Double Wide sits on Commerce Street at the eastern edge of Deep Ellum, built to look like a tornado dropped a trailer park onto a Dallas city block. It has run as the neighborhood's most committed dive since the mid 2000s, and the joke has long since become the institution.
Who would love it: anyone who wants cheap strong drinks, a patio under string lights and a band that starts late. Who would hate it: anyone hoping for a quiet room or a polished cocktail list. This is a come-as-you-are bar, and it means it.
The room leans hard into its theme. Wood paneling, mismatched signage and a stage that hosts local rock, punk and country acts most Friday and Saturday nights. D Magazine, in its 2012 bar review, summed up the appeal as a place built for sinners rather than for show, and very little about the formula has changed since. The covered patio does most of the heavy lifting in warm months, which in Dallas is most of the year.
Order the Yoo-Hoo Yeehaw, the bar's signature frozen drink. It is a frozen white Russian made with chocolate Yoo-hoo instead of milk, vanilla vodka and coffee liqueur, which the bar itself describes as "White Russian meets white trash." The Dallas Observer has featured it on its Top 100 Bars cocktail roundup more than once. Beyond that, the move is simple: a cold domestic and a well shot during the Tuesday through Friday happy hour, which runs 5pm to 9pm.
The crowd shifts across the night. Early evening pulls in after-work regulars and the happy-hour bargain hunters. By 11pm on a band night the place fills with a younger Deep Ellum music crowd, and the patio is where most of the conversation happens. Weekends get loud and stay that way until the 2am close.
Go on a weeknight if you want the cheap drinks and room to move. Go on a Friday or Saturday if you came for live music and do not mind a packed patio. Either way, Double Wide is one of the most reliable rooms in Dallas for live music, and it slots neatly into a Deep Ellum bar crawl. Compare it against the rest of the neighborhood in our Dallas bar guide and our roundup of dive bars near you.
