Casino El Camino Bar & Grill

10/20/09

Good Food, Cool Staff

by Rich81 at Citysearch

Burgers are awesome. Even the veggie burger my buddy ordered by mistake was amazing.

Bartenders are quick and friendly, waitresses are also. Cool atmosphere, smoking patio in back. Check it out.

• Pros: Good burgers
• Cons: Not for you Abercrombie kids

10/03/09

I expected better...

by oldoldaustin at Citysearch

After reading the great reviews of this place, I expected a funky Austin eatery with super amazing burgers. If the burger had been fabulous, I might have been able to overlook all of the cons, but it was not. To start, I ordered my burger well done. It was charred on the outside, but blood red and cold on the interior. And it took 40 minutes even though fewer than half of the tables in the place were occupied. The waitress was undoubtedly the worst I'd ever experienced. When she was not ignoring our table, she was rude and condescending. The atmosphere was depressing, the food just OK, the wait way to long and the drinks watery. What more can I say?

• Pros: OK food
• Cons: too many to list

04/12/09

the best example of what makes austin so unique

by misteradiant at Citysearch

wow. i'm sorry to see the story below. i love casino el camino and have been there a few times since my family from new orleans and i ended up in austin after katrina.

it must have been a stressed out day during sxsw for the kitchen staff to treat someone so poorly, especially another 6th street employee. i know for a fact that casino el camino gives preference to other local restaurant and bar employees so i am pretty shocked to discover this episode.

remember though, the kitchen is usually staffed by just two people, and during south by, the orders for food pile very high. that is likely why the wait was so long for you. how fast were food orders delivered to you during that week in any other 6th street establishment? additionally, i also know 6th street staffs work very long and hard hours during the festival. these things probably add up to infrequent blowups.

i was there during sxsw and my group and i all ordered burgers and fries. yes, it took 45 minutes, but the place was packed, everybody was eating, and i could see that the grill the cook was working on had burgers and dogs on every inch. when we received our food, the burgers were hot and the fries were perfect. i had no problems with the kitchen staff, although it was obvious to see that they were hot and stressed out. that energy wasn't hard to find during south by.

i've also been there since, when the atmosphere is much more relaxed than it is during south by. there were three in our group and we went in at 5:30 on a monday. the burgers took 20 minutes and were just as good as they were during sxsw.

additionally, besides the wicked atmosphere of the place and the interesting juke box, the bar staff is great. many are musicians and performance artists and conversations with them are very interesting. even during south by, it was easy to get a laugh out of them. at some other bars, the bartenders acted like everybody they didn't recognize was a tourist. i don't know about you, but when i go to a bar i'd rather have a great bartender than a friendly cook. besides, aren't bar cooks supposed to be surly? i thought that was a prerequisite.

at casino el camino, i always have a great time and unlike the poor person who posted a couple of days ago, i highly recommend it to austinites as well as out-of-towners.

• Pros: great door staff, bar staff, atmosphere, jukebox
• Cons: not a family place after 9pm