San Antonio Food Review That Will Blow Your Mind

Went to San Antonio for a few reasons, but the top priority was to get a different vibe from a past visit. Thank you San Antonio for teaching me some valuable lessons this time around. There was a different experience than before.

This time I was able to be patient sit still and get a feel for the service that was being delivered to me. Usually when I travel I am so busy trying to get to one place from another, but not this time.

When I was done with this trip, I felt that San Antonio was not a good fit for me and my characteristics, nor my personality. There were so many things that caused conflict with me enjoying the stay. I will not count the road closure on I-10 coming from Houston Texas what should have been a three hour trip turned into a five hour trip because the freeway was closed due to a bridge being demolished.

We arrived at 12 midnight first stop, the Grand Hyatt Downtown. Oh yes, it was fancy! It’s labeled as a four-star hotel. The service upon arrival was decent; they took our bags from the vehicle to the room located on the 17th floor, then placed the bags inside the room, I thought that was great service.

We became hungry and of course started looking on the app for nearby restaurants. The time was close to 1 AM. The only option was Denny’s or IHOP, which were within a mile radius. We chose IHOP because they have been known to have better service than Denny’s.

The IHOP was located at 849 Commerce Street Suite 657 in San Antonio, TX 78205. I would like to give San Antonio a fair chance, but because this was the first instance where things went left and gave me a different perspective of the food industry located in the city I had to tag this to my experience.

As we pulled up in front of the restaurant, the greeter was seen through the window petting a service dog that a customer had. I kept my eyes on her just to see if she was going to wash her hands and also was she going to serve us. Immediately, stepping inside, she greeted us at the podium, then escorted us to our seat. She handed us menus and silverware. She asked us “what drinks will you all be ordering?” At the same time of her speaking, I’m thinking “how can I not be aggressive or argumentative, but explain to the greeter that I seen her pet the dog and didn’t wash her hands?”

I fixed my voice to a soft spoken tone and said “ma’am I’m sorry I’m allergic to dogs is it possible” and before I could finish she said “oh I’m sorry I washed my hands.” Then I took a deep breath because I literally seen her leave from the dog, met us at the door, and escorted us to the seat, there was no way she could have washed her hands.

I was here for vacation. I was not about to be in a debate with what my eyes seen versus what the greeter was trying to convince me on. As I was fixing my facial expression to respond, she took a pause and said “you know what ma’am, let me get you someone else to help you, let me take the silverware from you, and also the menus, and I’ll get someone else to serve you guys, matter of fact, let’s move you guys to a new table!” This was something that was funny inside, but it was also sad because I’m sure there has been many cases where people are served intentionally with dirty hands and germs.

She sat us by the window – not advising us of the busy strip with pedestrians strolling by; reminded me of a pornographic peep show from the 1970’s! They definitely needed some curtains or coverups on the windows because some of the people that were walking past barely had on clothing, but thank God I’m not a saint, but I’m thinking for the nuns or the religious people who enjoy eating at IHOP; this would not have been a perfect seating area for such group of people.

In addition, we were able to see the IHOP employees gather outside near the entryway, smoking with friends, chanting and congregating while on break. They were shaking hands and exchanging what seemed to be paraphernalia. When they were done, the friends went their way and the employees came back inside. I noticed that the employees shook hands for their goodbye, touched the door handle to enter, then went to continue preparing the silverware wrapping it with napkins.

While waiting for the food to be delivered to the table I patiently watched, hoping that these employees wouldn’t be the selected ones to carry my food to the table.

I became curious of what was happening in the kitchen. Watching the organization caused me to become very exhausted. The waitress had to continuously tell me she was sorry, because they kept messing up with the delivery of the food. I ordered a tea, which took 15 minutes to come out because the server stated that another server had accidentally gave my drink to another table.

In addition, it took my food to be delayed an extra 10 minutes because the server stated
her coworker put my french fries on another persons plate, causing my meal to have to be remade.

