6 Best Restaurants in New Braunfels, The Hill Country

On a quiet side street, sisters April Ryan and Ashley Landerman opened this charming little bakery, filled it with sweet treats and deliciousness, and flaunted some seriously impressive baking chops and credentials. In 2023, Ashley won the Food Network’s Holiday Baking Championship, after winning their Christmas Cookie Challenge in 2019. Stop by for great coffee and savory breakfast empanadas or grab a cupcake, brownie, or pie. Grab a café table out on the sidewalk, sip your brew, and watch the world go by.

Set in a 164-year-old home in downtown New Braunfels, this restaurant specializes in food from the Alps, with a focus on Germany. Schnitzel offerings reach beyond basics to include Rahm schnitzel (pork or chicken schnitzel topped with sour-cream gravy) and Zigeuner schnitzel, which is a pork or chicken version topped with spicy paprika, bell pepper, and onion gravy. Other entrées include lesser-known dishes, such as Rinderrouladen (beef roulades), thinly sliced steak stuffed with pickle, onion, bacon, and German mustard, smothered in gravy, and served alongside spaetzle, red cabbage, and freshly baked bread. Enjoy a meal in the dining room, which features area artifacts and exposed stone walls, or relax on the spacious patio surrounded by twinkle-lit trees.

Tucked away near the train tracks off San Antonio Street, the Huisache (pronounced wee-satch) is a must-stop for anyone who loves healthy, flavorful food and a glass of wine. Consistently delivering fantastic soups, salads, sandwiches, fish, grilled meats, and vegetables, there's a lot to love about this place, and the beautiful 1920s building only adds to the experience.

At Krause's, you can even have schnitzel for breakfast: the Bauern schnitzel comes topped with two eggs and hollandaise sauce plus home fries, hash browns, and grits. Texas-German mash-ups can be found throughout the rest of the menu, too. Order Kartoffel (potato) poppers with apple sauce and sauerkraut, or elevate your sausage game with the wild-game plate, which comes with wild boar, venison, and “jackalope” (rabbit and antelope) sausages, plus bier mustard, cheese, pickles, and crackers. Plus, there's a weekly German dessert special. Outside, in the Munich-inspired beer hall, live music lights up the stage every weekend.

Even if the food here wasn't so good, McAdoo's would be worth a visit for the beautiful interior alone. Set inside a converted post office from 1915, the restaurant features upscale Creole and Cajun-style dishes, with a focus on seafood and cocktails. Sunday brunch specials include a seafood fondue omelet, shrimp and grits, seafood gumbo, and bananas Foster French toast—plus a Bloody Mary bar with more than 30 items to add to your drink.

The name of the game here is playful, modern Southern cuisine made with local Texas ingredients. You can choose from corn fritters with hot honey and jalapeño ranch, chicken-fried chicken with duck-fat cream gravy, Wagyu meat loaf, and so much more. You really can't go wrong, whether you opt to enjoy the farmhouse-style interior or relax on the expansive patio lit with twinkle lights. But the best night to visit might be Sunday, when there's a three-course special supper starring fried chicken and set to the tune of a live music soundtrack.