FINO Restaurant Patio & Bar

$ 1 for an extra olive on my 9 $ martini with only 2 olives.
Make it $ 10 and 3 olives like a normal Martini. This place nickel and dimes. Cool location.

Sad to hear that this place is closing, but the location is a little odd — 2^nd floor of an office building — so I suppose it is difficult to find. The atmosphere is surprisingly relaxing. Food is Mediterranean, which is not my favorite, but the falafel is very good and gluten free. We had a variety of tapas dishes, including pork on skewers, kale, pan roasted Brussels sprouts, and octopus. The latter was disappointingly rubbery, and no one wanted to finish the dish. The pork was a hit, though, so my companions ordered a second round. The kale was fantastic, very simply made with fresh parmesan, and that was gone in a trice, as were the sprouts.
A Singapore Sling was good, but pricey, and wines by the glass were too expensive for this girl, although a friend had two glasses and enjoyed them very much. Our server was good, but she seemed a little frantic, although it did not seem to be very busy. Still, on the whole, she did her job well, was friendly and professional. If the food had been better, I would bump it up a star, because the place has a lot going for it, especially with it’s laid-​back, tropical-​island style patio. Really nice place to go to relax.

Really nice atmosphere, Very large patio, the wine selection is a little different, the fried goat cheese is really good.

The FINO website says their Mon-​Thurs hours are «4pm-​10-​ish». I show up with a friend at 8:50pm tonight (Wednesday), and they are «closed.» There are probably four tables occupied. I say, oh, we just want to get a quick drink. Nope, they say, the bar is closed. Huh, I guess the «–ish» in «10-​ish» means whenever-​the-​hell-​they-​feel-​like-​closing?
So, yeah, they’re closing after SXSW, but apparently they’re taking off early.

Not the best service (maybe because I have read they are closing soon?) but the food was really good! I love share food and this was a pretty good one.
We got the felafel (excellent), Muhummara (equally delish), and Blistered Shishito Peppers. The peppers were probably our least favorite of the three. If you check in on Unilocal though you can get a free tapas so it was all worthwhile in the end. It was also $ 2 off each one during happy hour.
As for main courses. We got the roasted beats, which was more of a salad but still enjoyable. The showstopper though was the PEI Mussels. SO GOOD! If you come here make sure not to miss them.
The happy hour wine was decent, but I could have done without the cocktails. Overall a good experience though.

I am SO disappointed to learn that FINO is closing come end of March. What a great, unique tapas place. I had never had Mediterranean style tapas and I doubt I will ever find anything as good in comparison.
Also, I can’t rave enough about their drink menu. Fun With Filbert was my favorite drink. I have ordered a-​many from FINO. So sad I won’t be able to soon. I don’t know another place that makes a drink quite like it. All the drinks on the cocktail menu were unique and still tasty. Happy hour was and still is a great deal.
The food is delectable and the tapas sizes are quite a bit larger than your usual stingy tapas places. My favorite was the goat cheese, spicy hummus, and dates.
Go! Before the end of March. You don’t have much time on this one and it is well worth squeezing it in.

Came here for an early valentines dinner canceled reservations at Malagas because we heard this place was pretty legit. The ambiance was very romantic, wish we would have sat outside but my wife was afraid it would be a little chilly. The food was good, nothing earth shattering but it was very respectable. We started with the pork pinchitos, gulf shrimp, and the fried goat cheese. To my surprise my wife’s favorite dish was the fried goat cheese, the plate really complimented itself very well. Everything was very well seasoned. For dinner we shared the seafood paella, I wish they still had the quail and chicken paella but the seafood plate hit the spot just as well.
They have an awesome drink menu we ordered a bottle of wine, wish we had more time to tryout some of their custom cocktails.
Their service could be a little better from the hostess to the waitstaff. The hostess didn’t seem to stoked to be there and our waiter didn’t really help out with wine selections and he to didn’t seem to thrilled to be there no smiles. At the end of the night he started lightening up a bit, guess you just had to get him warmed up a bit. Overall I’d go back again to give it another try, especially for a romantic night out on the town.

