03/28/09

The best Tex-Mex in Austin!

by littlecupcake

My husband and I absolutely adore El Patio! I am native to Austin and think El Patio represents a local restaurant at its finest: family owned, cozy retro atmosphere & home-style food. The food is completely Tex-Mex. Gooey, yellow American cheese & thin red salsa. Our favorite dish is the cheese enchiladas w/ onions. Thank you Joseph family for keeping Austin traditionally weird & well fed!!!

• Pros: family owned, friendly staff, great enchiladas
• Cons: closed on Sunday

01/28/09

Standard Tex Mex

by pigeonholetom

El Patio has no patio, but is located on the drag, which is nice. It's standard TexMex. Nothing fancy or over the top, but not too bad.

11/18/08

El Patio offers tasty & fairly-priced TexMex fare

by austintexmexfan

El Patio offers very tasty, fairly-priced TexMex Food, and very attentive service. And they've done it since 1954. Despite the occasional misguided comments by a few one-time customers who expected the wrong sort of dining experience, El Patio is a pleasant place to enjoy good TexMex for a reasonable price. There are many good reasons why the Joseph family has been filling-up the tables at El Patio for over 50 years! You just can't argue with such long-time success.

• Pros: Tasty TexMex food, attentive service, family atmosphere, handy location near UT.
• Cons: Limited-space parking lot. So use the street... or WALK!

04/12/08

Best Mexican Food Anywhere

by johna221363

This is our family's standard by which every Mexican Food Restaurant is rated. None have surpassed it yet. I always go for the beef enchiladas.

• Pros: Best Mexican Food Anywhere
• Cons: It's hard to find parking.

02/14/08

Mediocre food, average service, and not cheap enough

by eloon

After a bunch of 5 star reviews and some 1 star review, we decided to try out El Patio. I have to say the food isn't the worst I've ever had, but I probably wouldn't go back very often.

I'm pretty sure the chicken in my chicken enchilada was canned chicken which is pretty weak. Sadly, the chicken enchilada was better than the cheese. I'm pretty sure they used all velveeta cheese which is just so strong. Their chili con carne didn't have much carne and wasn't very chili like either.

The queso was good, and I liked the homemade chips (my finace did not).

If people think that this place is REAL tex-mex then I'm sad for them. I've eaten mexican food in a lot of places and I would rank El Patio in the bottom tier. It would be the best mexican food in OKCity (I spent a summer up there) but I've eaten food this good in Kermit, TX (middle of nowhere past Midland).

Lastly, I was disappointed that our bill was $24 for one kids plate (she eats lightly), my entree (2 enchiladas with rice and beans), one frozen marg, one soda, and a small queso. If it had been $18 for the same meal I'd be much more inclined to go back more often.

01/16/08

Family owned and operated - a place you can trust

by ajh13

I really love this place, although I understand it is not for everyone. I can't figure out why there is such a divide between people who LOVE this place and people who absolutely hate it.

• Pros: clean, quick, good food
• Cons: not for everyone. have to be careful bringing first-timers

11/27/07

Pa-tooey!

by guliver

Just dined (if you call it that) at El Patio for lunch. It was my first time there, and I assure you, my last. Not only was the food overpriced, but it was bland and unappetizing. Add to that the unfriendly wait staff and slow service, and one has the primary reasons for not going back.

• Pros: Can't think of any
• Cons: Overpriced, poor service, bland food

10/28/07

Great TEX MEX!!

by backroads101

El Patio that they has a great business! I hope they don't pay attention to the negative reviews on this site. My family has been eating here sinece we were all in college in the 70's. Not much has changed and that is why we eat here 2 times a week. It is REAL TEXMEX. A lot of people won't understand it. If you are a foreigner (not from Texas) you won't understand, go to Curra's or Guerro's. There are a lot of different styles of Mexican food in Austin and not all styles are for everyone. I hope El Patio is around for another 50 years. It is simple, inexpensive and as good as great TEXMEX gets.

• Pros: Inexpensive, Excellent Food, the Josephs are nice people!

10/20/07

Hometown Flavor

by shelby14

We had a wonderful experience at El Patio, from the great food to the personal service!! The homemade tortilla chips and chili con queso are down right addictive. The nachos and the enchiladas were perfect!! We had several people waiting on us making sure that we had everything. The friendly, family service is something you just don't get anywhere else!!!

• Pros: Food and Service
• Cons: No Parking

09/06/07

same name as the frozen dinners...coincidence? I think not.

by txex97

I hadn't eaten at El Patio in almost 7 years because I remember it being pretty bad but I couldn't remember specifically what was so bad. As fate would have it, my wife, daughter and I ended up there tonight due to a lack of other ideas. I was quickly reminded why I hadn't been back and won't go back.

The people, ambience, etc, are not the problem. The problem is the horrible, horrible food. The salsa they brought out was the consistency of water, and only slightly more flavorful. I ordered the chicken enchiladas with rice and beans. Pretty simple order, how can this not be decent. Let me tell you how. Unheated Corn tortillas straight out of the package. Bland chicken. Then, the last straw: they were topped with american cheese slices, like kraft singles. I am not kidding, God, I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. The rice was hard and only seasoned with cumin. Unseasoned beans. The meal was an absolute nightmare. I came home and read reviews here and on 360 and found about half hated it, and the ones that didn't talked more about how it's an institution because they've been doing the same thing for 50 years. NEWSFLASH: Making the same mistake for 50 years is not endearing and tradition, it's just sad. Then it made sense, all this talk about how people have been eating here for all these years + about 70% of the people in the restaurant were over 75 years old = this is the cafeteria at an old folks' home. The recipes are neither authentic Mexican or even passable tex-mex. This place is merely a place that serves as a good memory to many old people in Austin. I saw several families eating there, and the common bond at every table was multiple elderly people. At EVERY table except ours. Now, I like old people, but not their eateries apparently.

If you need to appease grandma and grandpa by going to this place they loved as young people then take them to El Patio and sit there and choke down something and smile. You can get through it. I did, barely.

• Pros: they allowed us to leave
• Cons: see review