Kindling Texas Kitchen — Restaurant in Cibolo

After two months of our husbands being away, my two girlfriends and I finally had an opportunity to have a girls night! With much anticipation of trying this new-to-us and raved about restaurant, we made our reservations early (for 4:30 pm, four days in advance) with the assumption that we would be taking the evening there slow; wining and dining ourselves. Upon arrival, the restaurant was basically empty. The greeting was very friendly and welcoming. Our waitress was wonderful, telling us about the restaurant's farm-to-table idea and local commitment. We ordered wine and two appetizers (Shishito and Summer Toast). We enjoyed ourselves. Another glass of wine was ordered with our entrees. The food and service was fabulous which is such a shame considering what came with dessert. Or shall I say, what didn't come with our dessert. At approximately 6:15 when we asked the waitress for the dessert menu, my friend still having more than half a glass of wine to finish and much more conversation and relaxing to be had, our waitress informed us that there was a birthday party reserved at our table in 15 minutes and we were "welcome to stay, we will just have to move you to the bar or outside." Mind you, at this point we had been seated an hour and fifteen minutes. The three of us have traveled extensively both stateside and abroad, eaten at numerous fine restaurants and NEVER had such a situation occur. For a restaurant that prides themselves on scratch cooking, they may want to go a little further back starting with their manners and hospitality. I spoke with the supposed owner to which she seemed to blame this issue on the computer as "the computer only allots an hour for parties of three or less and you were actually given an extra thirty minutes" to which I asked where it said that on their website and was informed "it doesn't have it on there." So, they are expecting you to consume appetizers, drinks, meal, and dessert in 60 minutes. She was so kind to offer my friends and I our dessert to go ... because that was our entire goal: to spend $70 each then order our dessert to take home to share with our kids. Apparently reservations mean nothing to this restaurant and instead of being in the business of hospitality, they are in the business of shuffling you in and out like cattle; just another mouth to feed and more to come take your place. So! If you're looking for a wonderful meal that you are apparently expected to pay decent money for and rush through, this is your place. If you're looking for a quality restaurant that appreciates dining and the atmosphere of enjoying a delicious meal without hurry to really savor the experience both through palate and company, go elsewhere; I...

Worst experience ever! I don't even want to give it 1 star. My husband and I have visited here very frequently (2-3 times a month) and always had some odd interactions with making reservations or the hosts when arriving (pretentious, snobby, self absorbed); but last night was the WORST. We made reservations and arrived early, fully expecting that we would not be seated until the time we reserved. We let the hostess know we had arrived and she rudely took our name and explained we would not be seated until our reservation time (okay, not expecting anything different - 20 min or so). We noticed the bar around the corner (that we had never seen before) and saw two seats. We sat down (not noticing the "reserved" sign) and the rude bartender ignored us. I asked if the bar had always been there when she stated "yes since COVID...we reserve it...the people sitting here won't be here until 8:30...you can sit there". Great, we shouldn't be sitting there an hour anyway. She doesn't offer to take a drink order she just walks away and starts talking to another guest. I went to the hostess to tell her we were sitting in the bar area if our table comes available. She states "you can't sit there - that's not your table. Have you checked in?" Yes, 2 minutes ago but I gave her my name AGAIN and explained the bartender said we could sit there. She huffed, said "well we don't have a table". (Snobby tone). "For us tonight or right now...?" Her response "you will just have to wait". I went back to my husband and told him we needed to leave because of the way I was treated. We walked by the hostess stand and I stated "cancel our reservation". The hostess came round the counter as I was walking away saying "Ma'am! Ma'am! Ma'am!" I didn't turn around because I wasn't going to deal with her anymore... She FOLLOWED ME out to the porch and yelled "HAVE A BLESSED WEEKEND MA'AM!" I didn't respond or even look at her and we left. We are local residence and I want to support local businesses. We love the wine bar next door (we go there weekly) and I understand it is owned by the same ladies. (never a bad experience there) But our experience at Kindling will make us think again before dropping a penny in any of...

I wavered quite a bit on whether to give four stars or five. If I could give four and a half stars, I would. We were very happy with our visit here. For starters, they have plentiful outdoor seating (our number one requirement to visit a restaurant these days).

The food was also all very good. We got the Sourdough Service (every part of it was good. Even the little salad garnish in the middle was surprisingly good, although quite salty), Cornbread (always delicious; much thinner pieces than you see most places), Baked Mozzarella (this was a little disappointing. Unlike most Baked Mozzarella we've had other places, this is essentially just a bowl of marinara sauce with a little cheese it and garlic bread for dipping), Crispy Pork Belly Mac n Cheese (a very unique taste. Unlike any Mac n Cheese I've ever had. A creamy white cheese sauce with tiny pieces of pork belly), and Whiskey Braised Pork Shank (meat is fall-off-the-bone tender and carrots are sweet and tasty. Warning: the Blue Cheese Chive Whipped Potatoes are extremely heavy-handed on the Blue Cheese. This is not necessarily a bad thing if you like Blue Cheese, but be aware. They essentially taste like a pile of Blue Cheese with the consistency of Whipped Potatoes).

While not a cheap place, our bill did come out to much less than I expected. We also got dessert (not pictured, since we were full and ordered it to go): Cherry Bread Pudding (good, not great. Essentially, just a bread pudding with a cup of the same cherry jam from the Sourdough Service on the side) and Pretzel Peanut Butter Fudge Frozen Mousse (this is an ice cream-type dish, à la frozen custard. We strongly suggest stirring it up well before eating it, because the bottom inch or so is just pretzels).

The food was all good and there is more on the menu we are interested in, so we would definitely come back, but aren't in a big...