The Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio for 2026
Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter crowns a new No. 1 to mark the return of a legendary chef. On a list full of surprises, did your favorite spot make it?
ByMike SutterUpdatedAug 19, 2026 10:15 a.m.
The restaurant business teaches us that change comes for us all. And after two years at the top of this list of San Antonio’s best restaurants, Mixtli is moving one step back. Not because the lights have flickered on the pioneering Mexican multicourse experiment started by chefs Diego Galicia and Rico Torres in 2013, with no guarantee San Antonio would sign on
On the contrary, it’s more like their risk has become our reward, with their inaugural Michelin star helping to shape a restaurant scene with room for others to step up. Or step back in. That’s where an OG San Antonio chef enters the chat. But we’ll save the details for the end of the list
It’s one of 13 surprises on this updated ranking of the city’s Top 50 Restaurants. That’s how many names dropped off last year’s list, squeezed out by their own missteps or simply outpaced by the competition. Surprisingly, only one restaurant among last year’s Top 50 closed in this cruel economy: the high-visibility Pearl veteran Cured
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Speaking of Pearl, if it seems like I pay too much attention to Pearl, just know that of the 30 or so food operations there, only six made this list, with three of those at Pullman Market after its big year at the Michelin Guide awards, with stars going to Isidore and Nicosi, and Mezquite landing a Bib Gourmand award
As the Express-News restaurant critic, I’ve logged more than 400 restaurant visits since the last Top 50 list, from an $800-plus check for a table of four to a walk-up chicken stand where a two-piece starts at $2.89. And I’ve visited every restaurant on this list at least once since then. Other notable restaurant numbers from this list: 12 of the 14 San Antonio restaurants with Michelin Guide credentials made it, along with seven Mexican cafes, four downtown operations and three barbecue shops.
Next week, I’ll drop another 25 restaurants fighting for that 51st spot, the honorable mentions in a restaurant scene fighting to thrive against the odds. But today, we celebrate the Top 50 Restaurants in San Antonio right now
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List view
502321 NW Military HighwaySee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Shape-shifting chef Andrew Weissman makes the best $5 hamburger in the city at Mr. Juicy. It’s a perfect bookend for the No. 1 restaurant on this list, in some ways a glow-up spinoff of this self-same drive-thru burger stand. They hand-cut and double-dip their fries for the best fast-food french fries in San Antonio, and the double cheeseburger is an achievement at $7, living a life that this former Whataburger building never dared to dream. The other Mr. Juicy location lives inside a former Jack in the Box. It’s as if Weissman were setting the fast-food world right, one building at a time.
Phone number:210-410-1946Social mediaRelated
492442 Nacogdoches RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
My pick for the No. 1 comfort-food destination in San Antonio puts that title to the test with breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Pancakes and biscuits worth building friendships over. Fried mushrooms and chicken-fried steaks that restore our faith in cream gravy. The Lawton family of Cappy’s and La Fonda on Main fame comes through at dinner with reliable cafe renditions of meatloaf, grilled steaks, pot roast and Top 10 Sunday fried chicken
Phone number:210-826-8303WebsiteRelated
48207 BroadwaySee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
A friend of mine came back from France last year fully immersed in the simple joys of the French bakery experience. They were desperate to find good baguettes, great croissants, pain au chocolat, real French butter, anything that would make the moment last. We called it home-away-from-homesick, and we found the cure at Sylvain and Sylvie Nykiel’s little corner of France on Broadway, a cure shaped like the pastries, sandwiches, crêpes and quiche at my friend’s new happy place
Phone number:210-639-3165WebsiteRelated
47904 Oblate DriveSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The beauty of Mexican food in San Antonio is the scope of it all, from mom-and-pop to Michelin stars. Oblate Cafe is that first one, a family operation with 21 years of breakfast tacos, barbacoa, enchiladas, caldo, menudo and combo plates. Tex-Mex at its best, built on a foundation of handmade flour tortillas
