For authentic mex I would recommend Guajillos or Cascabel Mexican Patio. El Bucanero is tops if you like seafood - do not miss the fried fish tacos and ceviche! A little higher priced but absolutely delicious is El Mirasol - their Chispas are the best margaritas in town, IMO.

My favorite tex mex is Teka Molino. Crazy delicious. If you want to try something different, try Gorditas Dona Tota - a fast food chain with dozens of locations in Mexico but just a few in the US.

If you're interested in the best chicken fingers in the world, check out Speedy's on the South Side.

The bean burger is a San Antonio classic . .my favorite is Order Up.

I don't know if you have a Pollo Regio in Dallas . .. but if not, give that place a try for some fantastic mexican grilled chicken - get plenty of the green salsa.

The Guenther House is a favorite for breakfast - get there early to avoid the lines. Same thing with Magnolia Pancake Haus. Better food than GH, in my opinion . .but just a normal diner where GH is in an old victorian mansion on the river.

Also consider The Liberty Bar, Titos and Rosarios in Southtown.

Don't forget to bring some loose pants for the drive home, lol

I've never thought much of our "innovative" cuisine here in San Antonio . .I've said as much on this and other threads. However, there is a relatively new place called Laurent's Modern Cuisine in Olmos Park that I am happy to say is absolutely killing it.

I was blown away by my meal at Laurent's. The menu was small but packed with interesting options. The dishes were perfectly executed and the service was fantastic. Most importantly . .the flavors were just expertly matched and so well thought out.

Truly the most enjoyable evening of fine dining I've had in San Antonio. Actually, the only evening of fine dining in San Antonio that I've truly enjoyed as an entire experience. .not just enjoyed aspects of.

Nao had great drinks, ok food and wierd service. Sustenio had dishes that were hit and miss. Bliss was good but kind of played out with deconstructed, "big plate, small food" dishes that were popular 5-10 years ago.

Laurent's is the whole package. Modern and classic at the same time . .with flavors that will blow you away.

I like all the suggestions so far. I'll add Pioneer Baking Mix . .and White Wings Tortilla Mix. Both by CH Guenther in San Antonio.

There are so many great places that there really isn't a *best* in my opinion. You can't even turn around in this town without knocking over a tray of breakfast tacos or stepping in a plate of chilaquiles.

I don't have any recs for right near where you're staying - . .but probably not far is Tommy's on San Pedro or perhaps a little farther would be Taco Taco. Taco Taco is "famous" if you're into that. The food is great - particularly the awesome thick flour tortillas. But it's a tiny place and you may have to wait a bit for a seat.

If you want to take a nice drive in the country I could heartily recommend Grumpy's Mexican Cafe . . or going in the totally opposite direction would be Benjamins Kitchen. Benjamin's Kitchen is an experience - if you have the time I would recommend it. Grumpy's is famous for ridiculous portion sizes . .and the food is great, too.

As I said, tho . . .if you just drive around in the am you will probably find a great breakfast at the first mexican place you come to.

I haven't found anything in SA that compares to Central TX BBQ but there are a few decent places. Most are far from the Riverwalk - however . .Mr J's on S New Braunfels is just a short, colorful cab ride away.

Mr J's is definitely a dive - and not like a TX BBQ Joint dive . .but a "looks like it's falling down/I can't believe this is a licensed business" type of dive . . so, depending on what you're looking for, it may or may not be for you.

Pollo Regio is still awesome.

If you didn't get this rec already from the Houston folks - try Pollo Campero.

I mostly agree - however there are some steakhouses in the country where you can get a quality of meat that you can't find at Costco. A truly great ,aged steak is indeed something to behold and is worth 40 bucks ala cart. You just cant find such a thing in San Antonio (as far as my experience goes).

Guajillo's is awesome - my favorite. They don't have lengua or menudo - at least not on a regular basis . .but they do have a birria that I could vouch for.

