Cripple Creek Restaurant

My original review of Cripple Creek was a positive one as I was pleasantly surprised to find this little gem in Del Rio. It touts itself as being a family friendly, true-​to-​Texas steakhouse. While I think their steaks are a bit overpriced, they are usually very good.
I visited this past weekend while my mother was in town since she asked for a good Texas steak. Considering we arrived on a Friday at 8pm, I was surprised that we were able to immediately get a table. The first thing I noticed while we waited for our server was the crowd of 6 or 7 heavily intoxicated, loud and belligerent men sitting at the bar. They added so much volume to this room that I was having to scream across the table to my mother. I wasn’t expecting a super quiet dinner, nor was that what we were looking for, but this was a bit much considering the offensive language we were all being subjected to.
We ordered the armadillo eggs (jalapeños with cream cheese and bacon). Not only were they barely room temperature when we got them, their advertisement of them having «real bacon» turned out to be chewy bacon bits. It was obvious that they had been heated up hours before and had just been sitting. The cream cheese had hardened on the edges and was separated from the jalapeños. Not really what I was expecting.
My mother ordered the prime rib sandwich. It was a pretty sad piece of meat that was well done (I thought prime rib was supposed to be medium?) when she had ordered it medium. I ordered the fried catfish. I grew up eating catfish in the south, so I know what it should taste like and when it’s bad. This was so undercooked, fishy, slimy, NOT how a good piece of fish should taste. I told our waiter, who was very nice, but considering I had to yell at him to explain it and he was so soft spoken I heard every third word he said; I wasn’t happy! He took the fish back to the kitchen and quickly came back to inform me that «catfish is supposed to be fishy» and «that’s just how it is» re: the sliminess. I know catfish has a stronger flavor than a mild whitefish, but it just tasted raw and/​or spoiled. He said they would put it back in the fryer for me, but considering how overdone the batter on the outside already was, I really didn’t want that.
He offered to let me place a new order but at this point my mother was half finished with her meal so there was no point in waiting another 20min for something new.
He took it off the check and gave us a free dessert to go.
The bigger issue with this is the fact that the previous 2 meals I’ve had at CC were just as bad (another with a piece of salmon that was still raw and a way over-​cooked steak). Unfortunately, it’s the «nicest» place we have in this town to take visitors without trekking all the way back to San Antonio.

I’ve been traveling to Del Rio for the last several months. Crippled Creek has been a once a week place for dinner. I always sit at the bar and enjoy the company of the bar staff, Emma is great and very attentive. The prime rib is excellent, I usually get a baked sweet potato that is perfectly cooked and comes with brown sugar butter. The prime rib sandwich, fish and burgers are all good. Don’t pass on the desserts, they are fist rate. Oh, if you’re looking for a less expenssive option to the prime rib, try the sandwich, you won’t be dissapointed.

We made a reservation on a Wednesday because we weren’t sure how crowded it would be. It’s crowded everytime we drive by! We were 13 minutes late :/​and were still warmly greeted and sat immediately. Atmosphere is nice. Our server was Gabby, she was friendly, knowledgeable & we had very attentive service from both her and the table busser. Both appetizer & meals came out in good timing. Our glasses were never empty. All was cooked to order and tasted great. Very clean environment. Overall great experience & we’ll be back soon :)
We’ve since been back & were again very pleased!

The wife and i were passing trough town in our motorhome. We stopped at a park down the street and the host recommended this restaurant. We both ordered the prime rib and enjoyed it tremendously. The service was great and the food excellent

Extremely pleasant change to the average Del Rio. The service was great, the food was great & the place was clean. Which all 3 lack in most of this town. It’s a must try

Like many others said, this is the best place to eat a nice meal in Del Rio. Unlike others, we’ve always had great service here. The place is small on the inside so it is very cozy and does get loud. The steaks have been great and the seafood has been average. The salads and appetizers compliment the meals well and the food has never disappointed. The chicken fried steak is a tasty surprise.
If you’re looking for a 5-​star, $ 100 a person steakhouse go to Dallas or San Antonio; don’t go here and complain that you are disappointed. If you want to eat as well and as classy as you can in Del Rio, this is where to go.
It’s great to see them open again and I’m happy to bring my business back here.

