Tip Top Cafe

I’d been eyeballin this location since it opened. I had always heard great things about their chicken fried steak but had never stopped — even at their old location.
My son and I decided to try it and were not disappointed. They were running a special for their chicken fried steak — $ 7.95 on Mondays between 4 – 7 pm. Hell, it was 6 pm, why not right?
I expected it to be a half portion but was shocked when I saw the size of the animal. It covered the entire plate. Then they covered it with fries.
I think this has been the best chicken fried steak I’ve had so far; it was nicely season and tender. The batter really stuck to the meat and stood up to the gravy. The batter had a nice crunch as well, just to give you a lil crunch before you bite into that tender, gravy bathed piece of meat.
I’m a sucker for key lime pie but also a skeptic. I have yet to try one that I really like. We tried theirs and it did not disappoint. Portion was more than enough for two and it sat pretty tall. I really enjoyed the tanginess of the pie and it wasn’t too sweet, so it was perfect for me.
If you’re going to go, go with a 2 day appetite as portions can be pretty big and you’re sure to take left overs.

Ate at the original Tip Top often years ago!
So we tried the newer one on Nacodoches Rd for lunch yesterday!
The service was friendly and prompt and attentive.
It’s all downhill from there!
My companion ordered a club sandwich which was ordinary at best! Pretty chintzy on the ingredients! He rated it a two which is why I rated 2 stars. He liked the chips and the iced tea was ordinary.
I ordered a BLT! Not rocket science!
There were about 2 or 3 small pieces of some of the worst microwaved bacon I ever tasted!
Obviously amateurs in the kitchen who are clueless! I would rate this place a 1 star because the server was prompt.
Eat at your own risk!

Walked in to a cold setting. I don’t understand why a restaurant would want to maintain the air so cold that you have to ask three times to raise the temp and when you finally can’t continue your meal because your steak is cold you wonder why? They’ve got to be losing money in utilities and of course the cost is passed on to their customers. The steak wasn’t that great and now another reason not to go back.

I read all the reviews before hand but my husband wanted to try it. Let me tell you I was blown away the food was incredible. We got the sampler for the appetizer and it was good. The fried pickles were the best. We both got burgers and the size was huge. Our waitress Jo was outstanding she made sure our drinks were always full and that we were happy. Only compliant was that I was too full to try the pies they look good. Defiantly coming back for the pies

My salad was just lettuce in a bowl, so I said it was okay and sent it back… I’m not big on just lettuce. The waitress got annoyed, and when my chicken fried steak came out… it had two long white hairs in the potatoes.
If you come here don’t complain or ask for anything different, or you’ll pay the consequences. :(

Pretty good food, loved the big size portions. Chicken fried chicken had a lot of flavor. Plus basket of rolls and cornbread equals take home plates.
Good sweet tea, also got a big bowl of salad.

In a couple of weeks ago and the food was absolutely delicious. Onion rings crispy and nicely seasoned. Chicken fried steak cooked to perfection, tender enough to cut with your fork, can’t wait for a return
good they get 5 stars

Right off the bat lemonade was watery, I offered to still pay and wanted it replaced with tea, the waitress was rude the entire time. When food finally came it was completely cold, will not be going back again.

Pie… Pies are THE reason to go here
General Food is bland.
Staff pretty friendly for the most part.
Ambience is fair for the theme.
But yes… Pies. Lots of Pie.

The food was so so. We had the chicken fried steak and the Mexican Plate. Stay away from the Mexican food for sure. The chicken fried steak was just ok for being their signature dish. Maybe it was an off night cause I’ve only heard good things.

For the life of me I cant understand how this place is so popular. The food is really bad, salty and greasy. The mashed potatos are not real mashed potatos and they taste even worse, my salad was a handful of brown edged lettuce from a bag, the tasteless batter slips right off of their «famous» onion rings, the service is awful.
This can’t possibly be the same owners or management of the original and its a shame because the LAST THING we need in this neighborhood is another horrible restaurant.

