Ivar's River Pub — Restaurant in San Marcos

This is THE best place to eat at on the river - actually, it’s the only one that I know of other than Saltgrass.

The staff are very friendly, they know their menu, the place is clean, and the views - the views are just WOW! Sit inside with awesome views of the river through the huge windows, sit in the open air on the covered deck, or soak in the sun on the uncovered deck portion. There’s honestly not a bad spot in the house.

I can vouch for the grilled portobello burger by telling you it’s a game changer, a show stopper, a life changer. Imagine the scenario - a giant, juicy, grilled portobello mushroom topped with arugula, onion, and tomato, resting on a fresh ciabatta bun arrives at your table. What do you do? It’s a trick question - you devour this tastiness as fast as you can! Honestly, it was THAT good. By default, it comes with fries, but you can substitute almost any side for no additional charge. I chose the seasonal veggies which were shredded carrots, red bell pepper, and zucchini, perfectly cooked, wonderfully seasoned, and soaking in a really nice marinade of some sort - I don’t know what it was, but it made it oh so tasty.

They have BBQ, chicken fried steak, a couple of seafood items, and even some other vegetarian options such as a veggie burger, a tempeh “Smoky Joe” sandwich, and a couple of salads.

And how did I forget this??? 17 beers on tap, including the big names, and a lot of regional microbrews. They even offer flights of four for $8.95. They also have a lot of bottled and canned beers.

Here are some additional tidbits one of the staff members shared with me:

The place is brand new and was rebuilt from the ground up after the 2015 floods (based on how new it looks, I believe them).

All of their sauces are made in house and made from scratch.

The BBQ is smoked on site by their...

So let's start off with what a location. It's absolutely the perfect spot for a restaurant such as this. The clear San Marcos river gently rolls by as the smell of some really good food permeates the air. This pub originally opened in 1996 as the San Marcos River Pub and had amazing food then just as the newly remodeled Ivar's river Pub has now. Too be honest the menus really didn't change from the old to new owners. Why mess up a great thing. So to start the meal off we had the:

Fried mushrooms ($7) they are absolutely yummy, juicy with a nice crispy crust. Served with a tangy ranch. #8

The pub nachos with pulled pork (1/2 order $8) were up next . Really tasty and a decent appetizer. There is that queso again. #7

The GQ burger ($11.50) was nothing less than spectacular, The queso is what takes it over the top. #8

Fried Gulf Shrimp ($17) These shrimp are fresh and taste better than what you would get at a high end seafood restaurant. Really tasty and the cocktail sauce was really good as well. Served with 2 sides. #9

Chicken Pico Con Queso ($12) is a different take on fried chicken. You get a huge chicken breast fried to perfection then covered with there awesome queso. Served with 2 sides. #7

Smoked Brisket plate ($13.50) The brisket was perfectly smoked and had a great taste. Served with 2 sides. #8

I have eaten almost everything on the menu and have never had anything that wasn't good. Float the river and take a trip to awesomeville. You won't regret the trip. The only problem we had during this visit was a lackluster performance by our waitress. She seemed to be somewhere else most of the time. One note about this place is, food does not shoot out of the kitchen at rocket speed but when it gets there it was...

Let me start off by saying, The food here? Amazing, The servers, busers, runners, AMAZING, The management? The laughing stock of the century. Imagine this, Im sitting down with my family, its quite loud, and the baseball game is on for people at the bar. Not a big deal thats normal. What isnt normal is seeing the Manager who was in a baseball cap at the time screaming and encouraging others around them to do the same while the game played. The amount of times I watched this woman stop to watch the game and how annoyed the people around her were, BAFFLING.

I did not count once, not twice, but over FIVE times where an employee was actively looking for this A.T. only to never find them, or when they did, shed be again, watching the game. Not only this, but youll find the woman seriously has some power control issues, always talking SO LOUD and YELLING.

I cannot express this enough that they need to either replace her, or teach her what an inside voice is. It wasnt enough that my table, including several others walked out because of them, but I felt sorry for the staff that had to work underneath her that clearly werent allowed to speak up for themselves. Will NEVER be back to this location if they remain there.

Side, Parking was difficult to find but the food itself was worth it. Ask for Nic for service if theyre available, nothing can go wrong there. Z was the cutest thing at making sure we were sat at a convenient time, and made us feel welcome even as the situation of the noise was unfolding, apologizing profusely and attempting to make things right. If Im coming back, its for the lower staff... READ AND TAKE...