Garrido’s

The food was okay, but not worth the price. Everything on the menu is overpriced in my opinion and a little underwhelming. At least the atmosphere was nice and they have a cool patio with a nice view. The waitress wasn’t very familiar with the menu and struggled to explain an entrée on the menu. Service was really good otherwise.

Way overpriced and very underwhelming. The restaurant itself isn’t all that.
Sat night dinner with friends. They were busy, not sure I’d say they were packed. Over ten minutes after being seated before we were able to grab a waitress to order drinks. Said drinks took forever to come out and only after we asked about them.
$ 30 for a 6 ounce piece of fish (Sea Bass, which is not an overly expensive fish). Granted it was perfectly cooked and very tasty; however, the bland quinoa was just «meh». Nothing worth what they are charging here. And was still hungry afterwards!
Fellow diners at the table were equally unimpressed.

Here is the truth about Garridos– it has a beautiful patio and the chips an salsa are really excellent– everything else is «ok» at best. The service, drinks, and food are average. They recently changed the menu and I’m honestly disappointed as I thought it lacked options and it no longer contains salmon– which was my go-​to item there. We used to come here a lot as it was well priced and the new menu is much more expensive. While we dined tonight we heard others complaining about the menu. Felt bad for the bartender because he seemed like a nice guy. Ditto to the other comments about the drinks coming in small glasses. I’d recommend the brunch– unless they changed that menu too. They used to have a yummy veggie omelette.
Not sure we will be back and if we do it will probably only be for chips.

When I saw that this place was «gluten-​free Mexican food,» I shuddered at the thought of weird tamales and lackluster tortillas. However, I was pleasantly surprised! They don’t strive to replace the gluten with other stuff, they just avoid it by serving entrees that just don’t have anything gluten packed in it, such as cuts of meat or fish, and less tacos and enchiladas.
I gotta hand it to the bartenders though, they kept our glasses full, and were more than happy to be generous with the pours. They carried a great selection of liquors!
I got a ribeye, which I thought was overcooked, and lacked flavor. It would have been nice to have a mole sauce or something on the side. I got a side of squash, which was cold when served. They were still rather tasty.
I think that the best stuff there were the appetizers. We had their pork topped gorditas, which were amazing. They had these mini-​quesadillas stuffed with mushrooms that were out of this world! In all, the gluten-​free designation doesn’t take away from the dining experience.
The décor was cool and hip. The whole restaurant was very clean, and well lit. They have an awesome outdoor seating area, which is perfect for a intimate dinner.

Garridos is a great place for happy hour. Good cocktails and food for a discount. I will say for Mexican it is a little expensive for dinner. But the food is good.
They place a modern twist on most of their menu items. They also have brisket as a protein option in many of their dishes which is pretty wonderful.
They have a nice outdoor patio area that’s nice for larger parties.

$ 2 tacos and beer woah!
I don’t normally eat at Mexican restaurants but when I do I’m probably trying to save some money. :)
I went in and was immediately greeted by the host — promptly seated and began to peruse the menu.
What do I like to eat? I like my meats of course in all types and flavors. I asked the waitress and she suggested that I try some of the specials that evening. $ 2 tacos and beer!
I ordered 3 tacos and a beer for under $ 10! That’s a steal! Gave an awesome tip for awesome service and went on my way a happy man.

I used to like going here more than I do now, but after the recent menu change… and seeing the $ 20 taco plates… I knew my love affair was coming to a close.
Seriously, I don’t know if their rent is going up, or they’re just getting greedy… but the food is good, but not THAT good. In fact, the patio is likely the best part…
It’s expensive Mexican and small drinks… and truth be told, the only reason you should happen to find yourself here is if someone else is paying, or the location is imperative. Maybe all the downtown condo dwellers are bankrolling them, and Garrido’s feels like they can still pull them in due to location… and if so, good for them.
We’ll see if the business model pans out…

Found this place on Unilocal so decided to go try it out. Ordered a large margarita but it came in a regular small glass so I asked the waitress if that was a mistake and she confirmed it was a large. Now most Mexican restaurants a large would be LARGE. Not here. Wow what a joke. Wonder what the small would be like. I thought everything in Texas was big. Not here.
The chips and salsa was really good and had a good spice to it. Ordered the chicken enchiladas which were not bad. Overall good ambiance and location. They do need to invest in some real Texas style large glasses to serve drinks in. Or else don’t call it a large.
Will go back only for the chips and salsa.