The TIP TOP is to San Antonio what Threadgills is to Austin. It is an old and established institution in a somewhat run-​down part of the city. The menu has things like Fried Chicken, Chicken Fried Steak, Fried Liver and Onions and French Fries and Deep Fried Onion Rings. Let’s face it — you aren’t going to find too many people looking for healthy alternatives but that’s the fun of dining at these old places. Just make sure you take your blood thinners before leaving for the rest of the day.
But other than the age and menu of the restaurant, the similarities end there. The food we got at lunch can be summed up in one three letter word. Yuk.
One hamburger was asked to be Medium-​Rare and the other, (mine) medium. What we got was one RAW hamburger — I kid you not. It was browned on the outside and cold and raw throughout the burger. And mine was overcooked to the piece of shoe leather. I tried cutting it with a fork and knife so i could eat it and i think i ruptured a tendon in my wrist trying to saw a bite off the burger so i could eat it. I showed the waitress and she seemed perplex, as if I should somehow enjoy my meat-​flavored chewing gum with mustard on it.
Thank God for the onion Rings, which were superb. The waitress talked me out of what i really wanted, Fried Chicken, because she said it would ‘take way too long’ and it wasn’t her favorite thing on the menu. When I asked why, she said simply, ”It doesn’t taste good.” Well that’s fine confidence in your establishment! I rarely complain about the wait-​staff because it is super hard work and there was a lunch rush inside the TIP TOP. I had to ask several times for drink refills, we never got our water, and at the end of the lunch, the only thing we were charged for were the Onion Rings and drinks. Personally — I don’t think we should have been charged a dime, but I didn’t mind paying for what little i actually did enjoy.
On the way out, a customer and i began chit-​chatting and his Chicken Fried Steak was brought out to him. It looked delicious. So, I am not done with the TIP TOP. I have to come back and see if that is as good as it looked. If this place is in fact a one-​trick pony, then my suggestion is to take all the other stuff off the menu and just go with what they do best. I would like to see it, and when i do, ill upgrade my review.

I have been to this new location 5 or 6 times, bot ony because I love the food at the original Tip Top. Even though it is right down the street from me, I have given up waiting for this location to get it. My food has been terrible the last 2 times I have been here. It is way to expensive to waste .
tonight, My chicken fried street had so much gristle, I could on eat half of it. The mashed potatoes were cold, not just lukewarm, but cold. The gravy was too thick and the rolls and cornbread were flat.
We were there at 5:00, and the food took forever. You kind of expect it to taste good when you have to wait to getit. VERY DISAPPOINTED YET AGAIN.,
I will not be back.

I’d really rate 3.5 stars…
the new location is right around the corner from my house and I was very excited about its opening…
That is until all the bad reviews started rolling in. I had purposely been waiting to visit until some positive reviews showed up, but my mother-​in-​law had a hankering for chicken fried steak and had read about tip top in the paper. So not wanting to shut her plans down, we decided to go with it. I have to say, I walked in ready to be disappointed.
That prejudice seemed about to be proven correct almost as soon as we arrived. Another poster had mentioned table crumbs being swept into the chairs. And SURE enough, I watched THREE people at ONE time clean an 8 top and not one pulled the chair away first or cleaned the chairs. And guess where our party of 6 was lead? You guessed it! there were still crumbs on the table and several chairs were wet, dirty or both.
BUT that is pretty much where the bad experience ended.
waitress was friendly, knowledgable and efficient.
several of us opted to split a chicken fried steak platter ($ 12 with salad, mashed potatoes or fries and another side).
The salad was your basic bagged garden salad — lettuce, red cabbage and carrot — but at least it was fresh. I will caution you about the bowl its served in though — it’s VERY lightweight, and with my first forkload I almost upended the bowl!
The chicken fried steaks arrived and the waitress came prepared with extra plates and knives for those of us splitting. A BIG plus in my book — I’ve been left sitting waiting on said items while food cooled on lots of occasions — even when items were requested when order was placed.
I really liked that the gravy was on the bottom of the plate with the CFS on top — really kept it nice and crispy from first to last bite. and it’s not DROWNING in gravy either — those of you who like LOTS of gravy might request extra (.79).
The breading was light, flavorful and crispy and the steak was well seasoned and tender. Gravy was just right too.
Accompanying rolls and cornbread arrived warm. Rolls were soft and yeasty — very homey. The cornbread had a good flavor but was a little dry.
Veg offerings for the day weren’t all that — carrots, mixed veggies and ranch style beans. We all opted for mashed potatoes — which were good.
Now the PIE offerings — now THAT was something else — and who cares about veggies when there is PIE!!!
We saw the mile high meringues on some of the pies on display behind the counter. I think there were at least 10 to choose from — chess, chocolate, buttermilk, and lots more. We decided on coconut meringue and it did not disappoint! It was well worth every single calorie! the crust looked a little dark and I was half expecting it to be dry and overdone. But it wasn’t, it was light, flaky and had a good flavor — probably an all shortening recipe. Filling was creamy and coco-​nutty, and the meringue — ah the meringue — it IS mile high, but light, fluffy and with just enough sugar to make it pleasantly sweet. toasted coconut on top was just right.
This place is NOT a trendy home style diner — tip top is what it’s always been — it’s like going to grama’s house — IF your grama can cook!
I’m sure there was some inconsistency upon opening — new cooks, new equipment, new staff– but hopefully they are settling in.
We enjoyed our meal and our visit and will be back to try it again.
One parting hint… I read the menu quickly and thought dinners came with tea and a biscuit. I put a comma where there wasn’t one — it says TEA BISCUIT on the menu — that means CRACKERS with your salad!

