I was definitely expecting this dinner to be average, but was extremely surprised at the level of perfection of each dish. The lobster mac and cheese was the perfect sharing dish for my boyfriend and I, though word of warning it can get quite messy. However, they did not skimp on any aspect in the dish. I opted for the crab cake salad, which was surprisingly substantial after having ate the mac and cheese, and the crab cake, the champagne vinaigrette, the remoulade, everything was perfect together. My boyfriend had the BBQ chicken pizza, and he is not what you would call a foodie, so I was shocked to hear him say that this was the best pizza he’s had since moving to Austin, from Philly. All of that along with the sip I got to try of his Nisia, which was perfectly chilled, was a perfect date night experience. Not to mention our server, who I believe his name was Delante, was awesome, very attentive, but not overly aggressive! One weird thing I will mention, we went for dinner around 7 pm on a Friday night, and not sure if this was by coincidence but scattered throughout the restaurant were tables of 16 year old girls(or maybe older, and i’m just getting old) everywhere, created kind of an odd vibe to the restaurant.
Sammy M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Bellaire, TX
Great food and service! I am a picky eater but really recommend the Cauliflower and Brussel Sprouts for appetizers. Not sure if the Brussels are actually good for you but they taste so good. Honestly I don’t think you can go wrong ordering anything.
Kris M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Oklahoma City, OK
Really enjoyed the service, the food, and the view! Highly recommend the shrimp bisque soup and the bbq chicken pizza. Freakin yum you guys.
Marcela V.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
Glad to see that the Grove has made it to downtown Austin! The food was good: I ordered spaghetti and meatballs and the quality was as good as it is in the other locations. The ambiance of the restaurant is fun and light, and between the indoor and outdoor seating, there’s not a bad place to be. Wait for a seat was not too bad during lunch hour and the servers were all polite and attentive. The only downfall is that there is no immediate parking by the restaurant, and although the valet is complimentary, there was only one poor guy working during the lunch hour so getting our cars back took a long time.
Leah H.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Lexington, KY
I have to say that the food and wine were good. But we came on a Sunday to an almost empty restaurant and I was extremely disappointed that they tried to sit us at the smallest 2 top at the front of the restaurant near the front door. When I explained we would like something more intimate they moved us over one table to a 4 top under the brightest lights and in a banquet that made u feel like u were in a high chair, I thought I was going to get a sun burn and it was 7:30pm. I’m sorry but atmosphere is just as important as the food. And this did not measure up. I don’t understand why if your restaurant is empty and a couple comes in you wouldn’t want to put them at your best table.
Brian S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Austin, TX
Worst service I’ve had in a long time, rude management. Came in for dinner and sat at the bar. There was a group of girls on the other end that the bartender was flirting with, took like 10 min for him to acknowledge me. Guy had no idea about their own menu when I asked a few questions about the food. After I got my food the guy never came back over to give me a refill on my drink or to even give me silverware and a napkin. Asked a buzzer for some hot sauce and the kid didn’t speak English, had no idea what I was asking for. Finish my food and wait about 20 min for the check cause the bartender was too busy talking to some girls at the other end of the bar. Made a comment to the manager about it and she literally said don’t be a fucking loser. Who in their right mind talks to someone else like that. Never going out here again.
Carla H.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Austin, TX
I have been to the Bee Caves location and was excited to see this location open up as it is closer to home. The parking is super easy — they offer free valet parking so you can just drive up and walk right in the front door. The space is beautiful — the patio looks amazing. All of the food is delicious and the wine selection is really good. Can’t wait to try their brunch!
M A.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
Finally a good restaurant on West 6th. Loved the atmosphere — nice interior with a large patio outside. Great wine and wine flights! That’s definitely what you should come for, although the food is good on it’s own. We ordered bruschetta and pizza and the whole table enjoyed it. Service was great, too. Looking forward to going back!
Stacy H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 San Antonio, TX
Went here for Sunday brunch. Great atmosphere on the side porch. Indirect sunlight, clean, noise level low enough to have a conversation and just relax. The Crispy Brussel Sprouts($ 11) were fabulous. They were perfectly crispy on the outside. The dish is prepared with shredded red onions, walnuts, apples and drizzled with balsamic. It was the highlight of the meal. They have a lovely mimosa flight option($ 6) or you can purchase by the glass($ 4). The flight appears to be the better option from a portions perspective. We had the Migas($ 11) which were good, but nothing über special. The Caprese salad($ 12) was heavy on the tomatoes and too light on the mozzarella and balsamic. The Eggs in Purgatory($ 13) had some of the best cooked grits we’ve experienced in Austin, but the marinara sauce seemed out of place for the dish. Overall, the food was good(definitely get the brussel sprouts) and the atmosphere was perfect for a sunday brunch. I would definitely return.
