Alamo Cafe

If you're looking for a quintessential San Antonio dining experience, Alamo Cafe is a local landmark that delivers exactly what it promises: comfort, flavor, and a warm Texas welcome. From the moment you walk in, the vibe is pure South Texas hospitality. The service is consistently friendly and attentive, making you feel like a regular even if it’s your first visit. For those who like a bit of a kick, the Fried Jalapeños are a standout. ​If you want a true taste of everything, the Dinner Combo #1 is the way to go. It’s a classic Tex-Mex plate that hits all the right notes. Between the cheese-smothered enchiladas and the crispy taco, it’s a generous portion that tastes like home cooking.

Interesting intersection of good meals and service and not what we ordered and "Does anyone see a waiter?" I like the place and suggested it for family lunch. Party of 7, couple of kids. Neither of the kids orders was correct and went back to the kitchen. I had the chicken fried steak with a house salad. Salad hit the table after the entree. I like my salad last but would have been happy to have it offered up front. Overall experience was OK but long and drawn out, I dont want to rush a meal but hate for everyone to be done and food still coming out.

Started with delicious fried jalapenos. I had the carne guisada. It was super tender. My wife had not so puffy tacos that she does not like. Kennedy our server, was very kind, prompt, and attentive

My boyfriend and I came in last night around 7:30ish for dinner, and we sat on the patio. The patio atmosphere was amazing! But that was the only good part of the visit. It took us around 7-10 minutes to be greeted by a server, and to get drinks. We ordered our food, appetizers, and margaritas — the food came out quickly, but we were still missing our margaritas. We saw a manager walking around peeking at tables, but there were no table touches done by the manager. There was no check in done by the server after we received our meals. The food was delicious (paid $57 total), even though my order was wrong. Because we couldn’t flag down a server or a manager, we had to just skip the margaritas and I couldn’t correct my entree. We saw our server maybe twice (three times would be generous) during our visit. Honestly really terrible experience with Alamo Cafe, and unfortunately won’t return.

Whenever we visit family, we eat here. Best Fajitas, best food, best tortillas made in house. Adrian served us today and did a fantastic job. He was warm and friendly and made our meal very special. Thank you Alamo Cafe! You never fail in 45 years I've been eating here!

Such good food? The warm tortillas melt in your mouth! Everything we had was perfect. It's so unusual to be able to get a good chicken fried steak AND perfect cheese enchiladas at the same location.

I really like this place. I recently relocated back to Sa from Corpus,and this is very close to my new home!! I've already been here several times and each time does not disappoint. The waiters and waitresses are on point. The food and drinks always great! This was Panchos and of course a Margarita..so so good! I'm so glad to be so close and such great food and service!!

Been a customer since the 1st day the original restaurant opened on San Pedro near 410. All of a sudden we notice a lot of changes and not for the better. 1 tortilla per customer by default when they used to bring more than you could eat ( plenty to take home). I’ve never been a fan of their Tex-Mex dishes simply because they aren’t authentic, but my family likes them. My GOTO is chicken fried steak with double green beans. YES It’s gotten smaller and more expensive over the past 40 years, but still tasty. That is until this year. Last one I got although bigger than usual, was a very bready chicken fried MEATLOAF per my assessment. In my opinion it was aweful. So last visit I instead got a Tex-Mex chicken dish my dad always orders. This too was very different - poor chicken must have been starved when she was alive. Wonder if it’s under new ownership-certainly something is way off if your a long time customer. My whole family is now debating whether after 40+ years Alamo even stays on our rotation. For me they go from 5 stars to 3. Sad.

Every time I'm in San Antonio my fav place to eat is Alamo cafe . The tortillas are fresh and hot the food is delicious and the margaritas are to die for . Can't wait for our return to San Antonio Yes even smurfs love eating at Alamo cafe .

Dined for a 50 person event. Impressed they had the space. First, the room was so loud we could hardly hear the person next to us. Everyone noticed - the room could use noise canceling ceiling tiles. Second, there were people eating before we had drinks or an even a food order taken. Staff lacked communication. Third, when food arrived the portions were not consistent. Some large others small. The buffet table of soft drinks sat untouched, never offered. The room we sat in was nice with large windows to the outside and patio seating option. Not a good experience hopefully just isolated.

Been going there for 15 years. The gradual reduction of quality due to cost cutting has finally gone too far for me.

