San Antonio Trip Report Nov 18-22, 2006
Nov 28th, 2006, 12:23 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
San Antonio Trip Report Nov 18-22, 2006
About 15 years ago, when my husband was a teenager, he visited San Antonio with his father who was there for a convention. They stayed at the Hyatt on the Riverwalk. This trip made a lasting impact on my husband, as he has wanted to return there with me since we met years ago.
For our first trip without our 15-month old daughter, we cashed in some frequent flyer miles and got a decent price on a room at the Drury Inn on the Riverwalk (about $550 before tax & fees for 4 nights). We decided to not rent a car, as my husband believed if we stayed on the Riverwalk the entire time, we would not need one. Here is my trip report for 5 days/4 nights in San Antonio without a car:
Day 1: Saturday
We arrived at the Drury Inn at about 4:00 p.m., having taken a SATransit shuttle van from the airport ($24 r/t pp). The Drury Inn is clean and quaint. This former office building was beautifully restored. Our room had three tall windows overlooking the Riverwalk, and a ceiling at least 14 feet high. The bathroom was spacious, but not well appointed (bring your own toiletries if you want more than a bar of soap and cheap shampoo). We were lured to the Drury Inn by its free daily breakfast and free evening cocktail receptions. We were not the exception, as these events were crowded and noisy. Oh well, what can you expect for free? We went to the cocktail reception Saturday evening. Surprisingly, my husband and I were each allotted 3 free drinks at each daily cocktail hour. That's a lot of booze! We enjoyed the free cocktails only the first night as we soon discovered that hanging out at the Drury Inn was not what we wanted to do each day.
We walked the Riverwalk on Saturday evening. There were two conventions in town and the place was packed. All of the better restaurants had 2 hour waits for walk-ups. We were hungry from our trip and had made the loop back toward our hotel, so we went into the County Line BBQ just to get some sort of sustenance. We enjoyed the Shiner Bock (aaah!) but didn't really care for the BBQ. We tried a sampler platter; all the meats were smoked: beef rib, pork ribs, beef brisket, smoked turkey, smoked sausage. The meat was dry. Thankfully our waiter, Dave with the 5 3/4" red mohawk tucked under his cap, was a stitch. We enjoyed talking with him, which made our dinner a lot of fun even if the food was lacking. Dave recommended for dessert the Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. It was a winner! The rest of the trip we wanted to get back to the County Line to order that again, but we didn't have the time or the space in our bellies to go back.
Day 2: Sunday
We started our day with the free breakfast at the Drury Inn. It was sustenance, but it was not nutritious. The breakfast offerings included unappetizing French toast wedges and waffles, bagels and bread, muffins, pastries, reconstituted scrambled eggs (if you've worked in food service, it was the stuff out of the giant bags of liquid eggs), bacon, sausage, flat biscuits with a glue-like sausage gravy, and 4 kinds of cereal.
Thank God for the raisin bran!
We walked over to La Villita. Only a few shops were open on Sunday morning, but we enjoyed the shops we visited. Our favorites were Village Weavers (http://www.villageweavers.com/) and the Monte Wade Fine Arts Gallery (http://www.montewadefinearts.com/). If only we had won the lottery before visiting these shops! We especially loved the metal tables by Frank Seckler and the "Sticks" home furnishings at Monte Wade.
We had an early lunch at Cafe Ole on the Riverwalk. Shiner Bock was on tap again; the food was mediocre at best (although my tortilla soup was tasty).
That afternoon, we did an obligatory visit to the Alamo, and a spur-of-the-moment-what-the-heck visit to the Louis Toussaud Wax Museum ($16 pp). My husband remembered the wax museum from his previous trip. Hmm, what a waste of money! The celebrity figures were interesting (Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington were amazingly lifelike), but I hated how the only was out of the museum was through The Passion of Christ exhibit. Wow. Nothing like pushing Christianity down people's throats! And gory figures of Christ at that.
That evening we headed west to the Marketplace. We ate supper at Mi Tierra, which had fantastic, authentic Mexican food. I had the Chile Relleno -- fantastic! The shops were closing as we left the restaurant, so we wandered over to the San Fernando Cathedral where Mass was ending. The Archbishop was there, so there was extra pomp and circumstance. If you like that heady incense that isn't used for Catholic Mass everywhere (at least not up north where we live), stop into the Cathedral. It's a beautiful building, regardless of your faith.
