Decatur, Texas is a city I did not even know existed until the day we stopped by. We were driving back home to Denver, Colorado, after spending the Christmas holidays with my family back in New Orleans, Louisiana. We’d stopped the first night in Natchitoches, LA, and were trying to figure out where we could stop on the second night that wasn’t in Dallas proper. Decatur ended up being that destination.
We checked in to the Fairfield Inn & Suites at the Decatur Conference Center. It was the only Marriott property in town, had easy access to the interstate, and was only a short drive to the main square of town.
After checking in, we drove over to the main square, and had dinner at Sweetie Pie’s Ribeyes. I did a little research in the car of best restaurants in Decatur, and this showed at the top of every list. Located right on the square, you feel like you’ve entered a true Texan restaurant upon opening the door. The food was also fantastic. We started off with some Shiner Bock to really get the local Texas feel, and they brought out some hot bread and butter that rivaled the Texas Roadhouse sweet bread. The chicken fried ribeye is something they’re known for, along with their catfish, so we got one of each and split them. The sides were also fantastic, and honestly the squash was one of the best preparations I’ve ever had.
The next morning we got up and headed back to the main square to checkout more of the city. The main square surrounds their city building, which is absolutely stunning. We parked and decided to spend some time walking around the square to check out all of the different shops and restaurants.
Our first stop was some coffee at Trinity Street Coffee Bar. Y’all this place is so cool – you’ll notice right away that the entire wall is mostly stocked with whiskeys. This place is both a coffee bar and a whiskey bar, and also had a great selection of food for breakfast/lunch. I wish we’d known about this the night before, because their cocktails looked incredible, and they also had a calendar of live music. If we find ourselves back in Decatur, this will be a definite stop for us in the evening.
After grabbing our coffee, we walked the entire square, and stopped at some fantastic shops, including Simply Coco, which was a super cute boutique with very affordable prices. I ended up buying a few new outfits, including my dress for our upcoming NYE celebration up in the mountains at Beaver Creek.
One of the cutest spots we stopped at was a small gift shop that had this chocolate bar attached. The gentleman at the front desk let us know that his daughter had just opened the spot, and that you could book essentially a cooking class with just chocolate. It had an old candy shoppe feel, and we definitely would have made reservations if we weren’t leaving that day. If you’re in town, definitely check out Harper & Riley’s!
After walking the square, we stopped by the Decatur sign to take some photos. After a few good shots, we jumped back into the car to head to our next destination on our way home, Amarillo, Texas. We plan to make the drive from Denver to New Orleans more often, so please let us know in the comments if there are any other must-do/must-stop destinations along the way!
