jab

Going to have a conference at the Riverwalk in about a month and was wondering where the best food was close to the RW. I have been very underwhelemed with the food that is available on the river.

TIA,


JAB

SAT Lawyer

Other than Boudro's, the Riverwalk's food is incredibly disappointing. We locals generally avoid it like the plague.

Depending on your budget, Le Reve is generally considered to be the best restaurant in San Antonio and one of the best in all of Texas.

Biga on the Banks is also highly regarded.

Acenar has good contemporary Tex-Mex.

Bohanan's is a nice steakhouse with an exceptional chicken fried steak.

Just south of downtown, Rosario's is a fine Tex-Mex place with the best salsa in the city. Very popular, but worth a visit. Rosario's also has an airport outpost in Terminal 2, but it is very much inferior to its big brother on Alamo Street.

My absolute favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, about a 10 minute drive north of downtown on Broadway, is Paloma Blanca. It is easily accessible on your way to or from the airport (in fact, with rush hour traffic on 281, Broadway is often a faster and easier option between the airport and downtown). Paloma Blanca's roasted garlic tomato salsa is second only to Rosario's and its enchiladas verdes and vanilla tres leches cake are second to none. A can't-miss restaurant if you have a rental car or don't mind the cab ride.

alanw

I'm going to be in SAT for a few days next month for my parents' 50th anniversary (don't ask). We're staying at Amerisuites (please don't ask). Is there a restaurant that anyone can recommend for a celebratory dinner of about 10 people, with 2 small kids? The parents are pretty white-bread, so I'm thinking a traditional place, not tex-mex (which we'll sample plenty of from the list above on our own).

What about BBQ?

SAT Lawyer

Which Amerisuites? Riverwalk, Jones Maltsberger, or Crossroads?

Rudy's Bar-B-Q is the best but it is informal (you get in line, pick up your food, and seat yourself) and is would be a fairly lengthy drive to either Leon Springs or Selma so I'm not sure if it is what you want.

kluau88

A group of us had some wonderful BBQ and Margaritas at County Line. Paging fredmartens

alanw

Here I go asking a question and then forget to come back. Stupid me. :ashamed:

We're at the Amerisuites Northwest (wherever that is). Someone on the tripadvisor SAT board suggested doing a dinner cruise on the river. I'm having a hard time coming up with someone who's equipped to do it for such a small group, though. Acenar will do it for a $1000 minimum (I really didn't want to spend that much but might if I had to) and Boudro's might be able to do something like that, but with other people on the same boat. Eh.

I'm big on the dinner cruise idea...that will be sure to bring lots of oohs and aahs from the parents. I just have to figure out how to make it work.

Who will be my hero and figure this out?

Starwood Lurker

Just something to consider...none of these boats...at least none that I've seen or been on...has a covering. Unless they do, the potential for pigeon poop on your tacos is quite high, so you might want to make this point part of your inquiries somewhere along the way.

I usually carry a bandana for the tourists from Minnesota who get crapped on during the boat tours. Invariably, they try to return it to me, whereupon I reply, "No thanks. Keep it as a souvenir."

My favorite Mexican food restaurant in SAT is Mi Tierra's. My favorite BBQ restaurant in SAT is the County Line.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

yamonjon

We are starting our first of three visits to Texas to earn the 60K bonus with AA. Will be in SAT two weekends and the following restaurants are offering double points in the iDine program. Can anyone give any feedback...

Andrea's Mexcian Restaurant
El Torreon Restaurant
Las Palapas Restaurant
Bar II (night club)

Our other visit is in Austin, so looking for feedback on these as well:

Copa Bar & Grill
Hickory Street Bar & Grill
Ninfa's Mexican Restaurant
Bayou Cajun Cafe

Thank you,

Yamonjon

MMMinTX

I believe that the only Ninfa's in Austin was the one on 6th that closed last year, so definitely cross that one off your Austin list. Can't offer any input on the other options, sorry.

SAT Lawyer

Bar 11 is a good place to have a drink. And a great place to rack up iDine points at an office happy hour if you pick up the tab. I certainly wouldn't plan on eating there, however. It is fairly easy to find right across from North Star Mall.

Las Palapas is a fairly uninspiring low budget TexMex chain. Not worth a visit.

Can't help you with the other two.

Starwood Lurker

Isn't there another one on Research Blvd. near 135 across the street from the Red Lobster?

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

Hickory Street Bar & Grill was an interesting hole in the wall type place downtown. They used to have these huge spuds - I mean these things were so big they looked like a Texas A&M science experiment - that you could load up with various toppings.

Haven't been to any of the others on your list, but Ninfa's kind of falls into the category of most chain Mexican food restaurants. You can do a lot better than this. My favorite Mexican food place in Austin is Chuy's, but there are even a lot better, more authentic places on the East Side.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Moomba

Chuy's on San Pedro near intersection 1604.

Best tex mex especially during the green chili festival ^

MMMinTX

oops, you're right! There is still a location at Anderson Lane and 183. But I would agree that the best Tex Mex in town could be found on the East Side (I like Nuevo Leon on E 6th)

Starwood Lurker

El Azteca is my favorite on the East Side, but I've heard good things about Nuevo Leon, so I'm going to have to give that a try.

I guess we veered a little off-topic, no?

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]