Seismic isolation bearings have been widely employed for passive control of bridge structures. Traditional flat friction sliding (FFS) bearing sustains vertical loads, with its lateral resistance generated by Coulomb friction at the sliding interface. However, FFS bearing exhibits insufficient energy dissipation and limited displacement control under near-fault ground motions. Therefore, this paper comprehensively introduces a novel concept of damping plate-restrained flat friction sliding (DP-FFS) bearings. This combined bearing consists of a modified FFS bearing and supplementary damping plates, which features multi-stage energy dissipation, effective displacement control, tunable performance, and ease of assembly/replacement. The design detail and working principle of DP-FFS bearing are initially outlined, followed by quasi-static testing of full-scale bearing specimens. Experimental results validate the multi-stage energy dissipation and restraint effects of the new bearings. The performance of DP-FFS bearings primarily depends on the number, orientation, and predetermined gap of damping plates. Shear and tensile damping plates can be activated individually upon reaching predetermined gaps, contributing significantly to energy dissipation. The failure of damping plates mainly occurs at predesigned weakened sections. Finally, the system-level seismic performance of DP-FFS bearings is investigated via a typical bridge case. The numerical modeling strategies of bearings are verified in OpenSees software, and three-dimensional finite element models for the prototype bridges are established. The results indicate that DP-FFS bearings can effectively control the horizontal displacement of superstructures and significantly reduce the adverse effects of near-fault ground motions on bridge structures. At the same time, the response on piers remains controllable compared with traditional FFS bearings.