Hyde Park Bar & Grill

Doesn't Recommend

AbneyFamily512

Joined 5 years ago

Dishonest Establishment, too bad.. I'm sorry to say, we had a very dishonest, first-time dining experience. The wait was ok, the food was good, but the customer service was below average, and to top it off, watch your receipts! This was very unfortunate, especially during these times. Someone in the restaurant added $2 to the total bill; assuming this was done on the tip section. Grant it, we left over 20% even for the original tip and this still occurred! We have had this happen before so we keep an eye out and sure enough, it happened here. It is not the dollar amount, but the principle of the matter. How very unfortunate since we will not be attending this restaurant again and I will not recommend it. As for management? We'll see. I'll be visiting the establishment with my evidence and in my opinion, all staff who are hired and work there are direct representatives of their organization so maybe more effort should be taken when interviewing and hiring.

Recommends

SursumTX

Joined 4 years ago

A long-time Austin favorite. Well, I've always gotten good food and good service here. I guess everyone can have an off-day. In any case, I recommend it. The Wom Kim peach pudding and the brownie dessert are to die for.

Doesn't Recommend

lb108

Joined 4 years ago

Lousy customer service - Top off with under cooked and luke warm food!. I had read so many great reviews on Hyde Park and Grill so I decided to give it a try (Westgate location). We had a short wait before the hostess came and showed us to a table. The waiter did not show up for at least five minutes and was not friendly at all. We spent more time waiting for him to show up than anything else. I could see him briefly standing around in the back. When our food arrived it was luke warm to say the least and my food was not cooked properly. Again - I had to wait until he decided to show up again to explain my food was not cooked properly. The food went to the kitchen only to come back cooked the same way. By this time, my daughter was almost done eating (note - how much time had passed). I told him I did not want to send this back to the kitchen again. There were no apologies - or would like to try something else on the menu. His attitude was totally tough. Marshall seemed like he rather be somewhere else rather than attending to our table. I felt like I was inconveniencing or cramping his day. Marshall - if I would not come to the restaurant you would not have a job. Oh - note - I would never recommend or go back to Hyde Park and Grill again. I had ordered a chopped steak dinner and my daughter had a fried egg sandwich with the famous fries. Neither of us thought the fries were all that. I like plain old french fries - crispy without batter. Food quality and temperature was a F and the outstanding - friendly service was no no where to be seen - another F. I would have to say among the worse restaurants I have ate and had service at in Austin. I also want to note the restaurant was very dirty and the place seemed very run down. My chair was stained and was wobbling so bad I thought I was going to fall to the ground. I think this place has seen its better days... go somewhere else.

Recommends

chellebelle007

Joined 4 years ago

Fantastic!!!. YUM! Great atmosphere, quick service and to die for food!! The Raspberry Margarita was delicious and in no way weak. The fried/sauce was killer... had the BBQ Pork Burger..delish! Great date night with hubby..will be back!!!!

Recommends

bohrer

Joined 7 years ago

The fries made us come back, the lack of kids is another draw.. I used to think this place was expensive when I was a broke grad student, but it's actually ok prices and I like that it's locally owned, in an old house in a regular neighborhood, with the best gellato outside of Italy right next door. The fact that it's NOT kid friendly is a plus for me, as I frequently I like to hang out with grownups. I don't mind well-behaved kids, but the fact that It's a BAR and grill, that ought to be a clue your 2 yr old is not the target customer demographic. The food is good, the fries are really special. Personally, I can't imagine paying money in a restaurant for an egg sandwich, certainly not 6.99 or whatever it is that is considerably more than the price of two breakfast tacos.

Sometimes the service has been really lousy at times, so bad we walked out after 15 minutes of noone even acknowledging our existnece after being seated, not a crust of bread, not a glass of water, no "we'll be right with you" or "we're really busy" (That would have been a lie, the restaurant was nearly empty). more than an hour before closing and vowed never to return, but we finally relented, because of the fries and the central location close to where we live, and they seem to have remedied that problem.

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

The cozy ambiance and popular fries are the big draw at this Duval Street eatery.. In Short
The restaurant has made the transformation from hip-and-happening spot to neighborhood stalwart. It doesn't draw the young trendies anymore, but does seem to appeal to couples and groups of friends from the university and surrounding neighborhods. A hammered-copper bar anchors the retro interior, which is casual and comfortable, but plenty nice for a date. The menu at Hyde Park features burgers, sandwiches, salmon, fresh salads and home-style desserts. Prices are moderate, particularly given the high price of real estate in the area.

Doesn't Recommend

KAdoremi

Joined 5 years ago

Not kid friendly. I actually went to Hyde Park South with a gift certificate from someone and ended up spending more than the gift certificate. We have a family of four, my children are 5 and 8. The kids menus were ridiculously expensive ($6) and didn't include drinks. They ordered lemonade, which was $2.50 each! (Not home-squeezed, either!) I'm sorry, but $8.50 for a 30 pound 5 year old is ridiculous! The gift certificate barely covered my kids meals plus tax and tip, and that wasn't including our meals, which were okay, but also expensive. You would think with the overall price of our four meals and one drink each, that we had eaten fine dining in a fancy hotel, not a "Bar and Grill!" We wil not be returning and do NOT recommend it for anyone with children! Most Austin restaurants have us spoiled with consideration to people with children, so we were shocked. Oh, I didn't mention that the food took FOREVER to come, which is also not good for small children!

