San Antonio has three Michelin-starred restaurants, multiple James Beard-nominated chefs, and is widely considered the epicenter of Tex-Mex cuisine, but it seems visitors prefer a good steak. Brenner’s on the River Walk is the only Alamo City restaurant to receive a 2026 Tripadvisor Travelers’ Choice Award.
The downtown steakhouse was named No. 8 in the fine dining category, one of several ranked lists that cover everything from viral sensations to culinary tours. No other Texas restaurant made it to any of the top 10s, though Brenner’s Houston owners can share a little of the bragging rights for the local win.
The awards are calculated based on both the quality and quantity of reviews and ratings collected by Tripover over 12 months, July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026. The review platform also says a mysterious “additional editorial process” contributes to the final rankings. Whether that affects review bombing or not is left unsaid.
“Food is at the heart of how we experience a destination, and these awards recognize the restaurant and culinary experiences travelers consider among the very best,” offered Laurel Greatrix, Chief Communications Officer, Tripadvisor Group, in a release.
Brenner’s is a relative newcomer to the River Walk, opening in summer 2023. Though officially part of the Landry’s conglomerate, which includes touristy spots like Rainforest Café and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Brenner’s takes a more classic approach to dining.
Although Tripadvisor did not provide context in the award announcement, over 350 of the site’s users have rated Brenner’s as “excellent.” The reviewers favored mainstay steakhouse fare like potatoes au gratin, filet mignon, and the seafood tower along with a few more unusual offerings like a tableside carajillo cocktail and cranberry focaccia. And perhaps more importantly, comments about the service were almost uniformly raves.
Although Brenner’s enjoys an enviable 4.9 rating and only nine negative reviews, it was down two spots from 2025, when it ranked No. 6. Somewhat surprisingly, on a list dominated by steakhouses, the top fine dining restaurant was long-running Italian staple Ristorante Paoletti in Highlands, North Carolina.
