Biga On The Banks

The food is amazing. Colorful, flavorful, perfect temperature and timing. If you're in Texas, game is a must, but lamb and seafood won't disappoint as well. American, French, Texan, and Asian twist in one. Chef Brandon was in charge and took some time to check how I was doing. Mathew, the team on the floor and hostess were friendly, knowledgeable, accurate and professional the whole time. Mathew was the only server among every place I visited during my long stay in town, who really knew about the menu, describe it perfectly and recommended cooking temperature for the meat, wine and dessert. By the cleanliness of the facilities, the set up of the dinning room, and the quality of the coffee you can tell that not a single detail was left aside. Taking the alcohol from the bill, I paid the same at my hotel for an average Uber Eats' food with plastic ware, so, the relation between quality and price is more than fair.

This dinner was for a special occasion which I noted in the reservation but it was never mentioned during the service. Overall, it was a decent experience with a mixed bag on the food and drinks. And they need more consistency on service. Starting with the low point is the service which was a mixed bag. The start was promising with the server attentive but once we started receiving the food, our server didn't even ask how the food was until we got dessert. In nearly all restaurants at this level, servers ask how the food was. And I saw in other tables with a different server were asked how the food was. The water was regularly filled and table cleaned of food crumbs before dessert. So there were positives but I expected more for the price. The food was better than the service. I often find food in the US over seasoned. These were seasoned to our expectations - closer to European style. The only downside was the Texas Gulf Chicken Fried Oysters which came out cold especially the squid ink linguine. We had to mention it as the server didn't even ask how the starters were. They thankfully removed it from the bill. The highlights for us were the fresh focaccia bread (though we had to ask for olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip - were they expecting us to eat the bread on its own?), the scallops with grits (great combination and the scallops were perfectly cooked nearly melt in your mouth), the red snapper (surprised me on how well the curry and cous cous complemented the snapper), and the sticky toffee pudding (we asked for them to be generous with the English custard but they didn't but it was still good and not overly sweet). The middle of the pack were the antelope and quail, the two potato gratin (it is only one portion but used sweet and normal potato), and the drinks. The antelope (which is farmed) was surprisingly tasteless but the rest including the quail and goat cheese tart were as expected. The gratin was fine though you can barely taste the sweet potato but the portion was smaller than expected and not worth the price. The drinks quality depended on the bar tender as the first round was great. The second round was very inconsistent (old fashion was overly sweet and the lemonade was so watered down). Our table was overlooking the Riverwalk and tables were spaced nicely so that people could have conversations and it wasn't noisy. Bathrooms were clean though I believe there was a sign that they are redecorating the place.

We enjoyed a delightful and delicious birthday at Biga last evening. Tucker was our waiter, & his 14 years of experience shone through with impeccable grace and class. He explained the nuances of their menu & highlights of local Texas-grown ingredients. Our food was incredible & we highly recommend this lovely restaurant, located on a quiet section of the San Antonio Riverwalk. We were sated & had no room for a birthday dessert so Tucker brought us each a lovely glass of champagne! Perfect ending to an amazing and memorable birthday in San Antonio. Biga, we will be back!

The bread service and cheese plates were great. A few of us enjoyed the filet and the antelope and quail. The desserts were great, dark chocolate mousse and sticky toffee pudding. As for drinks, the bananas foster and berry cheesecake, yes they are drinks, were delicious. I also liked the unsweetened iced tea.

I photographed a wedding reception here. It was a beautiful event. The cocktail hour was on the balcony overlooking the river and streets. The hall is simple but they put many candles all over and with the beautiful floral and level of service - this was an unforgettable night.