Well, we decided to try the new location tonight. We arrived about 7:20pm and there was a 25 to 30 minute wait. Only 3 chairs for the waiting area so we waited outside. Luckily it wasn’t scorching hot out there tonight.
Once we were sat at the table they just cleaned by wiping it off onto the seat, our waiter took about 5 to 7 minutes to arrive. We ordered our teas. They took a few minutes to get to our table.
I ordered the onion rings and they had good flavor, but weren’t as good as the original Tip Top.
We also ordered their chicken fried steak and it was big and really good as usual, but it took about 30 minutes to get to our table. Their bread and corn bread were awful, hard and the corn bread was cold. We asked for fresh, but it was the same.
One of our mashed potatoes were cold, fried okra was mushy. When I asked for more cream gravy they were out. Out of cream gravy 20 minutes before closing when most popular dish is the chicken fried steak! Now that’s very bad and the brown gravy was yecky…
The menu is misleading when it comes to the daily special. The said the chicken fried steak was $ 7.49 from 4−9pm. That’s only on Monday and it didn’t state that. The CFS is $ 11.49…
IF I go back to this location, it won’t be anytime soon. They need to work out the all the kinks first.

Service was good, Taste of food good ,
But Chop steak bit dry, Bad news was flies, unreal with flies, and pies out on counter and glass pie case was open flies on pies not good !
I told staff to close pie case glass door no response .
Hope they make it.
I love Fred road location, fly free on Fred road.

The food is great. Had their Chicken Fried Steak will go back again. Still a new place, but great

My mom, my aunt, and my uncle and I went to try the new location today and we were very pleased with the food and service. I ordered the Chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and both came out hot and tasted fresh. The coating was crunchy and the gravy was full of flavor. My mom got the beef tips and a pea salad and she said they were cooked perfectly. My uncle got a cheeseburger with onion rings and my aunt got the grilled talipia. Though the hamburger was small in size, the thickness of the burger made up for it. My aunt loved her talipia and said it was cooked perfectly. My mom and I shared a slice of coconut cream pie. Once you see the picture, you’ll know why. Then again, I could have finished this slice all by myself if I hadn’t eaten lunch… lol. Since its still new, I’m sure it need a few fixes here and there but we had a great experience and we’re seated in 10 mins.

I won’t visit here again.
Recap: We went here on a Saturday night, a party of 8. It was a 25 minute wait and that was about what we waited. Once seated it was several minutes before our server showed up. Once she took our drink order it was another 5 minutes before our drinks showed up. We ordered some Onion rings as starters and they were one of the 2 good things we ate. About 25 minutes later our food finally arrived in pieces. All of it was mediocre at best! The only good tasting item was the shrimp, and just the shrimp.
SERVICE
The host was kind and accommodating and I thought things were being well run from my interactions with him. The service was OK, and I don’t blame our server, but our server was apologetic and said «sorry, we’re still trying to get it together»…I think she meant the kitchen.
A little about the shrimp plate:
Cost: ~$ 17 for 5 (large) fried shrimp
Comes with a salad and choice of potato
The salad is just straight iceberg lettuce salad mix… a handful straight out of a bag (and they put some crackers right on the salad bowl, which frankly grosses me out thinking about how many hands may have touched them and then had them touch my salad)
We ordered mashed potatoes, they were out, so we opted for potato salad which was DISGUSTING and seemed RANCID! Had to spit out the bite.
I’d expect MORE on a plate for $ 17.
The service was OK, and I don’t blame our server, but our server was apologetic and said «sorry, we’re still trying to get it together»…I think she meant the kitchen.
Best part of my meal was the little pickles! I ordered a salad (dieting as usual) with grilled chicken. It was pretty gross. I appreciated that they had eggs on it, but it was small for a ~$ 9 salad and the chicken was dry.
My sister had the Chicken Fried Steak and found it less that satisfying, they have a yellowish gravy that has a thicker (gel-​like) consistency that she didn’t care for and felt as though it lacked flavor.
My mother had the grilled/​broiled tilapia, which she couldn’t finish because of how GREASY and overly seasoned it was.
This was a VERY SAD EXPERIENCE overall because I LOOOOOOVE the ORIGINAL TIP TOP and would patronize it anytime!

Just like the original… very good. I got the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and salad. We started off with the onion rings of course. I’m happy there’s a location a little bit closer to us now.