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    Mac & Ernie's Roadside Eatery

    4.4 (114 reviews)
    ModerateBurgers, American
    Closed Closed

    Mac & Ernie's Roadside Eatery Photos

    MAC & ERNIE'S ROADSIDE EATERY ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Divey
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Dogs allowed

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    lunch menu
    Judy B.

    I had to leave a new review because I tried something new and need to report. Usually I get the catfish basket for lunch but today I got the Philly Cheese Steak. Oh man, it was delicious. Thin shaved tender meat with grilled peppers and onions. Marsha Jo and her staff are great. The place is very cute with the metal art inside and lots of tables outside under the beautiful oaks. This place is only a little over an hour from San Antonio. You could even stop in Bandera on the way. Read my other reviews if you need enticing. And PS, only open on weekends. Their Facebook page stays up to date

    Cabrito burger with all the trimmings and unbelievably delicious cole slaw!
    Paula F.

    DELICIOUS! First timer, could not get over the cole slaw, Mmmmmm! Had cabrito burger. When I go back, I'll have a hard time to order anything different. Charming wait staff. This is a happy place, for sure!

    Carrot cake

    First time here! Amazing place!! Excellent food!! Superb service. My brother Sergio and I feel in love with this place instantly!! Thank you so much for the amazing service. Absolutely we will be back!

    Red deer burger
    George E.

    Finally made it to Tarpley, Texas to the first DDD restaurant. Located 75 minutes outside of San Antonio, this place is a journey. The rolling Texas hills made the drive enjoyable and quite beautiful. Mac and Earneys building is larger and an improvement from the original. The staff was very friendly and clean. For being in a very small town, M & E's was fairly busy for a Saturday afternoon. Our biggest disappointment was that the ancho chili quail was served only on Friday/ Saturday dinner. We were to early to try this dream meal. I guess yhe next visit will need to be better planned. We ordered the red deer burger with blue cheese and balsalmic glazed onions. It was juicy and not gamey. The onions and blue cheese complimented the deer burger. Our other choice was the chabrito (goat) burger with pepper jack cheese. Again, it was juicy and did not have as heavy and thick taste as I expect. The burgers were big in size and very full of flavor. We were happy we had tried and felt it was worth the drive. 0verall, we were pleased with our chouces and had a wonderful day in south Texas with beautiful scenery. If you are looking for a good excuse to escape the city, Mac and Earney's is a great adventure. The food was flavorfully packed and interesting. I think our next visit will try dinner with the lamb chop, ancho chili quail and Fry fecta.

    Philly cheese steak
    Adison L.

    Truly enjoyed this small town diner. We had been wanting to try it since the new year and finally got over there on a day they were open (check their website or give them a call before making the trip over). The Philly cheese steak was on point. I enjoyed every last bite (including any bits that fell out). The fries were also really good. My boyfriend enjoyed the DDD burger which I did sneak a bite of. It wasn't my favorite but it was very good. We would both order these plates again. We did also try the sushi app bc I was starving... wouldn't recommend that but to be fair, I knew better before doing so. Very friendly staff! Oh, and try their sauces! I had the garlic aioli- yum!

    Chicken Breast sandwich with side salid

    Don't pass this Gem!+ just the simple things made better. Chicken Breast sandwich cooked to perfection. Side salad alone blew me away.

    Fried shrimp platter with coleslaw and homemade cocktail and tartar sauces. Excellent!
    Ryan M.

    Ah, Guy Fieri, the spiky-haired pseudo enfant terrible of the culinary world. A "dive" isn't worth our patronage unless he pulls from his grab-bag of "bro"-speak catchphrases and christens it a "Righteous trip down to flavor town" or some variant thereof. Why am I so down on Guy, you ask? After all, he's just an annoying TV personality who visits hidden gems and puts them on the map. That's precisely why I'm no fan of the man. Quite often, soon after a "DDD" episode airs, hordes of foodies (you know the type -- irritatingly bubbly Instagram narcissists) will flock to said establishment, overwhelm the tiny place, deem the food "meh," leave hastily written negative reviews, and ultimately sink the business. I have seen this fate befall several local restaurants, and it pisses me off. But enough of my rant; you're here to read a pithy, comprehensive review from yours truly, undoubtedly the best writer to ever grace this increasingly lamentable platform. Well, dear reader, that's exactly what I plan to do. Mac & Ernie's -- despite being technically "put on the map" by Signore Fieri in the very first episode of "DDD" -- has somehow managed to avoid the "Fieri Curse" and remain a true hidden gem, a culinary oasis in Tarpley, Texas, a Hill Country town the size of a postage stamp. The mood at Mac & Ernie's is bright and cheerful from the moment you enter the door of what appears to be an early 20th-century home repurposed into a restaurant. Expect plenty of warm, ingratiating small-town hospitality from the ladies behind the counter, all of whom are keen to offer recommendations. The same energy radiates from the open kitchen, with the cooks bopping along cheerfully to a mix of 80s and 90s alt-rock. That good cheer translates to every item I have ordered across multiple visits. The heaping fried catfish platter is everything a catfish platter should be: meaty, clean fish with a crunchy, well-seasoned cornmeal batter that sticks to the filets. The Philly cheesesteak is a marvel of thinly cut strips of juicy sirloin mixed with caramelized onions and bell peppers and plenty of gooey pepper Jack cheese. A hearty, well-marbled, hand-cut ribeye proved to be a winning dinner option (and a great value at $22), but the star of the show that evening was a whole Bandera quail slathered in a sweet, smoky ancho chili sauce. Whatever you order for dinner, add one of these bad boys to your plate; it is well worth the extra $9! The "DDD Burger" (ugh--that name) is indeed a...um..."one-way trip to flavor town" and easily M&E's most celebrated item. The tender, slightly earthy red deer (sourced locally from Ingram and ground fresh on the premises) works in tandem with the pungent blue cheese crumbles and the acidity and sweetness from the caramelized balsamic onions. Even my dad -- a stickler for plain, old-fashioned American beef burgers -- scarfed down every morsel of this multi-note alchemical delight. The accompanying fries were executed by a true master of the Maillard reaction: soaked in water to remove excess starch and fried twice to produce a crispy, perfectly desiccated fry. Were I to nitpick, I might point out that the food is served on flimsy paper plates with plastic utensils. Even a tender, marbled ribeye begs for proper cutlery, so I struggled and occasionally pierced the bottom of the soggy, juice-logged paper plate. I suspect the decision to use disposable plates and silverware was a cost-cutting measure, but I would be happy to pay an additional buck or two per dish to enjoy the convenience of real plates and silverware. But that is indeed nitpicking. If you live anywhere within 100 miles of Tarpley, you owe it to yourself to try Mac & Ernie's. I've conveyed more in this seven-paragraph review than Guy said in his rambling, jump cut-laden "DDD" segment, so perhaps the owners will see fit to paint over the "Guy was here!" decal on the wall and replace it with my handsome, brooding face and the quote, "Ry was here...and nearly fainted from heat stroke while talking to dead people at Tarpley Cemetery afterwards." No, I cannot pen a single review without mentioning instrumental trans-communication.