Jen H.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Austin, TX
I hate to do this because I really like The Grove in Lakeway and Bee Caves but… The inside is beautiful. The outside is great. The waitstaff was a attentive… I ordered eggs benedict. It’s a classic. Not complicated. I order it a lot and cook it myself regularly. One of the foundations to eggs benedict is that the egg yolk when broken, should run. There was no run in my egg. It was one solid mass. Disappointing. Also the hollandaise was a tiny trickle on top that seemed to evaporate a minute after it arrived(probably soaked up by the overlooked egg). So it made for a very dry and tasteless benedict. In addition, I got bacon as an option that was listed on the menu(instead of the regular Canadian) and immediately regretted it. The bacon was floppy and undercooked. Like it was cooked in the microwave. Yuck.(My companions side of bacon was thick, crunchy, and cooked well, but also looked like completely different bacon. Why would they use sub par bacon on my dish??? Maybe they just threw the eggs in the microwave with the bacon and then that would explain the whole debacle…
Kali R.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Austin, TX
I went back with a big group for Burger Night with our condo group and was even less impressed than my previous visit, although the restaurant remains lovely and unexpectedly spacious. I ordered the Kobe Burger $ 12 — medium rare, with no onions and a side salad with bleu cheese dressing. The burger was definitely medium, had a vaguely stale taste to the bun, and the meat was lukewarm and fairly bland. The side salad was fresh and generous, but the dressing was watery and only vaguely tasted of bleu cheese. The Grove really needs to up their game on their dressings, since this is the second I have tried that was below par in flavor. Our waiter was very personable and probably would have tried to fix the burger, but I didn’t have time to wait for them to re-do it(it was already late) so I choked down half of it and concentrated on the salad and an excellent Alibi blonde beer that my husband and I split and enjoyed. I think that this one has fallen off my go-to list, which is unfortunate since it is so convenient.
John H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
El Grove Tres. Bee Caves, Lakeway and now downtown. They dared to go east of Mopac… Grove is all about the wine first, the atmosphere second and the food third in that order. This new location is on point. As usual nice selection of wines with agreeable prices. The service is great, couldn’t be better. The atmosphere? I never stepped inside but the patio over Shoal Creek was great. The food was good. Seems the chef is a bit heavy handed with the salt for my taste. The Red Fish ceviche was sent back with a sodium reduced return. The chicken came out quite salty but not to the return level. The food is probably the best of any wine centric places in town so it is all good. I really like this place for wine, atmosphere and wine in that order. You should try it.
David h.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Longview, TX
The Grove is further evidence that Austin is moving away from being Austin and trying to become Dallas Light. Which is fine, but just a little bit sad. The atmosphere is just fine. I don’t particularly like the chairs. The back reclines a little too much. The service was a little off. Our waitress seemed young and overwhelmed. I could cut them some slack because we did have a table for 27. I know that’s hard. But we made reservations for 27. They knew we were coming. There was a lady who looked like a manager who was helping out. Overall, the service was middling at best. The food was hit and miss. Ceviche was fine. Sesame crusted ahi tuna was meh. My penne vodka shrimp was out of this world. So good and such great flavor. That’s probably where all four stars come from. My wife’s cappelini was absolutely flavorless. The tomato salad was good. Long story short, despite a really good dish, I would not make a special effort to come back. Slightly upturned face.
Jessica S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
I was super excited The Grove opened a location downtown, and couldn’t wait for my girl’s night dinner at one of my favorite Austin spots. The newest venue for this favorite restaurant of mine is at the bottom of the Cirrus Logic building at 6th and West, which has had several other restaurants in it before The Grove took over. I knew it was going to take a place like The Grove to pack the entire joint… because every other time I’d dined in this building(under the previous restaurant owners) it was completely dead. The ambiance in the front of the restaurant was fantastic. They have an extremely lively bar scene for Happy Hour(definitely a late 30s — 40s crowd though vs. the regular 6th Street youngin’s you see in this neck of the woods.) Plus the front dining room was hoppin’ for a week night. So much to my surprise, when my girlfriend and I were walked to a table in the back room by the hostess, I was quite disappointed. The back dining room has ZERO vibe whatsoever. I guess if you are going to «catch-up» with a friend and want a quiet room to talk in, you can request this room. But it was definitely a let-down for us. Besides the seating arrangement though, everything else was great. Food met my expectations per usual. We started with the Bruschetta: Roasted Portobello Mushrooms/Cippolini Onions/Smoked Gouda, Sausage/Roasted Peppers/Goat Cheese and the Figs/Brie/Julienned Apples. These are some of my go-to’s and I highly recommend them. My friend ordered the Dinosaur Kale Salad, and I went with the Bow Ties with Grilled Chicken and Sauteed Red Onions in a gorgonzola-rosemary cream. Just note, they aren’t kidding about this being a pretty creamy dish… it’s extremely rich, and I could only eat about 1⁄3 of it. I highly advise sharing this with someone and maybe splitting a salad. The service was good as well, and I will be back… I’ll just know for next time to request being seated in the front dining area. I’d like to check out their patio too once it’s not 100+ degrees out. It looked pretty nice!