OK, I suggested this restaurant to my born and raised San Antonio Texas #puroSanAntonio #texmex, Alamo running through the veins husband. And he was a bit hesitant since the last time he'd been here was 20+ yrs ago. Well he definitely was impressed and so was I! The queso! The Top Shelf Marg! The beef and chicken fajitas! And The Tortillas! OH and the service! We were our waiters last table and we walked in at 9:15pm and he treated us as if he had just started his shift! We will be back and bring the family! P.S. the pricing was on point! Anywhere else (those other two restaurants on 281N) would have way more expensive!

Guys, this place has a tortilla factory! they serve you hot fresh tortillas with the queso and chips. I am completely in love! This is better than mom's house! Butter on the table. Add a side of boracho beans and rice and my favorite childhood memories are with me and I'm in heaven! The servers are better than my own Tias! Friendly service as I will get out! The queso is out of this world. The regular size queso is muy grande compared to Casa ole size large. Dad had three piping hot fresh tortillas dipped in queso and then added queso to his half order of nachos which was enough to share. Jalapeños (pickled were a yummy addition to the nachos! I sprinkled sugar on my buttered tortilla and rollled it for an amazing treat! Honey had the number 2 dinner and it was just right for him(you can get the enchiladas w/o onions if you ask. I have never seen my dad as happy as he was last night! I will return to Texas again, but just to come to the Alamo Cafe, my new favorite home away from home.

I loooove this place/this location and need to make it a point to come back. When we had an extra person join our party the waitress was so nice about letting us move to a bigger table. Salsa was great and quesadillas were delish! Tortillas slapped!! The paintings on the ceiling were unique and felt like you were somewhere special.

The food is good, the service is good, there is usually a wait but not too long. The serving sizes have gotten smaller but the tortillas are still fresh and hot

It's just ok food. Too loud a place. Not a restaurant I crave to eat at. I guess when you've had similar food you can taste the difference choose differently next time.

Service at the bar with Dee as bartender was horrific. People waiting to order and she said hold on while she puts away glassware from kitchen. Never offered me water even with my drink. Never asked how I was and if I needed anything. Bar too was not bussed after people left. Mixing drink she spilled on floor. Dropped a top of a plastic top to pour and rinsed off instead of running it through washer Had own personal drink and banana on bar area.

All companies rise and fall. This one is on the decline. the food is literally a bit over mediocre. The food is made with way too much oil and it's fairly bland. I left with only eating half of my meal and we went to H-E-B afterwards to get frozen food. We plan to go to another Mexican restaurant from now on. It's so sad. There are a lot of people however, quality of food versus quantity of people. It's hard to have both and this is not it.

Our first time at this San Antonio institution. Walking in we were amazed to see the tortillas being made right in front of us! How cool is that?!? Our waitress was so friendly & happy. She was so helpful and kind and guided us through the menu. Must start with their amazing queso! We ordered enchiladas and fajitas. The food was great, but the extra spicy salsa was the star of the show. Man I would make the drive to San Antonio just for that hot salsa!!! I would advise you to go earlier in the afternoon, this place fills up quickly! The atmosphere was casual and friendly. I would recommend this restaurant again and again. Yummm!!!

Another yummy meal at Alamo Cafe.... You can't ever go wrong with the fajita trio... And let's not forget about the Margaritas!

Makes me sad to write this mixed review as I have loved everything about Alamo Cafe for YEARS! Unfortunately, on a recent visit, some the food was not up to par. First - the good: The fabulous QUESO!! Creamy, flavorful - scoop up with the yummy chips and enjoy. Or better still, roll up a DELICIOUS housemade tortilla and dip into the glorious cheese - the BEST! And consistently delicious over 30 years! Another hit: one of our party ordered the small chicken fried steak. A beautiful, petite CFS was served with equally petite amounts of green beans and mashed potatoes. She loved everything! Taste, portion size - all just right. And when the meat and potatoes are topped with the most excellent gravy, you've got a meal that's Texas rave worthy. Less than great: poblano soup was creamy but extremely bland. Only a few spoonfuls were even eaten. Also surprising: meat in both the chicken and beef fajita tacos was very dry, not moist, tender, and flavorful as we are used to. Big disappointment. Service was very friendly and upbeat, and dining on the big back patio can't be beat when the south Texas weather cools off. We'll continue to go to Alamo Cafe because the good things are REALLY good. Just hope the fajita meat is up to regular Alamo Cafe standard when you're there, and avoid the poblano soup!

