I'll be in Dallas early Feb with a free afternoon/evening. I think I just want to do some shopping. Where the best area or mall? Can you get there by public transportation? I'll be staying at the Adams Mark. Any restaurant recommendations? Nothing fancy, I'll be by myself but I like all kinds of food. Thanks.

The West End, which is downtown, is a shopping and restaurant area. It is geared mostly toward tourist but when I was spending alot of time in Dallas several years ago it was okay. Some good restaurants. The mall I remember was the Galleria which is north of downtown. Had all the big department stores and plenty of little shops. Don't know about public transportation but you can probably call your hotel and find that out if no one here knows. Also, there was a post on here in the past day or two about Dallas/Fort Worth. There was some discussion on there about shopping in both areas. Should be able to find it by doing a search.

I always enjoyed Dallas. Hope you do too.

Since you will be downtown,I would suggest you take the ParkLane Red Line of DART (light-rail train) to Park Lane (last stop) and a shuttle bus will take you across the Expressway to North Park Mall. The shuttle is included in your DART ticket & runs every 20 minutes. Buy the all-day ticket for $2, as it is $1 each way. If you want to go to the West End or 6th Floor Museum later, you can use the same ticket. Be sure to validate the ticket. We have red-shirted people downtown who are there to answer your questions. You will have to drive, take a taxi or ride a bus to the Galleria. North Park is similar. The original Neiman Marcus is downtown. Most of the restaurants near you are very good. You should be able to ride the McKinney Trolley to another restaurant area. The hotel staff can tell you where to catch the trolley. Have a great time in "Big D"!

I second the motion for taking the Dart Rail Red Line (Park Lane) from downtown to the end of the line at Park Lane. The St. Paul stop is across the street from the Adams Mark Hotel.

Northpark is Dallas' best mall and there are some new restaurants within the mall. We ate at Maggiano's last weekend and it was excellent. You must exit the mall by Dillard's and the restaurant is on your right. There is also a new P. F. Changs down from Maggiano's.
Have a good trip.

I would not recommend the West End for shopping, although it's okay for dinner.

In the West End, try Lombardi's--very good Italian food for reasonable price. The Zodiac Room at Neimans always has been a special place to eat for women Dallasites.