Fork & Vine

I’ve been here for brunch, and it was worth every penny. I really enjoyed the food, and I thought it was very delicious and unique. So I decided to come here for my birthday, and the experience was definitely not as great as coming to the brunch.
First off, the food was wonderful. We ordered some ribs for an appetizer, and they came with these peanuts that were so tender you could put your fork in them — I have never eaten peanuts like that in my life, and I loved them! The desserts were so amazing as well. We ordered two of them because it was my birthday, and they were both fabulous.
The hostesses and the service, though, were really disappointing and made my experience one that I did not enjoy very much. The wait was pretty long, and there were a lot of empty tables and no one else waiting but us. A couple came in about 10 minutes after us, didnt have a reservation either, & sat down waiting next to us. They were seated before us. It was really awkward, and I was looking at the hostess like what the heck! and she just said your tables being prepared. But it was definitely another 5 to 10 minutes before we were seated and the table we were given was not very great. The hostess was definitely training a new hostess, and they seem so flustered, and we’re discussing stuff really loud. It was really disruptive, and it really affected the atmosphere.
I ordered a Prosecco, and it sat poured & ready at the bar for 15 to 20 minutes before the waitress brought it to me. My husband had to ask her again because she completely forgot about it. She also rarely came by our table, and it definitely was not a special experience. I regret going there on my birthday.
So food = awesome, but service & experience are sub-​par. A lot of other places are more worth your money, for sure.

Creativity is the key word here. They do a great job coming up with unique and tasty offerings, made with care, and with the freshest of local ingredients. If you’re a locavore or just somebody who wants good food at a fair price from friendly folks, this is the place!
My wife reminded me I forgot to mention the swanky yet comfortable seating and décor, the attentive and friendly staff and the great wine selection. ;-) Just go see for yourself, you won’t be disappointed!

When you come in here with good company, it’s hard not to like anything not the menu.
Iceberg Lettuce ⁴⁄₅ (Perry’s is #1)
Gouda Mac and Cheese (⁰⁄₅ for me, ⁵⁄₅ for boo)
Crispy Brussel Sprouts ⁵⁄₅
Grilled Pork Ribs ⁵⁄₅ (excluding the fatty pieces)
Crab Cake ³⁄₅ (not special)
Hangar Steak ⁵⁄₅
Come try it out during happy hour. Looks like they have a good deal if you want to try out the restaurant before having a big meal here. Cute, spacious, good service. Great place to bring friends and relax for a couple hours. Drinks look good too.

Wow. After several dinners and happy hours, I am flat out impressed by Fork and Vine.
It is open and airy but intimate at the same time. The servers are polite and warm. They are knowledgeable about the wine and never left us needing a thing.
Almost half of the menu items are gluten free. Common misconception is that gluten free means a strange texture or that quality is sacrificed. Not true! Some of their most popular menu items are gluten free, and most people don’t realize it. The mac and cheese, fried alligator, fish and chips, and so much more not only taste freshly made but are memorable. The menu changes, but lately they have had a ceviche trio that I can’t get enough of! Watermelon, tuna, oysters, either combined or separate have so much flavor.
The wine selection is vast and wonderful. They have wine flights which are nicely arranged.

Excellent dinner. Wait staff understood the menu in depth. They provided honest answers to the food, related to taste, preperations, etc. Even when they didn’t have positive things about say a side dish… Very patient, really almost excited, to spend more time than a patron usually requires, to pick out a bottle (to say the selections/​wine list was deep is an understatement).
Unusual time trying to make the reservation. Phone had been disconnected. Almost did not go. Hope they are not on the ropes.

