Where is the Best Upscale Casual Dining in Austin, Texas?
All I can say is that it was the best meal I have ever had in this city, hands down. I have lived in Miami, NYC, and London, and France… I have eaten every where worth wild and I can’t remember a meal quite so good. The inventions this Chef “Lawrence Kocurek ” has brought to town are defiantly a reflection of his NYC culinary background. We started the meal with a Sushi dish that was Hamachi two ways, both in tartare form and the grilled Collar, my favorite… it was to die for, subtle in the tartare and assertive flavors in the collar. Next we had the Hearts of Palm Salad with Truffle dressing, get this Chef Kocurek made the prosciutto that is in the salad in house, the waiter said it has taking a year to mature…who does that outside of NYC and other great cities. The salad was fantastic. Then for entree my wife and I had the “Opakapaka” Hawaiian Snapper and I had the Loin of Lamb…blown away the Lamb was cooked to perfection and looked like a steak the way it was prepar
My boyfriend and I went to join his family for a nice meal. Once we drove up we were questioning if we would be able to actually park and get it; we were glad we did. After waiting for a little bit (we did have a party of 8) we were seated with a pleasant and competent server. They made sure all our needs were attended to. We did the food family style of course. I feel in love with their chicken lettuce wraps. Next time I want to try to vegetarian once. The rest of the table raved about the prawns which I was not bold enough to try. Since there were two birthdays at the table we did get dessert. The cheesecake & the chocolate dome were amazing. You can easily go there on a date or as a family. There is a bar with an extensive menu. The only thing that I wonder about was the extensiveness of their food menu; sometimes you have to question places that try to cook too many dishes, but it seems they nailed every one… at leaset the ones we ordered.Pros + Taste. Quality. Visual appeal.
I live near here so I have been to the Cheesecake Factory several times. I like to go for the following dishes: Fried Macaroni and cheese (so decadent! and with the best cream marinara on the side), Boston salad, Firecracker Salmon Rolls, and Tuxedo Cheesecake. These are a few of my favorites. The food is really good 90% of the time. Once we did get an undercooked salmon roll, but my husband liked it anyway. I just don’t like undercooked. The service is the issue here – the hostesses ALWAYS try to seat us in the section where the tables are squished right next to each other and you feel like you are eating with strangers or on a cruise boat. We always asked to be moved to another table or booth now because once they sat us there and there were two horribly behaved children next to us kicking our chairs and running around (who brings kids to the Cheesecake factory at 9 at night? seriously). One time my husband ordered a drink and the waitress goes “Can I see your Id? Because you LOOK a
What’s ‘Austin Stoner Food’? It’s food prepared by someone who thinks more is better. Let’s make a filet mignon with mashed potatoes and veggies. Now, let’s put some blue cheese on the meat. Hey, let’s put some sweet potato on there too. Hey, let’s throw an enchilada on the plate and maybe a samosa too! Now, let’s throw a few more flavors and elements on the plate just ?cause I?m stoned and it sounds good?Okay, seriously, my main criticism is, that while bold, the plates overwhelm the palate with too many, not necessarily harmonious elements and lack sophistication.My favorite part of dining here is the very reasonable wine list. I?ve found the service good as well. I should add I did like it as a lunch spot. Even the ?1000 flavor salad? I had (don?t remember which one I really had).Pros + Wine PricesCons – Too many flavors/elements on a plate
Last night my wife and I went to Bellagio, although a little far from where we live, we couldn’t resist given all of the great reviews. Unfortunately it didn’t live up to our expectations. The atmosphere was cozy, but a little too warm for me. I had sweat dripping off of my forehead all night but, back to the food. The appetizers and salads were very good, but in my opinion it’s pretty hard to mess those up. My wife had the bistecca tuscany, which was bland at best. It tasted like something I could have made at home with some bottled ragu. I had a salmon special which was ok, but not mind blowing. The wine list seemed fine, so no disappointments there. It’s definitely going to be hard for you not to try Bellagio given the number of great reviews, but given the cost, in the end, don’t say I didn’t warn you.It’s very unlikely we’ll ever head out there again, unless it’s at the request of someone else. Food 7Service 8.5Air conditioning 4Cost 4 (direct result of the quality of th