Phone number:210-826-3363Social mediaRelated
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461747 S. W.W. White RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
For the second consecutive time, Chatman’s took the top spot in the Express-News’ ranking of the city’s Top 10 fried chicken this year, an honor reinforced by owner Eddie Chatman as the shepherd of this East Side gathering spot for almost 25 years now. The golden Chatman ratio of crust and communion, straight from the fryer, holds across a menu of wings, gizzards, tenders and full-bird family meals, with soul-food sides
Phone number:210-359-0245Social mediaRelated
4517134 Bulverde Road, Suite 106See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Ria Wong and her husband, Rendy Ferrari, opened Suko in 2024, giving the sushi faithful a reason to make the Northeast Side trek for a downtown-level omakase experience built on dry-aged madai, king salmon and the crimson rainbow of premium tuna cuts. Beyond that guided tasting lies an a la carte menu of nigiri, sashimi, ramen, teriyaki, fried chicken karaage, udon bowls and more than 25 sushi rolls. In Japanese, “suko” means “I like it.” On Bulverde Road, it means the same thing
Phone number:210-257-6535Website
441105 Nogalitos St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The man telling the story of Maria’s Cafe is likely sitting at the table next to you. He’s Tom Beza, the husband of the cafe’s namesake, Maria Beza. Handwritten whiteboards carry the names of dishes like short stories of the customers who ordered them into existence from a menagerie of breakfast plates, enchiladas, fideo loco, carne guisada and tacos. For me, El Hugo is the boss: A taco filled with smoked brisket, pico de gallo and a fried egg. It’s how owners the Bezas connect with their neighborhood after more than 25 years on Nogalitos Street.
Phone number:210-227-7005Social media
43421 E. Commerce St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Boudro’s lies along the busiest part of the River Walk, the hottest pedestrian zone, a confluence of a dozen hotels with restaurants stacked shoulder-to-shoulder. Boudro’s could have run to the middle when it opened in 1986. Instead, it embraced a menu that makes room for Texas steakhouse grilling, Southern gumbo, shrimp and grits, an al pastor-style double pork chop and tableside guacamole that’s equal parts cabaret and kitchen craft
Phone number:210-224-8484WebsiteRelated
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42602 NW Loop 410, Suite 126See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Tommy Nguyen and Vicky Le opened SP Cafe in 2016 as a bakery and coffee shop. They gradually introduced the city’s best banh mi sandwiches and the broader cafe menu, even as they phased out the bakery and transformed the picnic-style decor into a stylish table-service bistro. At SP Cafe, I can indulge in my favorite food memories from my extensive travels in Vietnam: grilled pork with broken rice; the pho dac biet that ranked No. 1 on my Top 10 bowls of pho in the city; fresh-pressed sugarcane juice; and the salted-cream jolt of ca phe muoi.
Phone number:210-541-9689WebsiteRelated
415011 BroadwaySee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
If you gauge a neighborhood restaurant by the neighborhood it’s in, Cappy’s rises comfortably to the top in Alamo Heights. It’s the champion of serving senior diners by showing them respect without a side of condescension, and that grace extends to an eclectic menu that stays the same, even if there never was all that much the “same” about it. Duck liver pâté; Thai coconut mussels; horseradish-crusted Mustang Chicken; shrimp nachos; New Orleans gumbo; six styles of eggs Benedict. It’s all over the place. And it’s right here in Alamo Heights, the same as it’s been since 1977.
Phone number:210-828-9669WebsiteRelated
40728 S. Alamo St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
My friend Tony from Belgium could speak Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Spanish and English. His polyglot acrobatics arose from necessity, Belgium being the shaded nexus of a Venn diagram of European cultures. La Frite speaks those languages with food that evokes the European panoply, starting with mussels that by themselves could frame a relationship with this intimate family-run bistro where the windows face busy South Alamo Street. Mussels in seven variations: classic white wine-and-garlic marinières, adventurous red curry, a spicy Basque version with chorizo and red peppers, even a Bavarian adventure with beer, bacon and blue cheese. It’s the International House of Mussels.
