Oro Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in San Antonio

We had a 6:30pm reservation for a Wednesday night at the beginning of February so clearly we walked in knowing it was going to be busy during this hot day of the week and in peak season for tourism.....the restaurant had one other table occupied and two people sitting at the bar.

The restaurant has a very limited menu and everything is very very pricey. I opted for the $39 filet mignon. The rest of our party went for fish options.

The waitress was nice and as a result of the restaurant being so 'busy' we had two staff members waiting on us. Drinks were prompt; food not so much. We waited an hour and forty minutes for the food. When someone asked about the wait time they wait staff said that they were very busy. (No one else had come into the restaurant, and the only other table occupied was being used by a young lady with three wines glasses and a computer in front of her - clearly working on the next great romance novel).

When the food finally came the fish dishes looked beautiful and everyone said tasted wonderful and really good (SO IF YOU DO NOT HEED THE ADVICE OF THIS REVIEW AND GO HERE - EAT THE FISH). My filet mignon can best be described as a hockey puck sized roast beef that was had on top three sprigs of asparagus on top of the restaurant's augratin potatoes. The filet mignon which was ordered medium done was cooked to well done/gristle and had the consistency of a roast. I tied not to be too critical because it is not like Texas is known for their steaks. The asparagus was good. The potatoes were another story. This pile at the bottom of the plate was covered in an odd cheese and when you cut into it with your fork (it was quite rigid) the potatoes were absent and replaced by layers of unmelted cheddar cheese cemented together by a layer of white unknown that tasted like spoiled cheese curds. This restaurant did what leading scientists never imagine could be done - smothered something in cheese and made it taste like sh*t - this unto itself may warrant a visit because I still cannot fathom how it was possibly done.

The staff was nice although at first they said they had no manager when asked to see one and used the excuse of how busy they were for the slow service (No one else had come in at this point) They graciously accommodated us, and when bills were paid left us sitting there for another twenty minutes before bringing us change.

The only positive is the restaurant does give an authentic Alamo experience, because as you are trapped inside the walls of the restaurant at the mercy of another, you cannot help but think about the Alamo defenders who died at the end of their wait a mere 50 feet away from where you sit.

If you decide to go to this restaurant I encourage you to get the fish plates and if the young lady with the three wines and computer has finished her novel; I suggest you take that along as well, for you are in for...

We came for delicious food, but left with nothing but irritation, hunger, and a mediocre Buffalo sauce recipe. We had a reservation for 7:30pm and we were right on time. We had to wait 15 minutes to be seated even though there was hardly anyone there. Once we were seated, it took another 15 minutes for anyone to come by so we could order drinks. The menu was confusing because it was different than what was online, and additionally one person at my table had a different dinner menu then everyone else (slightly different items and lower prices, so I assume this was an old menu). So we were trying to figure out what the options even were.... By the time anyone came to get our drink order we were ready to order food, but when one person asked a very simple question about the menu, the server launched into, I kid you not, a dozen different tangents about salsa, Buffalo sauce recipes, whether or not the hotel is haunted, and who knows what else (I tuned out eventually). Not going to lie, I thought she had possibly had a few drinks on the job. After we finally got to order drinks, we told the server we were ready to order our food as well. She insisted on going to the bar to put our drinks in first because "the bartender is really slow tonight." She left for about 5 or 10 minutes, and when she came back she had to verify or drink order, so she hadn't even put it in! Then she disappeared again for at least another 10 or 15 minutes. By then it was nearly 8:30 and we didn't even have drinks! An hour after our reservation. Totally ridiculous. Eventually we just walked out because it was clear the kitchen would be closed before we even got to order food. I was really sad, and not just because I was hungry, that the service was so terrible. The reviews seemed generally good and I was looking forward to eating a nice dinner in an interesting place. But the service was so bad I likely will not come back again, and we recommended to someone we met outside who was thinking about coming in that they eat somewhere else. I know everywhere is struggling right now, but the restaurant was practically empty so even with limited staff the service should not have...

We're staying at the Emily Morgan hotel, so we've been here a few times now. Breakfast buffet serves its purpose. Nothing special but edible and filling. Dinner, though, is another story. Dinner was soooo good. We got everything from salads to sammiches to short ribs and it was all good. The drinks were great and cookie skillet was perfect for sharing! Server wasn't so sure about us at first, but she figured us out pretty quickly. (Large group of heavy drinkers--we're fun and responsible, not annoying and obnoxious.) She got answers to questions she didn't know instead of pretending to have the answers then leaving us disappointed. My only complaint about this restaurant is the lighting. Why so dark? Some pin spot lighting would go a long way. I'm always leary of hotel restaurants bc I find them over priced and disappointing quality, but I would definitely recommend checking out this historic property and grabbing dinner here after your...