oh and ps - make a reservation… Food in Round Top is actually pretty good, ok, really good. We packed in a lot of shopping and shamefully a lot of really tasty calories into our short trip. With all that hard work shopping you need nourishment people. There’s plenty of fair food (corn dogs, funnel cakes) and we were all so looking forward to a little fried action but we never got that far.

We had heard of Royer’s as being the place to eat in town but as we know now it is by far the most favored place to go in RT and one of the top picks in the state. .

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There are two Royer’s locations, do not worry friends, we hit them both — a walk up and order spot in Zapp Hall and the original small restaurant location in downtown Round Top.

This is a family run business. Bud Royer and his wonderful family have owned and operated it day in and day out since 1987. His daughter runs the show and no doubt has her hands full keeping track of her brothers. JB waited on us and is one of the nicest people we’ve ever met. Bud is the original “pieman” and I don’t know how often he is present but he was there that evening. You can’t miss him. He’s a jolly guy wearing an apron made of the most beautiful tapestries and he is adorned with large turquoise jewelry of all kinds…almost as if he is THE KING. And guess what? He is. He’s got that look about him, the one that says “I make one of the best damn pies in the country and I guarantee you’re going to love it.”

FYI - everything we had was amazing. Not just the pie. Filet is out of this world, snapper, pork chop, bud’s spuds. So delicious. I recommend pacing yourself but good luck with that.

The space has all the charm of a small Texas cafe. The dining area is small and jammed with people eager to eat whatever the Royer’s are serving up. The walls are covered in posters, photos, paper, signs, anything you can think of and make it a fun light hearted atmosphere. It’s a good way to end of day and forget about your buyers remorse or relish in your fab finds.

You MUST have a reservation and typically weeks in advance. We were lucky and got one that day but they said “arrive ten minutes before and be prepared wait about 10 or 15 minutes when you get here.” We didn’t have to wait long and we were early but there were signs everywhere about L.I.T.S. (life is too short) and slow down!! I deeply admire those mottos in theory. This place feels like it has a lot of soul and I’m all about that.

If you can’t get a reservation or don’t have time you can head over to Zapp Hall and get your Royer’s fix. You’ll have to wait in line, guaranteed, but it’s so worth it. This is where you can walk through and order. We had the jalapeno sausage sandwich, chicken salad sandwich but the winner was the shrimp bacon BLT. It lived up to all of the hype we had heard. Slammin’ good. I believe they have it at the restaurant too. It seems to be one of their many specialties.

Royer’s is famous all over the country. They have been on Food Network and the video is quite entertaining, watch it here. I don’t fully understand where the hosts of the show got their sudden faux Texas draw but Texans love Texas so we’ll roll with it. Everybody loves pie right?

**pie photography credit: royersroundtopcafe.com