The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Root Cellar Cafe
-
-
Rank 2. Burnt Bean Co.
Barbecue
The line forms before the doors open, which has been the rhythm at this Seguin BBQ shop since Ernest Servantes and Dave Kirkland, both decorated in the competition circuit, opened together. The industrial room with iron beams and exposed brick fills fast. Brisket, ribs, and sausage lean toward tender and lightly smoked rather than aggressively bark-forward. A Michelin Bib Gourmand and a James Beard nomination keep the queue honest.
- Texas Monthly #1 · The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Ernest Servantes and David Kirkland
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
-
-
Rank 4. Buttermilk Cafe
Texan Southern
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 9. Barbecue Station
Barbecue
The menu lives on a board, the pits run on post oak and mesquite, and the building used to sell gasoline. This is a barbecue counter in a converted gas station on Loop 410, and it's been going strong for decades. All meat is cut to order, the brisket sandwich arrives on cottony white bread that's somehow exactly right, and Mimi's potato salad, a family recipe, is the side you don't skip. The Michelin Guide has it listed.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #50 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #10 · Top 10 New Orleans Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #7 · Top 10 Nachos in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #9 · Top 10 Chicken-Fried Steak in San Antonio
-
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 31. Curry Boys BBQ
Thai-Texan Barbecue
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen
-
-
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · John Russ
- San Antonio Express-News #2 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
-
- San Antonio Express-News #39 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #3 · Top 10 Italian Restaurants in San Antonio
-
Rank 35. Barbs B Q
Barbecue
Barbs B Q is a weekend-only BBQ shop in Lockhart that draws hours-long lines on Saturdays and Sundays, which is the only time the pitmaster opens the doors. The compact menu runs classic smoked meats with unexpected turns, like pork ribs finished with lime zest and turkey with a black pepper rub. Texas Monthly, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times have all taken notice, and the Michelin Guide awards it a Bib Gourmand.
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #4 · Top 10 Brunch Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #34 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #6 · Top 10 Fried Chicken in San Antonio
-
Rank 38. Cullum's Attaboy
French
A chalkboard outside suggests a Champagne breakfast, and inside this little bungalow on the St. Mary's strip, that feels like the most sensible advice you'll get all week. Cullum's Attaboy is a walk-in, counter-service brunch spot doing affordable French luxury, think proper omelets, hollandaise, and caviar appearing with suspicious regularity. The Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand, and a James Beard nomination followed.
- Food & Wine Ham & Cheese · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Christopher Cullum
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
-
- San Antonio Express-News #37 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #5 · Top 10 Chicken-Fried Steak in San Antonio
-
-
Rank 41. Nicōsi
Creative Dessert
A dessert-only tasting menu tucked inside Pullman Market, where phones stay pocketed all night by house rule. The multicourse format chases four flavor arcs, acid through sweet, and the kitchen rarely repeats itself season to season. Cotton candy spun tableside and caviar on cheese crackers give you a sense of the register. The chefs narrate as they go, which helps. A Michelin star, and a James Beard nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Tavel Bristol-Joseph
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #6 · Top 10 Steakhouses in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #7 · Top 10 Chicken-Fried Steak in San Antonio
-
Rank 45. Isidore
Texas New American
A live-fire hearth anchors the open kitchen at this midcentury modern restaurant in San Antonio's Pearl District, where the menu is organized around Texas ingredients and built for sharing, with a dedicated steak section and a Texas-focused wine list. The name nods to the patron saint of farmers, and the sourcing follows through. It holds a Michelin star and landed on the New York Times Restaurant List in 2025.
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Esquire Miracle of the Well · The Best Martinis in America
- Texas Monthly #8 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
-
-
Rank 47. 2M Smokehouse
Barbecue
The picadillo mac and cheese earned a shoutout from the New York Times, which tells you something about what this South Side BBQ counter is doing. Everything is cut and weighed market style, so you load your tray with brisket, turkey, and sides that lean hard into Mexican tradition: pickled nopales, street corn, chicharrón mac. A line forms early and moves slowly for good reason. Texas Monthly put it on their statewide list, and a James Beard semifinalist nod followed.
- The New York Times Picadillo Macaroni and Cheese · The Best Restaurant Dishes We Ate Across the U.S.
- Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
-
-
-
-
-
Rank 53. Ladino
Mediterranean
A wood-burning oven churns out sourdough pita at this Mediterranean grill house in San Antonio's Pearl District, where the menu roams from North Africa to the Levant without losing the thread. The terrace overlooks a courtyard, the cocktails lean into the same bold spicing as the food, and the Michelin Guide gave it a Bib Gourmand. Dress is casual, the vibe is lively, and the food punches well above the price point.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
-
- Texas Monthly Honorable Mentions · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- San Antonio Express-News #23 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #2 · Top 10 Fish Tacos in San Antonio
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #29 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · Top 10 Steakhouses in San Antonio
-
-
Rank 58. Best Quality Daughter
American Chinese
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #10 · Top 10 Chinese Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #2 · Top 10 Brunch Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #46 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · The Top 5 panaderías in S.A.
