I'm organizing a trip for my wife's bday in Feb and I am looking for recs for a restaurant for Saturday night to accommodate a group of 12. Preferably some place not super expensive, but not a burger and fry place.


Also any recs for a shuttle service to drive us around to two or three wineries?

Also any tips for do's and don'ts for the trip are appreciated. No one in our group of twelve have been so we are all going in blind

I'm not sure they can accommodate you but Otto's is great. It's probably too small though.

William Chris is the best winery in Texas and is on 290 in Hye. Will probably be packed though.

I'm very helpful. Lol.

Typically need reservations at William Chris

These guys do a great job on tours. My wife and her cousins did a day with them this fall. Great time

Reserve Tours - Aggie owned

As far as a restaurant goes, are you after a place with music or do you want quiet?

Crossroads or Altdorf for dinner - Ottos is too small. Wish I could send you to Auslander - but I just can't.

There are tons of wine shuttles theses days - literally a dozen different ones. I have no idea which is the best.

Wineries I like - Becker, William Chris, Grape Creek (But they are VERY anti-big groups getting drunk), and 4.0. Depends on what you're looking for.

Also check out Altstadt Brewery. It's legit.

Where are you staying?

Have you eaten at Altdorf recently? We went twice in the last four-five months and it was less than stellar to say the least. I didn't pick it is the only reason it was more than once.

Ya I went about a month ago and it was great.

But I can certainly believe they can have some bad days. Some of the others have bad months or bad years!

AggieOO said:

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Typically need reservations at William Chris

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Not typically. It's mandatory.

We are renting a house a few miles outside of town......has anyone done the 290 shuttle bus or whatever it is called? $30 ticket and you can hop on and off?? I've had several people recommend that to me over a private tour because the shuttle gives you the options to hang out longer or leave sooner if desired. Not restricted to a schedule....thoughts?

AustinCountyAg said:

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We are renting a house a few miles outside of town......has anyone done the 290 shuttle bus or whatever it is called? $30 ticket and you can hop on and off?? I've had several people recommend that to me over a private tour because the shuttle gives you the options to hang out longer or leave sooner if desired. Not restricted to a schedule....thoughts?

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I haven't done it - but my concern would be "party of 12" thinking they could all hop on at once.

so I tried to book reservations for us at Cabernet Grill, but they wouldn't let us because of our group size.....so I am thinking now Crossroads, or Silver Creek? any other place I should consider.

AustinCountyAg said:

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so I tried to book reservations for us at Cabernet Grill, but they wouldn't let us because of our group size.....so I am thinking now Crossroads, or Silver Creek? any other place I should consider.

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I'd actually recommend Auslander over Silver Creek if you are down to those. I'd still try Crossroads.

If Crossroads is the one north of town out in the middle of nowhere in an old gas station...we like that place. It's fun.

YouBet said:

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If Crossroads is the one north of town out in the middle of nowhere in an old gas station...we like that place. It's fun.

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It's not, its just a few blocks from Marketplatz, downtown on Main. I think Crossroads may fit the OP's bill because they have a nice bar attached with live music. Its a nice place to go with a large group of adults who want to pretend they are 21 again for the night.

YouBet said:

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If Crossroads is the one north of town out in the middle of nowhere in an old gas station...we like that place. It's fun.

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hill top cafe is what you're thinking. I actually made reservations there yesterday because they are the only restaurant that has answered their phone or returned an email.....I'm hopeful Crossroads will get in touch with me because I'd rather not have to drive ten miles outside of town to eat, not because we want to act 21 again.

I was there last week and Crossroads is only open on weekends. That could explain the communication delay.

290 Wine Shuttle was great for us! We just hopped off where we wanted and then when we decided to head somewhere else it was a short wait to hop back on and go to another winery.
We've also used them for a private van shuttle and it was less than stellar. The van was falling apart and about 1/2 of us got motion sick. Not sure if all of their private shuttles are like that but we all decided we would not be doing that again.
And we've also used Reserve Tours - they were great!

As far as wineries go, we really enjoyed Grape Creek for a bigger more grandiose winery(try their Serendipity, its one of the best wines I've had, we joined their club just because of this wine) and then Hilmy Cellars for a smaller, boutique type place. I love the property of Becker Vineyards and their wine is good, the Reserve Cabernet is one of my top favorite wines.
We also have been to William Chris and weren't super impressed, the wine was good but the servers and employees just spent all their time trying to force us to buy bottles when we just wanted to enjoy the scenery and wine.
Torre di Pietra was just ok, not a great place for a larger group, we all had to separate to do our tastings and the wine was just sub-par.
I have not been but have heard Narrow Path Winery & Four Point Cellars are really nice.

As far as restaurants, we usually go to Auslander -- they are really great about accommodating a large group and the food is good. Crosswoods is really good too, hard to get in with a large group but it can happen.

The 2 best things to do in/near Fredericksburg:

WWII Museum of the Pacific
Enchanted Rock

I was able to make reservations at Silver Creek, but in the process the girl informed of a 25% gratuity automatically added on because of party size and because we are making reservations??? WTF

Sooooo now I am thinking Navajo Grill or Otto's? Worth changing reservations to one of those two if they can accommodate our party size?

I agree completely. The way she went about explaining it to me over the phone kinda insulted me.

Plenty of places would just tack it on at the end w/o ever saying anything ahead of time.

AustinCountyAg said:

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I was able to make reservations at Silver Creek, but in the process the girl informed of a 25% gratuity automatically added on because of party size and because we are making reservations??? WTF

Sooooo now I am thinking Navajo Grill or Otto's? Worth changing reservations to one of those two if they can accommodate our party size?

