Max & Louie's New York Diner - (Cibolo - Interstate 35 North)

Reviews

• ★★★★★ New York Strip Steak Grilled Mushrooms Mashed Potatoes Challah Visited Sep 6, 2026

  Visit #3 - NY Strip Steak With Mashed Potatoes & Grilled Mushrooms

  This was my 3rd visit to Max and Louies and its always a challenge to pick something from the menu. The number of items is huge, and everything I've ordered so far has been great. I know to expect huge portion sizes when ordering the main entree items.
  
  After looking over the menu for a few minutes, I remembered that huge steak I saw on someones table my very first visit, and decided that would be the item I would try this time. The menu has it listed as the New York strip steak, and for sides I picked the mashed potatoes and the grilled mushrooms.
  
  The steak was pretty good size, the menu doesnt specify its size, but I would guess it was about about a 9oz steak. It was grilled to order, I asked for medium rare and the outside had nice charring while the inside was still pink. The steak had good flavor, with only light seasoning. The grilled mushrooms were great, they were full of flavor, the portion was huge, and it went really well with the steak. The mashed potatoes were plain however. I was surprised there was no gravy, but when our waitress came by all I had to do was ask and she brought me a large bowl of brown gravy which had excellent flavor.
  
  The whole meal was great once again. So far I've had cabbage rolls with amazing sweet & sour tomato sauce. Ive had chicken parmesan on spaghetti, special ordered with the sweet & sour sauce, and this time the steak, and all 3 times they knocked it out of the park.
  
  At this rate, I have every reason to continue coming back. The prices are a bit high, but as I said in my other reviews the portion sizes almost warrant those prices. Your getting about 2 meals worth of food on most entrees.
  
  Customer service has been great, menu variety is amazing. Everything about the place is next level.

  — Paul

• ★★★★★ Chicken Parmesean Garlic Knots Visited Jul 16, 2026

  Chicken Parmesan With Spaghetti & Sweet & Sour Tomato Sauce Was Amazing!

  This was my second visit to Max & Louie's, and after having the amazing sweet and sour tomato sauce on my previous visit, I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to try next. I had spoken with the manager after that visit and found out that the sauce could be substituted onto other dishes, so I was looking for another way to use it.
  
  I had previously seen someone else order the chicken parmesan, and the item looked both delicious & huge. Since it's not something I normally order anywhere, because I'm not much of an Italian food person, I decided to give it a try. After how much I enjoyed the cabbage rolls on my first visit, I was hoping this would live up to that experience.
  
  When the plate arrived, it was enormous. It came with two large chicken parmesan patties sitting on top of a generous portion of spaghetti, along with several garlic knots on the side. What you can't really see in the photo is just how much spaghetti was underneath the chicken. I kept eating and eating until I finally had to admit I was full and asked for a box to take the rest home.
  
  The remaining spaghetti and one entire chicken parmesan patty nearly filled a large takeout container. I later ate that for lunch, finished the chicken patty and about half of the spaghetti, and was completely stuffed again. I still had more than a normal-sized portion of spaghetti left. I have to wonder if this is the largest plate they serve. Its probably the most food I've ever received as a single entree at a restaurant.
  
  The chicken parmesan patties were excellent. The patties had a good texture, the meat was moist, and they had lots of flavor. The sweet and sour tomato sauce worked surprisingly well with both the chicken and spaghetti, and the spaghetti was excellent, largely thanks to the sauce.
  
  The garlic knots were great as well. They were honestly some of the best garlic bread I've had. Rather than being crunchy, they were soft and moist, almost more like a roll, but had a really good garlic flavor.
  
  Service was great again, glasses were kept full, plates cleared, questions about items answered. Between the food and service, this place really delivers a good dining experience.
  
  This was only my second visit to Max & Louie's, and I've been impressed both times and as a result, I'm already thinking about what I want to try on my next visit.

  — Paul

• ★★★★½ Cabbage Rolls Latke Sweet & Sour Tomato Sauce Visited Jun 1, 2026

  First Time At Max & Louies - Amazing Sauce On Cabbage Rolls

  This was my first visit to Max and Louie’s, and I was completely split on what to order. On the way to our table, I noticed several plates at other tables that looked absolutely amazing. One had a huge steak, another had chicken alfredo, and another had chicken parmesan. By the time I sat down, I knew I was going to have a difficult time deciding.
  
