New Braunfels Is Having a Food Moment
The Restaurants, Bars and New Concepts Shaping the City’s Growing Dining Scene
For years, New Braunfels dining has been closely associated with a handful of things we do exceptionally well: German food, Texas barbecue, Tex-Mex, riverfront burgers and cold beer.
Those favorites are not going anywhere. But spend a little time eating your way around town lately and something becomes obvious.
New Braunfels is having a food moment.
The city’s explosive growth is bringing more diners, but it is also attracting restaurateurs willing to take bigger creative swings. Historic buildings are being transformed into beautiful dining rooms. Local food trucks are graduating into permanent locations. Cocktail programs are becoming more ambitious. Familiar cuisines are being presented in new ways. And several highly recognizable Texas restaurant names are choosing New Braunfels for their next location.
The result is a dining scene that feels noticeably different from even a few years ago.
Here are some of the newer places helping shape what comes next.
Old City Hall Restaurant & Bar
Perhaps no recent opening better captures the evolution of downtown New Braunfels than Old City Hall Restaurant & Bar.
The restaurant opened in February inside the city’s nearly century-old former City Hall at 200 N. Seguin Avenue. The restored building has previously served as municipal offices, a police department, a World War II Red Cross training site and archive space for the Sophienburg Museum.
Today, it has been reimagined as an upscale American neighborhood restaurant by Wiggins Hospitality Group, the local company behind McAdoo’s Seafood Company and La Cosecha Mexican Table.
And the setting is a large part of the appeal.
Rich woods, patterned floors, leather seating and carefully preserved architectural details give the restaurant an established, almost big-city feel while still being unmistakably New Braunfels.
Old City Hall also represents something important happening downtown: historic preservation being paired with new experiences. Instead of tearing down an old landmark to make way for something new, the landmark itself becomes the destination.
Good for: Date night, cocktails, celebrations, business dinners and taking out-of-town guests somewhere memorable.
Saludos Cocina
Another historic downtown space gained new life this year with the arrival of Saludos Cocina at 398 E. San Antonio Street.
Opened in February inside the historic Dittlinger building, Saludos takes inspiration from the food and culture of Mexico City. Its ownership group includes several familiar names in New Braunfels hospitality, including people connected with Las Fontanas Mexican Kitchen, Blind Salamander Cantina and CRAFThouse.
The menu moves beyond traditional Tex-Mex with dishes such as blackened fish tacos with poblano-lime crema, ancho lemon pepper wings and beignet-style sopapillas served with dulce de leche. The restaurant also makes its tortillas, proteins and vegetables a central part of its fresh-food approach.
Visually, Saludos is equally fun. Pops of green, pink, blue, brown and gold create a colorful interior inspired by Mexican culture, making it exactly the kind of place diners want to photograph before the food even arrives.
Good for: Lunch with friends, dinner downtown, margaritas and anyone looking for a fresh take on Mexican cuisine.
Wilhelm & Werner at The Faust Hotel
The return of The Faust Hotel has brought much more than newly renovated guest rooms to downtown.
Inside the restored 1929 hotel is Wilhelm & Werner, a Texas brasserie with European influences that adds another sophisticated dining option to the downtown district. The concept was designed around heritage-inspired food and beverages and seats approximately 130 guests.
The broader Faust experience may be just as interesting as the restaurant itself.
Guests can move between Wilhelm & Werner, the Prince Solms lobby bar, the refreshed Magnolia Patio and Walter’s Speakeasy tucked into the hotel’s basement. The hotel reopened following an extensive two-year renovation that preserved much of its historic personality while significantly updating the guest experience.
It gives locals something New Braunfels has traditionally had relatively few of: a true destination where dinner can easily turn into cocktails, live music and an entire evening out without ever leaving the property.
Good for: Weekend brunches, date nights, hotel staycations and drinks before or after dinner downtown.
Hunter Road Country Club
Do not let the name fool you.
There are no golf clubs required and, more importantly, no membership required at Hunter Road Country Club.
The new Hunter Road bar and grill opened in June near Gruene with an intentionally relaxed neighborhood feel. The concept comes from brothers Seth and Chase Katz, whose hospitality ventures include Zelick’s Icehouse, Pie Society and Dos Gatos Kolache Bakery.
The menu leans into approachable comfort food with a little personality, including a birria grilled cheese, burgers, a patty melt, shrimp po’boy and steak frites. The cocktail list includes the Country Club Margarita, grapefruit paloma, espresso martini and tequila Old Fashioned.
Large outdoor gathering areas and a casual indoor bar give it the kind of easygoing atmosphere that works especially well in New Braunfels.
It is also another sign that the Hunter Road and Gruene corridor is becoming one of the city’s most interesting food-and-drink districts.
Good for: Casual dinners, drinks with friends, outdoor afternoons and pre- or post-Gruene outings.
And There’s More Coming
If 2026 has felt busy already, New Braunfels may just be getting started.
One of the most anticipated arrivals is Terry Black’s Barbecue, which is transforming the former Los Cucos property at 1310 E. Common Street. State filings have outlined an approximately $5 million renovation with a pit house and two-story outdoor dining component, with construction previously targeted for completion at the end of August 2026. As with all construction filings, schedules can change.
The location is particularly interesting because it places Terry Black’s remarkably close to Black’s Barbecue, adding New Braunfels to one of Texas barbecue’s better-known family stories.
National brands continue circling the city as well. Layne’s Chicken Fingers has a New Braunfels location planned near New Braunfels High School, while Slim Chickens has filed plans for its first local restaurant. Additional Chipotle and Little Caesars locations have also appeared in development filings.
More Than New Restaurants
The most interesting thing about New Braunfels’ current food boom is not simply the number of restaurants.
It is the range.
You can have dinner inside a former City Hall, explore Mexico City-inspired flavors in a historic downtown building, order a cocktail inside a restored 1929 hotel, grab a locally invented burger, eat birria grilled cheese near Gruene or finish the afternoon with a mangonada covered in candy and Hot Cheetos.
That variety is a relatively new chapter for New Braunfels.
Our German and Texas roots remain part of what makes the city special, and beloved institutions like Gristmill, Alpine Haus, Krause’s, Huisache Grill, McAdoo’s, Clear Springs, Herbert’s and countless longtime local favorites continue to anchor the dining landscape.
But they are increasingly being joined by concepts that are making New Braunfels feel like a dining destination in its own right.
And with everything currently in development, the hardest part may soon be deciding where to eat next.