The wait staff and ambiance, as always, is perfect. My family and I got the small queso to start. It was piping hot and yummy. My brother always gets pina colada which was perfect. For lunch I ordered the half order of the ponchos. I have loved these for years but today they kind of failed. It seems that the restaurant has made a change to their beans. It tastes like they are from a to me can. My daughter did not finish her bean and cheese taco because of the flavor. Will I come back, yes. I really like this establishment.

Food is always great here no matter what you get! Every time we go out service is top notch and no matter who you get they are quick and nice every time. Ambience is different from an every other mexican restaurant. Tortillas 10/10.

Not very "authentic" but great simple Tex Mex. Queso and tortillas are criminally good

Food: Generous portions and better than average food. Had the Laredo Chicken, and it was good. Not fantastic or exception, just good. Service: Good service Ambiance: Vaguely western, Tex-Mex themed, very large restaurant that can accommodate groups Value: adequate value

Coming here for nearly 40 years. Still great food and great atmosphere. Staff was very friendly and kind. Great to see that their potions have not changed in size. Fajitas were very tender and hot. Will be coming back as usual. Thank you

In all the decades we've lived here, Alamo Cafe has consistently been a hit with visiting family and friends as well as frequently requested for care packages of corn tortillas for those with gluten issues. I can also always count on them to come through on a last minute takeout request. Thanks for being consistently good every time.

We have been going to Alamo Cafe since it opened on San Pedro a couple blocks from N. Star Mall many years ago. The tortilla soup and beef fajitas in particular were above and beyond, a delicious experience. Lately, the past year, it has been a big disappointment. First the restaurant on IH10 changed the soup, watering it down, perhaps to cut the super saltiness the soup has had the past 5 years. The fajita meat is now in dry tough strips thrown in a tortilla instead of cut in bites. The restaurant on San Pedro and Bitters kept the old recipe until just recently and now is serving the watered down soup and dry uncut fajitas. Chips, salsa, queso and tortillas were still good. It was a family favorite until now! Save your money... the Alamo Cafe is cutting corners while raising prices.

I came to this location to celebrate Galentine's Day with friends. We enjoyed the upstairs location for our lunch. It was a great space. We had a terrific server. The tortillas were delicious! 5 stars for tortillas and salsa! I had dinner #3 with a green chicken enchilada, and a Chalupa with rice and beans. It was good. I think the rice is from frozen and I am not a fan of American cheese on Mexican food.

This is my favorite restaurant of all time. Love their tortillas and queso. Fajitas are great also. I would eat here every meal if I lived in San Antonio LOL.

Stopped by when in SA last week. Everything was great. What made it extra great was the service from Nathan W!! He was just amazing!! The chicken fajitas were tender & flavorful. I love their pico, too!!

Great queso and quick service. Been coming here for years! Lots of good decorations and visually pleasing. Make sure to come during happy hour for big margaritas.

The food was good. The service was great. The ambiance was lovely!! Beautiful view. I definitely enjoyed the game room as well. PAC-MAN has always been my FAV.... Now, for the food....My platter had a lot of cheese and sauce on top. I just pushed it to the side. If you're a person that likes a lot of sauce and cheese on top of your food, then you're in the right place.

We, (friends and I) had our Galentines party here 2/2/25. They put all 20 of us ladies upstairs which was perfect for our size party. Our server, McKayla, was super sweet and very patient lol. Her memory for taking everyone's order was phenomenal. We were able to set up and decorate before others arrived. We played games, drank, ate, & laughed!

They have a little of everything. If you are looking for a casual place for lunch or a little nicer place to celebrate someone special this place works. Great food and cool atmosphere. We went here with our fam of 5 (3 picky middle school kids) and everyone liked it. It does get very busy during holidays so expect to wait for a table but they have a bar so you can grab a drink while you wait.

Best tortillas and chips and salsa in town! Love, Alamo Café, and love their food! #alamocafe

I actually ordered through Favor. The food is very tasty. I ordered the spinach and shrimp quesadilla. I also ordered the roasted vegetables also very good. Next time I need to purchase a double portion it was so delicious. Next time I'll go into the restaurant to try different items on the menu. Ordering through Favor was fast

I visited Alamo cafe today for the "Whodunit? Murder Mystery Show." The ticket included the show, dinner, chips n salsa, and a fountain drink. The chips and salsa were delicious and the salsa had just enough spice. The dinner plate was pretty standard but the food didn't necessarily stand out amongst other restaurants in town. The show was very entertaining and I had a good time.