Several visits later I’ve grown a lot less enthusiastic about the food here.
We always jump at fried oyster appetizers, but this was the first time in memory we were disappointed by that classic start. The roe and the sauce on the bottom on the bowl added nothing to the flavor of the dish, and the odd hush puppy tot things on top of the 3 oysters just didn’t work. Have never had the wife eat one of an oyster appetizer and then push the plate at me to finish.
Wife choose a simple option of salad with $ 10 addition of shrimp — 3 shrimp. Three. As you’d expect, she seemed a bit disappointed.
Snow crab and fried chicken sounded like an interesting unusual dish. It was a mountain of mashed potatoes, chicken thigh on top, ringed with the most uninteresting gumbo I’ve had in a long time (and I love gumbo) and on top of it all a small cluster of crab legs. The crab legs had a nice grill flavor, as you could expect a bit challenging to eat, but were accompanied by a warm towel to rinse off your hands. The chicken was a large meaty thigh, the coating smooth and strange, not at all the expected fried chicken batter. It wasn’t a bad plate, it was just never clear why a few crab legs were on top of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.
All in all the impression is the chef here is very adventurous, but not always successful.
On the positive side, they have a full bar now and a nice selection of draft beer. The space is attractive and roomy with a good sized quiet patio. The service was helpful and friendly.

Fork & Vine has without a doubt an AMAZING happy hour. My husband and parents stopped by here for dinner, and ended up ordering multiple dishes off the happy hour menu and called it a very satisfying night.
The place is beautiful. We sat farther back in the restaurant and the windows let in a ton of natural light. Everything we ate was delicious.
We tried the crab cakes, mussels, french fries, brussels sprouts, chips with 3 dips, gouda mac and cheese, and shrimp and curry vegetables.
I particularly like the shrimp with vegetables, mostly because the sauce had a wonderful curry flavor and the shrimp were fantastic. The crab cakes were also pretty stand out– amazing flavor and a ton of crab meat. Yes the gouda mac and cheese is a must try– it’s got a wonderful flavor and is a bit more special than regular mac and cheese.

Sigh, I heard so much good things about fork and vine, but the experience I had the other night was really disappointing. The service was ok. It took forever to get our drinks. The guys literally had to go to the bar to order their drinks. The food was very disappointing.
The fried oysters: with truffle aioli, salmon roe. This just had too much breading. I didn’t even know I was eating an oyster if I didn’t make a point to find it in the great façade of breading.
Grilled pork ribs: this is my only favorite appetizer! The BBQ tasted good and it had a good kick to it!
Steak tartare: eh. Don’t waste your money.
Thai curry mussels: they were ok. Nothing to brag about. If you want good Thai curry mussels, head to peche.
Duck Wellington: the duck was extremely dry. The crust was good. But they did not do any justice to that duck!!! Why!!! I love duck and I was highly disappointed!
Snow crab with fried chicken: this was a great redemption. The snowcrab had a good spice to it. The chicken was tasty and moist.
Hanger steak: you can add a crab cake to this plate! The crab cake was good. The hanger steak was good. It didn’t need A1 sauce, so that’s a good sign!
All in all, I was very disappointed!

Superb food at normal portions! None of this «pre-​dinner before thd actual dinner» shit. WTF is up with that? I’ve been burned a few times here in Austin, but not at this place.
I’ve been here for HH, dinner and brunch. I’ve never had a bad meal. Everything is delicious, particularly their ribs, fried gator, sides, and their desserts (repeat after me: crème brûlée, crème brûlée). I love their wine flights; you get to sample three wines from a given type, and the pours are just right!
I think their menu changes every few months, but last night I had the crab and fried chicken, and my bf got the shrimp and grits. Both were outstanding! Just… wow. They’re doing some serious magic in that kitchen.
Their Sunday brunch is $ 20 for the buffet, but it’s not just random items thrown out there. It looks like they put just as much thought into their brunch menu as they put into their dinner menu. Dude, they have a damn brisket carving station. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.
The service is also outstanding. The wait staff give great advice on the wine options, as well as the food. They’re patient, attentive, and I’ve never felt rushed. It looks like the waiter uniform changes every time we go, and that’s always interesting.
They’ve put a lot of thought into the décor, with wine bottles proudly displayed against the walls, a spacious bar area, and really interesting light fixtures.
If checking it out, I would suggest looking a little nicer, unless hobo chic is your thing. I know we do it casual here in Austin, so you may want to class it up a bit.
This place is definitely worth a visit. These people know what’s up.

Don’t let the strip mall exterior fool you, this place is beautiful. The lighting is great, there are large windows that overlook a beautifully lit patio, and the wine selection is huge and inpressive.
They also have a great happy hour with $ 2 off glasses of wine and half off appetizers, a truly wonderful deal. You can get large portions of smoked fish dip, steak tartare, fried oysters, and crab cakes from $ 5-​$ 9 each.

