Embers Wood Fire Kitchen & Tap — Restaurant in San Antonio

I am going to give it 5* (with a few caveats), so read and make your own conclusions. We arrived and the wonderful smell of wood burning hit us right away, we were greated by a charming hostes. She informed us that there would a 5min wait, then she came back to tell us that the wait would be 25min and proceeded to take our name down. She left came back and said "it will be just a few minutes" 🤪. So i agree with prior reviews about "wacky" employees, if you will LOL. We sat a booth which was nice but you could feel the frame of the seat, maybe they need new ones. The decore and ambiance are superb, very nice and welcoming. They have an awesome patio where you can also eat or just sit and enjoy some beer, cocktails, appetizers and good company, complete with patio furniture fire pits and warmers for those cool winter nights. Our server was of the same "kind" friendly and pleasant but a bit.....idk. she would come to our table like a hit and run, loke if she was not very interested in really serving and providing customer service. We order the house margarita and a mango margarita, frozen. Both very tasty but the mango just needed a bit more mango, you can definitely taste the tequila and the price was super reasonable. We order the 3 lil pigs for appetizer and the rocky mountain chicken for dinner (split). Dinner came first, we sent it back. 3 lil pigs are wonderful, cooked to perfection, we order the sauce on the side. Dinner came, we had broccoli and onion rings ( nice and crispy) for our sides. The fusion of flavors on the chicken was excellent, we are not sure if it was the old dinner just reheated ( something to keep in mind) or not but heck it was already on our table and we were hungry ready to eat, we enjoyed it. The place also has a nice pizza oven, maybe next time we try a pizza or a calzone, and a great selection of beer on tap, specifically local and state beers. Staff was very friendly and the facilities were "clean", for the most part. Don't look too far up or too far down. Anyway i hope this helps but if you are still not sure, well GO and give it a try, I believe they also take...

I always wondered what this place was, after it replaced a number of Applebee's locations close to me. Needless to say, I was disappointed. The service just at the beginning seems puzzled and confused that no, I was not a single patron going to the bar on a Friday night. I could see the confusion in their eyes as I was led to my booth. Just looking around, there's a clear issue with flies and cleanliness. Everywhere I looked was another fly, and the walls were stained with what looked like grease and fluids from months or even years ago. Not even the sun shades were clean, and had stained peppered all over the bottom portion, in conjunction with dirty and dusty window sills. The music is annoyingly bass boosted, like it's trying to be a night club without committing. And of course, the service was slow and far between on a very not busy Friday dinner rush. The food was lackluster and mediocre. The boneless wings I ordered came lukewarm, and in a sauce I recognized from how often I had it at Sonic Drive-ins. The meats pizza I ended up getting was soggy in the center, and burned on the bottom. The cheese was clearly shredded, likely taken out of a bag, as it didn't melt all the way in the oven to evenly spread out. The sausage tasted of rubber and the bacon tasted of brine. The best part about this pizza was the pepperonis, which were still unremarked. Of course, being a bar and grill, the less than impressive meal I got would still come at 5 star prices, costing a total of $26, not including tip, for about a dozen boneless wings and a 12 inch pizza. I couldn't stomach a dessert, knowing how poorly they performed in food and atmosphere already, so I took the loss and decided to leave. I don't suggest this to anyone, as it's clearly trying to be a bar before a grill. I say, they should stick to what they're good at, if they're good at anything, that...

Went in for resturant week. You KNOW something ain't right when your franchises whole schtick is down. I get a warning "hey for warning the grill is down". I had to ask if they are still making food. Well shoot...I honestly should have gone back into 5pm traffic. I had to bring up the resturant week menu on my phone, looks like this had to be hidden from general public. These menus are laminated, you might as well dry erase mark these on what was available! Furthermore is the lack of half the menu, only fried and wood baked pizzas. Even the most incompetent of chefs would know how to use the giant wood fire grill to cook salmon (10-12 minutes per inch of thickness at 400°F BTW). THAT should be something trained in, I guess the chef mic has his work cut out for him. Its a friday and felt like going out, but this is just a reminder to stay home and save 60$. The chili cheese fries had this garnish ruining it, raw onion, jalepenos, and tomatoes (my fault, I should have read the separate menu for the details instead of the typo ridden resturant week mobile menu). The (horrible) appetizer arrived along our entrees. The bar cocktail is what primarily filled me up, the ribs were too dry. Its a shame the waitress didn't offer to order a new one but oh well. The vent was right at our table. This is a third visit, and only once was a decent visit. If this place is hosting an event you better walk away or else play second play to the service. I learned my lesson with the Texas...