If you've never tried it before you might want to try barbacoa - beef cheek or whole head - depending on where and how you order. If given the choice, this gringo chooses "all meat", lol. Can recommend Mimi's tamales and barbacoa . .or, if it's in the evening, Erick's Tacos has barbacao tacos that I like.

You could also go down to a Culebra Meat Market, pick up some barbacoa, a pack of corn tamales, a plastic tub of red hot salsa and a Big Red - a very "San Antonio" experience.

Funny - Texas Road House is probably the best steak I've had around here, too. On Weds (I think) they have $11 sirloin steaks . .definitely the best $11 steak I've had.

I've tried a couple of our higher end places and was mostly underwhelmed. If I was visiting from out of town and wanted a kind of "San Antonio" or Texas type experience . .I would recommend either The Barn Door or Tejas Rodeo company. They both have good steak - Tejas probably a little better - but the places are great. Tejas has actual rodeos on the weekends and The Barn Door is one of the oldest restaruants in SA.

Right before lunch, my boss came into my office and told me we needed to visit a client site and would grab lunch along the way. I ended up eating a Subway Sandwiich! If that's not grounds for quitting a job, I don't know what is!

I agree with the doc. Drew's is a pass for me. Defintely overpriced and the food is just ok. I'm actually in Houston today - near the Galleria. Pastrami sounds pretty awesome (I'm also an East Coast transplant). I'm going to do my best to eat lunch there today - thanks for mentioning it.

If you're looking for some hole-in-the-wall, real deal, "essence of San Antonio" type places and are willing to venture from the River Walk. .I recommend trying out:

Guajillos
Erick's Tacos
Los Cocos
Rubens Tamales (or Tellez, you're choice)
El Folklor - The taco shop in the La Fiesta Supermarket on Ingram Rd
Some breakfast tacos from just about anywhere.

And, then, if you're tired of Mexican (I don't see how you could be) - you might want to have breakfast at Magnolia Pancake House, have a chicken fried steak at Grumpys Mexican Cafe (not actually a mexican place) or Richter's Antler Cafe, have some BBQ at Home of Da Smoke, the best chicken fingers you ever, ever had at Speedy's Chicken. A burger at Longhorn Cafe would round all that out nicely and send you waddling home happy, with fond memories of the Alamo City and some loose sweatpants, lol.

Also - A few fun places to check out within a mile or 2 from the RW - The Friendly Spot, La Tuna Ice House, Alamo Eat Street (food trucks). If you like dive bars, the Texas T pub, just off the riverwalk is one where I've managed to have some enjoyable times.

I haven't tried Biga yet but I have recently been to both Acenar and NAO. Both were, quite frankly, disapointing. NAO has better food and the menu is definitely more "foodie" but the service, when I went, was akward, the portions really small and most of the dishes were pretty average.

Acenar was really disapointing. It was loud, crowded, slow service, a little dirty (probably due to the rush but there was a lot of stuff on the floor) and the food is no better or different than what you can get at any number of other mexican restaurants - mostly cheaper and with better service. And, unforgivably, the margaritas were weak.

So, out of those 3, I would choose Biga. I have heard good things and want to try it. On the other hand, I have tried Bruce Audens other restaurant, Auden's Kitchen a few times and was mostly disapointed.

For a San Antonio foodie, I recommend Austin. This is not to say that I don't love the food here in SA . .I really, really, do . .but in my experience it's just not a "foodie" town and trying such places leads to disapointment upon disapointment.

In the last year, I have tried Sustenio, Bliss, The Monterey, Feast, Rosario's and Bin 555 in addition to Acenar and NAO. Can't say a single one of them is worth a second visit. If pressed, I would say Feast was my favorite - mostly because they have nice cocktails and I got pretty drunk . .the food could've been awful, I guess. I would also consider giving Bliss another shot - especially if I could get 6 people together and do the Chef's Table. If I went back to Sustenio, I would try to sit at the Ceviche bar (although you can get way better ceviche at any number of places, NAO not being one of them).

