Picnikins Patio Cafe

awesome spot for good clean american food slightly on the lighter side, but without any sacrifice in taste! everything i’ve tried here has been excellent — cobb salad, salmon, brie appetizer, curry, poblano soup, etc. prices are too high for me to frequent the spot, but maybe if they had a happy hour deal of some sort or a student discount, i would be back much more often! entrees range from about $ 12−30+ depending on if you’re getting a salad or something heftier. the service here is also excellent! although today it was a little much, as our server came by at least 6 – 7 times throughout the meal to ask how everything was going and if we needed anything else and it was kind of disruptive to our conversation. although picnikins is in a weird middle ground as far as being too pricey for a regular casual meal but not fancy enough for a special occasion, i will be looking for more opportunities to visit!

The best lunch spot in town! Sandwiches and soups are always fresh and delicious. The staff is very friendly. I always have a great experience here.

We continue to love Picnikins for its fantastic food and service, and I am updating my review to include the fact that they have the best tenderloin in town! It is always cooked perfectly and served with an amazing sauce that really brings the dish together. If you are a fan of tenderloin you must try it. My brother loves the Chicken Marsala and says it is also the best he has had in San Antonio. I have not tried it yet because I can’t get past the tenderloin for dinner, but I highly recommend Picnikins. Great lunch but also one of SA’s best kept secrets for dinner.

I always wondered what this place was when I was eating over at the Sapporo sushi place. I decided to try it out and oh my goodness!!! It was such a shocker! The food and the service was amazing! I’ve been there twice so far and every dish I get was just beyond my taste buds. The environment is nice too! But really, I want to applaud with such great service! Idk if it was weird but I asked for if they had chopsticks (silly me) so I could use it to eat with my calamari. They didn’t have any but one of the works ran to Sapporo and grab one for me! I didn’t ask him to but he did it anyways! Such a sweet and nice man. Out of all the restaurants I’ve been… their service beats them all! Definitely try the jalapeño calamari, poblano soup, mushroom burger and their sandwiches!!! Can’t go wrong with these! Desserts are amazing too! ((: will definitely recommend this place to all my friends!!! (I think there’s two different menus, I went during lunch and dinner! Both menus are good!!)

Good lord. This was delicious. It’s probably the best soup that I’ve ever eaten that I didn’t make. I had the soup and gourmet half. I chose roasted poblano soup and the sunshine (egg salad, bacon, tomato and cream cheese.) The service was awesome all around. It’s also a pretty good deal for lunch at under 10 a person. Even though it was crowded it was quick. I wish I lived closer so that I could come more often.

Friendly staff. Best bison burger and sweet potatoes fries. Fresh ingredients. Clean restaurant.

Relaxing vibe. Good limited wine list. Excellent service. Evening cuisine is delicious. Be great if had a robust happy hour wine n bites menu.

Super quick review:
I went in for lunch with coworkers and was amazed! I had the Orchard Sandwich, which is made with turkey, apples, and oh so deliciously creamy brie. It was soo good! The Brie was perfect and deliciously complimented by the apples. I also had a cup of the Roasted Poblano Pepper soup and was just amazed! The soup is just right, hearty, not spicy, and has just the right touch of smokey poblano flavor. I will be back for sure.

Found this place to be very average. Had tuna sandwich and tortilla soup and sweet potato fries. All good, average, nothing special. Surprisingly the overall dining experience took over an hr as it took a very long time for food to come out despite having simple food orders and very few people in the restaurant. When you’re hungry and waiting a while for your food and it comes out as something that you could have made better at home in shorter time, it’s disappointing. I can’t imagine craving this place but I may try it again when in the area to see if my experience was a fluke.

Great place for lunch. I love their soups and sandwiches. It’s a great place to get in and get out without the quality suffering.

Had the tortilla soup and fries. Both tasted great, but I wish the soup was a little warmer. Although I didn’t have a sandwich, I can tell you that they looked epic. They do sell wine by the bottle and have a nice draft beer selection.

I enjoyed their poblano soup and their burger is delish, too! I have also tried their chicken burger which I liked.

Everything was fantastic! Service, food, atmosphere!
Poblano soup is amazing, chicken sandwich with apples and Brie cheese and bacon amazing and even Mexican coke. All served FAST!
A do not miss place for lunch!

