Las Manitas Restaurant

03/13/08

Slow service, chips and salsa charge

by austiniteX2 at Citysearch

Our visit wasn't spectacular, to say the least. I will give that the food was good, but this was offset by the long wait, and then the even longer and less professional wait staff experience. Waiting for a table during restaurant rush hour we don't mind, but when one finally gets a table, we would actually like some prompt service. In addition, the chips and salsa we ordered came at a cost (have the owners realized this is not the custom in all other tex-mex establishments?) and the guacamole we ordered was tiny for the price. So, overall the experience was not worth the bother. There's better tex-mex at a cheaper price at a faster pace.

• Pros: It's a local establishment and not a chain . . .
• Cons: . . . . but that doesn't make up for bad service and pricy food

03/07/08

Migas Review by The Melbourne Method

by MigasMethod at Citysearch

Las Manitas serves up an appetizing looking plate of Migas, well at least in terms of the Migas part of that plate, which only actually accounts for about 40% of the plate and the plate wasn?t even all that large (with the tortillas on the side). The vast majority of the Las Manitas plate of Migas was occupied by refried beans, which I did not eat (important note: this was because the beans were not vegetarian. The Migas themselves had the familiar look of a pile of Migas that were going to be alright, but not much more than alright. The Migas were the standard foundation of eggs and tortilla chips with a thin layer of cheddar cheese that hadn?t really melted, smothered in ranchero sauce. If there was a veggie in the Las Manitas? Migas I sure didn?t find it (maybe they were hiding under the beans). The menu states, in its description of the Migas that the dish contains two eggs, and that right there is the problem: there were not enough eggs in the Las Manitas? Migas, and this attributes to most of the Migas? problems. The tortilla chips were there and they were pretty crunchy, okay they were very crunchy, perhaps a bit too crunchy, and the problem with this is mainly that the egg to tortilla ratio was not sufficient. While the cheese layer was thin and had barely melted, so that by the time I got to the lower layers of Migas they were lacking completely of cheese . The ranchero sauce was pretty good, and there was plenty of it, and as there was salsa on the table I can?t criticize them for being un-saucy, and I?ve got to say the tortillas were darn good. I understand that many people like beans with their breakfast these beans kind of ruined much of the Migas actually touching them. If the Las Manitas Migas had 1 more egg, and an increase in the cheese to reflect that, the Migas would have probably been quite a bit better?and in all likelihood they also would have taken up more than 40% of the plate.

More Migas reviews at www.themelbournemethod.blogspot dot com

10/18/07

Don't go!!!

by dnanez at Citysearch

I've lived in Austin over 30 years and still can't believe all the hype this place gets. The food is BAD!!!

If you want true Tex Mex avoid Austin altogether and drive down to San Antonio!!

06/07/07

So-so Socialist Tex Mex

by shan_phil at Citysearch

If you are told that this place has great food, it is just a myth. Basically, this place is popular with politicos...mainly of the Democrat variety. The food is just not that good. If you are visiting from out of town, please don't judge TexMex by what you get here. I recommend instead visiting Mat's El Rancho or Polvos (my personal favorite). If you are free market capitalist or a small business owner, you'll want to stay away from this place and go support someone who is truly trying to make it as a small restaurant owner. The sisters who own this place reached the end of their lease and it was not renewed because a hotel was being built. That is a shame except that they own a building about a block away. They also own 5 buildings in town worth over $1 million. Despite all that, their friends at city hall created a downtown business loan program just for them and then made them a $750,000 loan that after 5 years of $4500/mo payments is forgiven (so long as they are still in business and have continually employed 15 fulltime employees). The city essentially gave away $600,000 to the sisters. Small business and small restaurant owners in town were very upset by this. I am upset by this. Libertarians are upset by this. Free market capitalists are upset by this. Heck, even liberals and many Democrats are upset by this. I will never eat there again...even if invited by some of my Democrat friends (which is really the only time I have eaten their mediocre food anyway).

01/28/07

Overrated, bland food.

by thun at Citysearch

We went for a Sunday brunch. I had the migas especiales and she had the pastor plate. We're both big fans of both migas and pastor, but we were underwhelmed by both plates. I'll start with the migas: Except for the overpowering mushrooms, they were bland. The serving size was a little small, and the black beans were cold. At least the tortillas in the migas were crunchy. The pastor plate: The serving size was very small. Half of the serving was fat, some in big chunks, and the whole thing was swimming in grease. It was also very bland. By far the worst pastor I've ever had.

As for things I liked about the restaurant, the corn tortillas were very good, and the service was quick and helpful. Ambiance was nice, but they should really consider replacing the collapsing seating in the back.

Overall, I was very underwhelmed by this restaurant, some of it due to the hype this place gets. Honestly though, there are much better mexican restuarants out there like Polvo's. I'll take good food over good service any day.

• Pros: Homemade tortillas, quick service
• Cons: Bland food, small servings

07/09/02

As Authentic As Taco Bell

by dporter at Citysearch

I have lived in Austin for more than 20 years. I just tried Manitas for the first time several months ago and then again recently. I wish I hadn't given it a second chance. It's not that the food is bad, but with Curra's, Fonda, El Arroyo, Polvo's etc., why would you want to eat food that doesn't even taste as good as Taco Bell? I put Manitas at the bottom of the Tex-Mex food chain.

• Pros: location, fast
• Cons: BLAND food

07/08/02

Downtown Tex-Mex

by Carlos1 at Citysearch

Have been to Las Manitas several times for breakfast. Will always avoid the weekends because of the crowds and worse than average service. Am somewhat startled at the reviews that indicate this to be "authentic interior", and so on. It's really just Austin tex-mex with small portions but for gourmet quality prices, a tad bit exploitive for my preferences... folks, La Fonda San Miguel is authentic. If you're the "rad, hip, trendy" type, well, you keep right on eatin' there. They need you.

• Pros: downtown, coffee good, not pretentious
• Cons: very small portions, poor parking

07/08/02

not all that

by mfbabe at Citysearch

The service was lousy, the ambience nonexistence, and the food only decent. For as much hype as this place recieves, i expected better. I would not have minded the lack of ambience or even the RUDE service if the food had been as ood as I heard it was, but it was not. Therefore, I DO NOT recommend this place to people and I beg you not to recommend it to out-of-towners either for it will give them a bad impression of Austin dining.