Arirang Restaurant is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Salgu Wissmath/San Antonio Express-News
Last week, I ranked the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio. I considered bumping that number to 75. I tabled that idea. Except that I didn’t, not entirely. In alphabetical order, here are the next 25 great restaurants in San Antonio. Or at least the ones that would’ve filled out a list of 75. Call them honorable mentions. Call them tied for 51st. Call them 25 more reasons there’s never been a better time to join the greater San Antonio table.
Arirang Restaurant: This late-night Korean favorite draws after-shift restaurant and bar workers, military service members and civilians alike. 2154 Austin Highway, 210-650-3845, arirangrestaurantsa.com
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Best Quality Daughter at Pearl is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/Staff
Best Quality Daughter: Chinese-American. American-Chinese. The best of both worlds in a charming Pearl cottage. 602 Avenue A at Pearl, 210-819-4236, bestqualitydaughter.com
TOP 50 FOR 2026: San Antonio’s best restaurants
Biga on the River Walk is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Biga: Chef Bruce Auden trained some of the city’s best chefs. Wild game, seafood, Asian crossovers, cocktails and the chicken-fried oysters that started it all. 203 S. St. Mary’s St. on the River Walk, 210-225-0722, biga.com
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Bistr09 is one of the Top 10 restaurants in Alamo Heights in San Antonio, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Bistr09: One of the best restaurants in the 78209 ZIP code, with French and Continental influences straight from chefs Damien Watel and Lisa Astorga-Watel. 6106 Broadway, Suite A1, 210-245-8156, bistr09.com
Castlehill + Highland from chef Graham Campbell is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Castlehill + Highland: Scottish chef Graham Campbell brought a Michelin star and Food Network notoriety with him when he opened his two-part restaurant near the University of Texas at San Antonio in July. Castlehill is the bar and grill in the front. Highland is the multicourse chef’s tasting speakeasy in the back, entered Batman-style through a sliding bookcase wall. It’s a work in progress, but it’s already one of the city’s most intriguing prospects. 5138 UTSA Blvd., 210-540-1990, castlehillrestaurant.com
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The Turkish restaurant Chef’s Table SATX on Babcock Road is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Chef’s Table SATX: Owners Zeliha Kocak and her husband, Kemal Kocak, came to the U.S. from the Turkish capital of Ankara, and they’re making some of the best oak-grilled halal Turkish kebabs, gyros, pizza-style pide, kofta and mezze plates in San Antonio. 1546 Babcock Road, Suite 102, 210-664-5100, chefstableturkish.com
Freight Fried Chicken at the Pearl food hall is one of the Pearl restaurants being ranked first to worst by San Antonio Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Freight Fried Chicken: This side project from chef Nicola Blaque of the Top 50 restaurant the Jerk Shack turns out high-crunch gluten-friendly legs, thighs and tenders with sides and biscuits so good you’ll forget you’re eating inside a food hall. 312 Pearl Parkway at the Pearl food hall, Instagram: @freightchicken
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The Hayden on Broadway is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
The Hayden: As it has from the day it opened in 2020, The Hayden pours Jewish-influenced deli energy into a thick-cut pastrami sandwich, matzo ball soup and brunch, with local coffee and good cocktails. 4025 Broadway, 210-437-4306, thehaydensa.com
Kimura is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Kimura: Chef Michael Sohocki was one of the early adopters of Japanese ramen in San Antonio, and Kimura’s remains the best in the city for noodles with tonkotsu broth and pork belly, reinforced by cocktails, gyoza dumplings, yakisoba noodle bowls and fried chicken karaage. 1017 N. Flores St., 210-444-0702, kimurasa.com
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Lovers Pizzeria is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Lovers Pizzeria: The lines seemed to form overnight for the thin-crust, high-char New Haven-style pizza championed by Dusty Dworak and Victoria Moreno, reaching the kind of FOMO fever pitch usually reserved for barbecue. 105 E. Ashby Place, 210-538-4036, loverspizzeria.net
The Indian restaurant Madurai Mes is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Madurai Mes: My favorite place for Indian food in San Antonio, with a lunchtime thali platter and high-spice kuzhambu that take me back to tables in the central and southern regions of that country. 5152 Fredericksburg Road, Suite 125, 210-524-8161, madauraimes.com
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The Magpie is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
The Magpie: There are something like 10,000 restaurants in and around the greater San Antonio area. Only 50 made the Top 50, obviously. But the one I heard about the most that didn’t make that Top 50 is this boutique East Side restaurant with a Korean POV. Why? It’s fallen off since its pre-pandemic peak and remarkable recovery and expansion afterward. Not as cleanly executed, not as clear what it wants to be. Is it more fusion, more Korean, more progressive American bistro? A Top 50 player? Yes, last year. But as they say in the investment world: Past performance does not guarantee future results. In the here and now, it’s an honorable mention. 1602 E. Houston St., Suite 106, 210-389-1584, magpie.us
Mian Noodles & Dumplings is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Mian Noodles & Dumplings: The husband-and-wife team of Jihong Li and Xianhong Yang honors the cooking of their native Shanxi province in China with spicy Shanxi lamb noodle soup and street-food staples including a beef sesame pancake as filling as a po’boy, steamed bao buns stuffed with pork, and the fattest fried dumplings in the city. 19141 Stone Oak Parkway, Suite 509, 210-267-1711, miannoodlesdumplings.com
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Moroccan Bites Tagine is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Moroccan Bites Tagine: This lone outpost for Moroccan food in San Antonio has been featured twice on the Food Network, with eggplant zaalouk, braised lamb and a kaleidoscope of mezze plates served in the glazed conical pottery tagines the owners import from their native Marakesh. 5718 Evers Road, 210-706-9700, moroccanbitestagine.com
Nonna Osteria at The Fairmount Hotel is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/Staff
Nonna Osteria: The Italian lunch and dinner menu at this Fairmount Hotel restaurant under the care of chef Luca Della Casa ranges from margherita pizza to wild boar pappardelle pasta to roasted sea bass with fried polenta. 401 S. Alamo St. at The Fairmount Hotel, 210-224-8800, siloelevatedcuisine.com
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Pinkerton’s Barbecue is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Pinkerton’s Barbecue: The kind of brisket, pork ribs and sausage people stand in line for in the Hill Country. Except this time it’s downtown next to Legacy Park. 107 W. Houston St., 210-983-0088, pinkertonsbarbecue.com
Pollos Asados Los Nortenos on Rigsby Avenue is one of Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter’s destinations for Top 10 Pollos Asados in San Antonio for 2024.
