{"id":787372,"date":"2026-05-10T21:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T21:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787372\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T21:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T21:41:14","slug":"longtime-barn-door-server-maria-davila-gets-enormous-farewell-tip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/787372\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime Barn Door server Maria Davila gets enormous farewell tip"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every Wednesday morning for the past 35 years, Maria Davila entered the History Room at the Barn Door Restaurant & Meat Market<\/a> and served breakfast to a gathering of 30 or more guests.<\/p>\n

She poured their coffee, brought their tea and greeted each one by name: the billionaire, the banker, the developers and CEOs, power brokers of the business community known as The Civic Leaders Club.<\/p>\n

Davila knew the detailed preferences of each member: Red McCombs<\/a>, the late billionaire, wanted five creamers and two Sweet\u2019N Lows with his coffee. Pat Frost<\/a>, the banker, liked hot tea. Marty Wender<\/a>, the developer, drank Diet Coke. Most club members preferred their bacon extra crispy.<\/p>\n

On May 6, Davila served her last breakfast for the group. When it ended, Wender thanked Davila for her service, collected $100 bills from each person and presented them to her as a final gratuity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to cry,\u201d Davila said. \u201cThey gave me $2,800. It\u2019s the biggest tip I ever got.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gratuity was partial. What Davila does not realize is that more money is coming. Members unable to attend are going to mail her checks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s all said and done, she\u2019s going to get between $4,000 and $5,000,\u201d Wender said. \u201cShe\u2019s a very special lady. Everybody loves her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attention to detail is one hallmark of Davila\u2019s work at the Barn Door, which closes on Sunday after 72 years. Warmth and kindness are others, which she uses to bring next level service to each table. Then there\u2019s her story.<\/p>\n

She was born in Peru and came to the U.S. at 15 to visit an uncle in Georgia. She remained in the country after her mother, Violeta Martinez Rodriguez, arrived and then moved with her to San Antonio in 1980. Davila\u2019s father, Juan Rodriguez, came the following year.<\/p>\n

Davila never finished high school. She took a job cleaning tables at the old TraveLodge Hotel downtown. She met her future husband, Ricardo Davila, at 17, married him at 18, and had the first of their three children at 19.<\/p>\n

Two years after moving to the U.S., Martinez Rodriguez took a job cleaning an Alamo Heights steakhouse. Eventually, one family member after another followed her to the Barn Door. Her husband started in 1982, her son-in-law, Ricardo Davila, in 1985 and finally her daughter, Maria, in 1987.<\/p>\n

Maria worked one year, had another baby, Thalia Davila, and became a full-time parent. She returned to the Barn Door in 1991 and brought her 3-year-old with her. With approval from management, the Barn Door became a day care for Thalia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy daughter grew up here,\u201d Maria said. \u201cMy mom cleaned and watched my daughter. Everyone pitched in to take care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thalia never worked at the restaurant nor did her brother, Anthony Davila. <\/p>\n

Ricardo Jr. Davila, however, washed dishes under his father, a Barn Door kitchen manager. Junior worked his way up to cook and then to kitchen manager after his father left the Barn Door.<\/p>\n

Maria served the Civic Leaders Club through two pregnancies. She served them after she and her husband divorced, after Ricardo Jr. moved on to H-E-B, after her children grew up and gave her four grandchildren. She served with such excellence she was asked, jokingly, not to go on vacation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018The other lady does not do as good a job as you do,\u2019\u201d Maria said.<\/p>\n

The Civic Leaders Club was formed in 1972 to discuss ways to improve the city. They first met at the St. Anthony Hotel before moving to the Barn Door in the 1980s. Maria remembers feeling anxious the first time she served them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were very powerful people,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Maria bonded with the club quickly. She got to meet wives and relatives. On Christmas, she sometimes received gifts. McCombs once gave her a bag of popcorn and an envelope with a $100 bill tucked inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like family to me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What will Maria do next? She isn\u2019t certain. The group is moving to the Petroleum Club about a mile down the road on North New Braunfels Avenue. Civic Leaders Club members would like to bring Maria to the Petroleum Club. But if they can\u2019t, Wender is not concerned.<\/p>\n

One way or another, Wender said, \u201cWe are going to take care of her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed. More checks are in the mail. <\/p>\n

Disclosure: Pat Frost serves on the San Antonio Report\u2019s board of directors. For a full list of board members,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every Wednesday morning for the past 35 years, Maria Davila entered the History Room at the Barn Door…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":787373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[321760,5229,321761,321453,321762,321763,321454,321455,321764,112149,7202,7203,358,312069,7453,3187,7593,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,173653,7819],"class_list":{"0":"post-787372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-100-dollar-tips","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-barn-door-closure","11":"tag-civic-leaders-club","12":"tag-enormous-tip","13":"tag-maria-davila","14":"tag-marty-wender","15":"tag-pat-frost","16":"tag-petroleum-club","17":"tag-red-mccombs","18":"tag-san-antonio","19":"tag-sanantonio","20":"tag-texas","21":"tag-the-barn-door","22":"tag-top-story","23":"tag-tx","24":"tag-typefeature","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa","31":"tag-waitress","32":"tag-wc-500-750"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116552460242802435","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=787372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/787372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/787373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=787372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=787372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=787372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}