Over priced tourist trap. $ 17 for tacos? They don’t live up to the price and neither did our service.
One of our fellow diners ordered a $ 16 steak dish and was delivered a $ 26 dish. Waiter never offered to resolved the situation, even after admitting it’s his fault. My friend is too classy to demand his $ 10.
I cut them a break though because it’s F1 weekend. They also have a nice patio.

Overall I think the food is good, but the prices have gotten out of control. $ 17 for a stuffed chile relleno? $ 17.50 for my husband’s steak tacos? No thanks.
I used to really like this place and my husband and I have been a handful of times, but I swear every time we go there it’s a different menu.
I do like the atmosphere, but since they seem to keep raising the prices, I don’t think we’ll be back.

Yummy trendy Mexican (aka New World Latino) experience with a large covered garden paradise patio.
My friend and I came here and started out the evening trying to resist the fresh hot yummy chips and salsa while we sipped our delish mojito’s. Also tried the sangria which they make fresh by soaking the fruit in the red wine, no pre made mixes, very tasty. Both were great, but if I had to choose only one it would be the mojito.
We each tried different variations of the corn tacos. My fish tacos which they grilled special for me in order to be wheat free, were fresh and juicy. The corn tortilla was very good. The Mexican street corn was HOT HOT HOT, and very yummy. I don’t always do well with beans and rice and my server let me exchange them with other veggie sides without an additional charge. That was cool, not sure if that is normal.
This place prides itself in the high quality fresh, local, organic ingredients, being able to meet your gluten free requests 100%, and «Mozart eggs». I will need to go back and try those sometime. They do offer a brunch here that I would like to try sometime when it is cooler out on their beautiful oasis patio.

I think they’re trying to be fancier now, and their menu is more expensive. I’ve always gone for $ 2 taco tuesdays, but yesterday we ordered from the menu since we had a groupon. Their cramp and shrimp queso was AWESOME, I really enjoyed my arugula salad (and I need their recipe for that dressing!0, but my boyfriend’s stuffed chile relleno seemed like they were trying too hard to be fancy. It wasn’t that good.
Also, our service last night was awful! We didn’t get plates with our queso, we didn’t get napkins or silverware until after our food came, had to ask multiple times for water, had to ask multiple times for chips. We’re really not that demanding. I think if you’re going to sell an entrée for $ 17, it should come with good service. We must have waited almost 5 minutes for someone to see if we needed the check after we finished. And our waiter didn’t bring us our food, nor did he refill our water — somebody else did, since we had to ask twice.
I’m definitely digging the patio though.

Hidden! Delicious! Let me just say that the outdoor area is GORGEOUS. It’s like going out to eat in the middle of the jungle of Austin.
This place was a little hard to find, as it was my first time out here. But AH-​MAH-​GAH! The appetizers, the watermelon margaritas, the Mexican martinis, the shrimp ceviche!!! So worth the search. Super delicious, all of it.
We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed that broiling Texas heat over food and drinks, then moved inside to one of their bar tables, where we had the sweetest waiter ever. Like, he treated us like princesses. So naturally, we tipped him handsomely. To match his face.
I also did some exploring before I went inside, and found the old railroad tracks and peered over the side of the bridge to see the creek flowing underneath. I’m so glad I found this hidden oasis of yumminess! Definitely will be coming back.

My coffee-​rubbed steak salad was good but the portion was a bit on the small side for the price.
Service was interesting. We joked that if you wanted to order something, don’t ask the waitress for her opinion because she’ll try to talk you out of ordering it. But I hear the crispy oyster tacos are truly amazing, and happy hour is good. There is a outdoor patio area with misters for cooling that is worth checking out.