We’ve been here a couple of times now, and each time exclaimed delightedly that North Austin is now just as delicious as South. With the relocation of Barley and a couple of other high profile openings for next year we’re definitely on our way to a very eat-​y /​extremely fat 2016.
Fork and vine is a lovely space once you’ve got past the dreary strip mall exterior — and has a spectacular wine list. Both the Patrick Piuze Chardonnay and the French Pinot noire we followed with were excellent. And cheerfully served by someone who didn’t try and spin them too heavily.
We shared the ceviche flight, smoked fish pâté and cheese plate to start (all glorious, particular props to the tuna ceviche, Danish blue cheese and the smoked fish pâté, you must order them all immediately!) — followed up by hanger steaks, duck Wellington and shrimp and grits.
The steak and shrimp were perfect, pretty gigantic portions but utterly delectable. The duck Wellington was good but the actual amount of duck on the plate was pretty absurdly tiny for the price.
No one had space to even share dessert, but not wanting to leave we stretched out coffee and wine finishing out for almost an hour after finishing — and at no point felt remotely pressured to move on or hurry up by staff.
A rose tinted evening, lovely food, brilliant wine. Not QUITE 5 star. But definitely 4.9

BRUNCH REVIEW:
This brunch has been on my bookmarked list for way too long so, we decided to check it out.
I was a bit nervous going in an hour before the brunch buffet was done because normally that spells old burnt food in chaffing dishes. That is not the case here!
They have the normal brunch offerings and some elevated dishes that are unique to this place. Where they really sold me was at the meat carving station. What? I am serious! Unlike other brunch spots who skimp on the meat or don’t have any at all this place boasts brisket (ask for the burnt ends), kielbasi, bacon, etc. and the accompanying pickled veggies, home made bbq sauces and mustards are what dreams are made of.
Some of my other favorite items were the hash brown casserole (cheesy potato goodness), the fresh fruit, the soup and the egg casserole dish!
They have a $ 10.00 mimosa flight that offers up 3 glasses (small pours) with three different juices. We had a kiwi, grapefruit and peach mimosa. You don’t get to choose even though they had other options listed underneath. I think it’s just a daily selection.
The interior of this space is gorgeous and their outdoor patio makes you long for those spring weather days so, you can come back and sip cocktails out there.
The staff was very friendly and our server was right on top of everything! The one thing that really blew me away and set this place above other similar brunches is that they had a gentleman spinning records during brunch! Nice touch and we were out the door for about $ 50.00 for two without a tip!

I’m perplexed how Fork & Vine was never on my radar for the multiple years I lived in Austin until my friend was scouting out brunch locations for a reunion. A $ 20 Sunday brunch buffet is right up my alley, so I made reservations for 8 and was seated promptly.
Fork & Vine features Southern food, which I am all about — the biggest draw for F&V’s buffet, though, is the carving station. Brisket and sausage to your heart’s content? Took my heart away, that’s for sure.
That’s not to put down the other food on the line — their in-​house biscuits are pretty addictive, and their different breakfast items (potato casserole, egg frittata, etc) were quite good, if a little on the salty side.
Something fun to try here: mimosa flight. A friend let us sip her flight of 3 mimosas, and it’s a fun way to prevent flavors from being monotonous.
Glad to have experienced a new brunch buffet in Austin! Fork & Vine does it pretty well.

The Good. Scallop taco and burger are a must try! They add sugar the their fries with was a sweet delight. Service, even during lunch, is always awesome.
The bad: I did not enjoy the Mac n cheese. Definitely my least favorite item off the menu, that I’ve tried so far. They add apples as a garnish which was surprisingly tasty but it’s lacking flavor. Plus the shells are a little too hard for my liking.

