Hilltop Restaurant and Herb Garden

After spending nearly 100 dollars on my credit card for brunch, these people wouldn't sell me a jar of jelly because of a $5 minimum purchase rule. The founders of the restaurant would probably be rolling over in their graves at the total loss of hospitality at this establishment.

My Dad needs to use Yelp, or maybe he's secretly getting me to review his best finds...  

Recovering from our Grandma's 90's Birthday Bash we went here today for Father's Day Buffet with required reservations and it was full.  Just as their website states, beautiful lakeside dining complete with alligators and giant, huge turtle.  Fun easy drive from 59 with beautiful scenery and a perfectly manicured resort and lakes.

What makes these foods special are the fresh herbs grown here and used to maximum culinary potential; you can taste fresh herbs forward and celebrated in every bite.  Getting right to the food, in a tapas style I actually managed to taste everything!

- Smoked Duck Gumbo - Provided with fresh steamed Texas jasmine rice, was a unique combination of duck and pork which was different and memorable than any gumbo I've ever tried.  Nice start.  
- Chef carved Prime Rib.  Perfect with an herbal peppered crust that caused me to go back twice.  Second time I requested a crusted edge which was succulent in fat and insanely decadent.  The Horse Relish was the best I've ever tasted worldwide, Au Jus could have used some salt.  I mean, look at this;
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/i8Y6mqm1QYTKfHeme6LAWA?select=Z0OkJPko5EKn_iGryWcLAQ#--tMnNXuZkpf6SgBEOtq8Q">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>
Words can not describe that.

- Hickory Smoked Pork Loin with Texas BBQ Glaze - Beautiful real smoke flavor, juicy and perfect.
- Shrimp Provencal with white wine and tomatoes - Had they used Texas Gulf Shrimp this would have been a clear day winner, but way too expensive to include in a buffet.  The tomatoes were the winner of this as they exploded with flavor, obviously extremely fresh and local.
- Smoked Salmon Plate - Wow, really nice.  Incredibly tasty fatty large salmon slices served properly with capers, wonderful unique fresh herbal cream cheese, and super juicy lemons.  I was tempted to hand craft a salmon roll on my plate at the table but my wife scolded the idea with "Don't play with food!"  Hahah!
- Herb & Parmesan Roasted Red Potatoes - Quite nice, the herbs as mentioned made this just lovely.
- Green beans.  These were actually young green beans that were lightly sautéed in olive oil and the herbs brought them out to perfection.
- Green salad with assorted Hilltop dressings.  Americans don't respect vegetables according to my Japanese wife and I agree with her.  The greens, lettuce were not tossed yet we could have done that as oil and vinegar were generously available.  The jalapeno jelly was interesting, the ranch dressing was unique and tweaked with fresh herbs yet the winner here was the fresh toasted nut topping that contained pine, pecan, pumpkin, sunflower and another type of seed we could never determine which was sweet.  Very nice!
- Baby carrots with Thyme & Onion.  I don't like carrots but enjoyed these as the fresh herbs made them special.
- Home Made Yeast Rolls - Fresh and lovely baked perfection.
- Baked Macaroni & Cheese - Decent but they could have twisted it up with some smoked Gouda, or a local Texas Blue Cheese and/or bacon, yet that would have made it too expensive for a buffet.  I know this chef can do that.
- Deviled eggs with fresh dill - Fresh Dill made these the best I have ever tasted.
- Baked Potato Salad - Again the fresh herbs made this one of the best potato salads I have ever tasted.
- Grilled sausage with pepper jelly.  The menu said sweet and sour peppers however they deviated to an extremely wonderful fresh local banana pepper as the base.  Happy awesomeness.

DESERTS

- Beef Wellington was in a perfect pastry and could have benefited by a larger chunk of prime rib perhaps.

As I am not a desert person really it is remarkable for me that I tried 4 of the 5 types, excluding banana pudding as I am allergic to bananas.
Coconut Cream Pie, German Chocolate and Pineapple Upside down cake were all lovely, with the clear winner being the Pineapple Upside down, according to all in our party.  

Service was top notch and if this has not made you hungry yet, just look up at the top of this long review again and you will see I have given a well deserved 5 stars.  My Dad is great a finding awesome food in wonderful unique settings.   Enjoy our photos.