Mike Sutter/Staff
Pollos Asados Los Norteños: The place that put pollos asados on the map in San Antonio still does the kind of business that keeps the massive grill covered in blushing red chicken with the unmistakable char of its time over live mesquite coals. 4642 Rigsby Ave., 210-648-3303, polloslosnortenos.com
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Ray’s Drive Inn is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Ray’s Drive Inn: The home of 15 kinds of puffy tacos and that San Antonio curiosity called the crispy dog. They’re in good company at Ray’s, alongside a diner-style menu of enchiladas, fajitas, fried fish, burgers and fried chicken since 1956. 822 SW 19th St., 210-432-7171, raysdriveinn.net
Ro-Ho Pork & Bread is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Ro-Ho Pork & Bread: Ro-Ho chef and owner Jorge Rojo engineers the city’s best tortas ahogadas, the carnitas sandwiches of Guadalajara drowned in tomato gravy, leaving enough of the house-baked bread’s crunchy crust to contrast with the lip-gloss fat and angel-floss lean of the pork. 8617 N. New Braunfels Ave., 210-800-3487, ro-hoporkandbread.com
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Smoke Shack BBQ is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Smoke Shack BBQ: I respect the wait-in-line game that’s come to define Texas craft barbecue. Doesn’t mean I like it. And that’s why I like Smoke Shack. The line’s like the fast-moving line at a fast-food place, even for slow food like barbecue. Why? Because there’s no fear of missing out. Smoke Shack’s in it for the whole day, not just the hour and a half before it sells out. 3714 Broadway, 210-957-1430, smokeshacksa.com
GHOSTED?: Michelin Guide goes email only
South Barbecue is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
South Barbecue: The red-brick building preserves the retro neighborhood charm of a former service station even as it channels the energy of modern barbecue destinations. Owner and pitmaster Andrew Samia believes in all-day barbecue, staggering the cooks so there’s brisket for lunch and brisket for dinner, with ribs and pulled-pork tacos and sausage coming along for the ride, a ride that includes sides of borracho beans and green-been salad with tomatoes and almonds. 2100 N. Main Ave., 210-757-3855, southbarbecue.com
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Supper at Hotel Emma at Pearl is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Supper: I held off putting the flagship restaurant of Pearl’s Hotel Emma in the Top 50, because Supper’s been in flux the last few years, with kitchen personnel coming and going. But Supper’s worth considering as an honorable mention with chef John Brand signing on as vice president of culinary. He’s the chef who started the whole thing in 2014, and the menu’s showing promise with smoked pork prime rib, halibut with green pepper and an upside-down cake with ricotta and figs. 136 E. Grayson St. at Hotel Emma at Pearl, 210-448-8351, supperatemma.com
Thai Dee is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Thai Dee: This modest, wood-paneled Thai place next to a convenience store on Blanco Road has been my favorite Thai spot since I got here 10 years ago, which isn’t even half of the 25 years they’ve been around. My favorite silky tom kha soup, the city’s best papaya salad, and a red curry with attitude, served at neighborhood prices by neighbors. Neighbors with corkscrews who’ll open the bottle of wine you brought in at no extra charge. 5307 Blanco Road, 210-342-3622, thaideerestaurant.com
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Tre Trattoria is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Tre Trattoria: Rustic Italian with a refined River Walk view from San Antonio star chef Jason Dady. Tre cultivates a spirit that’s equal parts escape and comfort, with cast-iron pizza, roasted chicken, hand-pulled mozzarella and handmade pasta. 200 W. Jones Ave., Suite 501, at the San Antonio Museum of Art, 210-805-0333, tretrattoria.com
Viva Vegeria is one of 25 honorable mentions for the Top 50 restaurants in San Antonio for 2026, according to Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter.
Mike Sutter/San Antonio Express-News
Viva Vegeria: My No. 1 vegetarian restaurant in the city got there by finding common ground between a plant-based menu and San Antonio’s love of Mexican food. 1422 Nogalitos St., 210-465-9233, vivavegeria-sa.com
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