After getting full of Mexican food and getting a dose of religion, we went back to the Riverwalk and ended up at Durty Nellie’s. What a hoot. We loved this place. Keith was the pianist on duty when we arrived. (Learn more about him at http://texaspianoman.com.) He sang the most wonderfully sweet song about a little kitty cat who gets into all sorts of trouble ... there's a reason why no one under 21 is allowed in the joint!
We finished our night at El Colegio bar at the Omni La Mansion del Rio hotel. The Copa Something-or-Other and Apple Martinis were stellar. Stop in there if you want to escape the business of the Riverwalk and just relax.
Day 3: Monday
We walked from hotel to the trolley stop in front of the Alamo, where we got on the Blue Line Trolley to the Guenther House (80-cents pp/one-way). What a breath of fresh air! It was GREAT to get out of the Riverwalk and have a nice breakfast outdoors at the Guenther House. Husband and I each had a plate of their specialty biscuits and gravy (to die for -- about $3.50 pp) and we shared a massive fresh fruit plate (less than $7). After breakfast, we walked over to Steves Homestead to get a map of the King William neighborhood. We took our time walking back to visit La Villita again. More shops were open at La Villa on Monday afternoon, but they were more touristy shops which did not interest us.
Monday evening we walked to the River Center Mall. The mall is like any other mall with the same chain stores, the same trendy junk that kids and teens would love but we hated. We walked over to the Tower of the Americas and went up to the 611 Bar. We watched the sun set over San Antonio, and we enjoyed watching the planes fly in and out of the area’s air force bases and airports. After being down in the Riverwalk for much of our vacation, it felt liberating to be up above the city. The Prickly Pear Margaritas were delicious. My husband ordered a Korbel and 7 and was very surprised to get a flute of champagne and 7-Up. On his second round he made sure he ordered a brandy and 7, this time getting Christian Bros. brandy. He always forgets that no one outside of the Midwest knows what Korbel brandy is.
We made dinner reservations at the Little Rhein Steakhouse on the Riverwalk. We had an excellent meal, each having the 8 oz. filet mignon, balsamic asparagus and au gratin potatoes. The wine list at the Little Rhein is thorough with options at many price points.
Day 4: Tuesday
Is it time to go home yet? Do we have to go on the Riverwalk again?
I couldn’t stomach having another Drury Inn breakfast, so we went to Schilo’s. I loved the place, but the strong smell of sauerkraut that permeates Schilo’s made my husband’s stomach turn. I had 2 eggs over easy, bacon, REAL biscuits, REAL grits, a fruit cup and coffee for $7. Husband could only stomach coffee and wanted to get out of there ASAP. The stench was killing him.
We went back to El Mercado to look around. All the shops looked the same very quickly. We did find a couple of small trinkets to bring back for our daughter, but nothing for us. (Remember, what we wanted cost $$$ back at the Monte Wade Gallery in La Villita!) By this time, the stench of Mexican food was killing me, so another round of authentic Mexican cooking was not an option Tuesday.
We didn’t want to eat or drink anymore. We needed to relax, and we weren’t finding that on the Riverwalk or by walking around aimlessly. We decided to go to the rooftop pool at the Drury Inn. It was a beautiful sunny day and for a couple of northerners like us it was downright balmy. We sat in the sun, read the paper, sunbathed, and relaxed. This was one of my favorite moments from our trip.
When husband started going a little stir-crazy, it was back to the Riverwalk. We stopped at Waxy’s Irish Pub for a beer and a snack. The beer selection was one of the best we had seen on the Riverwalk. The Potato Leek soup was wonderful. The chicken strips were horrible – a generous portion but absolutely lacking in taste.
We then walked over through the fountain walkway at the Hyatt to the Alamo Plaza again. We were killing time, bored, waiting for our dinner reservations. We walked through the Menger Hotel, oohed and aahed about how nice it is, and surprise, surprise, found our way back to Durty Nellie’s on the Riverwalk. Keith, aka Texas Piano Man, was playing again. We remembered him and he remembered us, so that was a pleasant way to kill another hour before dinner.
