Hill's Cafe has been a South Austin tradition since 1947. There is a lot of interesting history behind Hill's Cafe that I am not going to get into. The Cafe is well decorated and has a wonderful outdoor music venue and large patio area. They have free music Tuesday through Saturday. I would definitely recommend visiting Hill's and would say it is a good place to bring your out of town guests to get some Texas flavor.

Although Hill's has one several awards, voted Best Burger in Austin, top 20 music venue in Austin, "Best Restaurant Resurrection" in our city, South Austin "Business of the Year" by the South Austin Civic Club,  Best " Private Property Development of the Year" by The Austin Commercial Real Estate Society, and best chicken fried steak in Texas by Country Line Magazine, we didn't think the food was that remarkable. We tried the chicken fried steak, white wings appetizer, and their "world famous sizzlin steaks". The white wings had some kind of Teriyaka glaze or some sort of Chinese sauce on them which overpowered the flavor of the bacon and chili pepper and absolutely ruined them. The chicken fried steak was pretty good but we wouldn't give it a "Best of Texas" award or even best in Austin. The steaks were pretty good and served on a hot cast iron skillet like you see Fajitas done sometimes which makes for a good show. The steaks were cooked properly to the desired temperature which is important, however the steaks weren't seasoned very well. Our biggest gripe about the food was the salad because it was drowned in dressing and the blue cheese dressing tasted more like mayonnaise then blue cheese.

The service was worse than the food. We found ourselves having to go to the bar to get more beer because our waiter wasn't around much. We ordered the chicken fried steak with sauce on the side but it wasn't delivered as we had ordered it. The coffee was delivered without cream leaving us staring at our coffee for a few minutes as the creamer was retrieved. I would normally give waiters some credit because they have a tough job but even though our visit was on a Friday night, the restaurant was slow so there is no excuse.  It seem's like this guy may have been new, in that case he should have be shadowing somebody else and learning the ropes before being unleashed on customers.

The only reason I recommend Hill's is because the music venue is nice, the history behind Hill's Cafe, and the Austin Texas feel that it offers. In fact we happened to catch one of the best bands we have seen in a long time at Hill's Cafe. His name is Clay Jeffrey http://clayjeffrey.com he had a small band on stage with him but they really rocked. He is a very talented guitar player and I am sure soon to be an Austin favorite.

Hill's Cafe
4700 South Congress Avenue Austin
Texas 78745
512-851-9300
http://hillscafe.com

 

Guest Rating

Average guest rating from: 1 users

Qaulity of Decor Quality of Food Qaulity of Waitstaff Perceived Value Cleanliness Overall Rating How would you rate this restaurant?  Write a Review

Add new item to Guest Cafe Reviews ( Guest Austin Restaurant Reviews )

Previous Guest Restaurant Ratings and Reviews

Hill's Cafe, Friday, 26 October 2007 Written by Guest Qaulity of Decor Quality of Food Qaulity of Waitstaff Perceived Value Cleanliness The hamburgers at Hill's Cafe are really very good and the menu is all very reasonably priced. The service was lacking but the atmosphere more than makes up for it.

Be first to comment on this restaurant review

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Title:
Comment:
Code:*