Alexis B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Houston, TX
New location of the Grove(I think there are two others) on West Sixth. The location is great! And it has a gorgeous(and extremely large) patio overlooking Shoal Creek! Lots of wines and reasonably priced flights! I had a delicious flight of sparkling roses for $ 15! They also have cocktails which looked great! Great menu! Tons of vegetarian options, and their gluten free, vegan, and vegetarian options are clearly marked on the menu! Three of us shared six different types pf bruschetta — you can choose 3 for $ 10!(Don’t miss the Brie, fig jam, and apple!) we also had the Brussels sprouts, which were awesome! We wanted to eat more-so much of the menu looks delicious! I’d love to go again for happy hour! Inside is a little upscale, but people sitting outside were dressed very casually!
Andy B.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Austin, TX
This place has one of the best wine selections in downtown. Finally, there is a solid place on West 6th to get a great meal and a nice glass of wine. Before, the only real option was Whole Foods which isn’t exactly what most people are looking for on a night out. This restaurant also has a stellar patio that over looks the creek. The food! The Bruschetta is amazing. You can get a bunch of different types. My favorite was the goat cheese, sausage, and red pepper, but the fig, crisp apple, and brie was up there too. Don’t hesitate with any of the small plates. They’re perfect before heading down the street to the bars. Highly recommend checking this place out, and Anthony is the best server ever! :)
Scott M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Ventura, CA
Great Experience!.. We sat out on the patio, which overlooked the stream. Great atmosphere. The service was great and so was the food. A place I would recommend and return to.
Ann M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Madison, WI
We were searching for a gourmet lunch spot and happened upon the grove. It delivered just what we were looking for and was healthy to boot! We ordered the dinosaur kale salad, pizza, and fried oysters. The fried oysters were delicious with a lite breading and mango salsa. Salad was very fresh and delicious. Pizza was amazing. Everything was detailed oriented! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and would highly recommend it.
TC T.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Austin, TX
I’ve been a huge fan of Reed Clemons and his restaurants for many years. So many good memories of Mezzaluna, The Bitter End, and Granite Café. So I was excited to try The Grove downtown last night(on West Sixth, in the Cirrus Logic building). It was great. A wide selection of wine flights(with a generous pour for each of the three wines). The crispy oysters were perfect, the crab cake delicious. A nice salad and fantastic pizza. We ate inside, but I am looking forward to sitting by Shoal Creek on the outside deck soon. And I will be going back. Highly recommend this!
Scott G.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Austin, TX
The new downtown Grove is here! In the Cirrus Logic building at 6th and West, they have set up shop in what I think used to be a tapas bar. Hopefully you’ve been to the Grove in Bee Cave or Lakeway, but if you haven’t(because they are so far out there), now you have no excuse. The space is bright and welcoming, which also might be a good way to describe the staff. In the front is their bar/lounge area, and they have a café counter as well. If you’re familiar with Lola Savanna’s, then same concept only smaller and inside the actual restaurant. The rest of the restaurant is very open, and we had a group of 11, so they gave us our own little nook surrounded by all their best wines. Since we were there for a lunch and had to head back to work, we didn’t partake, but boy did I want to! Quite the selection. We had a number of apps, all were fresh and tasty. I had the steak salad and asked for the steak rare. I have seldom seen such a beautifully cooked steak. It was perfect. The greens and tomatoes were fresh, and the candied pecans were yummy. The Gouda was nice, but it was literally just chunks of Gouda. Seems like that part could have a fancier presentation. Still good. We went on grand opening day at 2 for coffee and were there from noon to 1:30 on their second day, and it was never packed, so hopefully you can get right in at lunch anyway. Complimentary valet, so parking is a breeze. See? You’re out of excuses. Go for it.