Phone number:210-224-7555WebsiteRelated
39122 Nogalitos St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Il Forno is the definition of a neighborhood pizzeria, tucked into an underserved corner just off South Flores. The white dome of the pizza oven produces the charred, bubbled crust of a Neapolitan foundation on which founding chefs Michael Sohocki and Jason Garcia have engineered pizzas as simple as the Americano (pepperoni and mozzarella), and as complex as the Parma (greens, prosciutto and Parmesan). The Verdura finds a confident middle path with roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, olives and red onions. Il Forno rounds out its mission with antipasti pates and seasonal curiosities, including a watermelon panzanella salad.
Phone number:210-616-2198Website
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38875 E. Ashby Place at The CreamerySee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
It’s not just food in this basement sushi speakeasy at The Creamery. It’s the show, the interplay of chefs Jonathan Reyes and John Ramos as they assemble a multicourse Japanese omakase on the fly, filling in the corners with blowtorch fire and San Antonio cool
Phone number:210-201-6019WebsiteReview
37212 W. Crockett St. at the Mokara Hotel & Spa on the River WalkSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The River Walk’s best restaurant is a reliable destination for fresh oysters, grilled fish and martinis in super-sized glasses. But it’s something more under chef Robert Cantu’s leadership. It’s a Denver steak painted with chimichurri, served with a broiled lobster tail. It’s buttered halibut with saffron sauce and caviar. It’s a place where the staff will cover your wine glass when you step away, a place where you’re not just watching the human parade from the patio tables; you’re part of the show.
Phone number:210-396-5817WebsiteRelated
361922 Goliad RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
When Bobbie’s Cafe left its home on South Flores in 2024 for a bigger location 18 miles north, it left behind more than 50 years of history serving the South Side. They came back home last year with this second spot on Goliad Road, a charming diner small enough to feel like home, but big enough to accommodate the South Side neighbors who missed its greatest-hits collection of pancakes, French toast, breakfast skillets and biscuits, along with chicken-fried steak, Tex-Mex plates, fried fish and meatloaf.
Phone number:210-957-1658WebsiteRelated
35555 W. Bitters Road, Suite 110See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
You don’t need a kitschy Southern drawl to sell Southern cooking. You need a barndominium lodge with biscuits and brunch and pizza and some of the city’s best fried chicken. You need creamed-corn fritters and English pea hummus and a fat slice of sweet skillet cornbread. You need steaks and chops and cocktails and chef PJ Edwards. You need Meadow
Phone number:210-481-4214WebsiteRelated
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343615 Broadway, Suite 4See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Paladar celebrates Cuba and Mexico with the complex mole of Pastel Azteca, a clean red snapper ceviche and a trio of crisp empanadas with chicken tinga, beef ropa vieja and the Cuban-style suckling pig called lechon. Paladar draws its name from the Cuban bootstrap cafes that operate out of people’s homes. It’s the exact energy that’s radiated from Paladar since it opened in 2023, the energy that propelled it to the No. 1 spot on my Top 10 restaurants in the 78209 neighborhood
Phone number:210-267-1329WebsiteRelated
33221 Newell Ave. at Pullman Market at PearlSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
This multicourse modern dessert experience at Pullman Market at Pearl has mystery, molecular gastronomy and a Michelin star. It’s not for everyone. But it’s for anyone who believes life is short, so eat dessert first. At Nicosi, that means courses built around acidity, umami, bitterness and sweetness, interlaced with stories of West Africa, the Caribbean, Mexico and beyond
Phone number:210-759-0088WebsiteRelated
326989 Blanco RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The original Dough on Blanco Road captured the No. 1 pizza place in my Top 10, and they carried that aesthetic with them when they opened at Hemisfair in 2018. A big wood-fired dome produces pizza crust that’s thin and crackly, with just enough gravity to carry even the overload they so lovingly call Pork Love, a collection of house-made sausage, speck, soppressata and pancetta that combines San Antonio excess with Neapolitan restraint