GREAT BUSINESS LUNCH SPOT!!!
Pretty good location if you’re beating MoPac traffic. All of their food is incredibly fresh and so delectable is could melt in your mouth. This seems to be one of the places where people want to stick to what they know because it’s so amazing, and then you’re sad you didn’t try something else… TRY!!!
I got the Spare Rib Mac N’ Cheese… let’s just say that … this might have been some of the best MAC i’ve had… and I am quite the MAC lover.
The service was also amazing… never had to ask for a refill, because he already refilled while talking… GREAT!
Can’t wait to go back!

Fork & Vine is more of a 3.5 stars for me.
Came here for dinner on Saturday evening without reservations, but we got seated quickly thanks to the warm staff at the front. Fork & Vine is situated on Anderson Lane, right off the highway and near the slew of restaurants in the area. Plenty of parking in the lot so that makes it convenient.
We had the Scallops, Mussels, Snapper and two desserts — the pretzel pudding & chocolate torte.
Let’s start with the good dishes. The mussels & frites were tasty and made well. The sauce for the mussels had a slight spicy kick to it which add it good for dipping the fries in.
The two desserts were also delicious. All the desserts are made in house– even the icecream! Our favourite was the pretzel pudding! It was soft, moist and so flavorful! Comes with a scoop of icecream to top it off. The chocolate torte was a good fix for that sweet tooth, but i’d say go with the pretzel pudding.
The scallops were tasty & cooked well, but for $ 25 (3 scallops), at least add a little more cous cous salad. Also, the meal was plated on the side of a huge dish which didn’t make any sense for me & made the presentation look odd. The snapper wasn’t very good, it was way over cooked and the meat was very rough, it really wasn’t worth $ 28.
Dinner was OK, expected a little more. I will venture out here someday to try their lunch/​brunch. Good wine selection though!
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Update: The owner had reached out to me regarding my review. This clearly shows the establishment’s dedication & care for customer satisfaction = a great bonus.

Came here on a Sat evening with reservations. It wasn’t too busy for a Sat eveving. The décor and dining area is modern, and there is a nice patio. Service was decent, the only negative to the service was our waiter couldn’t answer our question about a dessert. He didn’t know what was in it.
We ordered the asparagus salad ($ 12) and added some scallops ($ 15 extra). The scallops were perfect. The asparagus was overcooked in my opinion, didn’t have any crunch to it. The salad had some frisee, pickled button mushrooms, and a fried egg. The frisee gave it a nice balance to the overcooked asparagus.
The entrée was the snapper with arugula and pickled jumbo shrimp ($ 28). The online menu says grouper, however, the menu at the restaurant says snapper. The snapper lacked a bit of seasoning, and I normally don’t like that much salt. This was a miss. There were about 4 – 5 jumbo shrimps which was a generous portion.
We order two sides, the fingerling potatoes and roasted veggies (zucchini, yellow squash, broccolini, and more fingerilng potatoes) ($ 7 each). The fingerling potatoes were roasted with a sprinkle of coarse salt and an onion cream at the bottom. I liked the potatoes just fine without the cream. The roasted veggies came with a yellow thai curry, it was delicious and spicy! I dipped the snapper in the curry and it made it so much better.
Dessert was the pistachio brie ice cream with raspberries ($ 8). Perfect rich creamy ice cream with my two favorite flavors, pistachio and raspberries. I thought I wouldn’t like the brie, and you can taste chunks of it, but I did. I didn’t eat the salt and pepper cookie because I thought the pepper would throw me off.
Overall, I would come back and try a different entrée. They have a huge wine selection. Open parking lot.

