Children’s Ear, Nose and Throat Center

What a refreshing experience! From the front desk staff through check out, everyone was extremely courteous and friendly. Dr. Connolly was very knowledgeable and quickly addressed my childs’ problem. The office was clean and decorated in a cute, child friendly Spring motif that amused my daughter. Overall, I was impressed. Kudos to Children’s ENT!

We came here yesterday for a visit for my 6 year old son with Dr. Nowlin.
When I called, the receptionist was very efficient, she took down lots of important info and got us set up smoothly to be seen and how to get there. Very friendly too.
Its located right near the Seton Hospital downtown so traffic and a parking garage are enivitable. Yes, according to the other reviews, the building is old. It’s not sparkly, high tech and fancy like things built more recently. There was a good movie playing in the waiting area and colorful kid style décor. So it’s not awful.
Dr. Nowlin was friendly and made small talk with us. He examined my son’s tonsils and explained his opinion. He hasn’t actually performed surgery on my son so I can’t review about that. I will say his nurse and scheduler were both friendly. Even a call back with a question resulted in a quick return call.
No complaints here.

Why does the front waiting area always smell like a dirty diaper? Literally every single visit the overwhelming smell of feces smacks you in the face the second you walk in the door. Gag. I noticed the clerks at the front desk keep a can of air freshener. Maybe there’s a problem with the building’s plumbing?
The parking garage is chronically full. It once took me thirty minutes to find a spot. Be prepared and arrive extra early to find parking.
Why do I keep coming back, you ask? My kid’s ENT is the best in town. He actually listens to my kid and doesn’t rush us out the door. He helped my kid get over an extreme fear of doctors. For this, I am thankful. It’s unfortunate that such a great doctor has such a shitty property manager.

This is the most unprofessional office I have ever dealt with. They will not return calls and never answer phones. The audiologists are ghosts and must not know how to use a phone. They have had my daughter’s hearing aids for 3 weeks now… and will not call us to let us know when they should be repaired. This process should not take more than a couple of days. The doctor was great but you see them for 5 minutes… its the staff in the office that is unbearable. Everyone goes here because they are pediatric only. I will be looking elsewhere. They are not worth 1 star.

So, I had a bad experience.
My son has had several sinus infections as well as ear infections over the past year. While at his pediatricians office for the most recent case I asked about seeing a ENT specialist and she thought it was a good idea. So I called to make an appointment with Doctor Connolly. This is where the trouble begins.
A lady named Brittany answered their phone and claims they were to busy to schedule us so she would have to call me back. She did not call me back. In fact she misplaced my information. (Found that out when I called back to follow up after not hearing from their office) during the appointment set up I tell her my son has an ear infection/​sinus infection currently and we just started antibiotics. The day of the appointment I call her because we had been given the wrong address and I called Brittany and explained we had the wrong address but we were on our way and to please do not cancel our appointment because my son is very sick throwing up and having a high fever do he really needs to be seen. She said as long as we made it with in the 15grace period it would be fine. We make it with in the grace period, but as I’m checking in she said they won’t see my son because he is sick. ???what???
So there we are in the office (I’m 8+mo pregnant) with a very sick child with an ear nose and throat problem and she won’t let us in.
Now if it is their policy not to accept patients who are currently ill fine. But why didn’t she mention that when I called the first time, or when I called her pleading with her not to cancel our appointment because of how sick my son was. I would have taken him to the pediatrician earlier in the day rather then waiting for our afternoon appointment. The experience was incredibly unprofessional.
The two stars are for Doctor Connollys nurse who was helpful and did find a quick appointment for us when I called.
But all in all it was a bad experience and I am very surprised Brittany still has a job there after that experience.
I do not recommend it!

Dr Nowlin is absolutely the best pediatric ENT in town! He did my 7 year olds ear tubes 6 years ago and last month took my sons tonsils out. Amazing results both time! My son had spent the last 18 months sick and constantly running fevers. I only wish we had taken his tonsils out sooner!!! The wait times to see the doctor during appointments were relatively quick also.

I took my daughter to Dr. Connolly at this practice on the recommendation of our pediatrician. Now I’m looking for a different ENT, because we didn’t have a good experience.
I took my daughter there as a routine check-​up when she turned two; she has Down syndrome, and since lots of kids with D.s. have ear/​hearing problems, it’s standard to get their hearing checked yearly. When we went, the wait was long — nearly an hour — and when Dr. C finally came in, he didn’t say anything about that; in fact, he acted annoyed that my two-​year-​old daughter and my infant son were hyper and out of sorts. (That’s what happens when very young kids have to wait nearly an hour in a tiny, hot room. As a pediatric doctor, he should be aware of that.)
After checking my daughter’s ears and hearing, he immediately recommended we get her ear tubes. Note that she had NEVER had even one ear infection at that point, and had never had fluid in her ears as noted by the pediatrician, or anything. In fact, she seemed to have at least adequate hearing, judging by the fact that she had a pretty good vocabulary and good pronunciation for a toddler with Down syndrome!
I asked Dr. Connolly if it would be okay to hold off on tubes since my daughter had never had problems of any kind with her ears. He rolled his eyes and said, «You know, I’m tired of making recommendations that my patients don’t follow. I recommend tubes for your daughter. If you don’t show up for the surgery, I guess that’s your business.»
Ohh-​kay. I don’t need that kind of attitude, any more than I need a medical professional who recommends surgery as a first resort for a kid who hasn’t had any problems so far.
Needless to say, we did not do the tubes, and have not been back. As soon as I find a different ENT, we will go someplace else for my daughter’s next annual checkup.