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As I've said before, I would go to Auslander before I would go to Silver Creek. They are going to be MUCH better at handling a large group than Silver Creek. And they won't add 25%.

You're not going to get a reservation for 12 at Otto's. Navajo is great - it's just a little more upscale than I think you were looking for.

AustinCountyAg said:

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YouBet said:

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If Crossroads is the one north of town out in the middle of nowhere in an old gas station...we like that place. It's fun.

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hill top cafe is what you're thinking. I actually made reservations there yesterday because they are the only restaurant that has answered their phone or returned an email.....I'm hopeful Crossroads will get in touch with me because I'd rather not have to drive ten miles outside of town to eat, not because we want to act 21 again.

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That's it!

If I can locate it, I will post a review of several wineries we've been to. I have it logged somewhere. It's also on here somewhere but good luck finding it.

You will have to factor time and evolution of some of these wineries if I actually find it. IOW, what was bad then might be good now. We started visiting back when some of these folks were still trying to grow grapes not remotely suited to Texas. Most of them have figured that out and moved to grapes suited for our environment.

Our very first visit to a place that no longer exists had me spitting out a Pinot Noir back into my glass during a tasting. I knew it would be bad, but I was unprepared for the bile it really was. Things have progressed significantly since then!

For private tours I would use 19th Hole Wine Tours, LLC. Owners name is Rex and he does a fantastic job. We had a party of 12 and his van was large enough for us. Took us where we wanted to go and while we had tasting, he would set up chairs or tables if possible for the cheese, meats, etc we brought to eat. If we bought something, he would take it to the van for us and bag it in individual bags he brought for you. He really does go above and beyond to make your day great.

Is Hilltop Cafe not a thing anymore? Always loved that place, but have not been in awhile.

Wineries in Order of Greatness
1. William Chris
2. Kuhlman
3. Calais
4. Lost Draw
5. Hilmy

If driving from Houston, visit West Cave Cellars on the way. It is my second favorite winery behind William Chris. Owners are personable and do all the work.

-Garrison Bros Distillery
-The new brewery
-Breakfast at sunset grill or airport diner.
-Music/bar food at hondos or crossroads.
-Treaty house or Elk Store for evening cocktail.

Food is mostly mediocre, use yelp.
Stay in VRBO or use hotwire or priceline for hotel

pops2215 said:

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Wineries in Order of Greatness
1. William Chris
2. Kuhlman
3. Calais
4. Lost Draw
5. Hilmy

If driving from Houston, visit West Cave Cellars on the way. It is my second favorite winery behind William Chris. Owners are personable and do all the work.

-Garrison Bros Distillery
-The new brewery
-Breakfast at sunset grill or airport diner.
-Music/bar food at hondos or crossroads.
-Treaty house or Elk Store for evening cocktail.

Food is mostly mediocre, use yelp.
Stay in VRBO or use hotwire or priceline for hotel

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Not familiar with Kuhlman. Good to see Calais on your list. We knew Ben Calais when he was here in Dallas (Deep Ellum). We were in his wine club and he was basically a one man operation. Good guy.

Moved to Fredericksburg when he saw writing on the wall on it getting all of the traffic.

Check out Barn At The Quarry for a place to stay.

Aggie owned, though the husband passed away a couple years ago in a car accident. Cade Skinner, c/o '02

Just visited Fredericksburg for my first time this past weekend (visiting friends who have moved there). I loved several of the beers from the Altstadt brewery, especially the Kolsch. They have a really nice facility, but the food was not very good and they had all the interior lights turned up way too high. But, I brought lots of beer home since I can't get it up here in Grapevine yet.

Went to Crossroads 2 nights in a row for the live music and drinks. Great sound in the place and they had 2 great bands there. Margaritas weren't too bad (I think Hondo's margs are better).

My biggest surprise was the number of bachelorette parties and birthday parties. There were a ton of young ladies out partying - way more then guys, so if you can't get lucky there, you just don't want to.

We were there this past weekend as well and enjoyed it. We hit up Adlstadt on Saturday and I personally thought the beer was very blah. Their IPA was good but everything else in my flight I didn't even finish. We sat downstairs in their bar area and I felt like I was in a dungeon. No outside light and no atmosphere imo.

Had a tasting at Signor Vineyards which everyone enjoyed. A very nice place. Drank a couple bottles at William Chris as well. Wine was good, but the wind made it somewhat miserable having to sit outside since we didn't have reservations.

Breakfast at the downstairs place on Main Street was good. German potatoe salad at Fredericksburg brewery was also excellent as was their beers

Bumping for a couple of questions.

What would be a good mid priced meal for lunch around Main Street and how long do you tend to budget time wise to stroll the shops around that area??

Also for Enchanted Rocks is there in our privledges in the daily entrance fee in case we want to do one in morning and maybe one at sunset ?? We are there on a non weekend if that helps

Also how is Otto's for a meal. Wife liked some of the menu but no prices to gauge anything versus other dining options

In regards to the question about downtown shopping IMO it can be done in an hour or two.(this coming from a guy)..maybe half day if you really enjoy walking into each shop and taking your time.

We hit up main street the afternoon we arrived and ate lunch and walked the street, had a few drinks, etc and did it all in a couple hours. My wife said she did not feel rushed by me either.

I found Navajo grill to be terrible. i'll never go back, though it seems others have had good experiences. service was bad, food came out for some in the party and not others, a couple other things I can't remember specifically any more. suffice to say none of us will be returning.