Great spot for soup, salad, sandwiches! It beats Panera and La Madeleine for sure. I enjoy the orchard and ultimate sandwich here. I like the orchard more though. It’s unique in that it has apples on it. It seems a little strange, but someone all the ingredients mesh together. The french bread they use here is tastes fresh and is good quality. The poblano soup here is as AMAZING as everyone else says it is. Very unique and flavorful. The Vermont salad is also pretty good if your the type who leans towards the nuts, cheese, and fruit type of salad person (like me haha). I don’t think it’s as good of a deal as the combos because you have to pay extra for meat, so it’s $ 9 for a salad without meat. The southwest burger is also pretty tasty here, not my favorite burger ever, but one of the better burgers in the city. It was pretty juicy and large. I could only eat about half of it. The bun was pretty good also especially if you are okay with a sweeter bun, like an elevated hawaiin roll bun. The sweet potato fries that came with it were pretty good, but weren’t anything super unique or special. The aoili paired nicely with the fries. I’ve had the cheesesteak here and that’s probably been my only letdown. It was nothing spectacular and I prefer Charley’s cheesesteak chain (there is one or used to be on at the La Cantera food court) over the one at Picnikins. I didn’t think the flavors were well balanced at Picnikins. Too much meat and not much of anything else.
The prices here are a little high, but lunch is on the more affordable end. I’m not a fan of how they raised the price of the orchard/​soup combo though. I don’t really understand how putting apples on a sandwich makes it pricier. Portions for the combos are on the smaller end and although it’s satisfying for my appetite, I’m not sure how filling it would be if you are someone with large appetite. In addition, the hours have been weird at this location lately. One day they weren’t open because of renovations or something, but it seems like they were doing renovations before also. I also tried to come here for dinner on a Monday and they weren’t open, so I wish the hours were a little more standard here since going to the Blanco location is kind of far.
Overall, Picnikins is a great choice if you want to eat a higher quality lunch thats tastier than most soup and salad options around the area, but it’s not the cheapest option. I’ll be be back though.

This café is very very delicious. I highly recommend trying it out. You will want to come back. I’m from Austin and visit frequently to spend time with family. It’s difficult to get my parents to try a new restaurant but they LOVED this place! I highly recommend the roasted poblano pepper soup and the ultimate sandwich. The owner was very nice. Hopefully he will think about opening an Austin location. Support local businesses and try this place out. You won’t regret it.

Come here often for the food, they have the absolute best sweet potato fries!
We ordered the ultimate sandwich, a side Cesar, and a side of sweet potato fries. The presentation is very well executed… All very delish and highly recommended:) did I mention the sweet potato fries? Worth a visit here alone!
Since I fancied a mimosa and couldn’t resist bottomless we ordered two… However they were just orange juice… For $ 18 each you’d expect a decent mimosa. I asked the waitress and she said they were 50÷50… Mine was clearly just orange juice. I asked again and she said after the first mimosa they put considerably less alcohol which was worrying because I was on my first one that lacked any! I asked to speak to a manager after she was a bit rude… He made our second mimosa perfectly… However after he brought them she seemed to rush us out, very rude.
The atmosphere is very clean, the seating is comfortable, and it’s not too loud so you can carry a conversation. I’d highly recommend for a quick fresh bite to eat.

Yup — it was okay. Actually very cute and trendy inside, and the staff was fantastic. It’s in an odd location, but it works I guess.
The food was actually decent… but honestly, completely overpriced. I get what they’re trying to accomplish as far as food goes, but I felt like the prices were outlandish for the quality. The portion sizes were perfect though!
Probably won’t go back, but we at least tried the place out.

This place is a really great place to pay someone to make a sandwich you could make yourself at home at a hefty price.
Because this place has great reviews and generally elevated prices for a place that serves sandwiches and salads, I expected they maybe bake their own breads, or cure their own meats, or perhaps get ingredients from special delis or they add something about their sandwiches that could earn raving reviews.
I ordered The Ultimate and was very underwhelmed. It was a simple sandwich made from the same white bread you get from a super market, salty nitrate-​y turkey you can get from a super market, a slightly burnt piece of bacon, avocado, sprouts, and way too much cream cheese. The burnt bacon bothered me but the cream cheese was very overpowering. Soft white bread with soft avocado slices along with gobs of cream cheese made the sandwich incredibly mushy. I had to take breaks between bites because the texture was nauseating. This sandwich and some homemade chips came out to be $ 9. I don’t understand. To each their own I suppose