Finally, we ate at Dolores del Rio on the Riverwalk across from the Drury Inn. If it hadn’t been for the good review in the New York Times, I never would have known about this restaurant. It is tucked away and highly eclectic. The food was exceptionally good and the prices were reasonable for the quantity of food provided. We arrived at 7:30 to hear the piano music. At 8:30 the belly dancer started her show, which lasted about 30 minutes. We loved it. We were so sick of chain restaurants and the Disney-like Riverwalk that anything a little offbeat would have been a great thrill. Dolores del Rio knocked our socks off. Kudos to Earl, our waiter.
Day 5 – Wednesday
This was the day before Thanksgiving, the travel day from Hell. We checked in on the Internet before leaving our hotel. We left our hotel early expecting long lines at the airport. We checked our bags curbside at the airport and got right through security. It was smooth sailing all the way home.
San Antonio: Overall Impressions without a Car
The Riverwalk is a nice place to visit, but I think that a weekend is enough. If you don’t like crowds, go for a couple of nights during the week to avoid the drunks and the long wait times at restaurants.
Downtown San Antonio is dingy. The Riverwalk is the gorgeous, Disney-like façade for a crumbling downtown.
We wanted to visit the Missions. I knew before we left that VIA (the SA bus line) only served one mission. A tour place on the Alamo Plaza offers a tour that visits two missions. We decided to not scrabble together a trip to the missions where we were beholden to bus schedules or tour guides. Next time, we’ll get a car and make a day of it.
King William neighborhood: Some nice houses but nothing too stellar. The Guenther House is worth a visit.
El Mercado/Marketplace: Visit Mi Tierra and get some authentic Mexican cooking in (and out) of your system. Check out a couple of stores but don’t make a day of it. You aren’t missing anything. I did not feel safe walking between our hotel and El Mercado, neither during the day nor the evening.
Next time – if there is a next time – we will follow the advice of others on this board and rent a car, stay in the hill country, spend a night, maybe two, on the Riverwalk, drive down to the Missions, but get out into the open Texas landscape.
For our first trip without our 15-month old daughter, we cashed in some frequent flyer miles and got a decent price on a room at the Drury Inn on the Riverwalk (about $550 before tax & fees for 4 nights). We decided to not rent a car, as my husband believed if we stayed on the Riverwalk the entire time, we would not need one. Here is my trip report for 5 days/4 nights in San Antonio without a car:
Day 1: Saturday
We arrived at the Drury Inn at about 4:00 p.m., having taken a SATransit shuttle van from the airport ($24 r/t pp). The Drury Inn is clean and quaint. This former office building was beautifully restored. Our room had three tall windows overlooking the Riverwalk, and a ceiling at least 14 feet high. The bathroom was spacious, but not well appointed (bring your own toiletries if you want more than a bar of soap and cheap shampoo). We were lured to the Drury Inn by its free daily breakfast and free evening cocktail receptions. We were not the exception, as these events were crowded and noisy. Oh well, what can you expect for free? We went to the cocktail reception Saturday evening. Surprisingly, my husband and I were each allotted 3 free drinks at each daily cocktail hour. That's a lot of booze! We enjoyed the free cocktails only the first night as we soon discovered that hanging out at the Drury Inn was not what we wanted to do each day.
We walked the Riverwalk on Saturday evening. There were two conventions in town and the place was packed. All of the better restaurants had 2 hour waits for walk-ups. We were hungry from our trip and had made the loop back toward our hotel, so we went into the County Line BBQ just to get some sort of sustenance. We enjoyed the Shiner Bock (aaah!) but didn't really care for the BBQ. We tried a sampler platter; all the meats were smoked: beef rib, pork ribs, beef brisket, smoked turkey, smoked sausage. The meat was dry. Thankfully our waiter, Dave with the 5 3/4" red mohawk tucked under his cap, was a stitch. We enjoyed talking with him, which made our dinner a lot of fun even if the food was lacking. Dave recommended for dessert the Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce. It was a winner! The rest of the trip we wanted to get back to the County Line to order that again, but we didn't have the time or the space in our bellies to go back.
Day 2: Sunday
We started our day with the free breakfast at the Drury Inn. It was sustenance, but it was not nutritious. The breakfast offerings included unappetizing French toast wedges and waffles, bagels and bread, muffins, pastries, reconstituted scrambled eggs (if you've worked in food service, it was the stuff out of the giant bags of liquid eggs), bacon, sausage, flat biscuits with a glue-like sausage gravy, and 4 kinds of cereal.
