The Cottage Pub — Restaurant in San Antonio

I hesitated to write this. This is about one particular visit--in general I love the place. But I will not order from this particular server again, whether that means I need to move to another table or simply go elsewhere.

I have theories about what might have been going on in her head, but I'll leave 'em aside for this. Here's what happened:

I ordered a steak "blue rare." She (age approx. 22?) corrected me and said I wanted "medium rare." I explained that I meant very very rare. I said that it was okay with me if they forgot to cook it entirely, if it was at least at room temperature (seriously, I like raw ribeye almost as much as the cooked version, but generally I just get a taste when grilling my own...). My steak came out, and the server departed very quickly. The steak was...I dunno...somewhere between medium and medium rare, but more on the medium side. She came back, didn't even glance at my plate, and made a point of saying she'd told the cook to make sure it was rare. She then left quickly when I tried to talk about this....

Okay. So the Cottage Pub serves a really good steak. Even my overcooked (to my taste) version wasn't at all bad. They get a nice sear on the meat, which goes a long way. They can also sear it really well while leaving the interior completely rare, which is amazing and wonderful. In general.

But this person...okay, I'll say it. Based on age, appearance, tone of voice? I'd guess, offhand, that I was dealing with a vegan social justice warrior who didn't like meat, especially rare meat, and also didn't like having "blue rare" explained to her. I'd say the meat I got was fixed that way because that's what she told the cook I wanted.

Who knows? I could be wrong about her. In some ways. But she clearly knew she hadn't brought what I'd ordered. I'm having trouble coming up with a reasonable explanation for that.

YMMV. Basically I like the place. A lot. Not sure I'll go back anytime...

My (adult) son & I were in the area around 3pm on 5/26, so we popped in during happy hour bc my son was hungry. I’m sure our experience isn’t typical, given the odd, between-meals hour.

Vibe: The decor is great! The place is pretty dark with a bar made of thick hardwood. Across from it are built in hardwood booths to match. A little further in, there’s an atrium-type seating area with lots of windows in another room. The whole place is clean, looks upscale, and has a cozy atmosphere.

Service: Excellent! I think Vanessa was our server, and she was on top of everything. We never had to wait or look for her.

Cocktails: The old fashion was delicious and generously poured! I only had one, but I felt it when I stood up. My son enjoyed his margarita but didn’t feel any effects, and he’s a lightweight, so they probably aren’t very strong.

Food: My food was pretty bad, but I ordered off the half price appetizer menu, as I wasn’t really hungry. The happy hour appetizer special only includes the flavorless frozen options, and I expected as much, but they were extra bad, like just take them off the menu bad.

My son had fish and chips. He rated the meal edible… with enough tartar sauce… after you add some spices so the tartar sauce has flavor. Needs flavor to compensate for the limp and flavorless fish with thin breading that slides off.

I will give this place another chance. I know where I went wrong, and there were some great things about it. I think they should take some things off the menu if they aren’t going to offer items of reasonable quality, but those items are easy to avoid ordering if you’re paying attention. Same with cocktails. The old fashion is straight liquor, so you know what you’re getting. Margaritas in many places are pre-mixed in large batches and aren’t very tasty or strong, so not a good idea to order them when they’re too cheap.

So I recommend them, but use your head...

Myself and my 3 kids came here after a long hot day at the zoo, and it was everything we wanted and needed. Cold, out of the sun, and amazing food. The chicken wings cooked to perfection with a delicious BBQ sauce. The mozzarella sticks large with a cheese pull that was longer than we could reach. The salad, large, crisp, and with all the toppings of a perfect, freshly chopped chef salad. The smach burger perfectly cooked, lots of cheese, and held together, not falling out of the fresh bun. The chicken parm, another hardy serving, delicious, and with perfectly cooked garlic bread. Finally, the Sheppard pie. Large serving, fluffy potatoes, with a filling that was undoubtedly beefy. Our ice waters never hit empty. My 2 Guiness drinks perfectly poured. Everyone that worked there was happy and kind, wanting to make sure we were happily stuffed. Then 3 ice cream Sundays. A perfect end to a perfect meal. Light, not too sweet, smooth as soft serve.

Thank you for having such a perfect place. We sat in the back where there were large windows but not too much light came in for there was a wall covered in beautiful ivy, as to give a garden feel. The bathrooms were clean and had funny signs we all took pictures of and got a kick out of.

Will definitely come back again. I love San Antonio for being the taco capital of the US, but sometimes I need a dark wooded, Irish pub to decompress, eat in a relaxed environment, delicious large portioned food, cooked to perfection, and recharge. We went home with leftovers and another happy story to...