Phone number:210-979-6565WebsiteRelated
31320 Beauregard St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The charm of the King William neighborhood, the bravado of a New York City tavern. Bar Loretta finds room for both, with a menu from chef Paul Petersen that embraces a good bar burger, lamb neck ragout, brick chicken, venison chili and tomatillo shrimp with equal enthusiasm, backed up by one of the best big-city cocktail programs on this list
Phone number:210-757-3607Website
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30312 Pearl Parkway at PearlSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Rolling out of the pandemic, this resolutely French restaurant at Pearl earned a five-star review and my top spot among the city’s best restaurants in 2022. It’s slowed down since then, but it remains a reliable destination for steak frites, lobster bisque, salade Nicoise and a thoroughly metropolitan sidewalk brunch, with top-tier hospitality and the city’s most agile French wine list
Phone number:210-469-3743WebsiteRelated
2916401 La Cantera Parkway at Signia by Hilton La Cantera Resort & SpaSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
With a full house in Signature’s salon-style dining room, chef John Carpenter was a blur, playing every part in his own episode of “The Bear”: expo, hot line, garde manger, saucier. Whatever the moment called for, building plates of architectural majesty across a five-course tasting menu and an a la carte menu of oysters, caviar, quail, octopus, venison, wagyu striploin and more. A two-time Michelin Guide recommendation, Signature is unashamed to be elegant, with the staffing to pull off Russian-style plate drops and full sommelier service.
Phone number:210-879-3515WebsiteRelated
2822211 Interstate 10 West, Suite 1210See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The best of Patrick Richardson’s three Silo restaurants in the city, this Dominion Ridge outpost commands a view of the hills beyond Interstate 10 and a solid position as the city’s best seafood destination, especially for fresh East Coast oysters, chicken-fried oysters and Alaskan halibut with Parmesan-saffron arancini
Phone number:210-698-2002Website
271101 Broadway, Suite 120See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
For one brief shining moment, San Antonio had its own restaurant Camelot situation: New Orleans beignets for brunch at NOLA and New Orleans dinner service at Cookhouse, steps away from each other off the St. Mary’s Strip. Then Cookhouse closed, and NOLA moved across town to Broadway, where chef and owner Pieter Sypesteyn keeps the Jackson Square spirit alive. Late last year, NOLA expanded its hours to include dinner, bringing back Cookhouse in spirit with New Orleans barbecue shrimp, charbroiled oysters and smoked duck gumbo. They’ve dropped “Brunch & Beignets” from their name, but there’s still plenty of both.
Phone number:210-255-8842WebsiteRelated
26906 Hoefgen Ave.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The story of Reese Bros. is the story of Texas barbecue itself, a low-and-slow rise from pop-up project to last year’s Michelin Guide recommendation. And sure, Texas barbecue is a group project, the kind of thing you create a text string for. But when you get to the ordering window, it’s just you and barbecue. You and fatty brisket. You and pork ribs and queso fundido sausage. You and poblano mac and okra beans. In other words, just you and the Reese brothers. Because nobody needs to see the faces you make when you eat brisket like this.
Phone number:512-925-9205WebsiteRelated
25842 Fredericksburg RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
For a cafe no bigger than a two-bay mechanic’s shop, Garcia’s is drawing interest on a global scale, notching both a Michelin Guide recommendation and a spot among the New York Times’ best Mexican restaurants in the country. Considering that their brisket tacos are as good as any third-wave barbecue shop, that they make the perfect plate of cheese enchiladas and that they tied for No. 1 on my list of top Mexican restaurants in San Antonio, all I can say is: What took the rest of you so long to catch on?