Garrido’s truly disappointed me. We went a while back looking forward to getting some tasty tacos. Too bad they are changing over their menu to be more upscale. Which means they are moving away from many of the tacos. I will give them credit that they put together the tacos we wanted as they do have a few on the menu.
The service was spotty. We had to ask someone to get our waitress at one point. Honestly, for how fancy they seem to want to be, the service didn’t fit. Maybe it’s because they sat us out on the patio instead of inside. I don’t know.
As we didn’t eat anything but tacos, I can’t comment on the rest of the menu. We got whatever fish taco they had. They were decent, but not my favorite in town. The prices seemed high for the food you get. And it seems sad that a place that was known for their tacos is moving away from the variety that they once served.

I’ve tried Garrido’s several times when I’ve been in the area or going to a show at Austin Music Hall. It seems like the perfect location if you’re in that area but unfortunately I don’t think it’s that perfect overall.
I love the ambiance and this time I sat outside which was really nice. The drink selection was pretty good and when our waiter interacted with us he was very cool and explained menu items well.
However, when we showed up at 5pm with a group of 10 they immediately got flustered and made us wait 15 minutes to get a table set up. There were like 4 tables in the entire place that was occupied. They also told us we had to be out by 8pm because we didn’t have a reservation and the 10 person table was reserved? Huh? It was a bunch of tables pushed together! It was in a nice spot outside so maybe that was why, we just wanted to get something to eat and have a drink, didn’t know we were that difficult and didn’t plan to stay 3 hours. I also was frustrated with the menu. I think they changed some items, just didn’t seem to have a great selection and it did seem expensive.
I think this is probably worth a try, especially if you’re going to be in that area but it might not be for everyone.

I’m debating on how many stars to give this place, and I’m at happy hour so I’ll be generous (unlike them on the ridiculously small amount of guacamole just handed to me). The happy hour goes until 7, outside space is fantastic, but I can’t say that anything here is truly remarkable, then again the last time I had a real meal here was brunch about 6 months ago, and that wasn’t a brunch I’d come back for.
Their salsa is warm and different; you have to make sure you ask for the habanero salsas! They won’t offer them, but just ask. The carrot habanero is sweet-​n-​spicy; the smoky one makes me cough. Happy hour means half off all appetizers, and that includes the traditional quesadillas and such along with some better fare. Ceviche and bocaditos to be exact. I haven’t had any of that here, but it looks and sounds fantastic.
What I can vouch for is happy hour. $ 2 off cocktails (including the Skinny Margarita) and half off guacamole– which makes $ 3 fair for the puny serving. They get bonus points for location, some of the drinks, and not charging me for chips and salsa like another nearby place does (*cough cough* Malverde).

