Riverwalk Cantina

Really bad tex-​mex. I have never written a review, and usually let it go but this menu was so bad I had to express my opinion on this terrible food.

Tried this restaurant for breakfast.
Normally I’d have a lot to write but I’ll keep this short and sweet.
The service was great, as in (Antonio) was very nice and had our glasses full at all times which we appreciated.
As to the food. Very bland and forgetable. Perhaps ordering off the mnu instead of using the buffet was a bad idea. We waited a solid 30 minutes for eggs Benedict that was certainly not worth the wait.
The bread was dry and so was the chicken sausage used under our overdone poached eggs. The potatoes were the only thing done correctly on my plate.

Best Sunday brunch for the money. Leeds was our outstanding waitress. Gotta try those Smoked Gouda grits. Just go there.

AAAAYYYYY what can I say… the hotel is gorgeous!!! HUGE, MASSIVE, AMAZING!!!
This restaurant is located within the hotel, has a small river walk within the restaurant. We were seated by the water and you had Koi fish swimming by, it was beautiful.
We had the buffet special of tacos with all the ingredients. And they also had soups, desert and chicken tenders with fries. All for $ 24
Desert wasn’t the greatest, which it had been better. The food was good. Re-​fried beans, steak, chicken, sweet potato tots YUMMMMM
I ordered a blackberry mojito which was a bit too tart but yummy.
Honestly I don’t know how you can complain about anything. Dinner by the river with Koi fish swimming by you?
Loved it!!!

Bartending staff fantastic. Busy night. They were swamped with patrons. 3 individuals managing bar service for restaurant, 20 tables and bar. They professionally managed it all. Watched them juggle, deal with challenges. My initial service was delayed, hence the four stars instead of 5. But they continued to smile and do their job. Managers should have stepped up a little sooner. Food was good. Margaritas decent. I will return. To watch good people perform under fire.

Upon returning here the quality has much improved! We highly recommend their breakfast offerings.

The food was average, The service was good.
The venu pleasant.
The cost was high… I staying at the Gaylord.
So maybe tomorrow I Über out of fo breakfast

Very poor Tex mex. everything is bad on a grand scale.
Hostess… Bored and playing with phone.
Server… Surly and did not know her menu.
Chips…rancid.
Guacamole. Tasted like pre made. Texture of tooth paste.
Tortilla soup. Campbell’s with chicken beaks. Salty.
Enchiladas. Worst I have ever had. Very tough and chicken tasted like squirrel. Velveta cheese. I can not think of one thing good about this place. Very expensive and should close down. How could Gaylord let a horrible place in this space. Taco cabana is way better.

My husband and I decided to explore the beauty that is the Gaylord Texan. He attended a business meeting there in the past and I had never been there before. The atmosphere is amazing with the small scale river walk that is near the restaurant. We were very excited to get a chance to enjoy lunch one afternoon during the week without our kids.
We were immediately seated but had to wait a bit for our waitress to come by and take our drink order. Once our drinks finally arrived we went ahead and ordered Beef Fajitas for 2. The tortillas were not fresh, they were the same type that you get at a regular grocery store, not the stores that make their own tortillas fresh in the store. The meal came with a sides of beans and rice along with a small plate with pico, jalapenos and sour cream on it. We got excited when we heard the awesome sound of sizzling and smoking fajitas coming our way through the restaurant but our excitement soon turned into disappointment. The food was not anything close to what we were hoping for. In the Tex-​Mex Capital of Texas a place who claims to specialize in it better be damn good and this place just wasn’t. The price of the food is also high for what you get. Luckily they do deal with the cost of parking so I didn’t get stuck with paying the parking fee after showing up there for a $ 45 not so great lunch.
While kind our waitress was clearly over extended with the number of tables she could serve. We had to flag her down to get refills of our sodas as did several other nearby tables.
Between the price, the quality of the food, and lack of good service we will not be returning to this particular restaurant in the Gaylord Texan. We will continue to try out the other establishments that are located nearby.
I definitely would not recommend this place to anyone unfortunately.

