If you have spent any time in San Antonio's Market Square, you have almost certainly walked past La Margarita Mexican Restaurant & Oyster Bar. It sits in a vintage New Orleans-style building right in the heart of the square, and it is owned and operated by La Familia Cortez, the same family that has been shaping the area's food scene for generations. To understand the place, it helps to know where it came from: the family business began back in 1941, when Pedro and Cruz Cortez bought a tiny three-table restaurant here in Market Square. Pedro lived to see his sons grow that into something much larger.
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The version of the restaurant people know today opened in 1981, and it owes its most famous dish to Jorge Cortez's curiosity. He traveled to Monterrey, Laredo, and Guadalajara in Mexico searching for unique cuisine, and he came back with the idea for the Sizzling Fajitas — skirt-steak served sizzling on cast-iron plates, a regional specialty that had long been a staple for vaqueros, butchers, and their families. That dish put La Margarita on the map, and it remains the center of the menu alongside the La Magnifica margarita, fresh seafood appetizers, and the comida corrida lunch specials. The menu leans on classic Mexican, seafood, and traditional Tex-Mex, so there is a familiar path for almost anyone who walks in.
Beyond the fajitas, there are a couple of things worth planning around. The weekend brunch buffet runs every Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm, which is the gentler way to do the place if you are not in the mood for a full dinner. And if you are visiting during the holidays, the family puts on La Gran Tamalada, a free community celebration in Market Square that has been going since 2017, all about the tradition of making and eating tamales. It is one of those events that feels more like a neighborhood gathering than a restaurant promotion.
On the practical side, the restaurant handles reservations, group dining, and catering, and there is a gift shop where you can pick up aprons, drinkware and fiesta items to take home. It carries a 4.3-star rating across nearly 5,000 reviews, which gives you a fair sense of how it lands with the crowds that pass through. The address is 111 S Leona St, though you will see it listed as 120 Produce Row as well, and you can reach them at (210) 898-1745 if you want to book a table or ask about a group.
It is worth noting the family history that still hangs over the place. Jorge Cortez, who died in November 2024 at age 81, was recognized for his contributions to the community, the arts and downtown San Antonio, and he designed the mural The American Dream as a tribute to his parents. For a family that started with three tables in 1941, La Margarita has become a fixture of the square, and it is still doing exactly what it set out to do: serving up the kind of Tex-Mex that has defined the neighborhood for decades.