I like Fork & Vine. Was it the best thing ever, no, but it had some good things going for it. Here are the high and lowlights of our visit:
Highs:
1. Great appetizers. We tried the fried alligator and the apple mac n’ cheese. Both were amazing in flavor and were a decent size. I would order either of those again in a heartbeat.
2. Great variety in menu options. We were a group of 4 with very different likes and we all got something tasty.
3. If you are a wino, like my friends, you will love the different wine flights they have available. They were in love with all of the different flights and each ordered a different one. They were all pleased with what they got.
4. Awesome desserts! We had the pretzel bread pudding, cream brûlée, and carrot cake and all were amazing. Great flavors, big portions, and just plain wonderful.
5. Our server was really nice and friendly.
Lows:
1. OMG the food was slow to come out. Our server was friendly and helpful, but was swamped it seemed. We sat for 10 minutes before we ordered drinks. It was 15 minutes until our bar drinks arrived. It was about 20 minutes before we ordered food. It was another 25 minutes before our food came out. It was just stupid slow. A manager noticed how slow everything was going. She bought our appetizers to say sorry for the slowness. Then everything took forever again, so she ended up buying our desserts as well. We didn’t complain, she just noticed, if that tells you anything. I do appreciate her going above and beyond to try and make things right. You don’t see that much these days. Yay for free food, but goodness, get the kitchen on the ball already. We ended up there for 2.5 hours for a party of 4.
2. The Beef Wellington was very good, but the over abundance of paté kinda killed it for me. It was just way too much and over shadowed the almost perfect wellington, in my book. :(
3. The cocktails were underwhelming. We had the El Americano and a Strawberry bubbly something and they were lackluster in flavor and seemed light on the alcohol as well. Just disappointing.
So, would I go here again? If someone invited me, yes. If I was picking a place, probably not. It was an ok place, but ok at the best.

Probably more of a 4.5 star place, but when we stopped in, Fork & Vine truly gave us a 5 star experience. And I don’t even like wine! (I do like forks though. Except fork & taco, but that’s another story).
Their wine list is overwhelming in the best way possible, but their beer list is legit too. I had a Lotion in a Basket because how can you not order something with a name like that. Lots Austin Beerworks and other local selections.
Arrived around 3:30 and had the whole place to ourselves. The space is cool and bright and just feels happy. Marco was an excellent server. He checked on us just the right amount and after revealing that he spoke Spanish, even laughed at some of our Mexican jokes. What a guy!
The food. We tried everything and you can’t go wrong. Of course the mac and cheese is sex in a ramekin. What you might not order, though, is the snapper crudo with leche de tigre. Leche de tigre?! That means tiger’s milk. I don’t know what that yellow tiger sauce was but I can tell you it was as good as the crack that makes Charlie Sheen think he has tiger’s blood.
I finally moved from Jolleyville to downtown, but now I’ll be driving right back up for F&V!

Read this more as 4.5 stars. I came here previously for an event and left with a complimentary $ 10 gift card, so I was anxious to return and Happy Hour seemed like the perfect reason to do so.
Their wine section is impressive to say the least. I don’t drink when I’m out all that often, but when I do I normally go the cocktail route since I find each restaurant has their own unique spin on the classics.
Right away their prosecco strawberry basil cocktail caught my eye ($ 11 usually but $ 9 at HH). I love that combination, and I especially love bubbles, so I felt this one was a sure bet. And I was right! They served it in a large chilled wine glass with ice and it was crisp and refreshing. Getting to the bottom was the best part because it had soaked up the flavor of the basil leaves.
For my meal I already knew I would be ordering the Gouda Mac and Cheese. I drooled over pictures of it on Unilocal and promised to take some back for my husband, though I wished I hadn’t because it was so delicious I wanted it all for myself! They broil it quickly before serving so that when it gets to you it’s piping hot and you get those luscious crusty edges of melted cheese. What put it over the top were the chunks of fresh Granny Smith apples and chives. I highly recommend you try this dish!
Of course I couldn’t leave without having dessert and originally had planned to order their pretzel bread pudding I’ve heard so much about. I’ve been into buttermilk a lot lately though, so when I saw they had a buttermilk crème brûlée I couldn’t resist. It was very good, but to be honest the buttermilk flavor got lost in the custard and all I could taste was vanilla. I’m a huge vanilla person though so I still enjoyed it. The roasted pears on top with the fresh whipped cream were excellent as well. That on its own would have been the perfect treat.
Although I didn’t order it myself, to me the standout star of dessert was the carrot cake with cream cheese ice cream. Yes, you read that correctly. Cream cheese ICE CREAM! If they could pair up with Amy’s and blend that with their Mexican Vanilla, I truly feel that my heart would explode from happiness. Shout out to Misha for being kind enough to let me try it! I know what I will be ordering next time :-)
I would like to come back and do brunch. I’ve never done a brunch buffet before and theirs sounds phenomenal. Mimosa flights anyone? I saw they even make a mimosa with white peach juice! Count me in