Thank God for the raisin bran!
We walked over to La Villita. Only a few shops were open on Sunday morning, but we enjoyed the shops we visited. Our favorites were Village Weavers (http://www.villageweavers.com/) and the Monte Wade Fine Arts Gallery (http://www.montewadefinearts.com/). If only we had won the lottery before visiting these shops! We especially loved the metal tables by Frank Seckler and the "Sticks" home furnishings at Monte Wade.
We had an early lunch at Cafe Ole on the Riverwalk. Shiner Bock was on tap again; the food was mediocre at best (although my tortilla soup was tasty).
That afternoon, we did an obligatory visit to the Alamo, and a spur-of-the-moment-what-the-heck visit to the Louis Toussaud Wax Museum ($16 pp). My husband remembered the wax museum from his previous trip. Hmm, what a waste of money! The celebrity figures were interesting (Eddie Murphy and Denzel Washington were amazingly lifelike), but I hated how the only was out of the museum was through The Passion of Christ exhibit. Wow. Nothing like pushing Christianity down people's throats! And gory figures of Christ at that.
That evening we headed west to the Marketplace. We ate supper at Mi Tierra, which had fantastic, authentic Mexican food. I had the Chile Relleno -- fantastic! The shops were closing as we left the restaurant, so we wandered over to the San Fernando Cathedral where Mass was ending. The Archbishop was there, so there was extra pomp and circumstance. If you like that heady incense that isn't used for Catholic Mass everywhere (at least not up north where we live), stop into the Cathedral. It's a beautiful building, regardless of your faith.
After getting full of Mexican food and getting a dose of religion, we went back to the Riverwalk and ended up at Durty Nellie’s. What a hoot. We loved this place. Keith was the pianist on duty when we arrived. (Learn more about him at http://texaspianoman.com.) He sang the most wonderfully sweet song about a little kitty cat who gets into all sorts of trouble ... there's a reason why no one under 21 is allowed in the joint!
We finished our night at El Colegio bar at the Omni La Mansion del Rio hotel. The Copa Something-or-Other and Apple Martinis were stellar. Stop in there if you want to escape the business of the Riverwalk and just relax.
Day 3: Monday
We walked from hotel to the trolley stop in front of the Alamo, where we got on the Blue Line Trolley to the Guenther House (80-cents pp/one-way). What a breath of fresh air! It was GREAT to get out of the Riverwalk and have a nice breakfast outdoors at the Guenther House. Husband and I each had a plate of their specialty biscuits and gravy (to die for -- about $3.50 pp) and we shared a massive fresh fruit plate (less than $7). After breakfast, we walked over to Steves Homestead to get a map of the King William neighborhood. We took our time walking back to visit La Villita again. More shops were open at La Villa on Monday afternoon, but they were more touristy shops which did not interest us.
Monday evening we walked to the River Center Mall. The mall is like any other mall with the same chain stores, the same trendy junk that kids and teens would love but we hated. We walked over to the Tower of the Americas and went up to the 611 Bar. We watched the sun set over San Antonio, and we enjoyed watching the planes fly in and out of the area’s air force bases and airports. After being down in the Riverwalk for much of our vacation, it felt liberating to be up above the city. The Prickly Pear Margaritas were delicious. My husband ordered a Korbel and 7 and was very surprised to get a flute of champagne and 7-Up. On his second round he made sure he ordered a brandy and 7, this time getting Christian Bros. brandy. He always forgets that no one outside of the Midwest knows what Korbel brandy is.
We made dinner reservations at the Little Rhein Steakhouse on the Riverwalk. We had an excellent meal, each having the 8 oz. filet mignon, balsamic asparagus and au gratin potatoes. The wine list at the Little Rhein is thorough with options at many price points.
Day 4: Tuesday
Is it time to go home yet? Do we have to go on the Riverwalk again?
I couldn’t stomach having another Drury Inn breakfast, so we went to Schilo’s. I loved the place, but the strong smell of sauerkraut that permeates Schilo’s made my husband’s stomach turn. I had 2 eggs over easy, bacon, REAL biscuits, REAL grits, a fruit cup and coffee for $7. Husband could only stomach coffee and wanted to get out of there ASAP. The stench was killing him.
