SweetFire Kitchen — Restaurant in San Antonio

Let's get the positive out of the way; the staff and our waitress were pleasant and attentive and the ambiance was very nice. But that's where it ends. To say the food was disappointing, would be a generous overestimation on my part. The variety and quality did not match the setting. I got completely ripped off. It would be like if you handed your honey a beautiful box of chocolates meticulously wrapped with fine red silk ribbons and gold border only to open it up and discover it only contained a handful of loose stale candy corns. It was nothing like it was advertised. The only cold cuts they offered was some sweaty manchego cheese and some greasy I think was sopressata. There were no hot or soft bread rolls in the place. It was just hard stale dark bread in these little baskets scattered amongst the sweaty cheese and salamis in various locations. That squash soup looked like something they scraped out of a Gerber jar and it reeked with nutmeg. The mashed potatoes were cold and bland and the butter I put on them was probably mixed with margarine because it just sat there and never melted. The stuffing was sticky and flavorless. The macaroni and cheese should have just been called macaroni and bread crumbs there was no cheese. The prime rib was the right color and the flavor was all right but it was cold. The ham was too salty. The cranberry sauce looked like it was made of ketchup and beets. And it tasted the way it looked. The turkey was the dud of the night. They had a very nice looking roasted turkey on the carving table But they never touched it. Instead they were carving a pressed loaf of white turkey meat. (I hate using the word loaf to describe food. Because that's what food becomes a few hours after being eaten) But in this case.........

So at this point, one would think maybe the desserts could save the day, but that was not to be. They had these strange little spiced cakes slices that smelled like the squash soup. Some genius thought it would be cute to put tiny blackberry and strawberry shortcakes in little Gerber jars. (That same genius also thought they could put those jars to good use after they emptied their contents into the squash soup tub) The shortcakes were nothing more than a one inch cubical piece of pound cake, a light and barely noticeable smear of blackberry or strawberry jam on said pound cake topped with Cool Whip. They didn't even fill the jar. Even the chocolate on some of the other cakes was gritty and overly sweet.

If I could recommend anything it would be not going there in the first place. I came in there with much anticipation expecting a great experience, and believe me they charged me for a great experience. But they failed miserably to deliver. Instead, I ended up dropping nearly $250 for 2 glasses of malbec, 2 coffees and 2 robust, heaping portions of pure dissatisfaction. We got seriously ripped off. Our puppy had a better...

I hate leaving this review because I love the La Cantera Resort. It's a beautiful location, they host amazing events, and it's a great place for travelers and locals to hang out. You really feel like you're removed from the city.

That being said, this review is specifically for the lunch we had yesterday at SweetFire Kitchen, and it was TERRIBLE!

We live about 5 minutes away and decided to go for lunch. It was around 2 p.m., and the restaurant was mostly empty. Just ourselves and another couple. We were greeted with a smile and taken right to a table. The waitress was very nice and got our drink order in fairly quickly, so everything started off nice.

I ordered the smashburger with sweet potato fries, and my wife got the Muffaleta pizza.

My smash burger looked fine, but biting into it felt like eating a crust of salt, and it was way overdone. The sweet potato fries came out cold and undercooked. I had those sent back, and I could hear them re-frying more in the kitchen, so I'm assuming they gave me whatever had been sitting out for a while. My wife's Muffaleta pizza had way too much cheese, way too much white sauce, and was completely underdone to the point of being doughy. Biting into it felt like eating raw dough filled with white sauce and cheese. My wife and I had one slice and didn't even touch the rest. The toppings consisted of scattered canned green olives, capers, and sparsly placed meats.

We had a burger, fries, pizza, and two drinks, and it came out to $71. The waitress didn't offer for us to try something else or make any substitutions, even after we complained. She just handed me the check and said sorry. Again, she was very nice, and she probably just didn't think about it. The blame of this poorly executed meal rests solely on the kitchen. You can find an equivalent lunch to the one we had at any Golden Corral.

I gave 2 stars because the drinks were good, the staff is friendly, and the ambiance is fantastic. However, our meal...

Let me start by saying--our food and experience, the ambiance, resort etc were excellent. The reason for the 1* review is they engaged in a practice I believe lacks integrity and because of this I will not be returning. We had a lovely dinner here with another couple (4 patrons total) and at the end of the evening handed the waiter 2 cards to split the checks for us as couples. The waiter only brought the final price not the itemized bill. I was about to add my usual 25%+ tip for good service but remarked to my friend my total seemed high for what we ordered to which she agreed so we asked for itemized receipts. Upon receiving them, we saw that a more than 20% service charge (listed as service charge not gratuity) was added onto our checks. I called the waiter over who played dumb like he wasn't sure if it was a tip so I called the manager over who previously had checked on us who also played dumb and they both said akin to "oh we have new computer systems they must have accidentally added that, we can remove it". At this point, when they returned the amended checks I added 20% but less than I would have if this all wouldn't have happened. There was no apology, no sincere regret, etc which made me wonder how many other unsuspecting people get taken this way especially since it is a resort with a lot of tourists. Very unfortunate because we live a couple of miles away and we all had said how much we enjoyed our experience and would return until this happened. I don't mind automatic gratuity at all when it is disclosed but this was dishonest and completely lacked integrity. Had i tipped without noticing the waiter would have received a 60% tip. Also please note these were not like $50 checks, they were almost $200 each (when first brought back). Shame on...