Restaurant Gwendolyn

In the top 0.1% of all restaurants anywhere. There is nothing comparable in San Antonio. All their food is cooked without electricity. Every bite of everything was amazing. The charcuterie plate was at least twice as good as anything I’d experienced elsewhere. Plan on spending 2 – 3 hours there. Research it before you go.

An amazing dining experience; can’t wait for our next trip to San Antonio for a return visit. After eating in many good-​to-​spectacular restaurants all over the world, it is hard to be surprised anymore, but our dinner at Restaurant Gwendolyn was filled with pleasant surprises. We ordered the five-​course menu, and began with a charcuterie plate, which has house-​cured meats, home-​made cheeses and some of the most delicate and flavorful pickles — pickled green beans, butternut squash, and mustard seeds — I have ever eaten. Everything perishable comes from within a 150-​mile radius, the house bread is from a 200-​year-​old recipe (and tastes so good, and like nothing else), and the kitchen is amazingly quiet, calm and efficient (you can watch and make sure they aren’t using any electrical devices).
All of our courses were delicious: butternut squash curried soup, pork loin in a cream sauce, beef stroganoff, whiskey cake. The portions were perfect, and the meal paced so we could enjoy each course and anticipate the next. Two other unusual and delicious things about the meal was the palate cleanser, which was an iced borscht served in a small silver cup, and the after-​dinner coffee, which was brewed tableside in a fascinating siphon coffee pot for strong but not bitter coffee.
All-​in-​all a fabulous meal from beginning to end, and worth the price.

This place is great, wonderful service and great food. My boyfriend and I have been here several times and it’s always wonderful. The wait staff always had great suggestions for whatever beer or wine you’d like to have according to whatever taste you describe. The food is wonderful whether you’re looking for something light or heavier. This is worth the price and I absolutely recommend anyone eat here.

What I have had so far is really good … However, we sat down at 6:10pm and it is currently 8:46 and we STILL havent had our second course…

On the River Walk, this little gem is incredible. It is a little pricy but well worth it! The staff is great and very knowledgable. The menu changes daily. Which means, I cant wait to go back for more!

Wow what an experience here :) One tip, do the wine pairings if you want to get drunk! Lol. We got a new drink for every course we had!!! I was drunk by the third course! It was insane. But the experience was worth it and loved it!

Walking from our hotel last night to another restaurant that we had reservations to, we stumbled upon Restaurant Gwendolyn. We had never heard of it, never researched it, but what a gem, no a diamond we found. It wasn’t until this morning that the joke was on us-​come to find out, it’s one of San Antonio’s best. Everything was amazing, the waitstaff, the wine, THE FOOD (if you don’t get the meat and cheese tray (it actually has some fancy culinary name), you’re crazy-​best I’ve ever had). I highly recommend this restaurant! Thank you Restaurant Gwendolyn for an incredible dining experience.

We had the displeasure of dining with the lackluster waiter Alfonzo last night. All of the food was delicious, but the wait staff killed the experience for our group.
To begin the evening, Alfonzo took our order without describing our options. This wouldn’t be an issue, but many options were non-​descriptive names (I.e., Fire in the Henhouse). As the meal progressed, we realized that Alfonzo had no regard for our experience. He did not clear plates from the table. He brought out dishes before we had finished our previous dishes. When asked about a dish, he’d softly mumble juvenile descriptions so softly than only the person directly next to him could hear.
Alfonzo was also incapable of answering even the most basic questions about the menu. He described one of the dessert options as simply a «chocolate bar.» What came out at the end of our meal was a cup of cold chocolatey soup. Curious, we asked a nearby waitress what we were eating and she let us know that pigs blood was the primary ingredient. We likely would have ordered this if we had known it, but Alfonzo’s complete lack of care and completely inaccurate depiction of the dish was astonishing.
When we went to order wine, I pointed to a wine I wasn’t familiar with on the menu and asked Alfonzo about it. He described the wine as «uh, a medium red, um, I think it’s from (reads menu) Australia. It should be a little, uhh, sweet.» The wine he was making things up about was a white wine from Austria.
It’s disappointing that a restaurant with such high quality food is being held back by a waitstaff that simply doesn’t care.

