When I say Waco, Texas, to you, I’m willing to bet one of two things immediately pops into your mind. It’s either the Branch Davidian cult and that fatal showdown with the FBI or it’s Fixer Upper and all things Joanna Gaines. That’s a pretty wild spread. But I am here to tell you that you can have a totally normal —and even perfectly nice —vacation in Waco without running afoul of religious wingnuts or the entire Magnolia propaganda machine.
As a born and raised Texan (and particularly as a 20-something who drove from North Texas to Austin for SXSW when it was still a good time in the ‘90s), I have driven through Waco dozens of times in my life and almost never stopped there. It has always had a reputation as the home of a lot of heavy-handed Southern Baptists and a town full of terrible chain restaurants. For a long time, I thought about it like the town in Footloose that wouldn’t let those kids dance.
Frankly, far too much of it is still anti-queer because of a Bible verse that’s widely misinterpreted, so a disclaimer: Not everyone can have a normal time in Waco. They will do their best to be hospitable, but some people’s need to tell you who to be according to their god will override manners. That said, there are also plenty of places where no one will give a shit.
Should you find yourself in this rapidly growing city situated along I-35, here is an abbreviated list of places to go in Waco that don’t suck.
Red Herring
Your first stop should be at the first raw bar in Waco, which opened in 2024. It’s inside the Herringbone Hotel, which also happens to be a cool, eclectic container hotel. I like to describe the restaurant as a post-apocalyptic take on glamour. It’s loaded with art deco pieces and touches, random ‘80s references like the glass blocks around the bar, and folk art references, including the giant oyster shell over the raw bar, alongside industrial design.
Chef de cuisine Joel Garza came from Uchi in Austin at the restaurant’s opening in 2024 — that raw bar is the first one in Waco. It has a seafood program that is far, far above what one would expect to encounter in a land-locked, mid-sized Central Texas city. The food is Mediterranean, but that isn’t code for European. There is plenty happening inspired by an array of standards out of Northern Africa and the Levant here during any given season, from lamb kafta to squid ink chirata with chorizo. There is also a grand piano on a small podium where any of your Casablanca-inspired dreams of listening to live music with a drink can come true.
It took a lot of driving to Waco and eating to write this story. Want more like it? Leave us a tip to pay for the fancy drinks or the entrance fee to a water park.
One Day Bar
There is exactly one super hip bar in Waco, and this is it. It also subscribes to the industrial meets post-apocalyptic glamour decor style, but there is an outdoor patio space with TVs for watching sports and a gravel and dirt floor for that connected-to-the-earth feeling. Some of the cocktail menu was created by a clever gentleman who has since fled Waco for Here Nor There, the uber-cool speakeasy cocktail bar in Austin — it is fully of cocktail alchemy. Find it in the Greened Out (matcha, vodka, vanilla, heavy cream, and cachaça) or the Faerie Fire (strawberry-infused rum, lemon, cayenne, basil grapefruit syrup, saline, and ginger beer). The music is generally a little outdated, leaning on the indie hits of the ‘00s (think Interpol and the Arctic Monkeys) with little dabs backward and forwards from that decade. It’s dark, but the neon sign inside offers just about enough light to capture a photo. It’s also a great place for a sunset drink, when most of the tables are still available.
Waco Surf
It feels like most of the entertainment districts or destinations we go to these days are so glossy and maxed out with sponsors and price-gouging concession stands. Not Waco Surf. The plywood holding everything together with unfinished edges makes it look a bit like a fun project that some kids put together. There is a wave pool that is so good it draws surfers from all over the world. It is literally a world-famous wave pool.
And if you, like me, absolutely do not surf, there is a pool with a swim-up bar next to it so you can drink and watch people surf for hours. It’s mesmerizing (but not shaded, so keep applying waterproof SPF). By the wave pool is a snack stand with tacos that are pretty, pretty, pretty good. There is also a homemade lazy river that’s a mile long and takes about 45 minutes to float (it is the longest lazy river in the state), as it winds through the woods with nothing around. Bring a couple of beers. Right next to that are a trio of slides that fly down and, at the end, aim upwards at about a 45-degree angle and a pool, where I stood and watched people fly through the air and slam into the water, sometimes belly first. I clapped, hooted, and hollered while they did it. When I needed a break, I went to the burger stand next to it for a damn good smashburger.
Milo All Day Cafe
This spot is owned by chef McEntyre (from Red Herring), and the plant-filled dining room boasts a gnarly mural of an octopus leading you with its tentacles into the bathroom. It’s a farm-to-table kind of place, which is not revolutionary in other cities, but pretty radical in Waco. Nothing fancy going on — it is an all-day cafe that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but it’s also probably the only place in town you’ll find black-eyed pea hummus, a roasted beet and Texas apple salad, or Nashville hot chicken tacos.
Begrudgingly Be a Tourist
There are a host of other options for normal shit, including the Dr. Pepper Museum — the drink is king in Texas. Or Fabled Bookshop & Cafe, for which local coffee makers Native Sons developed a proprietary blend and at which you can find any number of book-inspired art exhibits. You can and must visit Health Camp, a burger and shake stand that’s been there for just shy of 80 years. Go to the beer spa at Pivovar brewery, where you can sit in a tub of hops that exfoliates your skin and eat an incredible plate of cheesecake while you turn into softness itself. Visit Balcones Distilling, which makes remarkably good whisky.
Magnolia Table, Joanna Gaines’s signature restaurant, is there if you just really want to go. So are the Silos, although fair warning: There are no alcohol sales or consumption allowed on the property (Southern Baptist shit), and it is closed on Sunday. It feels like a lot of commercialization, though, and not a lot of heart. Which is a shame, because there are plenty of places with an abundance of heart to visit in this weird part of Texas.
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• Oh hey, I was on the Front of Book podcast this week talking about food in Texas. Please note, it includes a conversation about the best chicken-fried steak in the state, which can be found at my family's restaurant in a small East Texas town you've never heard of. Listen for deets.
• Were you one of the many who hated to read about PopUp Bagels and VC money? Grub Street has an in-depth profile of how that bullshit works.
• Our friends at Coyote have a great story on how the worker-owned co-op restaurant, bar, and community space The Understory in Oakland came to be.
• We are digging the first issue of Fritto Editions, a cool new food media project. This digital journal is called Artisans, and focuses on "individuals and companies that still value human labor over machinery."
