Day Trips: Bay View Restaurant, Marble Falls

photos by Gerald E. McLeod

The Bay View Restaurant outside of Marble Falls should be savored the first few times you visit the eatery on a bluff overlooking Lake LBJ and Wirtz Dam. The food is delightful, the service is attentive, but the view is spectacular.

Introduce this place first to your special someones. A late lunch or early supper visit – when the restaurant is less hectic – are the best. Then you can share this incredible dining experience with a few of your closest friends later. Like I’m doing now.

From the parking lot a chauffeur-driven golf cart whisks you up the hill to the restaurant. If it’s a pretty day, sit on the patio that welcomes leashed pets and offers a separate play area for unleashed children. The unobstructed view of the lake and the sunset from the patio will prompt oohs and ahhs.

Or sit in the large, open dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The climate-controlled room offers a comfortable space for family-friendly elegant dining.

Of course, you’ve driven this distance for the food (although it is permissible to come just for the view). Native Texan and Executive Chef William Rivera has designed a menu that appeals to a wide range of palates.

The lunch and dinner menus range from pizza and not-so-simple burgers to steak and seafood. The crispy redfish dish is light and filling.

If you’re looking to make an overnight stay of the area, check out the Retreat on the Hill. The Retreat shares the ridge with Bay View and is a short walk from the front door. The cabins, safari tents, and tipis have all the comforts of home with the same incredible views.

Bay View Restaurant is off of FM 2147 in Cottonwood, which can be accessed from Marble Falls or from TX-71 (the scenic route). The restaurant is open from 11am to 9pm; closed on Tuesday.

1,737th in a series. Everywhere is a day trip from somewhere: Follow “Day Trips & Beyond,” a travel blog, at austinchronicle.com/daily/travel.