, artichokes and olive oil at The GOAT in Dallas. (Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)
The GOAT is across the street from mega sports bar Happiest Hour, and we could see them playing off one another before and after big games.
An order of Key lime pie yields an entire mini pie, not just a slice. Chef Ozzy Samano, who has worked at steakhouses around Dallas, created the menu at The GOAT. (Brandon Wade / Special Contributor)
Cocktails are colorful. The Lost Duck is a bright blue rum drink, a cousin to a piña colada, that comes with a rubber duckie floating on top for $16. For an extra $2, customers can add a shot of mezcal. The menu also includes a cold brew martini, margarita, paloma and the like, each priced $15 to $16.
Sicilian Dreams is a pink cocktail for $17 mixed with gin, Aperol, prosecco, strawberry and lemon. It comes with a bubble on top that bursts into a cloud, and the owners think it will be a hit.
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Opening the GOAT has been a two-year process, from negotiating the lease through construction.
“I’m so ready to open,” James Alame said.
The GOAT is at 2601 Olive St., Dallas. Valet available in front of the bar. Self-park also available in attached garage. Reservations open at thegoatdtx.com.
For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on X (formerly Twitter) at @sblaskovich.