Austin's is tucked away inside of the Texas Station hotel. I had high hopes for the place based on their menu. The decor is cute, but when we arrived the restaurant was practically empty. We were there for two hours and only two other tables were occupied while we dined. When the food started arriving I understood why.
The service was great, but as I said we were one of three tables occupied. Our waiters were very attentive and I was encouraged to sample several different wines before I decided on one for dinner. It was a tough choice because the wine list is not impressive. I decided on a Cab that I could have purchased in Trader Joe's for about $6.99, but probably wouldn't.
Now for the food:
Here is what we ate:
Mushrooms stuffed with filet mignon-these were really ordinary and the filet used was over cooked and not of the best quality...also really underseasoned.
Sliced beefsteak tomato with buffalo mozzarella-nice presentation but completely underseasoned and they used a poor quality balsamic and an even poorer quality cheese.
New York steak-while it was perfectly cooked, it too was underseasoned. The quality of the meat was questionable and judging by the texture, it had been frozen. Really disappointing. It was a sizzler quality steak at $35...ridiculous.
Asparagus with balsamic-ordinary and underseasoned.
We ordered mashed potatoes, but thankfully they never arrived...I suspect they would have been ordinary and underseasoned.
Creme brulee-amazingly ordinary and I think I may have seen one tiny speck from a vanilla bean, but I can't be sure.
Coffee-brown water...the worst coffee I have ever had! I kicked it back and got a latte...that tasted like warm milk.
Basically everything we ordered was underseasoned. It was sort of like hospital food. Maybe they get alot of customers on low sodium, bland food diets. I am not a salt freak, but come on give me some flavor...any flavor. The coffee reminded me of Sanka...brown tasteless water. I know that I wasn't in Starbucks, but seriously it didn't even taste like coffee had ever been in contact with that hot water.
This is an overpriced Sizzler in the low rent district...Go to Craftsteak!!! The prices are about the same and the food is amazing. Even the $6.99 steak dinner at Ellis Island is worlds better than the meal I had at Austin's.