Came for lunch on a weekday and we were seated quickly with friendly and fast service. I tried the street tacos with corn tortillas and it came with beef, beans, and some veggies sides. They missed the avocados so asked if we wanted them after delivering the food. The food tasted pretty good as I consider it Texmex. The flour tortillas are stuff and fluffy while the complementary chips and salsa tasted fresh and good. They also refilled it for us when it was out. Portion size was perfect and price was about average to high for the amount of food. Note that the beans are a little on the watery side but I was full after the meal and satisfied. They also gave us about 4 flour tortillas as well with the meal. The ambience and food are good so this is great place to bring friends visiting or those looking for easy choices for TexMex. Lots of options on the menu as well. Note that the food is not especially spicy and spiced and may not satisfy those with a preference for more flavorful fare.

EVERYTHING! We were there for my 40th bday with my friends and our waitress, Falisha, was so kind and just awesome! She deserves a raise! Haha! But really, I've never been disappointed at Alamo, but this past experience with Falisha just really made my bday celebration that much more amazing. Thank you for being awesome!

This restaurant is a San Antonio staple that I had never visited in all my years of living here but today found myself here for a friend's party! Service was excellent throughout. The atmosphere is okay - good for large parties and families, not particularly pretty or elegant. The food was standard Mexican- but exceptional, not bad / best described as catering food! Had the shrimp fajitas - shrimp was cooked well and had good flavor, onions that accompanied them were great. Rice and pico were bland and left! Beans had an interesting herby flavor but were under seasoned. A nice experience but was not impressed enough to bother returning!

Service was fantastic for a group of old veterans! They give a veterans discount as well! Food was great and ambience was great.

For a bustling Friday night, a 20 minute wait time was not bad at all for a party of 2. We came in, got on the waitlist and decided to sit at the bar for a drink while we waited. Chavelle (who was kicking ass behind the bar) helped us within less than 5 minutes even while drowning in orders and needy customers. I find it extremely ruthless to let her handle that stress all by herself. It should be managements duty to find help and or coverage or shoot even help them selves when there is nobody around to help her. Having no drink runner or anybody to really help at all on a friday night is absurd. We come here pretty often and we're impressed by Chavelles perseverance and ability to keep a cool head while going through so much. Thanks Chavelle for the amazing drinks!

FIRST TIME VISIT! Food is decent Tex-Mex. Customer Service is quick and friendly. Love how open the space is and how HUGE the restaurant is. Lots of room for our corporate Christmas party. Was told it would've costed an additional $100 for a private room. The noise level is pretty loud and that private space would probably be quieter for us to be able to introduce ourselves, make announcements, etc. The menu is pretty extensive, surely something for everyone in your party. For appetizers, we enjoyed complimentary house made flour tortillas, chips and salsa, and ordered queso (has a minor, spicy zip). All very good. I ordered the Chile Relleno plate with chicken fajita upgrade. I asked for no onions but got no bell peppers either. Just chopped up grilled chicken. It was ok. It came with refried beans and Mexican rice. The rice was not good. I'd try it again, but probably try the steak next time and the charro beans.

My husband used to love this place and we have come a handful of times over the years. Each time we come here the food gets worse and today is officially last time we will ever eat here. The food was terrible. The chips were stale. We ordered the poblano queso which used to be really good. It came this time with no flavor and it doesn't have some of the poblanos in it like it used to. Asked the waiter to replace with the regular queso. It wasn't much different. It was watery and boring. All of our meals were very disappointing. My daughter had the chicken fried steak and it was rubbery and hard to cut. My son had a bean and cheese taco. The beans look and taste like rehydrated beans. My husbands chicken was tough and cold. My quesadilla was hard and the pico de gallo tasted like it was 3 days old. Overall this has been the worst experience we've had eating anywhere.