I was really hoping I could give this place a 4, but the food just didn’t warrant it. I came here with my boyfriend and a couple of his family members, wanting to show them that there’s more than just Tex Mex in San Antonio, but I was only partially successful.
Pros:
–SALAD: My boyfriend’s mom was craving soup and salad, which is how we landed on this place, and I must say, their salads were all pretty on point. I can’t remember the exact salads his mom and his great aunt got (I want to say the Cobb and either the Chef or Southwestern), but they were both massive in quantity. One salad easily served as 2 meals for them. The ingredients looked pretty fresh too. My order also came with a candied walnut side salad, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
–SOUP: His mom and great aunt also got the tomato basil and poblano pepper soup. I got a sip of each and would definitely get it if I were craving soup. Both had a rich, creamy texture — great to sip on on a cold day. It doesn’t come with bread, so I would recommend asking your waiter for some. Soups like this tend to fair a little on the salty side so the bread neutralizes it.
–AMBIANCE & DECOR: From the outside, you wouldn’t guess that this was a nice sit down restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised once I walked in. It’s not enough to bump my review up to a 4, but it certainly helps to enjoy your surroundings while eating.
Cons:
–CHICKEN PICCATA: DO NOT GET THIS. This was not only the worst chicken piccata I’ve ever had, it’s the worst chicken dish I’ve ever had. Normally, chicken piccata has no coating, but this one was breaded, and not very well. If it’s breaded, it should have a crispy texture, but the combination of the disaster of a sauce they made with the rubberiness of the chicken turned the entire dish into a glob of chicken goo. The side of potatoes was its saving grace though, well seasoned and tasty.
–BURGER: My boyfriend go the mushroom and swiss burger, and to be honest, I would’ve preferred Whataburger down the street. While juicy and flavorful, the bread was just off and didn’t complement the rest of the burger. It was almost like a king sized Hawaiian bun, slightly sweet and really thick (although somehow it still got really soggy). The fries were delicious — again, potatoes to the rescue. Just stick with the soups and salads y’all.
–SERVICE: Everyone was really friendly, but considering the scarcity of customers in the restaurant, the speed of service was just a bit slow for my liking.
Not sure I’d come here again, unless I just really wanted to blow money on some rather pricey soup and salad.

I don’t really understand this place’s name, but in an odd way, I like it. Sort of. Anyway, I really really wanted to give this place a 4 star review, if for no other reason than to give them a bump in publicity so that more people would come and that this place survives! But I think I landed about right with my 3.5 star rating.
FOOD — 3
My girlfriend’s chicken piccata was absolutely atrocious. Somehow, the chicken was both rubbery AND dry at the same time. I don’t quite understand how they managed to pull that off, but wow. Everything else about the dish — the potatoes, the capers, squash, etc. are nicely done, but that chicken… yikes. Hopefully just a bad day at the office. The entrée also came with a house salad, which included candied walnuts and a light vinaigrette — no complaints here.
My mushroom & swiss burger was decidedly better, though not phenomenal. The bread is a tad too full/​thick for my taste, and sometimes it felt like I was just chewing a mouthful of bread that tasted like a burger. But otherwise, I thought the burger was good. The fries were hands down the best part.
We also tried their tomato basil and smoked poblano soups, both of which were excellent! Honestly, if we came again for lunch, I would be completely satisfied with an appetizer, a cup of their soup, and a side of their toasted bread (which is awesome, btw).
SERVICE — 4
The hostess and the waiter were both extremely nice, and it almost seemed like we got double service because the hostess actually stepped in to help with the table as well at times, so that was nice. However, the food does take a little bit of time to come out, so knocked off a star for that.
DECOR & MISC — 4
It’s a nicely arranged restaurant with an assortment of tables and booths. While not over the top, the interior is pleasantly decorated and it feels classier than the practically empty strip mall it inhabits. They’ve also got a bar with bar stools and several selections on tap, including the St. Arnold’s Root Beer, which I really hope is an alcoholic root beer cuz that would be AWESOME.
OVERALL — 3.5
Again, i really hope this place survives and more people come to it! Even though the food wasn’t fantastic, it’s refreshing to have a place like this bring a little class and flair to the area. Based on the other reviews, it might’ve just been a rough day getting dinner started up when I came.