    Great food and atmosphere.

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    1 year ago

    All great. Does not open alot. Check hours before going there. However the food and service is great.

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    2 years ago

    Food and service always excellent - so thankful for such a perfect place in Tarpley! Always fresh, delicious and creative!

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    2 years ago

    Excellent food, fun environment, beautiful hill country drive and views, and the best staff ever!

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    Alamo Springs Cafe - What a burger!

    Alamo Springs Cafe

    4.1(568 reviews)
    41.2 mi
    $$

    If you enjoy a nice drive out to a cool spot with some darn good food, you'll like this one…read more Get there early! They aren't fast and as folks trickled in we watched some folks get way too upset at the wait, but good food takes some time. The burger is very good. I had the Cover Burger (featured on the cover of TX Monthly) and added a patty, which they had no issue with, and they even suggested I try their burger challenge if I was REALLY hungry. I may, or may not, have agreed to give it a try some time. Only been once but we swore it was one worth going back to! Oh, sweet potato waffle fries...fan-freaking-tastic.

    Would leave zero stars but 1 is required, arrived and was greeted by great young man, we got our…read moredrinks and went out to the patio to order, waited about 15 minutes before what we thought was our waitress passed us right up and started helping another group that had just arrived, finally the youn man who greeted us came out to see if we had been waited on, told him no and he finally got us a waiter who took our order, we are now 25 minutes in. We ordered chips and queso and were brought chips and salsa, knew at this point dinner was not going to be enjoyable, finally received our queso with a small basket of chips, when we asked for more chips so we could finish our queso, the waitress, seemed to have no clue as to what was going on and kept trying to take or queso, when I asked about our burgers that had been ordered the waitress said it would be about an hour before they were ready Not sure what takes almost 2 hours to cook 2 hamburgers and some fries but at this point we were done and walked out, this place was not even busy and was so unorganized they could not even take care of a handful of customers. I would avoid this place at all cost, long drive out in the middle of nowhere to get no food.

    Photos
    Alamo Springs Cafe - Our table on patio

    Our table on patio

    Alamo Springs Cafe - Cheeseburger Cheeseburger

    Cheeseburger Cheeseburger

    Alamo Springs Cafe - 2022 - Live Music

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    2022 - Live Music

    The Burger Factory

    The Burger Factory

    4.4(16 reviews)
    47.9 mi

    So I'll start with the service and ambiance...it is an order at the counter type of establishment…read moreand the food will be brought to you...it's a burger spot so very casual environment... Now to the food...The burger is a smash burger type of burger and it is one of the better smash burgers I've had here in San Antonio!! It is def worth it if you're in the area and want to get a good burger for lunch!!! You will not be disappointed!!

    I decided to stop by Burger Factory after an unfortunate incident at Dough Pizzeria on Blanco…read more Thankfully, this spot turned out to be a much better experience. When I walked in, there weren't many people there, and the place immediately stood out as very clean and well kept. The staff was also incredibly friendly. The cashier was especially helpful--she answered all my questions, gave a few recommendations, and was just genuinely nice throughout the ordering process. I ordered the cheeseburger, which normally comes with grilled onions, mustard, and cheese. Since I'm not a big fan of mustard, I swapped it for mayonnaise. The pickles come on the side.I also ordered French fries and jalapeño poppers. The food came out quickly, and everything was nice and hot. The burger itself was really good--the cheese was perfectly melted, and the patty reminded me a bit of a smashburger. It was thin, which I personally prefer since I'm not a fan of those thick, chunky burger patties. The grilled onions added a great flavor, and honestly it reminded me of a simple burger you'd make at a backyard barbecue--nothing overly fancy, just solid and satisfying. The fries were freshly made and came in a basket. They were hot and super crunchy, and I actually ended up taking some home because the portion size was substantial. The jalapeño poppers, however, weren't my favorite. They tasted more like something you'd pick up frozen from the grocery store and cook at home. They were also a little cold by the time I got to them, so I probably wouldn't order those again. Overall though, it was a good dining experience with friendly service, quick food, and a solid burger. If you're in the area and craving a simple, tasty burger, I'd recommend stopping by and checking them out for yourself.

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    The Burger Factory - Counter, inside of restaurant

    Counter, inside of restaurant

    The Burger Factory
    The Burger Factory

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    Mac & Ernie's Roadside Eatery - burgers - Updated June 2026

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