Edmond Bear said:
Ran across Pinewood Coffee Bar a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Made me wonder what all of the cool new places were in Waco.
So, wadda you got? What are the best new places since the start of 2018?
I started trying to answer this question but it's basically impossible, because essentially none of these places that I could think of are very good. So instead of ranking what's best, here's my rating of the "newer" places. And I have to give a disclaimer that I don't know exactly when all these places opened, so if I post about a place and someone comes back and says "oh well that opened in October of 2017, he only asked about 2018 forward" well ... sorry in advance, I don't know what to tell you.
Restaurants:
- PF Chang's: Sadly this is a very exciting event for Waco, and is one of the top choices for Mrs Rocks and I for date night. Not bagging on PF Chang's, I just basically would never have gone there for dinner when I lived in Dallas and Houston because there were roughly 500 more interesting restaurants to choose from.
- Los Cucos: Solid Tex Mex, a welcome addition to Waco, I eat there a lot and really like it, but we need more Tex Mex places like New York needs more delis.
- Walk Ons: Yet another place that's an "exciting" addition for us Wacoans that I would probably never eat at if I lived in a city with halfway decent food options. Someone please put me out of my misery.
- Hecho en Waco: This may pre-date 2018 by a bit. Think Gloria's in Dallas but half as good food, service, and atmosphere. The pork carnitas and bean dip are good though.
- Cajun Craft: This also might pre-date 2018 a bit. Pretty decent Cajun food imho.
- Milos: Wants to be a Austin/Dallas/Houston farm-to-table restaurant. I really like the fact that Waco is trying. The food is not bad, some of it is pretty tasty. The atmosphere is also not bad, in fact, relatively well done. Words that come to mind when I think of the service: Chernobyl, Titanic, 3 Mile Island, ***ushima, Hindenburg, Carrot Top.
- Union Hall: I was cautiously optimistic about this concept but that has been tempered somewhat upon learning that Capt. Billy Whizzbangs is a vendor. Now I like me some Capt. Billy's, but that's almost exactly the opposite of what I was hoping for. Still holding out hope that this turns out well but I have a feeling that we're going to Waco up the place.
- Harvest on 25th: I have no clue how new this place is but it's new to me so I'll pretend like it's new. Ate there with Mrs Rocks the other day. The food is pretty darn good, and I'd love it if this had been made into a legit dinner place with a slightly expanded menu and service instead of fast casual style. Atmosphere still pretty Waco, but kinda hipster Waco. So there's some ironic instead of unironic mustaches.
- That's about all I can think of if we're not including new stuff like Mod Pizza or Torchy's in Hewitt or Hat Creek in Woodway or the new McDonald's in Las Colinas...
Bars and coffee shops to come.