The Brazos Landing — Restaurant in Waco

The Landing is the former Buzzard Billy's. We have been dinning there for about twenty years, going back to it's former downtown Buzzard Billy's location. Buzzard Billy's had a fun, casual vibe with three seating areas: the Swamp Shack which is a covered patio type area with garage door type walls that open up, a bar, and a mix of low and high top tables; a main indoor seating area; and a covered outdoor patio area. The restaurant was purchased and rebranded in late 2022. The rebranding seems intended to offer a more upscale experience. The main seating area now has black table cloths and low table lighting. They also now offer a small selection of nice bourbons for those who enjoy spirits. We met the current owners shortly after they purchased the restaurant. They were very friendly and seemed like nice people!

We arrived at approximately 6:30 p.m., on a Tuesday evening. There were no known events occurring in the area that evening. We parked in one of two remaining spots in the main parking lot. There is overflow parking up a hill adjacent to the main parking area.

Our party of four included two out-of-town friends who had dined with us here on previous occasions. We were warmly greeted by the hostess and immediately seated in the indoor area.

Our waitress was soft spoken and polite. I'll summarize the overall service by saying that our discussion eventually turned to which tables had or had not received their food. We ordered an appetizer and three cocktails. They arrived much too slowly, and in piecemeal fashion.

I have always enjoyed getting the large fried mozzarella cheesesticks and a bowl of their delicious Swamp Soup. I intended on ordering these items on this visit. I immediately saw that the Swamp Soup was only listed as a cup, with no bowl option. When I said I wanted an order of mozzarella sticks, the waitress informed me that an order now only included two cheesesticks (at $15). I declined. We began a short discussion about these items, and she said that they had revised all of their appetizers. She said I could still get Swamp Soup in a bowl, but I declined this also, as I suspected it would no longer be the generous bowl size previously offered.

I ordered the plain Catfish plate with sweet potato fries substituted for regular fries. My wife had a fried combination plate. My catfish was very good, and everyone else enjoyed their selections as well. I had intended to order dessert, but our waitress never asked if anyone would like one. My friend offered to waive her down, but I decided to skip it since it was approaching 8:30 p.m. Our two main plates, a tea, and three cocktails resulted in a pre-tip tab of $91.98.

The Landing seems trapped between its old and new personas, while not excelling at either. We will likely come here again, but it won't be any time soon, and certainly not when we have something to do or some place to be afterwards. (We had been here a month or so earlier, before a basketball game, and we became worried as to whether we would get to the game on time.) We have always liked this place and its location. We hope it...

Very disappointing. We showed up party of 6 Adults and 2 Kids at 4pm on a Saturday. Fairly early, right? Should be in and out before rush, should be really casual and quick service. Nope! We waited for probably over an hour on our food, a server dropped ketchup all over my husbands white shirt. Then only gave him his food once everyone else was done. Server gave one of the kids the parmesan risotto thinking it was “mac and cheese” (the risotto by the way was very starchy, aa a chef I assume they likely cooked too much rice as opposed to a thin layer). My SIL and I both got the alfredeaux, which the roux for the sauce had failed and the fat of the butter separated out, leaving the meal very greasy. My FIL only got two, small fish tacos, while BIL, SIL, and I all got large plates of pasta. Husbands “blackened” catfish was seasoned and not at all blackened. Again, I don’t say this as someone who is unaware of what happens in kitchens. I live and work in kitchens. I am still sorely disappointed.

In an attempt to make up for my husband having ketchup thrown all over him, we heard multiple different things to make it right: “we’ll give you a free dessert”, “we’ll give ya’ll several free desserts”, “we’ll take off ya’lls drinks.” We got one dessert which took 15 minutes for them to bring out in a to go box. Not sure why it took so long, it wasn’t busy.

Speaking of to go, I asked for a box to wrap my leftover alfredeaux, my MIL’s risotto, and my neices mac and cheese; the server said that she would box it, which is fair since they try to present themselves as a nicer restaurant, but then proceeded to toss everything in a styrophoam to go clamshell and tied up “THANK YOU” grocery bag…. why both taking it to package for me if the package will look like that?

Speaking of my nieces mac and cheese… like my husbands, took way too long to bring out. I have never seen a restaurant bring out the kids food LAST, which meant my SIL had to give her kids her pasta so they wouldn’t complain and irritate the rest of the guests).

No manager came to talk to us besides frantically using her foot to wipe up the spilled condiments, and she was wearing a green very oversized blanket-hoodie-thing… again, this place really wants to seem upscale. Black tie, black shirt, black belt wearing servers. So besides the free dessert, which we didn’t even want anyways, we were also charged for a “large party” surcharge.

Last time my husbands family came, they had a great time. But apparently ownership has changed hands and its a new place or something. We will not be eating here again.

UPDATE! An hour after leaving I threw up because of how much grease separated in the roux for...

My son was turning 13 and he wanted seafood for his birthday dinner. The place he wanted wasn't open on Sunday. Since he likes to celebrate on the actual birthday which was Sunday, I told him to look up a restaurant and let me know where he wants to go. He chose the Brazos Landing. I was excited about that, since I had not tried them since they bought or took over Buzzard Billy's. I've always loved this location and atmosphere. Since I am a local Wacoan born and raised I've seen this place as a few different restaurants. This one by far has exceeded All my expectations! The entryway is always inviting with the fish and the curb appeal. We had a party of about 10 with small children, we did not call in our reservation and we were seated right away. In a perfect location with plenty of room. This was a Sunday afternoon around 2:30. Our outstanding waitress was so kind quick and efficient! She was on it! We had two little ones that stay busy with us as well as the rest of the family. Some had driven in from out of town to celebrate this special day. All of our orders were accurate and absolutely delicious! I highly highly highly recommend the chicken fried steak! Just so you know I'm not a chicken fried steak girl but I am when I come here for now on. I recommend going during lunch hours so you can get the lunch portion at a fraction of the price. I believe lunch is only Monday through Friday. It is absolutely worth it! I would recommend sharing the dinner portion with someone or be prepared to take some home. My son got the seafood basket fried, super good crispy and delicious! The french fries are so good flavorful and crispy ! You have to try the coleslaw and hush puppies!!!! Mmmmmmm slap your momma with LOVE so good! Make sure you try a cocktail from the bar, the mixologist Jamie is a MASTER at her craft, or grab a beer if that's more your thing! This is a great place for a date night, family dinners, lunch, birthdays or any occasion! They even have a patio overlooking the BEAUTIFUL Brazos River as well as a beautiful view of Baylor and downtown Waco! After dinner we took a walk out on the Riverwalk behind the restaurant, this is a MUST! There was a turtle social going on! I couldn't count how many turtles there were in the water and there were all types of turtles and all sizes! They looked as if they were all on vacation hanging together. There was a giant turtle moving around pretty good mingling with the other beautiful ones. Thank you Brazos Landing for providing a beautiful atmosphere and DELICIOUS food and drinks for us to celebrate my son's special day!...