Phone number:210-735-4525Social mediaRelated
246307 San Pedro Ave.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
When my colleague Paul Stephen ranked the city’s Top 10 cheese enchiladas, Rose Leinen’s Taco House came out on top. I second that emotion. They check all the Tex-Mex boxes: brown gravy without borders, handmade corn tortillas wrapped around gooey yellow cheese, sides of rice, beans and fresh flour tortillas. The best cheese enchiladas, the No. 1 best breakfast tacos,Top 10 puffy tacos. I think Taco House is on to something
Phone number:210-341-3136Social mediaRelated
231420 S. Alamo St., Suite 102See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Can King William sell you a premium bottle of wine? Sure. How many dollars you got? Can they sell you a great bottle at a great price? Yes again. How much sense you got? And that’s how owners Jill and Juan Arreguin have cultivated a loyal neighborhood following at their posh-but-unpretentious Southtown spot since late last year. That, and a confident menu of ca up those wines
Phone number:210-600-9033WebsiteRelated
22221 Newell Ave. at Pullman Market at PearlSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The multicourse Norteño menu at the Michelin-recognized Mezquite is a value-conscious crash course in Sonoran cooking that covers the table with the food Pullman Market founder Kevin Fink grew up with in Tucson, Ariz. It might start with mariscos and ceviches, then tortillas and guacamole and choriqueso, then mid-courses of quesadilla-style caramelos or roasted beets, and finally to entree-size asado plates that might include a grilled pork chop or swordfish fillet or chicken roasted over mesquite.
Phone number:210-756-7378WebsiteRelated
213505 Wurzbach Road, Suite 102See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The Sichuan House spinoff Dashi Chinese Kitchen closed late last year, but Kristina Zhao’s mothership is still cooking after more than 10 years of expanding San Antonio’s appreciation of heat with the numbing afterglow of Sichuan peppercorns, spicy cumin lamb, smoky-sweet Hui Guo Rou pork belly and a chicken stir-fry named for the root cause of its fire: Spicy Fire Gingerbird
Phone number:210-509-9999WebsiteRelated
202919 N. Flores St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
For a neighborhood spot that lives for the golden-hour glow of outdoor tables, summer’s a season of reflection and expansion for Outlaw Kitchens. Like, literal expansion, with more tables and seats added inside the Alta Vista bungalow where Paul Sartory and Peggy Howe offer a three-course dinner three nights a week. Maybe shrimp cocktail or Moroccan phyllo pockets to start, then pasta or beef tenderloin or fisherman’s stew, with a chocolate torte or a berry clafoutis to finish
Phone number:210-300-4728Website
19136 E. Grayson St., Suite 120, at PearlSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
There’s a throwback industrial mystique about Southerleigh at Pearl that makes everything feel like a turn-of-the-century newsreel — a newsreel with you making exaggerated facial expressions biting into fried chicken and fried snapper throats and throwing back oysters and house-made IPAs. Imagine cooking from the Gulf Coast with Michelin Bib Gourmand bona fides and the same style and creativity as the West Coast
Phone number:210-455-5701WebsiteRelated
18926 S. Presa St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
A waiter at Bliss remembered where I sat and what I ordered five years ago. That’s the kind of institutional memory that can make any customer feel like a VIP, whether it’s their first time or the 14th time they’ve been to Bliss since it opened in Southtown in 2012. You’ll build institutional memories of your own with fried oyster sliders, duck with foie gras and scallops with cheesy grits
Phone number:210-225-2547WebsiteRelated
17300 E. Travis St. at the St. Anthony hotelSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Esencia is that rare thing: A luxury hotel restaurant with an identity all its own. In the hands of James Beard-nominated chef Leo Davila, the restaurant at the St. Anthony shed its former life as Rebelle and reemerged as Esencia this year with Mexican-Chinese-Korean fusion that refuses to sit quietly in its hotel-shaped box. There’s a Big Red-and-barbacoa taco, churro bread pudding, a Korean kimchi-and-beef stone pot and duck with pecan mole, each of them declaring that playing it safe is not part of the mission statement.