This Easter my family took a break from our usual tradition of a low key mexican buffet and decided to get all gussied up and have Easter Brunch at Riverwalk Cantina, nestled in the coziest corner of the atrium in The Gaylord Texan Resort.
There, I got to experience my dream in real life and it was so much better than my imagination could ever conjure up. In my dream-​come-​true, I got to have all of the little deserts as well as a sampling of some of the best New American cuisine I’ve ever had.
We are a buffet loving family, us Dorns’ and I consider myself to be a well qualified connoisseur of the genre. I love a cruise ship buffet, a country club buffet, a cafeteria style buffet, a well stocked salad bar– I’m all in as long as the food is delicious and well prepared.
This Easter Buffet was, without a doubt, one of the very best– if not THE best– buffet I’ve ever had. I was even able to meet and chat with the Executive Chef, Zeb Hartline and he gave me a personal tour of the whole operation.
Chef Zeb is a brand new Texan who just moved here a little over a year ago having graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Orlando. It sems that Texas suits Chef Zeb just fine. He’s even part of the Texan Smoke Bandits, an award winning, Gaylord-​Sponsored, competitive BBQ team. Chef Zeb brings a classic and refreshing culinary point of view to Dallas.
His Easter buffet menu is a masterpiece. It is creative and ambitious, delicious and totally relatable. I would love to see more Chefs like him in Dallas.
When it was time to make my first plate my head was spinning. Culinary sensory overload was at a ten. Luckily, I had everything all planned out ahead of time.
Jans Easter Buffet Action Plan
1. Avoid the bread, pastries and breakfast items. I’m sure they’re all wonderful but I cant have a Texas shaped waffle taking up precious space in my stomach.
2. Save desert for last so I can have it with coffee.
3. Eat two bites of everything until my spanx give out.
Right in the heart of the Cantina were three huge caldrons of shrimp, oysters on the half shell and crab claws over ice. I decided to start there.
I limited myself to two shrimps and two crap claws. If that’s not self control than I don’t know what is.
Then, just past the seafood, lie a table of awesomeness the likes of which, I’ve never imagined. Stretched across a twelve foot table, piled up in adorable, «please eat me» pieces, were eight different kinds of cheese.
Eight perfect little, deliciously stinky, cheesy mountains interspersed with rustic loaves of bread, jars of house made pickles and hills of Texas chorizo, capicolia and prosciutto.
Heaven, y’all. It was cheese HEAVEN.
I took one piece of each cheese and one slice each of the prosciutto and capicola. I stopped at the soup table, got a ladle-​full of the lobster bisque and headed to the table for round one.
It was almost impossible to not eat and walk but I restrained myself.
So, you know how sometimes, you bite into a piece of cheese and it’s so good that you kinda forget how to think for a few minutes?
No? Just me?
Well that’s absolutely what happened to me when I tried the Red Dragon whole grain cheddar. This cheese was on another level.
Arsenio wants to know how good the cheese is, well in advance.
The shrimp and crab were cooked perfectly. I’m definitely adding cold crab claws to my own party appetizer menu.
The lobster bisque was so rich and creamy, that I was mysteriously incapable of eating it without closing my eyes. My bowl should have had a bit more lobster in it but unfortunately, the gentleman in front of me had fished out all the big lobster chunks before I could get to it.
At this point I was feeling pretty good and nowhere near full. Main course (s) time.
In the main courses area, Chef had different action stations set up. At one station chefs were preparing Pan Seared Scallops with sweet corn purée, brussels sprouts with ghost peppered caviar. At another he had Braised Chicken Tinga and Rock Shrimp Salad Tacos. Fancy yet, familiar.
They added a nice touch and made the place feel so much more lively than your standard, Easter Buffet Snoozefest.
Chef Zeb had the basics very well represented. The ham, prime rib and lamb were absolutely perfect. This is not an overstatement. All of it was perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. Perfect sauce…
View the full review with pics…

We had Sunday buffet brunch after having a blast at the Gaylord Texan ICE and were famished. It took 30 minutes to be seated. But well worth it. Meat carvings, eggs and tacos we’re mouth-​watering. Complimentary mimosas needed reinvention. But our kids loved the chocolate fondue.
Would prefer a more varied green tea collection for non-​coffee drinkers.
Service was impeccable! Well worth the price $ 35 per head.

Menu — very slim in choices
Chips — nasty
Salsa — ehhhhhh
Queso — POWDER CHEESE
Fajitas — ehhhhhh
Guacamole — after taste of tin can
Service — did not exist!!! It took over 5 minutes to get silverware after our food arrived! Only reason we finally got some was because we chased down an employee, that didn’t understand English, which was a whole other challenge.
Shame on you Gaylord for having such a crap of a restaurant in your resort!!! Horrible Thanksgiving dinner.
I would have been happier at Taco Bell

Tucked away in the corner of the Gaylord is this restaurant that serves the best Brisket Burrito. Ever. We came here for a conference, and had arranged to have our group eat here for lunch. We had to give them 3 options, so we chose the Chicken Tacos, Veggie Quesadillas, and Brisket Burrito. Everyone around me loved the burrito and tacos, but they weren’t a big fan of the quesadillas. My burrito was full with so many flavors and big chunks of brisket. I could barely finish it! It came with a side of rice and beans, which I thought were just okay. Nothing special. The beans did have some special spice in it though. The chips and salsa were mediocre. For someone that can’t handle spicy, I thought the salsa could’ve been a tad bit spicier. We had mini desserts afterwards, and they looked pretty good. By that time, I was stuffed though, so I only tried one of them. It was a creamy, dark chocolate layered pudding/​cake. Perfect way to end my meal!
The service here was great. The host at the front was really cool, and he really tried to make everything accommodating for us. I might just go here again just to have lunch because that Brisket Burrito is to die for. No joke!

