Las Brisas — Restaurant in Lubbock

My wife and I went to Las Brisas for our anniversary dinner. First timers, we chose Las Brisas for an excellent dinner on our special day. The grounds were beautiful, the pond and waterfall we saw upon entering the parking lot was an encouraging site. We had reservations, arrived right on time and were promptly ushered to a table; a proper place setting upon a snow white table cloth, however the silverware was spotted. Our waiter showed up almost instantly to welcome us to Las Brisas, filled our water glasses and asked our drink order (two glasses of iced tea.) The evening went downhill a bit from there. We couldn't decide on an appetizer but didn't want the sampler, we chose the Picadillo-stuffed mushroom and bacon wrapped jalapenos which arrived in a timely fashion; the mushrooms were very tasty, complex in flavor that brought joy and satisfaction to the palate; the jalapenos were ok at best, dry and hard bacon wrapped around stuffed, overcooked peppers, zero hint of spicy heat. We had to ask our waiter to bring bread to our table, even though he stated that it was coming two times before he delivered. The main entrées were 16oz prime ribeye cooked to medium for me and chimichurri chicken for my wife. They showed up also in timely fashion, about the time we were finished with our appetizers. The steak arrived sizzling on a several hundred degree plate, fabulous presentation as the butter sizzled around the darkened beef. I was surprised at the catawampas shape of the thing, thin on one end, thick on the other. I expected a tender, juicy slice of rib loin in the grade of prime; it was juicy, especially tasty dipped in its natural drippings and the sizzled butter on the plate...but it wasn't as especially tender as one might think for a prime cut. The asparagus spears were slightly less tough and fibrous than a hard lay lariat rope, I've had better at cafeterias. I was pleased with the truffle mashed potatoes, smooth, flavorful and quite delectable. I appreciated the fact that they were served in their own dish. My wife enjoyed the Chimichurri chicken, although she said she wished she had ordered something different; the risotto was well cooked and moist, the lemon- thyme Hollandaise was an acceptable compliment. The breaded breast was moist and tender with a crispy outer crust. The complexity of flavors made the entrée enjoyable. The overall experience was less than the special experience we had hoped for our anniversary. I think the quality of the meal was below par excellence, easily equated to meals at other dining establishments at half the fare. The ambience was relaxing in the sophomoric decor of the main dining area. Would I return to Las Brisas Southwest Steakhouse? Maybe. I'd like to try the Beef Wellington, but only if it's on someone...

We were told Las Brisas is the nicest restaurant in town, and I'm inclined to believe it, even if it's the only one I visited while in Lubbock.

Let me start by saying that I have hashimotos, which requires me to be totally gluten free. Most of my reviews center on bringing that info to the growing number of people who have to be careful at restaurants given their own health diagnosis.

Las Brisas is somewhat sympathetic to gluten free diners, even given it's in a more rural town. That is pleasantly surprising and I am glad I was able to get a meal that I could eat besides a salad, but it's obvious they are still learning how to accommodate that. I warned our waiter at our arrival that I was strictly gluten free and he informed me that he would bring the gluten free menu. However, I had to remind our waiter that we still needed the menu a while later, so we didn't have as much time to consider our options as everyone else did. Our waiter was knowledgeable about what menu items were gf and which weren't which was nice. He was also very kind and prompt with all of the rest of our service.

We ordered an appetizer sampler with one option that was gf for me to eat and different fried foods for everyone else. Unfortunately, it was covered in the not gluten free breading of the calamari it sat right next to on the plate. It would have been really lovely to have been given the consideration to plate the gf item separate. I'm sure no one thought about it twice, but it did mean we spent $60 on an appetizer I couldn't have a bite of.

The food varied a bit in quality for the price, but by and large it was very good. We ordered the appetizer sampler with stuffed shrimp, crab cakes, and calamari. Though I didn't eat any of it, I was told it was good. The calamari and crab cakes were everyone's favorite. I got a side salad with blue cheese that was lovely and the Las Brisas salmon which was also good. I wanted the salmon to be more seasoned underneath the cream sauce, but I like my fish to be well-seasoned. It was very yummy and the salmon was cooked very delicately. My partner ordered the raspberry filet, which is also on the gf menu and it was To-Die-For. It was absolutely worth the price with pecan encrusting, raspberry sauce on the side, and the creamy mashed potatoes. 10/10 Entree option. I wish I had ordered it myself. All told, Las Brisas was a lovely restaurant with good service and several good options for gluten...

We recently hosted a wedding rehearsal dinner party at Las Brisas. Here is the in-depth review:

I would give this rating 4.5 stars, but that’s not an option.

Venue: To begin with, the email address listed on the website doesn’t work. I originally sent an email inquiry for our private party and after no response I called and left a message. I did hear back from their private events coordinator and was given the correct email address to submit our request.

The ordering process from there was simple and straight forward. I was able to “build” a menu for our guests and control the cost aspects as needed. We were able to confirm the set up and selections and felt very comfortable leading up to the event.

When we arrived for the event, the room was set as expected and we had custom printed menus for our guests.

Service: Our server was attentive and really did everything you would expect with a couple of small exceptions. I felt like I had to direct some traffic and give a little more instruction than usual just to ensure that things ran properly. One example would be me asking him to explain the selections on the menu. That probably should have been done without me having to ask. Also, I had to prompt him to start taking orders as it had been an hour and we were ready to move forward. Tiny thing, but he probably should have reached out to me on these items rather than me having to track him down. But again, other than those tiny issues, everything was great.

Food: I have dined at Las Brisas a number of times before and the food is usually good with only the occasional misstep. Last night was top notch. Each of the steaks were perfectly cooked. The sides were hot and the presentation was perfect. All of the guests were Talking about how amazing the food was.

One thing to fix: The one thing that kept the review from being a 5 star review was the comfort level of the private room. When spending a few thousand dollars on a special event, the temperature control is a big part of the event. While the main dining rooms were nice and cool, the private room we were in was quite warm. They tried adjusting the temperature and even brought a fan (granted it was a tiny fan that had zero benefit) to try and help. But the guests were literally sweating and just trying to make the best of it. Hopefully they can do some maintenance and avoid this situation for...