Restaurant features music, bar and Cajun food

Dodie's Live is the best of both worlds.

That's how Ash Mansinghani, the managing partner and operations manager of the Frisco restaurant, likes to describe his establishment.

Dodie's is a restaurant, yet it is also a bar with live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Part corporate and part mom-and-pop, Dodie's serves both Creole and Cajun dishes. Dodie's is family-friendly with a game room that kids love, but it is also a neighborhood-type bar where you know the names of those seated next to you and the bartender remembers your favorite drink, Mansinghani said.

Dodie's opened on Fat Tuesday—March 6, 2014, with a Mardi Gras celebration. The restaurant is located in the former Lemon Bar location at the intersection of Main Street and the Dallas North Tollway in World Cup Plaza.

"Things are going great," Mansinghani said. "The people in Frisco have really embraced us."

The original Dodie's Seafood Caf opened in 1989 on Greenville Avenue in Dallas by the McGuiness family. Several Dodie's franchises have opened in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, including a previous Frisco restaurant on Preston Road that closed in August 2013. One of the partners in the Main Street ownership is Charles McGuiness, the founder of the original Greenville Avenue restaurant.

Dodie's serves New Orleans-style food. The most popular dishes include blackened redfish, tilapia and shrimp cocktails, Mansinghani said.

"The concept is 25 years old, and it still works," Mansinghani said. "Our menu is really the best of 25 years of Dodie's, so it is like the greatest hits of all time."

Mansinghani, with three decades of experience in food service, said the Frisco location benefits from its ties with the other Dodie's restaurants, however, he also operates it like a single location.

"We bring out food that is the perfect temperature, but we also have great Southern hospitality," he said. "We have tried-and-true recipes, yet everything is made fresh and nothing comes out of a bag."

Mansinghani believes the food draws customers to Dodie's, but the atmosphere keeps them coming back.

Dodie's will keep with its Cajun theme with watch parties this fall for Louisiana State University and New Orleans Saints football games. Bands play on Friday and Saturday nights. Major sporting events will be featured on the big-screen televisions. Fans often walk to Dodie's after an FC Dallas game and grab something to eat while waiting for the stadium parking lots to empty, Mansinghani said. The patio is popular and pet-friendly.

"We have a lot of regulars, especially during happy hour and late night," Mansinghani said. "For example, a group of firefighters come here when their shift is over. It reminds me of the 'Cheers' bar on TV, where everybody knows your name."

The Dodie's owners realized that many Frisco residents have children, so it spent time making sure that the restaurant was a place children would enjoy, he said.

Dodie's game room—which is also available as a meeting room for events ranging from birthday parties to corporate training—features four big-screen TVs, two pingpong tables, two pool tables, a foosball table and an electronic golf game. Dodie's also offers free waffles for children during weekend brunch.

"Lots of places, the kids want to eat and go," Mansinghani said. "Here, they want to stay."

5566 W. Main St., Ste. 110

214-618-2334

www.dodieslive.com