My BIL and his girlfriend will be spending all of February remote working thanks to a policy their employer has in San Antonio.

My wife and I were thinking of getting them a gift card for a restaurant or experience while they are there for Christmas and were just looking for suggestions for any forum members in the area.

Many thanks in advance.

La Gloria at the Pearl

Great atmosphere, especially during the holidays.

Mi Tierra cafe y panaderia is a landmark in SA.

You might also consider a Landry ‘s gift card, they can go to any number of restaurants under that chain.

Pappasito’s is great for fajitas, great Aggie owned chain of Restaurants.

Paesano’s for Italian, better away from the riverwalk unless you want the riverwalk experience.

The Barn Door Restaurant and meat market by the airport is a gem.

The Zoo is really neat, might consider giving them $125 to get one of the behind the scenes tours.
https://sazootickets.parkezpay...11-9fab-000c2988b723

For Mexican food, I love Mamacita's. It's off I-10. They have the best salsa (the green stuff) I have ever had in my life. The red is mediocre, at best.

They also have VERY reasonable prices. I get the Carnitas - it's one of the more pricey items, at $15.00 or so.

Just north (about an hour or so) is Fredericksburg. They have the National Museum of the Pacific War. It's a nice small museum, in Admiral Nimitz's home town. They have one of the 5 Japanese mini-subs that took part in the Pearl Harbor attack.

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
It's a nice small museum, in Admiral Nimitz's home town. They have one of the 5 Japanese mini-subs that took part in the Pearl Harbor attack.

SMALL? Only if rated by National Air and Space Museum standards! Takes 2 days unless you take the Clark Griswold style grand canyon tour.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

quote:

Originally posted by Hound Dog:
It's a nice small museum, in Admiral Nimitz's home town. They have one of the 5 Japanese mini-subs that took part in the Pearl Harbor attack.

SMALL? Only if rated by National Air and Space Museum standards! Takes 2 days unless you take the Clark Griswold style grand canyon tour.

We'll in SA for a couple days after Christmas. My girls shockingly enjoyed the Pensacola NAS museum, so we may check this out too.

Have to do the Mission Trail. Concepcion is my favorite.

The zoo in San Antonio is indeed nice.

For food:

I absolutely 100% recommend going to https://alcarbonsatx.com/ but only go to the location at 547 Culebra Rd. It looks like a hole in the wall, but TRUST me it is amazing. Get the chicken, charro beans, and rice. Beyond amazing!

This is the only picture I have from going there:



For a bit fancier and also very good is https://rosariossa.com/

I'll just give you some of my favorite eateries.

Tell them not to miss the original Magnolia Pancake House off 281 and Bitters Road (Embassy Oaks), they will unfortunately judge all other pancakes in their future on a scale of 1 to Magnolia). In the same general area is my favorite deli, Max and Louis', a very traditional deli and they make all their own meats in house. Try the pastrami, dahling.

My favorite steakhouse is Myrons Prime, but the city is full of reasonably priced steakhouses, everyone has their go-to. As said before, Paesanos on the northside (Loop 1604 and Pasanos parkway) is an amazing dining experience. Elegant or casual, you pick! Get the shrimp Paesano, ole!

Famous for grilled shrimp, Sea Island is a shorts and t-shirt type place that has a few restaurant around town, but the original is behind North Star mall (home of the giant cowboy boots). Its cheap and delicious.

For burgers, I love Bigz burgers off 1604, or the forever iconic Chris Madrids off Blanco near Trinity University (my go to burger joint while in college).

Many more but I'm getting hungry.

The Menger Bar. Lots of history, some of the Rough Riders were recruited there, and a bullet hope in the wall supposedly put there by Teddy Roosevelt himself.

quote:

Originally posted by 83v45magna:

SMALL? Only if rated by National Air and Space Museum standards! Takes 2 days unless you take the Clark Griswold style grand canyon tour.

Couldn't agree more

El Catrin is my family’s favorite Mexican food restaurant in SA. I always get a fish dish, but my wife and daughter get a beef or chicken dish.

I LOVE their salsa, and I almost get full on chips because it is so good! Also, we can’t help commenting on just how good the food is while we’re eating.

We’ve only been to the Stone Oak area location, so I can’t comment on the other location(s).

Being my hometown is San Antonio, I can see a few places here I would recommend.
Mi Tierra, most definitely.
Alamo Cafe is a must for any standard of Tex_mex.
Las Palapas has some of the best burritos. Order the macho burrito You will never look back.
Taco Cabana started there, and only in San Antonio can you order the Carne Guisada. The best in SA. Beef tips in gravy!

The Riverwalk is always a treat and during this time of year, the Festival of lights is great.
The Alamo, of course, but next door is the The Menger Hotel. Teddy Roosevelt recruited Roght Riders in the bar, and there is much history on the walls, photos etc...

Mamas cafe is also good.

Yep, Alamo Cafe is generally good, and their best is their very yummy fajitas. Our complaint is that it is a little expensive for us pensioners.

If you want to eat a lot of, I mean the serving plate piled high with great local flair, you HAVE to go to Frank’s Pollo Asado los Nortenos. I was stuffed and very satisfied, especially for the price. To add, they are super nice and welcoming.

We saw a stage show in downtown on Thanksgiving, and we thought it would be a ghost town. We even thought the production would be made of second stringers due to the major holiday. However, we noticed a lot of traffic on the highways. When we got to the downtown streets, we were amazed there were thousands of people.

Many were for our show, but the rest were for the other nightlife and holiday draws. Yep, the River Walk was part of that. Horse drawn carriages and Christmas lights made it a wonderful night for my wife and me.

El Jarro de Arturo is another good Mexican food restaurant, which I can’t believe I’d forgotten. It is just north of the airport off of 281.

I don’t know if y’all have them in your area, but HTeaO is becoming very popular. If you go inside, you will find an array of different self serve flavored tea dispensers. I’ll take a guess at about 15 to 20, but they also sell chocolate bars, chips, brownies/cakes, Yeti products and more. My wife gets coffee drinks ordered at the counter. Also, they sell water and water bottles. All of our drinking water is from there. We have 3 3 gallon jugs we have the fill about once a month. Menu link below.

https://hteao.com/menu/

If anyone makes it up to Bulverde, Richter’s Antler Cafe has the best chicken breast I’ve ever had. Most I’ve had at restaurants were flat and dry, but these are large, thick, and seasoned JUST right. I don’t eat chicken fried steak/chicken, but they are supposed to be the best. Also, nice and friendly Texas atmosphere.

I did my residency there years ago. Good medical care at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. All conveniently located on Floyd Curl Drive. Hopefully you won't need medical care.BTW speaking Spanish is a plus.

Cattlemen’s Steakhouse in Fabens
The drive back is romantic

https://www.cattlemens.com/

Just a quick note of thanks to all who contributed. We were able to give them a gift card for the Magnolia Pancake House as well as Mi Tierra.

We have also wrote down all of the other suggestions made to give them some other options to explore.