I had the large prime rib (saloon cut) cooked medium. It was absolutely delicious and very tender. It was nice and thick, and had a slight mesquite smoked flavor. A must try is the grilled asparagus which also has a smokey mesquite grilled flavor. I had the wedge salad, which I think is much better than the house salad. It was missing the chopped red onions, but other than that, it was very good. For dessert I had the flan. It had a cheesecake like texture and a hint of nutmeg. This was actually better than most flan, because most flan I have had usually just tastes like vanilla pudding. I was told they make it themselves. To wash it all down, I had that 34 ounce big beer. The beer here is very cold and goes down easy. The bartender, Emma, is wonderful. She is super nice, and very easy on the eyes. If you drink or eat at the bar, you won’t be disappointed! All in all, a great meal and a great time, which is the essence of a good dinner. I think their food may be better now after the fire than before the fire.

Great environment lovely feel of the restaurant it had been a while since I had been here but it reminded me of my old High School years always enjoy the food this time I had Mahi Mahi delicious with a side of Sweet Potatoe so recommended and Deseret well I’ll leave it for yall to enjoy them.

Eh… I suppose this might be the best steak house in Del Rio but I think a 3 star rating is a bit of a gift. I think this place recently opened after a fire, so they are probably fine tuning the process. The service was hard working but slow. The shrimp cocktail was ok but average, the only thing that saved it is some bay shrimp in the cocktail glass. This place was a notch above a sizzler steak house. Very crowded and I think the locals like it but not much to choose from in Del Rio… and its official, it’s a Sizzler. Very disappointed.

Lets just say over priced. They have a bell you ring on your way out to let everyone know the food was good. It never rings for good reason. Save your money I would rather eat a can of potted meat and crackers.

The food was mediocre at best. I’d give it a 3 if it wasn’t so expensive. You expect for two adults to have a $ 70 meal with tip to leave full, but that wasn’t the case. The service was great, I had no issues there. If you come here, seriously consider a burger. It’ll probably feel like more of a value.

These SOB’s added $ 6 to my AMEX bill w/​o my authorization. I always leave the tips in cash because most servers prefer it. But when I got my AMEX bill I noted some unscrupulous person added another $ 6 in the tip section giving themselves a 32% tip. I hate when that’s done. Usually not the mgmt. ‘s fault more often it’s a dishonest server who thinks you won’t notice.

First time here & I would highly recommend it. I ordered the chicken fried steak. My son ordered the sportsman’s plate (fried catfish, quail, frog legs & shrimp). All of it was fantastic! Very generous portions. Wait staff was very friendly and fast service.

This was our first time going to Cripple Creek since they reopened earlier this year. Both my wife and I were thoroughly pleased with both the food and the service. I would highly recommend Cripple Creek to locals and passers through.

If you feel like Del Rio has no restaurants for you to enjoy dining at, definitely try this place!
Likes
–Nice atmosphere
–Nice silverware
–Our server was very nice and friendly
–Pretty standard pricing for a steak house. About $ 14-​$ 25 per entrée.
–Good food.
–Easy parking, but it’s Del Rio.
–Clean enough restrooms
Dislikes
–We were offered, baked potato, french fries or asparagus for the side dish. I do believe that if asparagus is $ 3 extra, that should be mentioned when taking the order. They only give you four pieces of asparagus. I would not order that if I were you and pay extra for it. Don’t charge extra, or give us more pieces.
–It took a good while for the food to come out. Order your food right away, because you will be there for a looong time if you don’t. The salad was never served until the main dish came and we asked her if we could still get our salad. Oh well, they were busy and overwhelmed, and she was apologetic about it, and that’s all we wanted to hear. Thank you for not giving us attitude.
–I have not seen iceberg lettuce at a nice restaurant like that for a long time. It’s either your restaurant is not that nice, or you need to change your salad. I mean, at least go romaine and mix with spring mix… arugula…
–Watch the entrance to the parking. This was the only place I have scraped the front of my car ever and I was going turtle slow but everybody in Texas drives a pickup truck so I must be the only person who did not appreciate the slope.
–I would love this place more if you gave us more options on vegetables. By that, I don’t mean potatoes. I mean, Broccoli, peppers, brussels sprouts…
I give four stars because I had already given up on eateries here in Del Rio. I have a place to go to now on nice occasions. I also appreciate the fact that the manager cares to reply to reviews. I didn’t know businesses looked at Unilocal in this town. That only happens in big cities, not Del Rio. So thank you for caring.

