The Esquire Tavern opened in 1933 to celebrate the end of Prohibition and has held its corner of the San Antonio River Walk almost continuously since — closing only briefly between 2006 and 2011 before Chris Hill bought the bar and brought it back to life. The room is dark, history-redolent, and home to the longest wooden bar top in Texas: more than 100 feet of beer-soaked oak rubbed smooth by the elbows of a zillion tipplers.
What to Expect from the Kitchen
The kitchen — house-made and from-scratch — runs an elevated bar register that does not apologise for itself. Burgers and pulled-pork sliders, deviled eggs, fried pickles with jalapeño aioli, soft pretzels with beer-cheese, and a chicken-fried steak that has earned its own plate. Mains run roughly $14 to $32; the dinner menu deepens after 6pm with skirt steak and a market-fish preparation.
The cocktail programme is the reason the room is a 'Top 25 Bars in America' regular: classics rendered correctly (the Old Fashioned is the test), house specials anchored in pre-Prohibition method, and a separate downstairs lounge — Downstairs at Esquire — that opens to the river itself for the after-eleven crowd.
Practical Info
Who It's For
Esquire suits the date-night couple who want a candlelit booth and a cocktail with a story, the solo traveller at the bar with a book and a long Manhattan, the team-dinner group who can take the side dining room without losing the ambient hum of the bar, and the cocktail tourist who has read about the place and wants to verify the legend. Balcony seats overlooking the River Walk are the prize at sunset.
How to Book and What to Expect
Open Sun-Wed 11:30am to midnight (kitchen until 10pm), Thursday-Saturday 11:30am to 2am (kitchen until 1am). Walk-ins are normal at the bar; the dining room takes reservations via OpenTable. Phone +1 (210) 222-2521 for parties of six or more. Smart-casual is the room's natural register; the dress code is forgiving, the cocktails are not.