Richter Tavern — Restaurant in Boerne

We noticed this new restaurant on Main street in Boerne the other day and gave it a try. New to us, but we’ve been locals for over 20 years and frequent many places in the area and San Antonio. When we go out it’s usually to a late mid-day lunch during the week to avoid the crowd. Got there Tuesday around 2 pm and seated upon arrival. The décor is very open and trendy but almost bordering on antiseptic, with large spaces between tables, limited seating utilizing long benches and very high ceilings– see pics on their website. Lot’s of staff in the open kitchen but seemed like few wait-staff. Bar is limited. I prefer bourbon or scotch and walked over to the bar to check the selection -didn’t see any of my favorites. Wife prefers wine but we settled on iced tea. No spoons or straws were offered -- we had to use our forks or knives for stirrers. Wife had the turkey avocado sandwich with house chips. I had the special which was off-menu, a shredded beef sandwich with some sort of mixed BBQ sauce, melted cheese on what appeared to be a pretzel bun + house chips. The waiter had misquoted the price for mine, it was a dollar more. He came back and told me before submitting the order. I didn’t mind the mistake, but it seemed odd they would be sure to collect the dollar rather than waive it?? The house chips were fair. When the runner brought our lunch I asked for a new knife since mine was dirty (I had used my fork, not the knife for the tea). She left with my knife but never returned. Both sandwiches were inedible. Her bread was burnt, only parts could be salvaged. Mine had an odd taste. I borrowed the wife’s knife to cut my bread but it was too hard, so I ate some of the meat and some chips. We finished a few bites, mostly of the chips and gave up. When the server returned he asked if we wanted a to-go box and the answer was a quick no thanks. Both plates were overflowing with food so it seemed odd the server didn’t ask if it was OK? Anyway, we didn’t complain or ask for the manager and none was offered. We paid, left and won’t be back – ever.

p.s. After my review was posted I read many of the 5-star reviews and noticed many are brief and/or written by frequent reviewers. I'm new to this but it looks to me like there are those that claim to have been there, and were not, and others that just use the same phrase over-and-over for many reviews - e.g. "Awesome place, great people and service". One 5-star reviewer was in the middle of New Mexico and Central Texas at the same time a year ago. Guess he was from Area 51?? Another was an employee of the place. Looks to me like this whole system is bogus filled with illegitimate reviews, many by friends of the owner or staff. Note I've written one review - it takes a really bad experience for me to...

Once you find out how to access Richter from the somewhat confused parking areas jigsawed together in this part of Boerne and down an arcade of stores, you’ll be glad you took the time.

This upstairs restaurant and bar is spacious and airy. Soft lights give the space a glow.

We had to sit at the bar for dinner, which would have been fine if we hadn’t called 30 minutes earlier and the woman answering the phone took great effort just to tell me, “We are all reserved, but there might be some walk-in tables when you get here.” I had called to ask only, “Do you have dine-in?” Front of house could have been tighter. Service is general was slow but polite and professional.

The meal was fantastic. And that’s mainly why we go out to dinner, right? They say, “Dining is theater.” Garbage. Dining is dining. You want great food at a good price. That makes it a good value.

I had the shrimp and grits—awesome. The grits got a little runny with the sauce and would slip through my fork, and I had to ask for a spoon. But I found this meant I really could get every bite. I didn’t want to eat it all, though (I brought leftovers home), because I wanted to leave room for the cheesecake. (They never ask at the end, “Did you leave room for another $20 cocktail?”) The cheesecake, competent but not stellar, had a great graham cracker crust and was topped with mouth-watering strawberry-rhubarb. The serving was appropriate for two.

My wife got a burger, which was great. Fries: great. I agree with another reviewer here that the “ketchup,” while laudably scratch, was more like cocktail sauce. Not good for burgers or fries. Go back to regular ketchup, Richter.

Finally, and speaking for other non-drinkers, Richter would do well to stock a couple sixes of NA beer. Even H‑E‑B has six feet worth of different brands of NA beer, including some new IPAs. Richter could get a six of a couple brands and satisfy more customers. People return to restaurants, we all know, because the overall experience was excellent.

I’ll certainly go back to Richter, but the two things they could do to get that 5th star from me is NA beer and, more importantly, tighten the...

My husband and son and I stopped in around 4:15pm for a meal. Atmosphere was nice, view is lovely from upstairs, and given the time, there was no wait. Our wait person did a good job and was attentive until later once my meal was served. We started with appetizer of Flatbread with brruschetta topping. It was very fresh, great flavors. My husband chose the parmesan crusted fried chicken with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Good flavor, sweetened crust made it a bit sweet. My son chose the Pad Thai extra spicy. He shared that it wasn't his top favorite from Pad Thai he had in other restaurants but was quite good. My choice was the poached pear salad, which included a simple bed of spinach, heirloom tomatoes, Walnuts, a light balsamic dressing and I had option to add chicken or shrimp ($8), I chose shrimp. When the dish was brought to the table, the 5 shrimp were in a separate small cast iron bowl. I started with salad and took a shrimp one at a time. When I got to the 5th piece of shrimp, there was a hair on the shrimp. I notified the waiter he could take it away because it had hair on it. He apologized saying "that's not good" and left with the shrimp. Another gentleman came by asking how our meal and experience was that day. I told him we each enjoyed tasty food until I found a hair on my shrimp. He also apologized and thanked us for coming in. The atmosphere is lovely, with an attempt to be upscale, and certainly upscale pricing. There was even a special offered for prime rib at $75. I never take issue with price unless the food is sub-par. Once you notify a waiter, and then a second person of a hair on your food... there is some expectation of making good on the error. I did not expect a free meal. However some offer to give back the amount that would at least cover a shrimp that was not edible would have been appropriate. A minor effort like that would have changed my outlook on their service.

I would give Richter another chance but it will be hard to recover without looking intently at each food on my plate to assure it isn't...