I'm in San Antonio on a temporary assignment, and I was tasked to find a good spot for dinner with a couple of co-workers, one of whom had to depart early. Not knowing if I would ever see them in person again after this trip, I had to be selective in deciding how best to bid farewell to him, at least for the time being. We had agreed on a nice steak dinner, but left the decision up to me on where to go.I'll be honest here, I was actually looking at a couple of Brazilian steakhouses by the Riverwalk, but as luck would have it, neither had reservations available for that night. I frantically searched online to find the best spot for all three of us, and I chose The Barn Door right off the 410 loop east of the 281. One of my Yelp friends from San Antonio awarded it five stars, and there was also a Yelp check-in offer of a free tea. Also, the prices seemed pretty reasonable, especially compared to other steakhouses in the Alamo City.Reservations were available that night for time slots at 15-minute increments, but oddly enough, not at 7 PM, our agreed upon time. We then agreed 6:45 PM was a good time for dinner, and so I made the reservation, which was done through SpotOn.Two of us arrived at 6:30 PM, and the hostess was willing to seat us even though the third person (not me lol) was a little late. We chose to wait, and then once he arrived, we were taken to our table in the Main Dining room.We were sat at a table between the open kitchen and a wall, which almost looked like a jail. Jewel (sp?) came by to introduce herself as our server. She was just that, a jewel! She did seem a little bashful since it was kind of hard to hear her, but it was only moderately loud at best during our visit, so it wasn't much hard of hearing here. Other than that, I enjoyed having her take good care of us!She started us off with drinks, and that's when I realized I had to check in to show her my Yelp check-in offer. She didn't recognize it at first, and then I had to tell her. I almost thought she was going to charge me for the tea, but luckily she didn't.Each of us chose an appetizer to share with one another. The others chose Fried Mushrooms and Fried Jalapenos. I chose the Wild Boar and Venison Sausages. Each of them came with their own sauce(s), and they were all good! It's worth mentioning there are nuances in the taste profile between Wild Boar and Venison, but they look so similar that even Jewel couldn't tell which was which. Did we care? No. Did we enjoy them? Yes!The others chose the Club Sirloin and Bacon Wrapped Tenderloin Filet as their entrees, both cooked Medium. I went with the 10 oz New York Strip, cooked Medium Well. I think my steak was a little undercooked, but I liked it better than the Ribeye I had at my hotel, which cost more than twice as much!As we were ordering, I didn't realize our entrees would come with a house or Caesar salad as well as a potato side. I had completely overlooked the bottom of the menu specifying that. There weren't that many choices for the potato side. One co-worker chose the mashed potatoes. The other chose the twice baked potato. I went with the (once) baked potato. Jewel asked if I'd like for it to be loaded, to which I answered affirmatively.For the salad, you get a choice of 5-6 dressings. I almost went with my go to, Honey Mustard, until Jewel mentioned there was Creamy Garlic, which sounded delish. And it was! The amount of dressing was pretty generous, and it was a generously-sized salad, much larger than a side salad!I enjoyed the (once) baked potato, which was loaded, but not fully loaded compared to the twice baked. The twice baked had more cheese, and I believe it also had jalapenos, which I didn't taste in my potato. However, there's a small upcharge for the twice baked; I don't recall how much of an upcharge it was.Everything was superb! There wasn't a bad bite that was had amongst the three of us. We had quite a bit of leftovers, and Jewel offered us takeout boxes and bags for each of us.We all enjoyed our meals, and both of my co-workers agreed I made a good choice for dinner that night. None of us had room for dessert, but I didn't want any anyways. Plus, the prices for the desserts weren't even shown on the menu, which I'm not sure why? A Southern Peach Cobbler would have hit the spot, but our appetites were more than satiated on this wonderful evening.In addition to the actual restaurant, there's a meat market as alluded to in the business name, but it was slim pickings at the time we went, at least for the display case out in front. Same with the desserts. We only saw a couple of pies and a cheesecake when we left.The interior decor is really nice! We appreciated how nicely decorated the interior was, and we were even in awe at a portrait of the restaurant from 1953!Thank you Barn Door for a wonderful dinner, and thank you Jewel for the wonderful service and hospitality! Keep up the great work Jewel! :)
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"Everything was phenomenal. We had to either wait an hour and 15 minutes for a reservation, find seats at the bar or leave. We luckily found seats at the bar and are so glad we stayed. Friday lunch time was extremely busy. It seems like everyone was there for the pork chop special. We ordered lobster Mac and cheese, a caramelized prime rib, the thickest pork chop known to man and cherries jubilee chocolate cake. It was pricy, but it was my birthday lunch so a splurge every now and then is good. We were thoroughly impressed, everything was delicious and we plan to go back for the next special occasion."
"This is an awesome experience for the kiddos! Ambience takes you back in time. The staff really keep the vibe exciting and fun! Birthday here birthday there... every where is a happy birthday song! I'd recommend for adults a burger and salad bar. There's face painting, balloons and a game room. My grandkids had a blast! Wonder which character we'll get next time???"