Decided to try this place out for my birthday and was NOT disappointed! Had the 3 course tasting meal and it was delectable. The service was very good. Dessert was an unusual combination of dark chocolate and Cayenne pepper but delicious. Experience was worth the money spent.

had an amazing dinner catered at my house for my wives bday. we had 4 staff members and jennifer was particularly amazing. they essentially moved their kitchen to my house. unreal!

Amazing dining experience! But holy crap, I can’t believe I spent that much in one sitting! Definitely a once in a lifetime event because of the price.

The single best restaurant I’ve had the pleasure of visiting in San Antonio.
Some restaurants go beyond simply a place to get food and become more of an experience. Restaurant Gwendolyn is one of those places. The concept behind it is really quite interesting: all local food, and only techniques for cooking from the 1800’s. Nothing that plugs in being used in the kitchen. But what good is a cool concept if the food isn’t good? Luckily, it’s nothing to worry about here.
The food was excellent from start to finish. We began with a charcuterie board, and I loved every square inch it. The cured meats were awesome, the cheeses were rich and delicious, and some of the other bits and pieces like the pickled egg were shockingly good. I am NOT an egg lover, but that pickled egg, man oh man…
All five of the courses were lovely, and all of them were explained in detail by the staff. I had some additional questions, and everyone knew their stuff. I was very impressed! I tend to be pretty inquisitive about food, and no one missed a beat.
The environment was great, and felt as though it was just waiting for a special occasion. The staff, as previously mentioned, was one of the best I’ve seen. And the food was unquestionably excellent.
I would never hesitate to go here again, and I didn’t even flinch at the bill. It was WELL worth it. If fine dining is what you’re after, this is your place.

I really regret coming here. It was one of the more disappointing meals at this price I’ve had.
I got the 5 course dinner (there happened to be restaurant week running while I was here but it was a different 3 course menu only). None of the dishes were bad but they were all average at best. And you don’t go out and spend $ 75+ on a dinner that just tastes average, even if it’s local and made from scratch.

Gwendolyn is a small, upscale tasting restaurant tucked away in a strange part of downtown that prides itself on sourcing ingredients from a 150 mile radius, uses old school kitchen techniques (no blender, etc.), and has a new menu every day.
I ordered the five course tasting. I’m kicking myself because I grabbed the menu for the night so I could write about all the fancy names and ingredients each dish.
The meal included
1) a complimentary potato, pear, and cheese dish
2) a pear, argula, and accidental blue cheese salad
3) a green bean, cherry tomato, walnut, salad with spicy aioli
4) an IPA sorbet
5) a not on the menu entrée of handmade pasta and grilled portobello, topped with parmesan cheese and portobello crisps
6) a mint infused cake with chocolate and fresh mint
The complimentary dish was quite strange. The cheese and fried potato were nice together, but the pear was odd. I liked the pear and argula salad. The accidental blue cheese was balanced it very well. I think my least favorite dish was the green bean dish. It was savory and the aioli was nice, but it tasted more like a hodgepodge of whatever they had that day. The sorbet was fantastic. The bitterness of the IPA was unexpected but totally welcome. The pasta dish was fantastic. The black sauce around the plate was this charred bay leaf sauce or something equivalently as epic. I was impressed by the texture and flavor of the pasta, and the portobello was fantastic: I think those were the best mushrooms I’ve had year to date. The dessert was tasty: who knew that fresh mint and mint infused cake could taste so good!
It wasn’t very crowded on a Tuesday night. The restaurant might have only served 20 guests that night. I felt like I saw almost everyone eating there that night, because even though I was dining alone, my meal was timed out to 2 hours and 15 minutes. If you get the chance, read about head chef Michael Sohocki and his efforts to improve San Antonio. That’s how I spent my downtime at the table!
Overall, it was a nice dining experience, and I’m interested to see what else the kitchen can whip up.