Wowza Garrido’s, you’ve transported me to Mexican heaven!
My boyfriend and I came here with a Travel Zoo coupon, and I’d say that’s definitely the way to do it. The prices are quite high but then again when you think about it, people will pay a lot for little bites from Uchi and Swifts Attic, and I think some of these big and little bites were almost as unique and delicious.
We could choose an appetizer to share, two entrees, and a dessert to share.
Somehow they were having a special day and all their appetizers were half off? I’m not sure what day it was, or what was going on, but whatever, I was happy with that. However, the time to go is definitely during HH… half price appetizers are definitely worth it.
They also had a special for $ 3 small margaritas, so we ordered those… they were quite tasty as well.
We started with complimentary chips and salsa… and shoot the salsa was good. Spicy and yummy and addicting.
Appetizer– queso with crab and shrimp, normally $ 12. At one point I just spooned it out and ate it without chips. They were generous with the amounts of crab meat and shrimp, and the cheese was so savory and thick and creamy. It was probably one of the best and most unique things I’ve ever eaten. At $ 12 it’s kinda pricey, and it’ll definitely jack up the bill if you get an entrée and drinks… but it was so so so good.
Pork Bocaditos– I was wowed with these babies too. And yes, I’m actually going to compare them to Uchi *gasp!*. They were savory little bites of pork, goat cheese, watermelon, and an oil or something sprinkled over it. They were bites of heaven and I really loved them. The creamy meaty sweet sensation was absolutely fantastic.
Coffee Rubbed Steak Tacos– The sauce on these definitely had a kick and the steak was yummy. Not my favorite dish but it was still really good and the portion was large. The rice was nice and soft too!
Gulf Shrimp Pasta– ayeee! The sauce was ever so creamy and cheesy and fantastic. The shrimp were huge and had a lot of flavor and gosh there was so much! It was delicious.
Chocolate Tres Leches Cake– We had the waitress just pop it in a box because we knew we couldn’t eat anymore, but of course I had to try it. If you like Tres Leches you’ll love this massive sensation! It was oh so creamy and milky and melt in your mouth chocolaty. MMM!
Our waitress went above and beyond to accommodate us. She was quite rushed towards the end when things got busy, but she went out of her way to check and make sure that our coupon could still cover 2 appetizers and she was very sweet and always made sure we were satisfied.
The food was excellent, and although the price is high, you can avoid it with HH or groupons/​travel zoo. We also had enough for lunch the next day. WIN WIN WIN!
and parking? They have free valet! yesssss

I’m glad I followed my friends’ suggestion to give this place a few more tries. Interestingly, my opinion has flipped completely, and now I’m in love with the food, but not in love with the chips and salsa (at least from last night). The chips were a little hard and the salsa was warm, which is not my favorite.
That being said, the food was FANTASTIC. We had the beef brisket queso fundido and it was RIDICULOUS — so rich and delicious I wanted to positively swim in it. It was worth a whole week’s worth of fat and calories, which I’m sure it had in abundance.
For entrees we had the lamp chops which were tender, with a nice char, and full of delicious flavors. The couscous that came with it was a nice addition, but I was so full I couldn’t eat all of it. The sea bass was also amazingly tender and delicious with a whole host of accoutrements that I couldn’t identify, but it didn’t matter. It all melded together beautifully.
For dessert we had the Patron chocolate tres leches. It was a little dense for my taste, but it was tasty. I didn’t taste any tequila, though. It was a HUGE portion, and we were unable to finish it.
Overall, the more I try this place, the more I’m digging it. I’m seriously going to DREAM about those lamp chops. Just amazing.
They also now have complimentary valet parking. Very handy!

I’m not sure if the menu has changed since some of the previous reviews, but we came for dinner last night and I really like this place. The menu was rather streamlined-​tacos, enchiladas, chili rellenos, and a few other dishes. It was crowded and the wait was long on a Saturday evening. Garridos allows you to call ahead and put your name down. This gets a +1 star from me. There is a small waiting area, but you can wait at the less crowded restaurants nearby.
The décor is hip and modern and open so it can get pretty loud. I would not call this a romantic kinda place, but rather a great gathering place with friends before a night out downtown. The tables and chairs are comfortable and the drink menu is long. Don’t let the cuisine give you the impression that it’s a mom and pop Tex Mex kind of place where you can eat on the cheap. They call themselves modern Mexican cuisine. The prices, in my opinion, are consistent and expected for a hip restaurant in downtown. The Mexican margarita was a litte sweet, but very good. My drink of choice is the cucumber and kiwi martini with Hendricks gin – they offer Hendricks gin martini! +1star.
Anything can be ordered a la carte. The tacos are a bit pricey $ 5/​ea, but let me say they are the best tasting tacos! I had the snapper, oysters, and shrimp. Each was different, very good, and of very high quality. I also had the beef and shrimp chile relleno — delicious! The flavors were nice and nothing was overly salty.
The service was OK. They were really busy. We didn’t get the appetizer we ordered, but our waiter gave us a free appetizer coupon. I wasn’t a huge fan of the greasy, hard tortilla chips, but the salsas are great. The habanero salsa is sweet upfront and gives a nice kick in the throat. The tomatillo was mild, but flavorful.