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Baker · David Cáceres
-
-
Rank 65. Mezquite
Sonoran
Paper-thin flour tortillas arrive with a spread of grilled onion, toreado chili, and black garlic before any protein lands on the table, which tells you where this place is coming from. Mezquite is a Sonoran Mexican restaurant inside Pullman Market, sun-bleached decor and all, serving the hyper-regional cooking of the Sonoran desert rather than anything resembling Tex-Mex. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand.
- Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
- Texas Monthly #10 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- San Antonio Express-News #17 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #41 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · John Ramos and Jonathan Reyes
-
- San Antonio Express-News #32 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- Bon Appétit The Best Breakfast Tacos in San Antonio
-
Rank 68. Mixtli
Mexican
Each tasting menu here is built around a different region or era of Mexican cuisine, so the kitchen might be cooking through Oaxacan traditions one month and pre-Columbian ingredients the next. Mixtli is a fine dining restaurant holding a Michelin star and an AAA Five Diamond, and it's the kind of place where the food has a thesis. The team treats Mexico's culinary geography like a curriculum, and somehow the results are as delicious as they are cerebral.
- AAA Five Diamonds
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
-
- San Antonio Express-News #4 · Top 10 Outdoor Dining Restaurants
- San Antonio Express-News #10 · Top 10 Nachos in San Antonio
-
- Texas Monthly #4 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- San Antonio Express-News #9 · Top 10 New Orleans Restaurants in San Antonio
-
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #28 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
- San Antonio Express-News #4 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Grey Hwang
-
-
Rank 74. Curry Boys BBQ
Thai Barbecue
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #25 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Texas · Andrew Ho, Andrew Samia, and Sean Wen
-
Rank 75. Southerleigh Fine Food & Brewery
Texas American
The working brewery behind the bar is the first thing you notice, copper tanks visible through the glass while the dining room fills up around you. This is a Texas American restaurant and brewpub set inside the old Pearl brewhouse, where the kitchen leans hard into Gulf seafood and Southern comfort food. The house beers are brewed on site, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand acknowledges the whole relaxed, unpretentious operation.
-
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #48 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
- AAA Four Diamonds
- San Antonio Express-News #8 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
-
- San Antonio Express-News #47 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · Top 10 Pizza in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #3 · Top 10 Castle Hills Restaurants
-
-
Rank 81. Reese Bros Barbecue
Texas-style Barbecue
Two brothers run this Texas BBQ shop near the stadium, open only Thursday through Saturday, which keeps the line long and the brisket moving fast. The setup is classic smoke-and-queue, but house-made flour tortillas stand in for white bread, and the sides swing toward poblano mac and cheese and okra-laced beans. Texas Monthly named it one of the state's 50 best BBQ joints, which the regulars already knew.
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
- Texas Monthly The 50 Best BBQ Joints in Texas
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
- San Antonio Express-News #36 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #4 · Top 10 Fish Tacos in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #3 · Top 10 Nachos in San Antonio
-
-
-
-
-
- Eater The Best Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #27 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
Rank 89. Garcia's Mexican Food
Tex-Mex Mexican
The line outside the squat building on Fredericksburg Road has been a fixture of San Antonio mornings, afternoons, and evenings for as long as anyone can remember. This is a Tex-Mex diner in the old sense, the kind where eggs over easy get doused in salsa and scooped up with warm flour tortillas, and where the menu is so sprawling that regulars still haven't covered it. The staff treats everyone like they've been coming for years, which, in many cases, they have.
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #24 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · The Top 5 panaderías in S.A.
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Baker · David Cáceres
-
- AAA Four Diamonds
- San Antonio Express-News #43 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · Top 10 San Antonio River Walk Restaurants
-
Rank 94. Leche de Tigre
Peruvian
A little bungalow turned Peruvian ceviche bar where the kitchen leans hard into citrus-cured fish, leche de tigre in several forms, and a pisco sour menu that makes the decision-making easy. The cooking draws from the owners' Peruvian roots, and the flavors are bright and punchy in a way that earns that description. A James Beard nominee two years running, and the cute patio fills up fast.
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best Chef: Texas · Emil Oliva
- Texas Monthly #7 · Texas’s Best New Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
-
-
-
-
-
- San Antonio Express-News #1 · Top 10 New Orleans Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #8 · Top 10 Brunch Restaurants in San Antonio
- San Antonio Express-News #35 · Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio
-