An unbelievably tasteless experience. I was with my prettier half over the weekend (she was attending a convention and I tagged along). We, along with one of her colleagues, had lunch in the bar area.
The bartender could not have been more uninterested in his job and the food, specifically the nachos, queso dip and beef fajitas, were as bland as they would be. Much like the bartender’s personality.
There is nothing about this restaurant that is TexMex or even Mexican really. I grew-​up in Dallas and have been eating TexMex for all of my life. I can assure you, there is NO PROCESSED CHEESE in Mexican food.
As a Marriott Platinum member, I was shocked by the quality. As a Texan, I was amazed they would even refer to their restaurant as TexMex.
Call Über and go anywhere in the area but here for lunch or dinner.
Also important to note: On Sundays it’s the only place to eat at the Gaylord and they only offer the buffet for $ 25 bucks. You’re in luck, however. There is a coffee shop with some baked goods for far less than a cold buffet spread for 25 bucks.
My 2 cents.
Greg T.

Stopped in for lunch with a colleague.
We ordered the guacamole and queso as appetizers which were decent. They also brought out an excellent habanero sauce when I asked if they had something spicy.
We both ordered the fish tacos (mahi) which were blackened and served with a jicama slaw and were quite large. They meal was very filling and the service was nice.

I had one «pretty good» experience here and one that was absolutely terrible. Overall, set your expectations to «sort-​of Mexi place in an overpriced convention hotel» and you’ll be just fine.
I tried to head in for breakfast and was faced with the rudest hostess I’ve encountered in a long while. She said «oh…just you? Well, I guess you can sit at one of the open tables in the bar area. It’s open seating there.» I kind of did a double take because there were open tables in the restaurant proper only to get the response «well, if you really want a table, I guess we can find room for you». I’m not kidding!
Anyway, I didn’t feel like arguing with Attitudey Judy, so I grabbed a bar table. The server was really nice (seems to be the case at all Gaylord places — nice servers, bitchy hosts) who informed me that it was only buffet service and something like $ 25/​pp. She was super nice but I should have been told that upfront, or there should have been some signage. Anyway, I declined.
My dinner experience was much better — the host staff wasn’t rude and they didn’t shunt me off to the bar. Menu-​wise, it’s smaller than I expected with a few options for standard Tex-​Mex favorites and some entrees with a Southwestern flair. You’ll be started off with chips & salsa which appeared to be from a bag/​jar. They do serve the salsa warm which I’m not a huge fan of, and it’s nothing special besides. I was pretty happy with my chicken «street tacos» which had braised chicken, jicama slaw, pickled onions and a bit of crema. The flavor was really good and an order of 3 (no sides) was quite filling and just $ 10. With a house margarita (not bad, $ 9) my bill was just over $ 20 which is quite a victory in hotel-​land.
Overall, if you’re trapped at the Gaylord for a convention (like most of us) you don’t have a lot of choices. This is one of them. Set your expectations accordingly.

Good place to eat if staying at the Gaylord.
I’m actually surprised this place has a low rating. I really enjoyed my meal here while staying at the Gaylord.
There are nice «outdoor» seating. The ceiling of the Gaylord is made of glass so it gives it an outdoor feeling even though you are still in air conditioning. I appreciate the stream of sunlight.
I was not a fan of the salsa they bring to the table. I don’t like warm salsa. I would suggest skipping the chips and salsa.
I really enjoyed the beef brisket tacos. The meat was nice and tender and the tortilla was sturdy. It had a great sauce in it too. I would definitely suggest the beef brisket tacos to anyone eating here. It is definitely on the pricier side, but it is the Gaylord.
Overall I liked my meal here and if I stay at the Gaylord again I would come back.

Great place to eat while staying at the Gaylord. Located in the courtyard with plenty of seating for groups. Our server Michael was really attentive to our group of ladies. We had more friends show up and they happily moved us to a larger table.
I had the cheese, onion and peeper quesadilla with no meat and it was so delicious and really filling. It was hard to eat it all after consuming so much of the complimentary chips and salsa that was served first.
The service, quality and price were really great. This is definitely a place to check out and have some delicious food while enjoying the beautiful view of the Gaylord Texan!

This review is specifically for their breakfast buffet. 2 stars is for what I feel is poor value for the money; at $ 24pp you’re paying for variety. This may work for those traveling in groups where everyone wants something different or you must have a made to order omelette or waffle. Next time, we’ll check out the buffet at Texas Station or possibly get room service and save money.
The service was attentive, but the food was just so-​so. There was a lot of fresh fruit, but my husband saw some blackberries with mold on it. For the price point, this shouldn’t happen. I tried the biscuits and gravy; biscuits were small and the gravy was bland and I also had an omelette which was okay, but still not a $ 24 omelette.
I’d bump it to 3 stars if we had a table by the «river», which I did see one available and should’ve asked for it. Instead, we were placed by the beverage station where waitstaff fills drinks, very busy, lots of traffic, lots of conversation going on. It didn’t add to the ambiance for our romantic weekend getaway.

Good atmosphere by the river.
Good, conscientious service.
Manager was kind and friendly.
Food was terrible.