Personal recommendations for San Antonio attractions... [Archive]

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MarkS

06-01-2007, 07:26 PM

Dining:

Italian: Zios, Carrabbas, Spaghetti Warehouse, any Italian restaurant on the RiverWalk
BBQ: The County Line on the RiverWalk (pricey, but well worth it), Tom's Ribs, Rudy's BBQ and Bill Miller BBQ (cheap, down home and a San Antonio institution. VERY good BBQ. Fried chicken sucks though...)
Steaks: This is a tuffy. Just about anything in the city, depending on what you want to spend. High end: Ruth's Chris Steak House, Morton's The Steak House, Little Rhein Steak House, Texas Land & Cattle and Landry's in the Tower of the Americas (all located downtown). Moderate to low end: Outback, Chilli's, GM Steak House (Little hole-in-the-wall across from the Alamo. Local institution, good food and good prices.), Little Red Barn (local institution, good food and good prices. Odd, fun atmosphere).
Fish: Anything on the RiverWalk and downtown. Outside of downtown, I recommend Joe's Crab Shack and Sea Island. *SNIFF* Rest in peace Barnacle Bill's. *SNIFF*:8o
Mexican. I'm going to surprise a lot of people here and tell everyone to stay away from the downtown area for this. I don't care how great its reviews are. They are tourist traps and all suck. I have friends from Mexico that will not touch them. ANY of them. Outside of downtown, I'd recommend any little hole-in-the-wall. The owners are from Mexico and know how to cook real Mexican food. They could care less if you are a tourist.
For fun I recommend Dick's Last Resort on the RiverWalk. The waiters are rude, everyone sits together, prepare to have stuff thrown at you. All in great fun. Family friendly BEFORE 9PM. After that, prepare for quite a few different "talks" with your kids. I took my mother there for her birthday. It was theme night. The theme was Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have mental pictures I don't want. Enough said.

Sights and fun stuff:

SeaWorld
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
The RiverWalk
The Alamo. Its free, but the tour lasts about 5 minutes.
Ripley's Believe it or not. (Across from the Alamo)
The wax museum. (Across from the Alamo)
The Mirror Maze. (Across from the Alamo)
Davy Crockett's Tall Tales. (Across from the Alamo)
La Villita. This is the original city. Several hundred years old. Now packed with little shops and restaurants. Guys, want to get rid of your wives for the afternoon and don't mind mortgaging your house? Send them here.
The Children's Museum downtown.
The Botanical Gardens
The Whitte Museum.
The zoo.
Any of the Missions. Free admission and very historic. There are plenty of tours leaving the downtown area daily that will take you by all of them.

I'll update this as I can think of stuff.

maxident213

06-01-2007, 08:06 PM

Appreciate a local making a thread like this, good on you man. :clap:

Michael Jacobi

06-01-2007, 08:28 PM

Thanks for taking the time to write that up. Well done. For those interested in some of the sights & sites, please visit the San Antonio page on the ArachnoCon website (http://www.arachnocon.info). Many of the major attractions are hyperlinked to external sites.

Saludos, Michael

Texas Blonde

06-01-2007, 09:19 PM

Cowboys is also an awesome place to go. Its a huge dancehall that has live bull riding on Friday and Saturday nights.

MarkS

06-02-2007, 01:50 AM

Cowboys is also an awesome place to go. Its a huge dancehall that has live bull riding on Friday and Saturday nights.

Ah, yes. If you are into country music. I'm not, so I've never been there. The place is freakin' huge and I've seen some major country music acts posted on their sign.

Thanks for taking the time to write that up. Well done. For those interested in some of the sights & sites, please visit the San Antonio page on the ArachnoCon website (http://www.arachnocon.info). Many of the major attractions are hyperlinked to external sites.

Saludos, Michael

Thanks for posting that. I agree that those are good links, but some of the better places are too small to have a web site and many of the ones that do really, truly suck. It is always better to get info from a local than to rely on the Chamber of Commerce, which lists any and all businesses. However, there are some really good places listed in your link. If anyone has any questions about what to do while here, this is the thread to post them. I will try and answer all that I have experience with.

Appreciate a local making a thread like this, good on you man. :clap:

You are very welcome.

wicked

06-02-2007, 04:56 PM

For those that may not know it, if you are active duty military you and three direct dependants can get into SeaWorld free for a day.
http://www.herosalute.com/states/eligibility.html

The SeaWorld website also has a 2 days for 1 day price ticket, but I think you have to get it online.

MarkS

06-02-2007, 08:35 PM

patexan

06-03-2007, 05:05 PM

As a displaced native, Los Barrios is the absolute best mexican food in town. Located on Blanco road. Make sure you try the puffy tacos.

BPruett

06-05-2007, 02:06 AM

As a displaced native, Los Barrios is the absolute best mexican food in town. Located on Blanco road. Make sure you try the puffy tacos.

If you like Burgers a few miles out on Hwy 16/Bandera Rd is the Famous Bobby J's, Home of the 5lb burger

ironmonkey78

06-05-2007, 02:59 PM

what I wanna know is where the best sushi is. and also is there a salsa dance place anywhere?

MarkS

06-05-2007, 04:07 PM

what I wanna know is where the best sushi is. and also is there a salsa dance place anywhere?

Good question and of course. The problem is that I don't dance and I don't eat raw meat.:?

There are two sushi resturants downtown, Sushi Zushi and Yokonu (sp?). There are plenty of clubs in the San Antonio area, but I'm not too sure which one has salsa dancing.

bagheera

07-16-2007, 12:30 AM

Avoid the Alamo at all costs. If I have ever "experienced" a duller tourest attraction, I have simply forgotten it.

Oh, and Texas lost! Remember?{D