We went back to El Mercado to look around. All the shops looked the same very quickly. We did find a couple of small trinkets to bring back for our daughter, but nothing for us. (Remember, what we wanted cost $$$ back at the Monte Wade Gallery in La Villita!) By this time, the stench of Mexican food was killing me, so another round of authentic Mexican cooking was not an option Tuesday.
We didn’t want to eat or drink anymore. We needed to relax, and we weren’t finding that on the Riverwalk or by walking around aimlessly. We decided to go to the rooftop pool at the Drury Inn. It was a beautiful sunny day and for a couple of northerners like us it was downright balmy. We sat in the sun, read the paper, sunbathed, and relaxed. This was one of my favorite moments from our trip.
When husband started going a little stir-crazy, it was back to the Riverwalk. We stopped at Waxy’s Irish Pub for a beer and a snack. The beer selection was one of the best we had seen on the Riverwalk. The Potato Leek soup was wonderful. The chicken strips were horrible – a generous portion but absolutely lacking in taste.
We then walked over through the fountain walkway at the Hyatt to the Alamo Plaza again. We were killing time, bored, waiting for our dinner reservations. We walked through the Menger Hotel, oohed and aahed about how nice it is, and surprise, surprise, found our way back to Durty Nellie’s on the Riverwalk. Keith, aka Texas Piano Man, was playing again. We remembered him and he remembered us, so that was a pleasant way to kill another hour before dinner.
Finally, we ate at Dolores del Rio on the Riverwalk across from the Drury Inn. If it hadn’t been for the good review in the New York Times, I never would have known about this restaurant. It is tucked away and highly eclectic. The food was exceptionally good and the prices were reasonable for the quantity of food provided. We arrived at 7:30 to hear the piano music. At 8:30 the belly dancer started her show, which lasted about 30 minutes. We loved it. We were so sick of chain restaurants and the Disney-like Riverwalk that anything a little offbeat would have been a great thrill. Dolores del Rio knocked our socks off. Kudos to Earl, our waiter.
Day 5 – Wednesday
This was the day before Thanksgiving, the travel day from Hell. We checked in on the Internet before leaving our hotel. We left our hotel early expecting long lines at the airport. We checked our bags curbside at the airport and got right through security. It was smooth sailing all the way home.
San Antonio: Overall Impressions without a Car
The Riverwalk is a nice place to visit, but I think that a weekend is enough. If you don’t like crowds, go for a couple of nights during the week to avoid the drunks and the long wait times at restaurants.
Downtown San Antonio is dingy. The Riverwalk is the gorgeous, Disney-like façade for a crumbling downtown.
We wanted to visit the Missions. I knew before we left that VIA (the SA bus line) only served one mission. A tour place on the Alamo Plaza offers a tour that visits two missions. We decided to not scrabble together a trip to the missions where we were beholden to bus schedules or tour guides. Next time, we’ll get a car and make a day of it.
King William neighborhood: Some nice houses but nothing too stellar. The Guenther House is worth a visit.
El Mercado/Marketplace: Visit Mi Tierra and get some authentic Mexican cooking in (and out) of your system. Check out a couple of stores but don’t make a day of it. You aren’t missing anything. I did not feel safe walking between our hotel and El Mercado, neither during the day nor the evening.
Next time – if there is a next time – we will follow the advice of others on this board and rent a car, stay in the hill country, spend a night, maybe two, on the Riverwalk, drive down to the Missions, but get out into the open Texas landscape.
Nov 28th, 2006, 01:26 PM
#2
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 965
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think your report hit many aspects of downtown San Antonio on the head.I am a native Texan and I have been to San Antonio many times and I agree that the Riverwalk can get very crowded almost clautorphobic at times. I also agree about El Mercado, only been there once but I didn't think it was as clean as the Riverwalk, some people think it is more authentic and to each his own. After living in the Austin area for six years, I am amazed at the area outside of the Riverwalk, not alot of life and rundown (except for the King William District.) Austin's downtown is thriving because of entertainment, government and business but not the case in San Antonio. Maybe in the future other areas will be revitalized.
Nov 28th, 2006, 01:46 PM
#3
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 3,206
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't disagree with you that more than two nights in San Antonio is enough but I think it's hilarious that you would suffer through this horrible trip and not do something to change it. Did it occur to you to rent a car and go somewhere else? Just wondering.