Phone number:210-352-3145WebsiteRelated
1622211 Interstate 10 West, Suite 1101See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
At Aldo’s, you can have mussels, a margherita pizza and a mezcal old fashioned for happy hour. Or a more refined Italian experience with lamb chops, handmade angel-hair pasta and a bottle of Super Tuscan wine. It’s the reigning No. 1 Italian restaurant in San Antonio, thanks to Aldo Ghaffari himself, still shaking hands and running the show after 41 years in business
Phone number:210-696-2536WebsiteRelated
1510234 Texas 151, Suite 103See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Does your chicken joint have a Michelin Bib Gourmand designation? No? Don’t worry about it, because chef Nicola Blaque and her crew aren’t doing anything different than they did before the big move to Texas 151 from their little walk-up stand on the West Side. Still the best Jamaican jerk chicken in the city, still the same braised oxtails and country greens and mac and cheese, and still the same amber-gold fried chicken that makes you forget the name out front says Jerk Shack and not Jamaican Fried Chicken.
Phone number:210-776-7780WebsiteRelated
1413777 Nacogdoches Road, Suite 107See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
I’d never been to Sean and Gini Archer’s Northwest Side Italian cafe for dinner until this summer, and it seemed like we all glowed up when the sun went down. Mussels with garlic and white wine joined the party. And thick ribbons of handmade tagliatelle pasta with Bolognese like a Sunday stewpot. And Shrimp Vesuvius in white wine butter sauce packed with cherry tomatoes and peppers on a bed of Parmesan polenta. Already a solid, value-conscious lunch spot with a deep bench of handmade pastas, Pazzo’s the Italian restaurant to watch right now.
Phone number:210-277-0663WebsiteRelated
13536 E. Courtland PlaceSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Barbecue and Asian. Power and finesse. Smoke and spice. That’s the one-two punch of Curry Boys, a formula they’ve carried to a James Beard Award nomination and a recurring place on this list. One of the best ambassadors for that style is Pork Belly Dunkers, a fat strip of mango chile-glazed pork belly sectioned like a sushi roll. It’s a stylistic on-ramp to the wider Curry Boys experience of curries from worlds away and barbecue from right here at home
Phone number:210-560-2763WebsiteRelated
12219 E. Houston St., Suite 275See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
In New York, in Chicago, in any of the broad-shouldered state capitals and sure as hell in Texas, a great steakhouse is the definitive downtown restaurant. Bohanan’s is that restaurant for San Antonio, with prime beef, special cuts, uniformed waiters who know what they’re doing, and a wine list that can go about as deep and wide as you want. When friends, family or complete strangers ask me where to get a good steak in San Antonio, I have lots of answers. When they ask me where to have a great steakhouse experience downtown, I have one answer: Bohanan’s.
Phone number:210-472-2600WebsiteRelated
11221 Newell Ave. at Pullman Market at PearSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
When I reviewed this Pullman Market shrine to Texas foodways, I called it a story that’s still being written. The writing’s done, with chapters including a Michelin star, a Michelin Green Star for sustainability and accolades in the New York Times. Chef Ian Lanphear worked this year’s summer menu like a classical prodigy, with heirloom tomatoes giving strong BLT vibes, a roasted pepper tartlet with smoked fish and (checks notes) junebugs; and beer-can chicken with Lone Star emulsion
Phone number:210-756-7359WebsiteRelated
101012 S. Presa St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Change is coming to restaurateur Chad Carey’s 24-seat experiment that earned a rare five-star review in these pages. Chef Max Mackinnon and his wife and front-of-house lead Carenn Mackinnon are leaving at the end of August. And because Petit Coquin’s identity is so closely tied with the chef’s minimalist and flawless execution of a short list of apps and French-influenced entrees on the three-course set menu, it will take a minute to see what his successor, chef Adrian Ramos, does with that role. Call this ranking a placeholder for the little restaurant that could.
