A friend of ours gave us a very long list of places we have to try.. and for great burgers, Longhorn Cafe topped her list.  Our intent to have a late breakfast turned into a quest for a yummy burger and we found ourselves at Longhorn Cafe.  In my book, a good burger is a Super Burger from Eat’n Park. This burger wasn’t quite like that, but good all the same.

We visited the location on Rittman, and like most restaurants in San Antonio, it was in a strip mall.  Nestled at the end of the strip mall, we could literally smell the grease exhaust coming through the car vents.  Good thing we aren’t on a diet.  The joint wasn’t packed, but there was a pretty good crowd considering it wasn’t even noon yet. The cashier was less than enthused with J’s usual question, “What’s the best thing on the menu?”  After not getting far with that question,  J decided on a chili burger and I had just a plain cheese burger.  We also ordered a half basket of tater tots (J’s choice, after years of bad tater tots in our school cafeteria, I just can’t make myself willingly order them.)

We went to fill up our styrofoam cups at the drink station, and much to my chagrin, there was a container of browned and dried up limes.  I decided to ignore that and keep my eyes on the prize – the cheese burger.  The Longhorn Cafe is counter-style service, so after about 10-15 minutes, they called J’s name and he picked up our lunch.

notice the bun shine

The Longhorn Cafe website describes the burger as, “A toasted bun that’s hot to the touch. A mountain of shredded lettuce with a few pickle chips and thin slivers of tomato. Slices of crisp bacon. A dollop of mayonnaise and a smear of mustard. Oh, yeah, and a big old patty of ground beef that’s dripping with juicy flavor.”

Indeed, the burgers looked and smelled delicious.  As I picked it up to take my first bite, I realized the top of the bun was kind of wet.  I thought it was butter put on to toast the bun, but no, it appeared to be just a thin layer of oil.  The patty was not big either, it was actually kind of thin.. but nevertheless, the burgers were good and we both finished them off.  J liked the tater tots, and I thought they were just fine.  Most breaded and fried things do taste good.

I can’t complain about the taste of anything we had, but the grease did me in later.  I had a terrible tummy ache a couple hours later.. and although he wouldn’t admit it, J didn’t seem to be feeling that hot either.  My advice – go ahead, get a burger at Longhorn, but make sure to take your Pepto straightaway!

Our rating:

Indulge yourself and get a burger.  Skip the limes in your sweet tea.

Longhorn Cafe
5 locations, but we visited
1003 Rittiman Rd.
San Antonio, TX 78209
(210)822-7272