Recommends

sandwichconnoisseur

Joined 5 years ago

Great Pimento Cheese Sandwich. On my quest for a good pimento cheese sandwich - serious craving here! did some looking online and noticed that this restaurant offers one on the menu. Went to the Central location in Hyde Park and was treated to a great pimento cheese sandwich. There were cucumbers tomatoes and onions, which to my extensive southern experience is a little strange for this sandwich, but surprisingly worked and made the sandwich a little lighter too. The menu noted that the sandwich had jalapenos too, though they were not apparent in the taste. The host was quick in getting me seated. The parking lot is a mess, by the way, so I went about 8 pm to wait for the main rush to lessen. Found a spot and once inside got seated immediately. The order of fries is too much for one person to eat, though they taste great. There is a dipping sauce served with them that is not bad, but is very rich - it seems to have a mayonnaise base of some sort. Waiter was very polite and several different staff checked on the table to make sure things were ok. Seems that there is a team approach to service here. Not a huge concern except one hopes that there is tipsharing. The restaurant was clean. The waiter explained that once monthly - the second Monday, (which happened to be the day I visited) the restaurant closes for about 3 hours mid-day for a professional power cleaning. He explained that the entire kitchen and food prep areas out back are power cleaned with commercial washers to ensure the kitchen remains clean since the restaurant is an old house. There were several ceiling tiles that appeared to have had leaking in the past, but this did not in general detract from the cleanliness of the place. The coffee was fresh and was served with real cream vs. milk or half and half.

Recommend putting the pimento cheese on sourdough instead of the hoagie roll because things tend to spill out of the hoagie.



This is NOT a place I would take kids, though they offer a kid's menu

Doesn't Recommend

EngineerTom

Joined 5 years ago

terrible dinner at Hyde Park Bar & Grill South. I have never before written an unfavorable review of a restaurant, but my recent dinner at the South location of the Hyde Park Bar and Grill was among the worst dining experiences I have ever had. The whole thing was made even worse by the fact that it was supposed to be a special occasion, which we'd been looking forward to for months.

Things got off to a bad start with the pre-dinner wine we ordered. I asked for a glass of the house Zinfandel, but when the waiter brought our wine my 'zinfandel' was a dark red wine with a very dry taste. The waiter insisted it was the Zinfandel, however, and I simply accepted it as such. My wife and I then ordered our burgers cooked medium-well.

When our food arrived I noticed that the meat was still red and uncooked at the center! Our waiter was nowhere to be seen, and it was several minutes before I managed to flag him down. After I showed him the burger he admitted it was undercooked and offered to have them cook me a new one. Since my wife's burger was satisfactorily cooked, she proceeded to eat her dinner while I waited for them to repair mine.

After several minutes another waitperson brought me a chicken-fried steak and asked if that was what I'd ordered. I said, "No. This is entirely wrong." I then explained everything that had happened. He assured me he would correct the problem and have my burger out immediately.

Sure enough, in a few minutes the second waiter reappeared with a well-cooked hamburger. He asked me to slice the burger while he waited, so he could be absolutely sure I was satisfied. This time, the hamburger was properly prepared. Unfortunately, by that time the french fries we'd ordered were cold and my wife had finished eating.

Needless to say, we were extremely disappointed with the whole experience. We have absolutely no intention of ever revisiting that Hyde Park Bar and Grill, and would unhesitatingly advise others to avoid it.

Recommends

emeraldead

Joined 6 years ago

Cozy Comfort Food with Classy Ambiance. I had my first taste of Hyde Park Grill this weekend and would definitely return.

We just beat the dinner rush which grew quickly, so I recommend being prepared to wait or coming at a slow time. But there is a very lush bar to hang out while you wait for the table if you like.

Our server was attentive and quick. We ordered the baby fried portabello mushrooms which were hot and crispy without being a hard shell. The sauce was thick and delicious, very green and fresh tasting which set off the hot earthy taste of the mushrooms perfectly.

We ordered the horseshoe and the chicken fried steak. The fries come with everything. I had heard such great things about them but was surprised that their taste was actually just like a normal fry. I couldn't detest much special flavoring. However, the texture is really awesome and with the cheese and tomatoes on top were great to munch on.

The chicken fried steak was juicy and tender, with a sauce that was creamy and not over peppered.

The three of us each had a different dessert- the peach buttermilk cake was HUGE but served warm with cream and a heavy sweet end to the night. The pear/cherry turnover was a bit too bready for my taste but the fruit was very tart and tender. The buche du noel was a seasonal treat but silky and smooth- much more mousse than cake which was a nice surprise.

And the bill still came to less than $30 a person even with tip and drinks.

The look is cozy- dark woods and glass with local artist paintings spread around. Parking seemed to be difficult, but that's true of just about any popular place in Austin. Absolutely great!