Gwendolyn is probably one of the most expensive restaurants in San Antonio. I would give it a 3.5 but I will round down and not up.
I complete love the concept — the whole farm to table idea. They have a prefix menu — either a 3 course meal for $ 55 or 5 course for $ 75. Wine pairing is available– however from what I understood it was twice as much (holy cow!). As they knew we were celebrating — they provided a lovely glass of bubbly for each of us to start with– that was a nice gesture.
On that fine Saturday they provided 2 different options for each course. As it was a celebratory girls night out– we all decided to do the 5 course meal.
First the bread– not the best I have ever had. Of course we ate two basket fulls but it was a little on the dry side. Just recently coming back from the east coast– I had really high expectations. This is brought out with salted butter and poppyseed.
I think overall the meal was fine. Dishes were good. I had the green beans wrapped in lardo, the BLT, boar, and the chocolate dessert. Other options were pear & prosciutto salad, duck dumplings — delicious broth, some sort of breaded meat entrée, and another dessert (more savory than sweet).
The service was fine. I felt that the repeated question of «is everything okay» or «is everything to your satisfaction» was more for posterity instead of really wanting to make the experience different. For example– I ordered the boar. The ¼ of the cut was primarily tendon and very difficult to eat (actually I did not). When the server asked — I let him know. And he quickly apologized but said that it happens sometimes when you butcher the meat yourself. So — i felt that he really did not want to know. The other thing is that the servers kept apologizing but cont to pass things directly in front of you. And hey it’s fine for the most part but in a high end restaurant– I feel that they should serve correctly.
All in all– I think you go for the experience. The coffee is a must. The cheese platter is very small for the price but very good. At over $ 500 for four people (1 cheese plate, 4– five course meals, 2 bottles of wine, 1 coffee, 1 port, 1 tawny) and not including the tip for an experience is something I will unlikely repeat. There was also a sorbet and a different dish to cleanse your palate. The chocolate dessert was the most disappointing dish of the night.
One last note– so at the end the server brings out Madeline cookies with the bill. One of the cookies Was completely burnt on one side. We mercilessly teased our friend because all along we thought she had gotten a chocolate covered cookie– NO! It was burnt! Who packages a burnt cookie and then proceeds to actually give it out to a customer? That was the deciding factor of a 3 instead of a 4. Our server never came back after the bill was dropped off. We laughed so much between the bill and the burnt cookie all the way home.

WOW! We had a wonderful experience here during restaurant week! If your looking to have a different, special dinner this is your place! Be prepared to stay over 2 hours for a three course meal. We were seated inside, right by a nice view of the river. The restaurant week menu was already selected so nothing to choose from. The waiters are very attentive and explained that the food does take awhile to cook because of the methods they use. They only use techniques that were used in the 17^th century. No new special kitchen gadgets you’ll find here.
After each course is presented to you they explain how it was cooked and where the food comes from. They only use food within a 100 mile area. We started out with their bread and butter, amazing! They use an old recipe for it and butter is just the right temp. with beautiful black sesame seeds around the edge of it.
All of the other dishes were exceptional. You can tell a lot of time and effort has been put into each and everything. The only negative thing I can say is that the music was a bit loud for such a small place.

This charming little spot is a delightful find in a city filled with chain restaurants. Along a quieter portion of the riverwalk sits lovely Gwendolyn’s. I wasn’t able to get a seat inside and on a humid August night I braved the quiet patio overlooking the river. The service was incredibly attentive, while giving you plenty of time between courses to digest. I ordered the 3-​course menu but was brought several other goodies throughout the evening — that it really ended up being 5 courses. The fresh bread was served in a warm bowl with a beautiful display of butter crusted in poppy seeds.
The menu changes daily and there is a discounted version on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Each dish was surprising and I couldn’t have told you exactly what it was I was eating. The arrangements were inventive and fresh. One dish was a cold melon soup with mint — so refreshing. The main course was deconstructed chicken fried steak — nothing like the common diner dish. The peach and pear dessert was so much more than what was named on the menu — foamy, creamy, light whipped deliciousness.
As I enjoyed each uniquely crafted course I couldn’t help but think how expensive this would all be back home in Los Angeles.
Great little find in San Antonio.