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92195 NW Military HighwaySee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Clementine clocked in at No. 2 last year. A meteoric newcomer and strong showings by local competitors knocked this top Castle Hills restaurant back a few places. We also had an awkward time sharing the multicourse “Feed Me” menu among three people, practically fork-fighting over opening plates of fried quail and a mushroom tart. And while showboat plating has never been Clementine’s strong suit, a few dishes looked especially rough this time around. Even so, Clementine remains in the Top 10 for service, for value, for orecchiette pasta with blue crab, for steak and truffles and for a dessert trio that took chocolate, meringue and lemon cream to places both delicate and decadent.
Phone number:210-503-5121WebsiteRelated
82731 S. W.W. White RoadSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
2M pitmaster Esaul Ramos is having a moment. With his barbecue shop recommended by the Michelin Guide for two years running, he was cast this summer in the inaugural season of “Pitmasters” on the Food Network along with his wife, the baker Grecia Ramos. Meanwhile, the lines keep queuing up at 2M for the best brisket, sausage, ribs and sides in San Antonio right now
Phone number:210-885-9352WebsiteRelated
7200 E. Grayson St., Suite 100, at PearlSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Pullman Market at Pearl was just a glimmer in the eye of the Emmer & Rye Hospitality group when they opened the Jewish, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean grill Ladino in 2022, led by chef Berty Richter, who speaks the Ladino language of the Sephardic Jews whose travels inspired the resturant’s menu and mission. That Michelin Bib Gourmand-winning menu includes a Turkish brunch and a chef-guided dinner tasting called Mezas de Alegria, or Tables of Joy. Hot pita, cool wine, grilled pork souvlaki. Sounds like joy to me.
Phone number:210-325-6007WebsiteRelated
6111 Kings CourtSee on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
How do you build on a second straight year of Bib Gourmand recognition from the Michelin Guide? If you’re Chris Cullum, you add dinner service at your “Champagne brunch” destination. The nighttime menu includes a market fish meunière; a sweet roasted combo called Pork & Plums; steak and demiglace; and duck bigarade, a two-in-one presentation of roasted duck breast and a duck crépinette laid out like a pan-seared sausage. Part France, part New York City, all San Antonio
Phone number:726-229-7301WebsiteRelated
5107 W. Jones Ave.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Shiro is the answer to anybody who says they can’t be bothered with sushi in landlocked San Antonio, something James Beard-nominated chef and owner Grey Hwang proved so wrong when Shiro took the No. 1 spot on this list in 2023. It’s still the city’s best sushi, including the Smoking Bomb roll with seared yellowtail and clean San Antonio spices and a nigiri sampler that included fatty tuna as supple as prime wagyu beef and a two-piece masters class in mackerel: one emphasizing the oil, the other expressing a four-step smoking, marinating, searing and scoring process, displaying the full potential of what can be done with the right piece of fish. That’s the Shiro way.
Phone number:210-585-1863WebsiteRelated
4611 S. Presa St., Suite 106See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
We eat for fuel, for comfort, for social engagement. Pharm Table checks all of those boxes, plus another one: Let’s eat for wellness, for our bodies and for our community. That’s the mission of chef and owner Elizabeth Johnson, from the cleansing ginger meal starter to Spice Route beets to black sesame hummus to regeneratively sourced salmon, pork and beef short rib. And for those times when Pharm Table offers vegetarian options for the multicourse cavalcade of dishes Johnson calls the Rasas menu, it’s hard to argue they’re not riding the top of the city’s plant-based pyramid in that moment.
Phone number:210-802-1860WebsiteRelated
3318 E. Cevallos St.See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
The sudden death of Axel Oliva in March fills every empty space of the restaurant he founded with his brothers Emil and Alec in 2023. Emil is the James Beard-nominated chef, and Alec handles the business, but Axel was the social connector, the charismatic presence who helped put this little bungalow on the Michelin map. An ofrende altar on the front porch celebrates his life, and the ongoing life that flows through this culinary tribute to the brothers’ upbringing in Peru. Five styles of cebiche, plus a rainbow of tiraditos, tatakis, scallops, octopus, tuna and salmon bring together citrus and style, backed up by hot dishes of beef lomo saltado, arroz con mariscos, wagyu anticuchos and grilled pescado. In the Hemingway sense of things, the world breaks everyone. And Leche de Tigre is stronger at the broken places.