I wish I would have read these reviews before I took my two year old son there today. Like others, I was going off my pediatricians recommendation so I really didn’t think twice about it and didn’t think it necessary to research. I really wish I had. I have to say this was the worst experience I have ever had at a doctors office. To start, they tell you to get there 30 min before you appointment which seemed normal to me except that we had to wait for two and a half hours and still NEVER saw a doctor. I don’t understand why they would have you come in early if they know they are going to make you wait that long.
As we were approaching the third hour my two year old just couldn’t take it any longer so we left. No apologies and the front desk person actually asked if I wanted to reschedule. I told her that we would be seeing another doctor and she just said ok. No one apologized for the wait and when one nurse asked why I was leaving I told her why and she just said ok and smiled. It was clear they didn’t even want us there.
As if the wait wasn’t the worst part the waiting room and the exam room were terrible. They were dirty and old and didn’t look like they had been cleaned. But the biggest issue was they had no toys, no distraction, nothing to play with at all in the entire facility. They had a small tv in the waiting room with cartoons on but that was it. We were in the exam room the longest and there wasn’t even a book to read.
I am shock that such a place exists and that it recommended by pediatricians. My next step is to call the pediatrician, whom I have a good relationship with, and ask why she would recommend this place. It was a waste of an entire afternoon and unneeded stress on my two year old and myself.

If I could give less than one star I absolutely would. In a nutshell, If you can find another good ENT in town, go there!
It started with our first appointment, we were on time and waited over an hour and half in a little tiny exam room before seeing a doctor. This isn’t easy with an active 3 year old with nothing to play with or do in the room. The doctor finally came in unapologetically and didn’t even acknowledge the wait. We decided on going forward with the surgery and the scheduling person was rude and snappy. If it wasn’t for the recommendation from my child’s pediatrician, and the urgency of the needed surgery, I would have gone elsewhere. Immediately.
The surgery did go great. We had his tonsils and adenoids removed at Strictly Pediatric at the Dell campus. The doctor reiterated several times post-​op, that if we had any questions, any problems at all, to call her office right away. I was comforted by that and hopeful thinking maybe it all was a rough day.
I tried to call the office on day 5 after my son continued to refuse to take one of the medications. It took me over an hour to get through to a live person. This is literally calling back to back to back. No one answered. Not when I pushed zero, not when I went through and pushed every nurses extension, not when I tried to schedule an appointment no one. Someone finally picked up, I started to talk, and then the phone hung up. I tried again. Again pick up and then disconnected. Three times in a row! I call back again to get a front desk person and I ask if they are having trouble with their phones. That I can understand, but she responded no they were working fine and that she was just in the bathroom. (This is funny because when you go to the office you can see there there are roughly 5 people there sitting at the front answering phones). She could tell I was frustrated and with attitude asked me «What, am I not allowed to go to the bathroom?» Wow. She then transferred me to another doctor’s nurse because my doctor’s nurse voicemail recording was 3 business days out of date… It shows how often they check their messages. I finally got through to another nurse and she was able to help.
The next day was very rough. My son didn’t sleep all night begging for more medicine and completely inconsolable. Please know, that I understand that this is a hard surgery for some and some struggle. I simply wanted to ask if there was anything they could prescribe or anything else that would help soothe my little guy since he wasn’t able to get his medicine down that reduces the swelling. After 3 hours. Yes, 3 HOURS of non-​stop calling, I got through to Dr. Connley’s nurse. She was patient, helpful, and understood about the issues with the office staff.
From what I understand and have been hearing, Dr. Connley is the best. There is very little wait time and his nurse is excellent, but his wait time for an appointment can be upwards of 3 – 4 months. We couldn’t’ have waited that long so we went with Dr. Clark.
I would literally take my son and other children to San Antonio to get this done or to see an ENT than to take my child to this practice. Its a shame the front desk people and office staff completely ruin the office and experience.
Good luck parents!

We arrived at our appointment a few minutes late due to heavy traffic because of SXSW and were told we would have to reschedule. We had just driven from Dripping Springs 45 + min all the way to their location and then turned away. Needless to say, we will NOT be back and have already found a new ENT closer. I understand that being late is not good, but sometimes things happen and for the establishment to not be willing to work with is unacceptable!
This was our second visit and the first was not very pleasant either, but we had been referred so we thought we would continue, but after this second strike that was it.
If you aren’t comfortable with services you’re receiving find another dr. because there are a lot of good medical offices/dr.s out there.

Wow — supposedly the best game in town. We arrive to be told we have no appointment, although a few days beforehand we received a VERY CLEAR call and message, confirming the appointment and the fact that we should arrive at least 15 minutes early for paperwork. After being treated like they were doing us a favor by «working us in», we returned to wait some more.
The fun didn’t stop there. The waiting area is dismal and HOT. Do these people not realize that air conditioning is a necessity in the Texas heat? The carpet is coming apart, so don’t let your little ones scramble around down there — they’ll find the threads. The furniture in the waiting area is dirty and probably older than I am. The few toys that exist are filthy.
So I thought that perhaps things had to get better once we got back to see the doc. The only bright spot was the nurse who was great with kids, and very accomodating. We were ushered to a tiny room with a patient chair that looks like it is from the 1960’s and hasn’t had a good cleaning since sometime in the 70’s. The cabinets in which all instruments are kept were covered with marks and fingerprints, and the floor was filthy with months (maybe more?) of dust and hair (ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww).
This place (in my opinion) appears to be just a mill to perform surgery on little ones to insert ear tubes. No mention or acknowledgement of alternative treatments or ideas. Just a push for surgery. Oh — and did I mention that the exam rooms are about 10 degrees hotter than the waiting area? How the hell do they expect little kids to be comfortable in that?
If this is the best in Austin, be afraid, very afraid.