Great food, great music, and great experience! They have many unique things on the menu that are must try’s such as the newest being the Cucumber shot and the Chamoy margarita. The new ownership is much different than before, now keeping the people in mind to give the best customer service!

I’ve been living in Del Rio for a year now and have been trying to find a «go to» place. There are plenty of restaurants but none had jumped out at me until I walked in to Cripple Creek.
Don’t let the rating fool you. The rating that it holds right now is not a reflection of their current status. The history of Cripple Creek is a storied one, ask a server about it. Long story short they closed down a while back and reopened under the same name in November of 2014. Unfortunately the online review companies (trip advisor, zagat, Unilocal,etc.) can’t reset the score because it holds the same name. I digress.
The atmosphere was great. Real log cabin, smokey air from the wood fire grill in the kitchen; they kept the integrity of the old establishment for historical purposes. Our waiter, Mario, was extremely polite, courteous, and prompt. He was also very knowledgeable with the history of the restaurant.
For drinks my wife had a water and I a beer (my only complaint is that there is little «original» selection on tap so I got a bottled Budweiser). We started with fried pickles which were battered to perfection with house-​made batter. They were served with fresh house-​made ranch dressing which was fantastic.
Next our salads came out well timed. It was a great amount, not too much to be falling off the plate, but enough to tide us over until dinner. Fresh ingredients and again, house made blue cheese dressing.
My NY Sirloin came out cooked to perfection and smartly seasoned. It came with a baked potato on the side with all of the proper accoutrements. My wife got a grilled chicken dish that was nicely cooked and was a good portion for the cost.
Prices were fair. For two people it came to $ 25 per person (drinks, app, salad, entrée).
After the meal I went to take a peek into the kitchen just to see the operation. One of the staff invited me to take a closer look and gave me the grand tour. I was happy to meet the head chef, Chris, who proceeded to show me the grill (it’s wicked hot) and the different systems they use to turn out a dish. He also showed me the wood they use in the grill, they age it and prep it out back. Fascinating.
A++!!

The food here is amazing! I went for dinner & ordered the sirloin steak & grilled shrimp, topped with grilled asparagus. My first bite into my steak created an instant «Mmmm». There’s no better steak than a mesquite grilled steak, cooked with special spices. The upscale western motif & efficient attentive staff, created a very memorable dining experience. I can’t wait to try the other menu selections on my next visit.

Atmosphere: I give top marks in the appearance of the outside and inside of this restaurant. The only issue was the awful fan lighting they used. Otherwise, no real complaints. They happened to be playing a lot of 90’s country which I love so I was happy. Others might be annoyed by that
Service: Our server was decent and earned our 20%. He was attentive but not overly aggressive. We heard this place had really slow service so we were prepared for the worst.
Food/​drinks: I ordered a club soda and my wife ordered a margarita. She was in the mood for wine but at $ 6.99 a glass for boxed wine she passed. Not that she’s a wine snob but we had the exact same wine sitting at home that costs is 5.99 for the whole box! I ordered a club soda which came from a glass bottle instead of a fountain. I’m guessing it wasn’t free refills.
My wife ordered ¼ of shrimp (mistake #1) Never order seafood by the pound especially of they are battered or marinated. The restaurants will serve them at the rate precooked but after being prepared with batter. She received 3 measly fried shrimp and a pitiful helping of asparagus. I ordered the chicken fried steak which I was craving. What I got was a hamburger patty deep fried and served with 8 steak fries. Nothing about the food impressed us. Even the rolls tasted store bought.
Timing: We ordered, ate, and paid our check in under 30 minutes. To some this is great. However, we received our drinks followed by our salad and 2 minutes later our dinner plates delivered by another waitress. Understandably this place was critiqued for their slow service but there is a fine line between taking too long and rushing guests.
Overall: We were very excited for this place to reopen however, we will not be returning.

The absolute best of Del Rio… hands down! So happy that Cripple Creek has re-​opened as it is the closest restaurant to our house in town. The service has been suburb all 3 times we have been since they reopened. I’m a big fan of the «Miss-​Loin» and my hubby usually orders the Filet. I like that they bring out rolls and salads and drinks right away and the wait for food is never long.
We will be eating here very often! Keep up the great service