Phone number:210-265-5933WebsiteRelated
2812 S. Alamo St., Suite 103See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
Mixtli founding chefs Rico Torres and Diego Galicia are catching some of the restaurant momentum they helped generate with side projects of their own. Torres is partnering on the Italian steakhouse Rosso coming to the former home of Cured at Pearl. And Galicia announced last week that he’s taking over Restaurant Claudine’s former Government Hill bungalow late this fall with Filleman House, a loosely intercontinental restaurant named for the Swiss immigrant who called that house a home in 1910.
Both of them remain committed to Mixtli, where chef de cuisine Alexana Cabrera Davis is taking the lead to execute multi-plate menus marking the history of Mexican cooking, one region, one era, one influence at a time, working alongside Michelin service award winners Hailey Pruitt as sommelier and Lauren Beckman as bar director. Maybe it’s the conquistador invasion or the Bay of Campeche or the arrival of Levantine immigrants in the late 19th century. One chef, one plate, one story. There’s only one Mixtli.
Phone number:210-338-0746Website
110003 NW Military Highway, Suite 2125See on map|Add to Want to goAdd to I’ve been here
I feel like I’ve stepped back in San Antonio restaurant time, to the days of Andrew Weissman’s Le Rêve, a long-gone theater of European technique with Weissman center stage. I missed the 2009 end of Le Rêve’s 11-year run on the River Walk by a full seven years, picking up parables from the book of Weissman wherever I could: at Il Sogno, at Moshe’s Golden Falafel, at The Luxury, at Signature, until all that was left was the burger drive-thru Mr. Juicy that started this list at No. 50
That’s where the story of Max’s Sister begins, with the decision to sell chicken-fried steak at Mr. Juicy. Because a restless chef couldn’t help himself, and it almost destroyed his little burger stand. That’s it: No more CFS. Until he decided to build a whole restaurant around it. Something casual enough for wings and a burger and breakfast, but nice enough for chicken-fried steak with peppercorn au poivre sauce instead of cream gravy
And so he moved into the former Hayden space out Northwest, naming it Max’s Sister for his daughter, by way of his son. And that chicken-fried steak moved immediately to the No. 1 spot on our Top 10 CFS countdown. It worked. Until Weissman changed his mind again. Not just about the gravy and the steak, but the whole thing. Time to be a white-coat Chef with a capital “C” again. No more breakfast, no more lunch. Dinner on white tablecloths, with waiters in formal matchy-match and citrus layered like brigand armor just for the water service. Lobster risotto, crispy sweetbreads, cheese boards, skate wing with Champagne velouté, venison. Even a chef’s tasting menu modeled after Le Rêve’s dusty pages.
And it works. Not just because the Chef with a capital “C” is back on the line. The Weissman faithful formed up around him, most notably his wife, Maureen, becoming the face and voice of the dining room. And serial Weissman waiter Ruben Garcia, and manager Roberto Martinez. And finally, the customers who never forgot Le Rêve. We’re in the middle of another Andrew Weissman moment. Until we’re not. And instead of reminiscing about it 10 years from now, I’m making a reservation and showing up now. Right now, for San Antonio’s new No. 1 restaurant.
Phone number:210-383-8416Social mediaRelated
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What’s cooking in San Antonio? Top 10 lists, restaurant news and more.
Reporting, photos and production by Mike Sutter. Editing by Jan Waddy. Powered by theHearst DevHub
Aug 19, 2026|UpdatedAug 19, 2026 10:15 a.m.
Mike Sutter
Restaurant Critic
Mike Sutter is the Express-News restaurant critic. He can be reached at msutter@express-news.net
Before joining the Taste Team in 2016, he served as a restaurant critic for the Austin American-Statesman and editor of FedManWalking.com. He’s appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” ABC’s “To Tell the Truth” and written for The Guardian, Bon Appetit and The Wall Street Journal