Other than Biga, I would for sure go to South Town instead. My personal choice would be Tito's but my wife looks at my like she wants to slap me when I recommend it. It's basically a bar and not remotely fancy or nice inside . .but they make strong margaritas and the food is pretty good.

I also second the rec to try Gwendolyn . .haven't tried it yet but I definitely plan to. My favorite "nice" restaruant in San Antonio is, by far, Cappy's in Alamo Heights. The menu is pretty traditional but the food and service are excellent.

Have fun in SA whatever you choose to eat!

I've read this post several times hoping somebody would answer - San Antonio is just not a salad town. 2 days ago, though, I tried River Tree Bistro on Blanco near 1604 for the first time and they have really great salads!

If you happen to be in the mood for a burger while driving up I35 - you should check out CBQ Eatery in Shertz.

As for Riverwalk restaurants - The recs in this thread are solid but Southtown is less than a mile away and has a lot more good places to eat.

I finally got a chance to try Home of Da Smoke in Adkins. I was very impressed, indeed. The pork ribs, in particular, were outstanding - best I've had in and around San Antonio. It's a bit of a hike from most parts of the city but well worth a visit.

oh, yeah . . .I love the baked potato with chopped brisket, too. That's a nap-inducing lunch, for sure!

Maybe Luce was just having a good day when I visited? I have not tried the gnocchi at Tre Trattoria or Il Sogno - but I grew up in an Italian family and my uncle owned an Italian restaurant - both he and my grandmother made gnocchi - which is the basis for my comparisons. They made food in a very different style than Tre Trattoria and Il Sogno. No Gorgonzola in my grandma's kitchen.

FWIW - my wife ordered the bolognese and didn't really care for it.

If I wanted to load up on carbs, I would head straight to Luce in the Huebner Oaks shopping center and order a plate of house-made gnocchi. I love gnocchi - most places don't do them justice but these are light, fluffy bombs of carbohydrate-loaded goodness.

Never been to any other location but servicable and "go to" are words I would use to describe Smokey Mo's in San Antonio. It's consistently very good. I never really liked thier brisket - too lean and dry for me - but all the other meats are very good. The pork loin and turkey are really special - I can't think of a place that does those meats better. I moved across town and haven't been back for a while - our new go to place is not as good as Smokey Mo's . .but I still don't drive across town for it.

Gaujillos is great. Pam's Patio Kitchen, Zorba's and Garibaldi's are all good, too. Mamacita Jean's is a regular spot for us for weekend breakfast - I have to qualify that recommendation by saying that the service can be slow and some of the menu items are better than others - but the staff is awesome and it's one of those places that we just love to go. My favorite breakfast taco is sausage and potato - with jimmy dean type sausage vs bbq link or chorizo . .and Mamacita Jean's has those plus delicious hot green salsa.

I should add, though, that Feast was actually pretty good. Recently have been to Sustenio, The Monterey, Bliss and Feast. Feast was the best of those visits. Food was great, service good and it was actually not that pricey even though we drank a boatload of thier signature cocktails.

Right you are - I guess I missed it. Sorry about that. You can add Feast to the "stupid resrevation policy" list.

We went to Feast the other night and originally had a reservation for 6. We called them to let them know we were only going to be 4. They didn't say anything over the phone but when we got there we were told our reservation had been cancelled because we were no longer 6 people. What's up with that? What's even funnier is that even though they made a point of telling us our rsvp was cancelled and they dont do reservations for less than 6, we were seated immediately because the place was only 3/4 full on Saturday night.

I guess you need to manufacture exclusivity if you want to do innovative dining in SA. I guess accomodating customers is not innovative enough.

I travel to Houston a lot and, although I don't know all the restaraunts there, I think you're going to find more and better innovative cuisine in Houston. I don't know how much "upscale" mexican there is in Houston but that is something I think San Antonio does well. Places like Poloma Blanca, Bahia Azul, and El Mirasol serve great food that reminds me of going to nicer places in Mexico. Definitely not Tex Mex - at least not in the American Cheese Enchilada sense.