First outing was a disgrace after all the stuff I had seen, the food not meeting my expectations, and the customer service being raggedy. The food was decent on a scale 1 to 10 it was rated at 6 because it was missing seasoning and the employees not washing their hands. We tipped and said our goodbye.

After experiencing the view of uncleanliness from employees working at the IHOP restaurant, I felt that I needed to play it safe by looking at Google reviews and searching for high rating restaurants. IHOP had a 3.3. the next day we were out for brunch after carefully searching majority of the restaurants in the area of the hotel, 15 mile radius, averaged three star rating. I couldn’t believe in this major town the rating for restaurants were so low, and if IHOP had a 3.3 and their service was horrible I can only imagine what I was going to be facing visiting other establishments.

Finally, we found a community called The Pearl which is more so like a farmers market, organic foods, entrepreneurial table set ups, and walk-up stores. There were jolly people standing around experiencing the warm weather, especially near the water park.

Decided to check out a place called Bakery Lorraine at the Pearl 306 Pearl Pkwy #110, San Antonio, TX 78215. The line was long out the door I was impressed so I didn’t refer to the reviews. I ordered a few items one being the moonpie, it was very delicious. I had to do some comparison after tasting those goodies; looked at Google review they had been rewarded a 4.4 star.

Cruising around town, checking out the new development, noticing that most of the areas look deserted, reminded me of a movie scene where the town had no people after a national disaster. I begin to reminisce how busy Houston is and how the traffic manipulates the decision of being outside.

After doing a little bit of shopping, I became hungry again. Now I’m back on Google Maps looking for a place I can enjoy for dinner, I noticed the best reviews came from the pearl district which we had already experienced. It took me over 30 minutes to try to find an establishment that I felt had an outgoing vibe.

We ended up at a place called The Backyard 2411 Broadway, San Antonio, TX 78215. Upon arrival there were people hanging out across the street at a laundromat. Look like they were ready to break into vehicles once you go into the backyard of the restaurant, we did not stick around long. This type of scenery should have had security to make the guest feel secure.

Google redirected us to 1009 Avenue B, San Antonio, TX El Camino SA. Security was on point and made me return to my vehicle to get rid of my contraband. Once inside, located a food truck called the Bussin Q which had a brisket that fell off the bone into a burrito shell. This place was top rated a little bit on the pricey side, which wouldn’t have been a big deal if it was a inside restaurant, but because the sun was beaming -outdoor seating, we have to take that into consideration. Overall, it turned my food experience around although it was a food truck.

San Antonio is famous for food truck parks, this can be a reason why the indoor restaurants are being hit with low reviews and quality. I remember growing up food trucks were not legit to eat from, but that has changed.

The end result of the San Antonio trip left me with some concerns. I will not recommend the food nor customer service. At The Grand Hyatt, we had some customer service issues, but we’ll save that for another article.

Spectators have made it clear that there are some struggles in the food industry with the average ratings of three stars in San Antonio. The performance of restaurant employees is diminished and not managed well. The trend is shifting people to outdoor eateries and delivery to the doorstep at home.

At this time, Houston Texas stands far on the pedestal when you want to debate about which city in Texas has the best food choice. There’s a myth about Houstonians not being social butterflies and having a hard time mixing and mingling, I would rather experience anti-socialism, than see employees having a social gathering in front of the location getting high.

Also noticeable was safety, some areas were mixed with homelessness and criminals on the corner. We went to only one location that had security. At least I can say in Houston majority of restaurant owners have security on deck, and they hire a security guard company.

Most importantly, San Antonio taught me how to travel going forward. Pay attention to Google Reviews, before making a decision. Follow the trend, not the old way – food trucks are the new restaurant experience. Overall make sure to be patient to be able to observe the service that is being delivered. Begin to be more cautious and oversee the operation of the restaurant and how matters are handled. This is an encouragement to refrain from eating out, thanks to San Antonio for teaching me – you have some work to do.