Where to Eat in Wylie, Texas

Ballard Avenue is Wylie's Main Street and the heart of its food scene. The Ballard Street Café and Grill is a local institution known for the best chicken fried steak in town, and Villa Vinci brings Italian to the historic district. Around them, coffee shops and specialty stores like Shoemaker & Hardt round out the walkable downtown.

Eating on Ballard means pairing a meal with a stroll past the old storefronts and shops, which is a big part of the appeal of downtown Wylie.

For barbecue, Bold BBQ Pit handles the smoked meats, and Cotton Patch Cafe is a local favorite for hearty Southwestern comfort food made from scratch — chicken fried steak, cornbread, meatloaf, and chicken and dumplings.

Frankie's Casa adds another downtown option, rounding out a lineup that leans into the Texas comfort-food and barbecue staples the town runs on.

Away from Ballard Avenue, Wylie fills in with the usual Tex-Mex, pizza, and chain dining along its main roads as the town keeps growing.

And because Wylie sits near Plano, Murphy, and Sachse, more dining is a short drive, with the deep restaurant scenes of Plano and the rest of Collin County close by when you want more than the downtown lineup.