Another great place in San Antonio although totally not innovative is El Bucanero. This is some of the best Mexican Seafood I've ever had and the fish tacos rule. So - totally not what you're asking for and I appologize but I've been to most of the places mentioned in this thread and while they are decent if you live here - I don't think they're worth traveling for. Just my opinion, of course.

Oh - and nobody has mentioned Bliss yet - that's a pretty good one if you're really set on innovative cuisine.

I really wish I could help you but all the restaraunts in Port A and Corpus seem to suck. Every year we go down there and every year we have dissapointing meals. We actually did our annual trip 2 weekends ago and tried Snoopy's Pier for the first time.

We were not impressed with Snoopy's. I had the combo - fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried fish and french fries. Only the fried oysters were any good. The shrimp had really strong, almost "off" taste and were a bit rubbery. The fried fish had too mushy a texture for my liking. The flavor was OK if not the best I've had. It goes without saying that if you're not into fried fish, you won't like Snoopy's. Fried fish is my favorite, though . .and I didn't like Snoopy's.

I would have to agree that Snoopy's is a lot better than the other places we have tried but definitely not good, in my opinion. The place is cool, though.

We actually decided this time that we are done eating out at the beach and from now on will bring food from home and cook. My buddy raves about this place in Port A called La Playa . .but I'm skeptical and you're looking for seafood, anyway. Seems like you should be able to find good seafood at the beach . .but the waters pretty polluted there so I guess they need to ship it in just like if they were landlocked.

My favorite place in Northern SA to pick up some fresh tortillas is Culebra Meat Market in Stone Oak. They have store made flour tortillas. They don't make corn tortillas but they sell Milagro brand corn tortillas - which are my favorite.

They also sell barbacoa, carnitas and tamales at this location. I love to pick up some carnitas, a package of El Milagro corn tortillas and some of thier crazy red hotsauce. Take it home, heat up the tortillas and you have some truly amazing tacos. They also sell whatever other accoutrements you may want (pico, many types of crema, cheese, salsas, etc).

As far as restaurant tortillas go - a lot of people dig the Alamo Cafe tortillas that are sold to-go. If you like the real thick style flour tortillas, they are pretty good. San Antonio is like tortilla heaven, though - even Taco Cabana has pretty good tortillas.

Another great place to go up there is Mexico To Go on Evans Rd - not far from Culebra. Very nice, traditional Mexican food. I love the tortilla soup there. Unlike any other I've had in SA - very austere with only broth, a few sprigs of epazote and, of course, tortilla strips. It's fascinatingly delicious. Incidentally, Mexico To Go will also sell you a dozen flour or corn tortillas to go. Not sure if they're house made but they are great.

My favorite truck is Sabor Columbiano. I tried it when they were at the Culinaria Food Truck event - I think they sometimes park at the "Boardwalk at Bulverde" food truck park.

I had the tacos de chuleta and also a bowl of fideo. Now, fideo I never had in Mexico so I can't say much about it .. but the flavor of the pork and the corn tortillas they use was so remniscent of tacos I've eaten in Mexico that it was almost eerie. I kept expecting to walk out of there and get in line to cross the border back into the US, lol.

I had been wanting to try Guajillos for a long time and finally got there last week. It doesn't get any more authentic than that - even in Mexico.

One time about 15 years ago a friend of mine and I went to Tijuana but instead of the usual stuff we did, instead we got into a Taxi and told him to take us to the best restaraunt he knew of "where the real mexicans eat". He drove us for about 25 minutes to a suburb - to this day I have no idea where it was. He dropped us off at this place that was moderately nice, pretty large and full to the brim with locals eating at long tables. I had one of the best meals and experiences of my life that night - nothing fancy - just amazingly tasty food.

As soon as I stepped into Guajillos I was instantly reminded of that place.

I choose to believe that particular poll is either fixed or that local foodies don't bother to vote in such polls. Those results were terrible! If those were the best places in each category I would have no choice but to move.