Congress

It’s been a couple of months since I visited this place, but my first experience was not good. I’ve been wanting to give it another try, but just haven’t gotten around to it — So I figured I should review it as is.
My friend and I came here for dinner one evening after work. It was pretty early and during the middle of the week so it wasn’t very busy. We were sat outside and my friend went to use the restroom. By the time she returned, the table next had also been sat and a few minutes later their waiter showed up — we were still waiting. Ten minutes later, when the table next to us had already received their drinks, placed their order, our waitress finally showed. She was not at all apologetic for our wait. We ordered drinks and chips & queso. Both came out in a reasonable amount of time and we started eating. A few chips in, we both commented that the chips seemed stale. We told the waitress and she said she would get us new chips. And then the wait began again…
When the new chips were finally delivered, I believe it was the manager who delivered them, he apologized for the inconvenience. He waited for us to try the chips to see how they were (um, awkward) and they seemed fine. However, they weren’t. Some were fine and some were still stale. We were both starving though so we just ate them.
I ordered tacos and my friend ordered a couple of side dishes as her meal. Our dinner was really good, but when we got the bill, my friend noticed that the prices on her sides were higher on the bill than on the menu. She said something to the waitress, but all the waitress said were that the menus were outdated. She didn’t offer to change it to the listed price and didn’t seem very sorry about it.
Soooo…if it wasn’t for the fact that my tacos were actually really good and the location is nice, I would give this place a two. However, I’m hoping I just had a one off experience and my next one will be better.

Maybe for someone who has never dined in a major city this place is wow! But for the rest of us who’ve dined in places like Dallas, Houston, Chicago it’s a ripoff. These are NYC prices and wine markups in a town that is half to a third of the cost. So what does it mean? It means the owners are taking the clientele for a ride.
The food was good but at $ 90 a head not including liquor I’ll wait until I’m in NYC or SF or LA for a better value.

I have been a fan of Chef Bull’s cooking since his days at the Driscoll Hotel, and was so happy to discover Congress on my first trip to Austin since 2002. I found the bar service slow and indifferent; the restaurant service both impeccably attentive and ‘slow food’ casual. The ambience was old school opulent and a cozy choice for our $$$ date night. The tasting menu was out of my price range ($ 245 for 7 courses) but the ala carte menu offered so much variety in a widely affordable range… goat to grouper, chanterelles to savory beignets, it was WONDERFUL. Small exquisitely designed dishes are quite filling if paired with good wines, and there are many. Tarts, pot de crème and fine dessert wines another nod to tradition. This is fine food with no fads and no rush, and I could eat here every night and die happy.

I was expecting a slightly more vibrant social scene, however the quieter and more romantic scene was just right. We had the foie gras which was an addition for the evening, and it was amazing and complimented well with the peanut and apple mixture. The goat on the menu falls apart in your mouth and is full of flavor.
Perfect for a date night.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I won’t be going back. Service was impeccable. Drinks good, but with all the exotic names it’s was difficult to tell what it would taste like. I found one that I would order again. Food was excellent but $ 42 for what seemed like a 4oz portion of ribeye was a little steep. One of the few fine dining experiences where I left hungry. I forgot, my wife’s redfish portion was about the same size.

I would have given 3 ½ stars if I could. We have had better tasting menus at Gary Danko in San Francisco and Binkley’s in Cave Creek AZ. The food was all good and some dishes excellent but it was not all excellent and the wine pairings for us seemed a miss on about half the dishes. I would have changed the order of the dishes and some of the wines would have been better with some of the other courses. The food was good and I think I would have been happier ordering a couple of regular portions off the main menu and a glass of wine I like to compliment my choices. The tasting menu was expensive with the wine so my expectations were high and I was not impressed with the entire experience.
The meal started off well. The amuse bouche was excellent — corn pudding. The sashimi Cobia — spectacular. The teriyaki beef delicious but with a strange white wine pair and order in meal strange, red wine would have been better. The lobster bisque excellent again not a fan of wine pairing. The potato and English pea tortellini very tasty but red wine pairing strange. The coffee rub on steak main course a little heavy for my taste gave my husband half of mine but the wine was excellent. The cheese course in our opinion a total miss neither of us enjoyed it. Dessert was delicious as was the dessert wine.

Tonight was my 4^th and last visit to Congress. The staff acts as if you are imposing upon them if you ask for something. Passive-​aggressive is my description. The food is tasty enough but the prices are high and the portions are low. I ordered the Texas redfish which sells for about $ 30. The portion MAY have been 2 inches by 2 inches. Tasty but not nearly a big enough portion. After I complained to the server, she gave us a credit on the bill after asking whether I wanted another portion.
If this is fine dining in Austin, we have a problem.

One of the best dining experiences I have had since moving to Austin. Not only was the food fantastic, it was presented beautifully, the service was impeccable, and the entire evening was delightful.

YEAH!
I’ve been twice now for different special occasions and would easily go back for a third. The tasting menu plus wine pairings is definitely the way to go. Daily, if you’re somehow made of money. This last time a few things really stood out:
–Lobster bisque. This had just the right amount of black truffle, which pushed it over the edge of awesome into out-​of-​this-​world.
–Pea tortellini. Wait, what? Stay with me. This is a tortellini with peas and mushrooms. No meat (and I’m one heck of a carnivore). And I don’t like peas or most mushrooms. But… this blew me away. The flavors and textures were absolutely perfect. There are a lot of easy ways to make amazing food: add things like truffles, bacon, scallops, duck, lobster, saffron, fancy beef… but to make an amazing pea tortellini that rivaled, possibly exceeded the rest of the courses? That’s, to me, what separates an amazing chef from simply a really good one.

