Pollos Asados Los Norteños
- ★ 4.3
- Mexican
- $$
- Dignowity Hill
Pollos Asados Los Norteños is an east-side strip-mall mesquite-grilled chicken counter; order a whole bird with the charro beans and tortillas.
The places in San Antonio the guidebooks miss. locals-only counters, after-hours rooms and the spots tourists walk past.
Off the beaten plate
14 places
Nicha's Comida Mexicana
- ★ 4.0
- Mexican
- $$
- North Side
Nicha's Comida Mexicana is a 1977 tex-mex family room that locals guard, with puffy tacos and enchiladas that rarely make the tourist lists.
El Bucanero
El Bucanero in San Antonio: A north-side Latin-seafood room hidden in a Blanco Road strip, where the ceviches and seafood towers beat downtown prices.
Hidden gems: tours, tastings and classes in San Antonio
Picnikins Patio Cafe
- ★ 3.9
- Cafe
- $$
- North Side
Picnikins Patio Cafe is a blanco road cafe locals send each other to for fruit salads and sandwiches, easy to drive past and worth a proper stop.
The Cove
- ★ 3.9
- Burgers
- $$
- St Mary's Strip
The Cove in San Antonio: A Tobin Hill spot that is also a car wash and laundromat, so visitors assume it cannot be good. The fish tacos prove otherwise.
Tellez Tamales & Barbacoa
Tellez Tamales & Barbacoa is a west side weekend ritual that tourists never reach, where families queue for barbacoa by the pound before sunday breakfast.
Shotgun House Coffee Roasters
Shotgun House Coffee Roasters is a roastery in a converted West Side sewing factory; follow signs to Warehouse 5 for single-origin filter and bagged roast.
Barrio Barista
Barrio Barista is a west side cafe doing horchata lattes and cafe de olla that the third-wave coffee crowd often overlooks for the pearl spots.
Pastiche
- ★ 4.2
- Cocktail bar
- $$
- Dignowity Hill
Pastiche is a cocktail bar in an unmarked 1920s Dignowity Hill cottage; charcuterie and cocktails reward the search down a quiet east-side street.
The Cherrity Bar
- ★ 3.9
- Cocktail bar
- $$
- Dignowity Hill
The Cherrity Bar is an east-side cocktail-and-comfort-food spot whose every tab funds a local charity, a giving-back model few visitors know about.
Where to stay in San Antonio
A sample of San Antonio hotels from our booking partner, who list 31,801 here. Live prices and availability open on their site.
San Antonio Vacation Home
A stay at this vacation home places you in the heart of San Antonio, within a 15-minute walk of Historic Su...
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OYO Hotel San Antonio Lackland near Seaworld
A stay at OYO Hotel San Antonio Lackland near Seaworld places you in the heart of San Antonio, within a 5-m...
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Virginia #B San Antonio Guesthouse Near Downtown
With a stay at this cottage in San Antonio (Arena District), you'll be within a 15-minute walk of Alamodome...
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Red Roof Inn San Antonio - SeaWorld / Northwest
With a stay at Red Roof Inn San Antonio - SeaWorld / Northwest in San Antonio (West San Antonio), you'll be...
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Compare for next weekend: Holidu in San Antonio from USD 58/night · Expedia in San Antonio
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Viet-Nam Restaurant
- ★ 4.1
- Vietnamese
- $$
- Alamo Heights
Viet-Nam Restaurant is a plain broadway storefront that locals rate for the best pho in the city, with none of the signage to match the reputation.
El Milagrito Cafe
- ★ 4.1
- Taqueria
- $$
- St Mary's Strip
El Milagrito Cafe is the oldest restaurant on the St Marys Strip, a 1969 family-run kitchen for chorizo-and-egg puffy tacos on fresh flour tortillas.
Carnitas Don Raúl
Carnitas Don Raúl is a michoacán-style carnitas shop a few blocks north of downtown, sourced from a 1991 morelia family operation and rarely on tourist lists.
Tong's Thai
- ★ 4.0
- Thai
- $$
- Alamo Heights
Tong's Thai is a thai room in Alamo Heights. Ask for a table in the Nong Garden by the koi pond. The curries and pad see ew are the reliable orders.
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