Alamo Cafe is a chain and they're a true Tex Mex type of establishment. It was my first time here and I didn't know what to expect. The menu is very straightforward and not too many crazy options and the prices per meal were very reasonable. I liked the queso, that was nice and warm with crunchy tortilla chips. I opted for the stuffed poblano peppas and I decided to have it stuffed with picadillo and chihuahua cheese. That was an incredible combo. The refried beans were very smooth and tasty, I'm assuming they were cooking with real lard and I like it that way. The rice was decent too and take it from me, I've eaten a lot of rice in my lifetime, thus far. Don't forget that the tortillas are made on-site and I also had Shiner Bock for the first time, that was very refreshing. I'd like to visit their brewery one day, but that's for another day and a different review.

I have been a loyal customer at this restaurant since the 1980s when it was located on San Pedro at the old Alamo Jeep site. However, in the last year or so the quality of their menu items (both at the 281 and I10 sites) have gone down (e.g. rice, beans, tortillas, and especially the beef fajita meat and tortilla soup). Where once it was my favorite place to eat and take out of town guests, as a "foodie" and food scientist I would no longer recommend this establishment due to the overall drop in quality of their food items. Very disappointed and under whelming experiences!

Outstanding service. The bar is well stocked and the beer is excellent. Drinks are cold and the staff is very friendly. Very clean for how busy it is.

Great food, good atmosphere and good servers!! I love their margaritas and tortillas are freshly made.

We love this place, unlimited fresh hot tortillas and butter, chips and salsa, etc. etc. everything is always great zero issues here reasonably priced and attentive service. We should probably come here more often than we do because it's always a great experience.

We had an amazing host named Jimmy. He really went above and made sure we were happy with our options and attended to our needs. The menu has a wide variety of options to choose. You start off with a serving of chips salsa and a warmer full of hot tortillas. Everyone was happy. I would recommend.

The location is beautiful, the restaurant is very nice, there is a little river that runs through part of it and the outdoor seating area is great. That is the only good thing I can say. The food was the worst mexican food I have ever had. The Spanish rice was hard and not cooked thoroughly, the refried beans lacked any kind of flavor, the puffy Taco was a greasy and soggy mess. I wouldn't think you could mess up cheese enchiladas but , surprise, you can. The cheese they use is some sort of weird processed cheese that's worse than velveta. The clincher for this disaster lunch was the service. We sat outside and our waitress was rude and clueless. There were 9 of us and she messed up 6 orders. 3 of us had food and the other 6 had to wait to have the food redone as the orders were totally wrong. I wouldn't suggest a better wait staff and better recipes. So sad as the restaurant is lovely, is at a good location and has a lot of potential.

Prices are amazing! Where can you get enchiladas under $13?!? Free chips, salsa, and fresh tortillas. Service was fast.

Considering they are doing some renovations and the Men's Bathroom is a trailer in the parking lot, The Alamo Cafe always had great food! The staff was very accommodating ensuring our drinks were topped off and tending to our needs. The wife and I enjoyed our late lunch. I had the Chicken Poblano that came with a tend grill chicken breast, topped with Poblano Queso, pico de gallo, and sliced avocados. The wife had the Chicken Laredo which had a very large chicken breast, topped with Southwestern cream sauce, cheese and tomatoes! Both plates were absolutely amazing!

I last came here three months ago and left a rather unflattering review. I understand that restaurants have off days and perhaps my last visit was one of those days. Alamo Cafe used to be one of my favorite go to places for Mexican food but admittedly, that was over thirty years ago. Fast forward to the here and now. We were welcomed promptly by the hostess as she grabbed a basket of chips and salsa and showed us to our table. As soon as we sat down we noticed that the chips were more crumbs than chips. It was so bad that when our server came to the table she said she would bring us a new basket of chips. Also, one of the plates they brought for us to put our tortillas on was absolutely filthy, we asked for a new plate but it never came. My daughter's husband ordered the carne guisada plate but they didn't bring any tortillas for him to make tacos but eventually they did. I had the cheese enchilada plate #3. This time the cheese was melted in the middle but I have to admit, there are much better enchiladas out there. I just don't care for theirs. I don't understand why the food can't be served hot either. All this being said, they do an incredible business. So I'm probably in the minority here, but the only time I'll come here will be when my daughter wants to eat here again. Maybe I'll try the chicken fried steak next time and forget about the Mexican food. The restaurant is beautiful and they do a hell of a business.

Great ambiance. Great food. And good prices. Service was a little low but only because he was new. He was super nice.

A favorite family spot for decades, one our favorite places in all of San Antonio. The Avocado enchiladas are delicious!