My husband and I are going to San Antonio in August. What are some ok restaurunts in that area. I do not like spicy food so we need to know of places that offer American food. We are not planing on renting a car so we will need to be able to walk. We also plan on going to sea world. From my research we will get on the route 64 express route. I know it will take about a hour but that is a lot cheaper then renting a car and the time is not that big of a deal. What time do the gates open at Sea World? Is plubic transportation fairly safe? Is the riverwalk area safe? Is there any area we should stay away from. We are staying at the Drury. Any help would be great.

Riverwalk area is pretty safe. I like Bigas on Banks ( http://www.biga.com/ )and it's on the river walk.

While TexMex food is very popular in SA, it's not the only food in town. You will find dozens of restaurants within walking distance of your hotel that do not serve spicy food.

Here's a link to Sea World:

http://www.seaworld.com/seaworld/tx/default.aspx

P_M is right, you will find a lot of non-spicy restaurants to choose from in San Antonio. There have been recent restaurant recommendation discussions on this site if you want to try a search. Re: safety, the Riverwalk and public transportation are considered quite safe. I've been downtown on several occassions by myself and have never felt unsafe and though I have not used public transportation I cannot think of a time ever an incident has occurred anywhere in the city and would not hesitate to use it if needed. I think your biggest detriment will be the heat. The nice thing about Sea World is it's on a hill so there tends to be a breeze even on the hottest of days, however, it is still hot so the earlier you can get there the better.

I hope you enjoy a nice trip.

Not all Mexican food is spicy! Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas are actually quite mild and every restaurant will have them. There are also many non-Mexican restaurants in town, such as American/home cooking, BBQ, Italian, etc. The Riverwalk is very safe.

Thanks for your responces, I just do not like Mexican food. More a meat and potatoe person. I know it will be hot, that is one thing I am not looking forward to. We never been to San Antonio before, I actually got my husband to go with out our daughter. We just planned the trip last weekend.

I've never been to the Little Rhein Steakhouse, but I've heard it's quite good.

Here's a link:

http://www.littlerheinsteakhouse.com/

I think it is a great idea to take the bus to Seaworld. Please post a trip report when you return.

San Antonio is safe but remember it is a very large city so be aware and stay on well-lit paths at night.

The food court at the Riverwalk Mall has a variety of food.

The mornings and evenings can be quite nice especially along the Riverwalk since it's below street level. There are a lot of beautiful old trees downtown providing shade--it's the heat of the direct sun that withers me.

Here's a link to some downtown restaurants...just ignore the first listing.

http://www.alamocity.com/restaurants/

San Antonio in August will be really hot but you are staying at the best place for that...the riverwalk. A great little restaurant on the river is Zuni Grill has mexican but also has other stuff. Not sure if you like Italian but if you do Paesano's is a classic on the river and the food is fantastic.

The public transportation is safe. Have fun!

County line BBQ (very casusal) on the river is excellent. Other american food places are dick's last resort. there's also a hard rock down there I think.

All these places are very casual.

If you want more expensive "meat and potatoes" places there's Morton's, the Palm etc... all downtown.

Gunther house for breakfast is also very good.

All my other recos are Tex-Mex (just get fajitas).

Just returned from San Antonio and Austin. (Sorry I didn't meet you, Ann Marie, the time went by very quickly!) I live in Florida so I didn't think the heat would bother me, but even at 7 PM on the riverwalk, it was so hot I thought I'd pass out.

We ended up eating outside (sweating away!) at Pesca on the River. It's my new favorite restaurant! We knew it wasn't inexpensive, and we had such a wonderful meal that I thought the price of just over $100 was very reasonable. It was our one big meal.

If you like fish, I don't think you can do better than Pesca. I had some of the best red snapper of my life, and my husband's blackened redfish was absolutely delicious. The passion fruit tort had the most amazing mix of flavors I've ever experienced and I felt like every taste bud in my body had come alive!

We also ate at Mi Tierra in Market Square, which has American food as well as Tex-Mex, but if you really don't like Mexican food, the aromas might bother you. It's pretty incredible, though.

We had a rental car for only $80 for four days, which was better than public transportation, in our opinion. Parking was never more than $5 and we were able to drive to I-35 and Rittiman Road to have excellent Korean food at Go Hyang Jib BBQ House. It was great.

Hi Postal...glad you liked Pesca...it's my favorite on the river too.

We moved here from Tampa--last summer was our first. I felt it was cool here compared to FL but this summer...egad. AWFUL. I thought perhaps I'd just forgotten FL, but no, it really was bad to you too? Good to hear...there's hope then that we'll go back to normal maybe?

Hope all your trip was wonderful.

The trip was wonderful. After our three days in SAT, we drove west on I-10 and then north on 87 to Fredricksburg. Having lived in Germany, we were both up for some good food, and Der Lindenbaum did not disappoint us. Just a good thing I'd read on Chowhound.com that they only accept cash, checks, Discover, and American Express! The waitress explained the owner had a terrible fued with the Visa/MC folks and that was that. Anyway, the food was very authentic and very good.

Then we drove to Austin. Unfortunately we didn't get to Lake Travis as I'd planned, and we also didn't see any wildflowers - but that was OK since Florida has plenty! Checked out the bat viewing area and found it more overgrown with trees than I'd remembered last time (15 years ago), so we took an $8 boat ride which was right there and spectacular! It would have been worth much more money than $8!

We also visited and ate at the large Whole Foods store in Austin, which was a lot of fun!

Also, our lodging at Fairfield Inn Market Square and the Airport Marriott (actually on I-35 and 290) could not have been better, in either case.

Hi Postal!

I totally understand--there's never enough time! Sorry for the heat but I'm glad you enjoyed a nice visit. DH and I have yet to try Pescas but now with your AND Malesherbes rec we need to go!

Great chatting with you! Best wishes, AnnMarie