Thanks for the trip report.
Thanks for the trip report.
Nov 28th, 2006, 02:46 PM
#6
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 474
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
We have been to SA twice over the past 10 years. Ate at Mi Tierra the first trip and were astounded at how mediocre it was. A Texan woman at the table next to us even berated her waiter about how lousy the food was. On our second trip we tried it again, on the theory that maybe we had just been unlucky. Nope, that wasn't it. Again the food was mediocre, bland and completely uninspired. If that place were not in the mercado where there are always thousands of hungry tourists, I don't think they would have any customers. But Mi Tierra notwithstanding, SA makes for a very fun weekend.
Nov 29th, 2006, 12:16 PM
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In response to AustinTraveler one must remember that I went with my husband who had an idealized vision of San Antonio from his youth. If you were to ask each of us to write a trip report on our visit, you would get two entirely different stories.
I wrote the trip report; thus, you got my impression, which I thought was far from "horrible." (Maybe I was wrong about my own impression!) Husband had a blast and for that I am glad. In the spirit of compromise, a car was not necessary for this trip.
However, also in the spirit of compromise, IF we go back, we will have a car and stay to the west of San Antonio. Husband has learned that, in retrospect, a car would be a good thing for future visits.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I wrote the trip report; thus, you got my impression, which I thought was far from "horrible." (Maybe I was wrong about my own impression!) Husband had a blast and for that I am glad. In the spirit of compromise, a car was not necessary for this trip.
However, also in the spirit of compromise, IF we go back, we will have a car and stay to the west of San Antonio. Husband has learned that, in retrospect, a car would be a good thing for future visits.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Nov 29th, 2006, 12:46 PM
#11
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,912
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I love your trip report, rileycat, though I must admit I see downtown differently than you do and I'm not being partial because I live here. DH and I are from the east coast and can't wait to get back but I love the architecture downtown and the Riverwalk (when it's not crowded). You're not alone in feeling the way you do--I've read similar accounts on tripadvisor. Sadly, as you discovered, there's only so much you can do without a car. I'm embarrased to admit I've never heard of Dolores del Rio so thanks for the tip!
Nov 29th, 2006, 05:30 PM
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
h0b0, if you're going for a convention I assume you are staying in one of the hotels near or on the Riverwalk.
You might enjoy The Fig Tree restaurant, which is next door to the Little Rhein steakhouse on the Riverwalk as you enter La Villita. If you sit outside (heaters are available), you overlook (look down on) the Riverwalk. The indoor dining rooms appeared to be just as lovely. The Fig Tree is on the "quiet" side of the Riverwalk.
If you would like to be down closer to "sidewalk" level, I thought that Pesca looked interesting. This is in a busier part of the Riverwalk. If we could not get into Dolores del Rio our last night in San Antonio, Pesca was our next choice.
You might enjoy The Fig Tree restaurant, which is next door to the Little Rhein steakhouse on the Riverwalk as you enter La Villita. If you sit outside (heaters are available), you overlook (look down on) the Riverwalk. The indoor dining rooms appeared to be just as lovely. The Fig Tree is on the "quiet" side of the Riverwalk.
If you would like to be down closer to "sidewalk" level, I thought that Pesca looked interesting. This is in a busier part of the Riverwalk. If we could not get into Dolores del Rio our last night in San Antonio, Pesca was our next choice.
Nov 30th, 2006, 08:28 AM
#15
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I know that Mexican food preferences tend to vary drastically from person to person, but I really think that Mi Tierra is one of the worst Mexican restaurants I've ever eaten at. Husband and I finally gave it a try because it's gotten so much publicity, including on Food Network, and we were very disappointed. Same goes for a few other Mexican places on/around the Riverwalk. I like Tex-Mex, but I like it to have some spice and flavor, and I just didn't get that at Mi Tierra. Just one Texas gal's opinion, though!
Nov 30th, 2006, 12:32 PM
#18
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
trippin-I do have a couple of favorites in the Austin are. (o: There are some GREAT Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, just not near the Riverwalk. Most tourists don't want to have to drive around San Antonio to find the more local places. Not that I can blame anyone-San Antonio is very spread out and the drive can be long and full of traffic. The better places are worth the drive in my opinion, though.
