Public School 972

On the north side of Dallas, there is a restaurant where adults can return to grade school, a place that serves beer to its “students,” and offers eating as its core curriculum. Public School 972 is a school-themed Dallas eatery that offers its customers an “education in the art of gastronomy.”

The restaurant is fully decorated with school-related objects, so nostalgic that only the smell of the burgers and alcohol will remind you that you’re not in an actual school. There are rows of typewriters nailed to the wall, textbooks on the shelves, pencil sharpeners on display, and over a dozen globes hung from the ceiling. 

Dangling above the heads of the restaurant’s customers are those all-too-familiar multiplication and addition flashcards from our childhoods, perhaps adding a sigh of relief to the nostalgia. Public School 972 takes the grade school theme even further by naming Happy Hour as “recess,” updates on the restaurant as “class notes,” and making a reservation as a chance to “get educated” in the “art of food and beer.” But don’t worry: The food at Public School 972 is good, too.  It’s no school lunch.