San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Seeking the River Walk’s best
Today, a look at the 9 locally owned restaurants worth recommending
For years, San Antonians have written off the River Walk as a kind of zoo to house tourists, a picturesque habitat where the out-of-towners ramble without a destination, stopping at the occasional feed trough, wagging those giant tulip-bulb souvenir margarita glasses that run more than $20 a pop.
Aside from a few serious restaurants like Biga on the Banks, Restaurant Gwendolyn and Range, I never paid much attention to the River Walk culinary scene except to wince whenever someone asked me to recommend Mexican food down there.
But as the holidays approach and the weather starts to cool, it’s a good time to take a fresh look at this underappreciated part of life in San Antonio, to make our way through the notquite-post-pandemic landscape and get ready to plan the River Walk Christmas dinners and holiday celebrations we didn’t get to have last year.
In a four-part series starting today, without wincing, I’ll give you my recommendations for the best restaurants on the River Walk. They won’t be judged against the broad spectrum of the best restaurants in San Antonio, but rather within that narrow bandwidth of River Walk restaurants.
Before we begin, let’s set some rules. To qualify, a restaurant has to be right on the river, close enough to throw chips to the ducks you shouldn’t be feeding in the first place. Not a block over, not a street over, not set back in a courtyard. On the river.
The River Walk stretches 15 miles, winding through the heart of downtown San Antonio, extending south through the Mission Reach and north with the Museum Reach. This four-part series will cover the section starting at César E. Chávez Boulevard to the south and stopping at Fourth Street to the north, including the horseshoe that runs through downtown and the strip that glides up to the Shops at Rivercenter.
I visited all the restaurants here.
This first part focuses on the locally owned restaurants I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to tourists and locals alike. In this search area alone, there are more than 25 locally owned restaurants among the dozens of hotel and chain restaurants, and there are nine I recommend.
In the weeks to come, every other week, I’ll sort out the best hotel restaurants, and then the best chains. For the fourth and
final installment, I’ll pull from all the lists and give you a ranked list of the 10 best River Walk Restaurants overall.
Finally, just maybe, we’ll have a list that lives up to the promise and potential of San Antonio and the river that runs through it.
Ácenar
That thing about Mexican restaurant recommendations? This is one of them, a stylish resort-style setting for contemporary Mexican food with more distinction than some of its older contemporaries.
Good examples include the Tres Enchiladas plate with verde, mole and queso styles, or grilled shrimp taquitos with razor-thin jicama in place of tortillas for an even more refined touch. And the large patio with riverfront seating is a plus. 146 E. Houston St., 210-222-2362, acenar.com
Biga on the Banks
Chef Bruce Auden’s influence extends like a brilliant spiderweb through the city’s best restaurants, run by chefs who worked under Auden over the years. Think of his crispy chicken-fried oysters with mustard hollandaise and squid ink pasta as a handshake to robust grill plates like Australian lamb chops with cheesy grits and a plate of Axis
venison with Lockhart quail and a goat cheese tart.
It’s one of the city’s best service experiences, and its secondstory terrace overlooks a quiet corner of the river. 203 S. St. Mary’s St., 210-225-0722, biga.com
Boudro’s Texas Bistro
The overwrought Southwestern swagger of Boudro’s was lost on me during a review a few years back. But now more than ever I appreciate the hands-on showmanship of spicy tableside guacamole and the simple beauty of a perfectly grilled Black Angus beef filet and the sweet magenta swirl of a prickly pear margarita.
Look for the hat-shaped umbrellas covering tables right by the river, or perch on the patio for prime people-watching. 421 E. Commerce St., 210-224-8484, boudros.com
The Esquire Tavern
The Esquire is a study in evolution, from the dark and rowdy saloon of yesteryear to a respectable bar and grill of more recent times. The Esquire’s menu has lost a step since the pandemic and the departure of its star chef, but you can still count on a juicy bison burger, crispy chilesalt fries and some of the best cocktails in the city, including a
proper tart margarita that will recalibrate what you expect from the usual River Walk sugar bombs.
Riverside seating is at a premium, with just a few tables on the terrace above the sidewalk, but those tables are like a ringside seat in New Orleans. 155 E. Commerce St., 210-222-2521, esquiretavern-sa.com
On the Bend Oyster Bar & Cigar Lounge
With a caricature artist on the patio, an incongruent statue of Benny Hill at the entrance and one of those frozen drink stands right next to it, On the Bend could be confused for a tourist trap. But its Riverwalk Punch is boozy and refreshing without going all Kool-Aid Man, and a Frutas del Mar platter is loaded with Gulf oysters, seafood campechana, seafood dip and peeland-eat shrimp that’s fresh, reasonably priced and available on a second-story terrace for a better view of life’s rich pageant below. 123 Losoya St., Suite 7, 210-354-3002, onthebendsa.com
The Original Mexican Restaurant
If Ácenar represents the new wave of Mexican cooking, The Original is its old-school counterpart, with just five tables next to the river, an unadorned patio and combo plates like the Especial de Saltillo plate with a respectable cheese enchilada, beef enchilada and a crispy taco with mildly spiced picadillo.
While it’s not nearly the best Tex-Mex in town, it’s the best local Tex-Mex joint on the River Walk. 528 River Walk St., 210-2249951, originalmexican.com
Paesanos Riverwalk
It’s no secret that after four visits and a zero-star review in 2019, I didn’t like Paesanos in Lincoln Heights. So I’m surprised that Paesanos Riverwalk came through so strong, serving lightly fried Shrimp Paesano with firm spaghetti and rich lemon butter garlic sauce, and a lasagna that anybody would claim as their own.
It didn’t hurt that the river was clean, the weather was beautiful and the sunset hit the broad riverside courtyard to create the kind of golden hour that forgives all. 111 W. Crockett St., Suite 101, 210-227-2782, paesanosriverwalk.com
The Republic of Texas
With a menu as frenetic as a precocious art student’s doodle pad, The Republic of Texas didn’t strike me as a strong candidate for the River Walk’s best local Texas cafe until the chicken-fried steak showed up, all plate-hogging, crispy-crusted and gravy-soaked with loaded mashed potatoes on the side and a frozen mango margarita with chamoy and chile salt that I liked in spite of myself.
Take a seat under the phalanx of Texas flag umbrellas by the river and have a showdown with the ducks, pigeons and grackles gunning for your leftovers. 526 River Walk St., 210-226-6256, therepublicoftexasrestaurant.com
Restaurant Gwendolyn
Chef Michael Sohocki fired up his pre-industrial fever dream of a restaurant 10 years ago, working with hand-cranked machinery and food from within a 150mile radius. After a decade, its house-cured charcuterie board and five-course tasting menus are as strong as ever, with a lineup that might include watermelon gazpacho, green bean Caesar, quail satay, Guinea hen Veracruzano and apple strudel.
Ask for a seat on the terrace by the East Pecan Street bridge and soak in the contrast of the quiet River Walk below and the rowdy bus stop nearby. 152 E. Pecan St., Suite 100, 210-222-1849, restaurantgwendolyn.com