San Antonio has suffered another high-profile restaurant casualty as it nears the end of a turbulent year for the local hospitality industry.
Otto’s Ice House, a Pearl bar and eatery launched in April 2025, will close after offering a final day of service on Friday, Nov. 20, the brand revealed Thursday on social media.
Otto’s, located at 111 Newell Ave., adjacent the River Walk, was founded by Houston-based restaurateur Levi Goode, owner of Goode Company hospitality group. The company operates multiple concepts in Houston, including Goode Company Barbecue and Goode Company Seafood.
In a statement, Goode Company expressed gratitude to the San Antonio community but offered no reason for the closure of its first and only restaurant here. The Current reached out for further information but received no response by press time.
Otto’s was a traditional icehouse concept named in honor of the late Pearl Brewery president Otto Koehler. The location, across the River Walk from the Hotel Emma, also offered a cheeky nod to Koehler’s tumultuous history with three women named Emma, including his wife, whose name inspired that of the nearby hotel.
The food at Otto’s was largely a highlight reel of classic Americana — chicken wings, bean and cheese nachos, burgers, BLTs and loaded fries — with a few German items thrown in. The bar specialized in straightforward drinks such as highballs, frozen margaritas, micheladas and beer.
In a review of the establishment last fall, Current food critic Ron Bechtol gave middling marks to its food while citing the establishment as an example of a new trend involving “places calling themselves ice houses whose focus foregrounds food over beer.”
“With its $26 asada nachos, Otto’s Ice House is one such place,” Bechtol wrote.
Editor-in-Chief Sanford Nowlin contributed to this piece.
