re: Best bars to go out Thursday night in Dallas?

Your best bet is to stay in the area of McKinney Ave. - uptown Dallas. Use the corner of McKinney and Pearl as your reference point. The W is a good call (and they have an Acura shuttle that will drive you around the downtown/uptown area for free), but if you can shell out the dough, Hotel Zaza is the place to be. The bar (Dragonfly) is sick, and it's right by a ton of bars on McKinney. Can't go wrong in that area.