Maroma is gearing up to be the Design District's next big night-out spot, not another quick taco counter. Chef Omar Flores' new coastal Mexican restaurant, created with the Marshi family's Big Dill Hospitality group, is set to open in Dallas' Design District next Monday. The concept leans hard into seafood, showpiece cocktails, and a patio built to feel like a getaway, even when it is 100 degrees outside.
The menu centers on ceviches, aguachiles, and mesquite-grilled meats, with an eye toward shareable plates and special-occasion splurges rather than grab-and-go tacos. A covered, temperature-controlled patio is part of the pitch too, meant to function as a small urban escape where guests can linger instead of racing back to their cars.
Seafood, Steaks And Showy Cocktails
If you like your dinner as dramatic as your Instagram feed, Maroma seems happy to oblige. The coastal menu stacks up big-format seafood and upscale cuts of meat, including a three-tier seafood tower that tops out at $150 and a red snapper ceviche listed at $26, as reported by The Dallas News. Tostadas, aguachiles, and build-your-own sea bream tacos share menu space with mesquite-grilled skirt steak priced at $51 and a 16-ounce rib-eye at $68, while tacos themselves ring in between $25 and $27.
The bar program is built to match the food's sense of theater. Cocktails include a $19 Peeled Proof Old Fashioned and an $18 Maroma Paloma, along with a $76 "Cazuela" designed for four people to share. The idea is to make the drinks as much a part of the evening as the seafood tower that lands in the middle of the table.
Who Is Behind Maroma
Behind the new spot is a familiar Dallas name. Maroma is the latest concept from chef Omar Flores, created in partnership with the Marshi family's Big Dill Hospitality, which also operates Muchacho, Even Coast, and Whistle Britches, according to Dallas Observer. Flores has a long track record in North Texas and has been involved in several high-profile openings around the region.
The team says Maroma is meant to bring Flores' coastal and wood-fired approach to a broader Design District audience, blending seafood, smoke, and steakhouse-level cuts in one room. As a nod to Big Dill's existing fan base, the company also plans to keep Muchacho's popular margarita on the menu, folding it into a broader lineup of cocktails.
Design And Patio
Inside, Maroma is going for polished but relaxed. The dining room mixes beachy color accents with more refined fixtures, while the patio is meant to be a serious draw on its own. The restaurant's covered outdoor space is temperature-controlled to about 70 degrees year-round, a detail that matters a lot more in August than on opening night. That setup is one reason the operators see Maroma as "a destination," Grace Marshi told Dallas News.
Alexander Urrunaga, Big Dill's COO, told the same outlet that the team is focused on "taking the classics and elevating them" in ways they believe Dallas diners have not seen before. Between the coastal-meets-wood-fired menu, the climate-controlled patio, and the high-impact cocktails, the group is clearly betting that Maroma will stand out in a neighborhood already crowded with places to eat and drink.
Where It Sits And Why It Matters
Location-wise, Maroma is not hiding. The restaurant fills the ground floor of the newly rebranded Thirteen Thirty Three building on Oak Lawn Avenue, right in the Design District's expansion corridor as new mixed-use developments and restaurants move in, according to Dallas Innovates. The Seam development across the street and other nearby openings give the area a cluster of dining options in easy reach of one another, which should help Maroma's early foot traffic.
Developers and local industry watchers see the building's tenant mix as a piece of a broader effort to turn the Design District into a destination that is about more than showrooms and galleries. Dropping a coastal Mexican restaurant with a big patio and even bigger seafood tower into the ground floor is very much in line with that strategy.
Reservations And First Impressions
For now, Maroma's official channels still list the project as "coming soon," and the restaurant's LinkedIn showcase confirms that the team is hiring for both front- and back-of-house roles, per LinkedIn. Once doors open next Monday, early reservations are likely to disappear quickly, especially on weekends and for groups eyeing a seafood tower and a shared Cazuela cocktail.
If the kitchen delivers on its promise of elevated coastal flavors and the patio really does feel like a cool refuge from the Texas heat, Maroma has a solid shot at becoming one of Dallas' go-to spots for celebratory dinners and destination nights out.