Consistently excellent fine dining. Had well thought out vegetarian menu for our vegetarian friends. Wine list with interesting & unique wines to choose from. Tasting menu price comparable to other tasting menu price around town but executed at a higher caliber. Wait staff excellent & accomodating with minimal turnover of staff over the years. Our go to place for superb food in a lovely romantic setting.

Congress is our go-​to place for special dinners. I worked for a national food magazine for 6 years and have been spoiled by the best of the best. So far, Congress is the only restaurant in Austin that really understands how to deliver both fine cuisine and first class service consistently. From an amuse bouche from the chef, to knowing the last time you visited with new dish recommendations, Congress brings dining to a new level of sophistication. Bravo for years of success. Please continue to wow us, and I’ll be back again and again with friends and clients.

Went here on my anniversary and we decided to get the tasting menu which was good but over priced.
Great service and the wines were a bit pricey.
I don’t mind paying for a unique and good meal but this place was way over priced. The food was good and the meal left me satisfied but would not go back unless someone else was paying and even than would prob choose uchi

Congress is a fine dining experience. If you’ve never experienced it before, I encourage you to go with the tasting menu. I’m sure everything on the menu is delicious but I highly recommend the tasting menu. Service is immaculate, servers attentive, your water glass will never be empty or even half empty. I don’t know how to describe what I ate last night because at one point they did all blur together but I didn’t want it to end. The stand outs for me would the charred hamachi crudo, this is something I would write home about, the chili added a nice kick to it. The black trumpet tortellini which was brought out to us by chef Bull, the pasta’s consistency was perfect. The strip-​loin with sun-​choke and sunflower seed was heavenly, the meat was a little chewy for me (it was red) still good though. And of course, dessert is always my absolute favorite and Congress didn’t disappoint. The tasting menu ended with a deconstructed black forest cake with milk ice cream… phenomenal. I ordered the tequila daisy and the nonalcoholic maraska phosphate both were good. My friend got the maple leaf and really liked it.
All in all, Congress was definitely a memorable experience.

Awesome from the moment you walk in the door. Excellent service, wonderful and creative food. Absolutely one of the best restaurants in Austin.

Service is great. The restaurant is small but very elegant. They accommodated our every need and the staff was well informed and well trained. We had our 9 year old daughter with us and they found some less gourmet offerings for her. She was very grateful.
Food-​wise, it was great but not the absolute best. I did the full tasting course and thought 2 dishes were near perfect, a few were middling and one was not finished. My wife ordered ala carte and was pleased with both dishes.
Overall I left happy but not overwhelmed. My internal expectations were high, congress met most but not all. I have been to uchi and uchiko many times and would go there over a return trip to congress.

Teetering on the edge of a five-​star review here, but I think four stars is more appropriate. A very nice special occasion restaurant. Intimate, classy interior. We did the 7-​course tasting menu — one course was bad, at least two were excellent and the remainder were very good. The service was good: attentive without being overbearing, serious without being stifling. This isn’t the sort of place I can afford to come to often, but I’m definitely keeping it on my list of potential venues for a big night out.

When you Unilocal «fine dining» in Austin, Congress is number one. This is enough to sign me up if I’m in town. We walked in and found it to be beautiful and classy. The sommelier helped with the wine list and we were given an amuse bouche that was delicious. The bread and «butter» were divine. I thought for sure that we were in for an amazing treat. Having tried several pasta dishes including the agnolotti, the tagliatelle and the gnocchi, I was very underwhelmed. The semifreddo dessert was also disappointing. I guess I expect a lot when I go to a restaurant with these type of Unilocal reviews. On the outside it looked to have all the right stuff, but when you looked inside, it was not memorable. We were bummed out. My friend who lives in Austin will not be back either.

Here’s the thing: it’s a high end place. You’re willing to buy into that. That includes the way you dress and the way you behave.
We’ve been to Congress (my wife and I) on three separate occasions. My wife is a vegan. You’ll note that by looking at their menu, there’s nothing vegan about it. Yet each time, they managed to create a menu for her, specifically. For her! On one night, they ended up using egg noodles, told her about it beforehand, and offered a replacement, but she’s capable of flexibility when the situation demands it and kept to their suggestion. I’d emailed the manager beforehand, and he assured me they’d have a menu for her. They have never disappointed us in any way.
The chief complaint I have about Congress? It’s almost impossible to talk about anything but the food. The food destroys table conversation; it demands complete attention. It is the center of the evening.
What took us to Congress was the chef; he was the executive chef at Driskill way back when, and we’d had a meal there that transcended mere dining. The waiter for that meal brought the chef out to meet with us, and I managed to stammer my complete adoration of everything he’d done. The month that Congress opened, I made reservations, because of him.
I’m the son of a chef. Maybe due to that, I’m forgiving of a bad night and mediocre service. I’ve not experienced either at Congress. They are always right on the money.
It’s a good restaurant. The service is remarkable. The setting is pretty darn good. The food? Some of the best I’ve ever had anywhere in the world.

Fantastic service. Of the «if you even blink in the direction of your server she’ll be at your table in an instant» type. Every server, manager, water filler, and busser had their eyes on each table and were very quick to anticipate any need.
Congress offers four course or seven course prix-​fixe menus that change frequently. I’ll be honest — this isn’t a restaurant for everyone. If you don’t like taking food flavor risks, you may want to shy away. But if you like a good food adventure as I do and are willing to pay the higher prices, then check it out.

So Congress was amazing. We had the 3 course meal and several cocktails to go with it (the Scarlet Lantern cocktail was perfection). Everything was delicious and the portions were small, but not so tiny that it was laughable. They have an extensive wine list as well as a full bar.
Plus, they earned a couple extra points for having a formal– but not stuffy– atmosphere. I heard them playing Nico, the Flaming Lips, and Brian Eno.