4.5 star but I’ll round it up to 5. I can’t seem to find another restaurant in SA that delivers the same level of creativity and caliber. And I have been to most notable restaurants in town. But it’s not like Chef Michael needs my endorsement. I’m just addicted to giving my $ 0.02.
I had wanted to try restaurant Gwendolyn for the longest time but never made it here somehow. I know Chef Michael is known for his unique sustainable cooking style and all the locally sourced ingredients. I’ve recently tried his coffee and cigaret ice-​cream at the Culiniria grand tasting which blew my mind. Finally my very good friend took me here for my going away dinner which means a lot to me!
The restaurant is very intimate yet elegant. I absolutely loved the ambiance and décor. We started off with the table side coffee b/​c my friend wanted to see the German siphon vacuum coffee maker brewing coffee. That was a lot of fun to watch. We got the 5 course tasting menu and each of us ordered different dishes so we could try all 10 offerings for the night. Their menu changes daily so never worry about eating the same food here.
Service was deff as what you would expect from a fine restaurant at that price point. It was more than attentive and personable yet leaves you enough space. Silverware was changed out for each course. I especially hate when I’m asked «are you still working on it?» Eating food is joy not work. That’s a huge turn off! When I heard «are you still enjoying your meal?», I was delighted. That matters, ppl. Yeah call me a snob! I do wish they explained each dish a bit more though.
The food was deff creative. It was not an ordinary meal that bores you. I loved the anticipation each dish brought. It is like opening a box of chocolate and never know which one you are going get. The dishes were well thought out and constructed. The flavor profile was very diverse yet harmonious. I had to admit there were hit and miss here and there therefore the 4.5 star. But overall the food was memorable and the whole experience was deff unforgettable. Not to mention we got a dainty pastry wrapped in a pretty packaging the end of the meal to take home.
Yes, it’s pricey. And if you aren’t open minded about food, this place is probably not for you. But I’d say at least visit and indulge once if you are remotely interested in great and creative food. It’s one of the best in the Alamo city!

A birthday dinner that met every mark. :-)
Gwendolyn was one of the first places I wanted to dine at after moving to San Antonio. 1.5 years later… happy birthday to me!
I was anticipating ordering off the restaurant week menu but I’m simply not a big pork eater. The other options were a three course tasting ($ 55) and a five course tasting ($ 75 ish I think). Absolutely everything sounded delicious so it was difficult to choose. I loved taking my time ordering to read about the locally sourced ingredients (nearly everything is) used in each course. Eating clean just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
The three course menu seemed the perfect amount of food…
Amuse bouche… brioche topped with a quail egg and a touch of a delicious smoked meat. Perfect bite!
1^st– spinach salad with fried goat cheese. I swear it was the prettiest, freshest spinach that has ever touched my lips.
2^nd– duck breast over beet risotto with fresh mint. Sublime. Ate every. Single. Bite.
3^rd– apple pancakes. Tart and sharp.
Coffee service– everyone must experience this coffee prepared at your table over an open flame.
Looking forward to creating more memories over good food and wine. Who’s birthday is next???

I really wish we could give half stars. I’m between A-​ok and fandom on this one.
Restaurant Gwendolyn is one of those places that is really hard to rate because the menu changes daily. So it all depends on what’s available in the markets & what Chef Michael comes up with for the night. Sometimes it’s a hit & sometimes not so much. If you are adventurous & like to be surprised, this is the place for you because you never know what you’re going to get.
The one thing that has always been a hit for us has been the charcuterie. The house-​made sausages & head cheese are fantastic. Highly recommend.
The coffee service is also fun to watch. Brewed in a Bunsen burner coffee machine, it usually draws the attention of surrounding guests.
Service has also always been attentive & pleasant. We were even treated with complimentary champagne on one occasion when we told them we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. Thank you! :)
Overall, the food can be hit or miss because it changes daily. But I’ll round this rating up to 4 stars because we are fans of Chef Michael Sohocki in general. We’ve had his food at events, at the farmers market, & even at his adjacent Japanese restaurant, Kimura. There’s no question of his talent. I’d definitely recommend giving Restaurant Gwendolyn a try.