  Once I started looking through the menu, things only got harder. The selection here is incredible, with a huge variety of New York-style and Jewish deli favorites making up a large portion of the menu. After looking everything over, I finally settled on the full-size order of cabbage rolls, which the waitress warned me was going to be quite large, along with an appetizer-sized order of potato latkes.
  
  When the cabbage rolls arrived, they looked pretty good. They were covered in a chunky tomato sauce, were surprisingly large, and came out absolutely blazing hot.
  
  The potato latke looked decent as well, served with a small cup of applesauce and sour cream. Unfortunately, the portion was fairly small for the price.
  
  I started my meal off with the cabbage roll. The first thing I noticed while cutting into it was that there wasn't nearly as much cabbage as expected. Most of the roll was packed with ground beef and rice. The real surprise, however, came with the flavor.
  
  The first bite had this tangy, sweet, chunky tomato flavor that was unlike any tomato sauce I had tasted on a cabbage roll before. I wasn't quite sure what I was tasting, so I started examining the sauce more closely. That's when I noticed these small, golden, spherical things mixed throughout it. At first, I thought they might be some kind of sweet onion or even a small piece of fruit.
  
  Whatever they were, they were part of what made the sauce so incredible.
  
  The ground beef and rice filling had good flavor on its own, but it was the sauce that really brought everything together and took the dish to another level.
  
  I tried the potato latke next, and unfortunately, this was the disappointing part of the meal. It didn't have much flavor, and the outside edges were overcooked, very hard, and almost impossible to chew. I was already hesitant to order it because of the price, but when it arrived, I discovered the appetizer portion was essentially one medium-sized potato patty. Considering the price, portion, flavor, and texture, it was a letdown.
  
  The cabbage rolls, on the other hand, were so large that I ended up taking nearly an entire roll home. The full-size order only contained two rolls, but each one was probably around half a pound of ground beef. These were definitely not small portions.
  
  While preparing this review, I became curious about the unusual flavor of the tomato sauce, so I called the restaurant and was eventually transferred to a manager. He was kind enough to answer my questions, and that's when I finally discovered what those strange golden spheres were.
  
  Golden raisins. They are rehydrated in the sauce and plump up to the point that they almost look like overfilled grapes. Sure enough, that's exactly what I had noticed in the sauce.
  
  It was such an unexpected ingredient that it completely changed my perception of the dish. I remember thinking that if this was their spaghetti or marinara sauce, some of the other items on the menu must be incredible as well.
  
  I asked the manager what other dishes were served with that sauce, expecting to hear several different options. His answer surprised me: just the cabbage rolls. He did say however, that if I wanted it on spaghetti or another dish, all I had to do was ask.
  
  There's a lot to say about this visit beyond the food. Max and Louie’s is a huge restaurant with plenty of seating and an atmosphere that feels much like an old-school New York diner. There's a bar on the diner side, while an ice cream parlor sits on the other side of a wall in a separate room. Even the entrance, with its revolving door, adds to the New York feel. There are a lot of little details throughout the restaurant that make the atmosphere feel authentic and different from your typical San Antonio restaurant.
  
  Prices on the full-size entrees are on the higher side, but the portions help justify the cost. In many cases, a full-size entrée is easily enough food for two people. A lot of the menu is also available in both small and full-size portions, with some items offering choices with or without sides or chips.
  
  Just be aware that when you order a full-size entrée here, you're often getting what amounts to two meals' worth of food.
  
  Service was excellent during my visit. Our waitress was extremely friendly, answered all of our questions, and was helpful when deciding what to order.
  
  There's an enormous amount of food on this menu that I still want to try, and after this visit, so I'll definitely be back.
  
  The food was fantastic, the portions were ridiculous, and the photos really don't do them justice. With such a massive menu packed with New York and Jewish deli favorites, I could come back and try a different entrée every time for the foreseeable future and still have plenty left to explore.

  — Paul