I’m wavering between 3 and 4 stars on this place.
First of all, super weird location hidden away in a boring old shopping complex with an unexciting view of 29^th St. Whatever. At least they have ample parking.
Great outdoor patio seating with lush chairs and shades so you can enjoy being outside without roasting in the sunlight. Or stare at 29^th. I’m sure it’s very romantic with candles in the evening.
Inside is a nice, normal restaurant. Service was fine though our server needed a little training on fine dining etiquette… i.e., don’t reach straight across my face to pick up a plate without at least saying «excuse my reach» or similar, but he was nice enough.
Food is good. Not stellar, but fine. Lunch portions are small so don’t come with a huge appetite or be prepared to buy multiple courses.
Overall no enormous complaints but for the money there are better lunch spots.

Good find while visiting Austin
I like variety
The patio looks very inviting… wish it was cooler outside

Great place for tapas and drinks. Hubby and I got a bottle of the the Tempranillo to start– PERFECT! Our tapas consisted of the pork panchitos (x2), shrimp a la plancha, salmon, blistered shishito peepers (x2), brussels sprouts, and potato chips. All were full of flavor and amazing! The starter (compliments of the chef) was tasty as well! We will definitely come back again! So good!

This is a favorite date spot for my wife and I. The Mediterranean menu is just right — short, but diverse. Even though there are limited, it’s always hard to pick. The chef does a great job of featuring classics. The food is consistently good. The wait staff is polite and knowledgeable. They always seem to understand the right time to pop by and never interrupt the dinner table conversation.
If you’re not in the mood for food, swing by for one of the best old fashion cocktails in Austin.

Crudités
I always read this word as Crud-​ytes. Therefore when people said cru-​da-​tee I didn’t know that was the word they were saying.
This misunderstanding was corrected for me at Fino by both the waitress and the gf. They had a delightful conversation that could be interpreted as mercilessly mocking me, but I chose not to view it that way.
Anyhow. We substituted Crudités for the bread with the delightful walnut/​red pepper appetizer. Wow. Amazing. The crudités looked to be the new low-​moisture grown veggies and were stunningly good. 4 or 5 varieties of carrots and each tasted totally different.
We also went with the blistered peppers. Wonderful
Main dishes were Salmon/​asian style and a kale salad with chickpea dressing. Both top notch.
Great service, great food, great ambiance, great evening.

Just had the best brunch ever!
Okay, okay I’m not really a fan of the food fare. It’s a little pretentious and they always seems to start off with a good idea then add an ingredient that you go, «Why’d they do that?» Did have some great biscuits, but they’re only available at brunch.
What made this a dining experience one to remember is, Nikaela! What a GREAT server. As I’ve said before good food can be found anywhere in Austin and if the menu looks appealing give this place a try. But good service is harder to come by.
So when you go ask for Nikaela & if she’s not available ask when she is!!!

My friend’s quest for paella landed us here, a beautiful restaurant in a bland building. The evening started promisingly. Our server made on point drink suggestions. The small plates were tasty and interesting. We were in a jolly mood. Then, after lengthy wait, the paella arrived.
The menu puts paella front and center. Which tells me, «We specialize in paella. Please order our paella.» So we hunkered down and ordered the seafood paella. Forty eight bucks for two people. And it was incredibly, overwhelmingly salty. The aioli on the side disappeared as we tried to temper the saltiness. We squeezed lemon after lemon to no avail. And the thing is, behind the saltiness we could sense that the flavors were there. The seafood was well cooked. The spices just off the tip of our tongue. But the saltiness just took over, it decimated any delicacy in the dish. A rather expensive dish at that.
And so my friend’s paella quest continues, unconvinced by what FINO had to offer.

Fino was disappointing. Our waiter seemed to be very distracted, leaving us for 20 minutes (yes, really) after the initial greeting and drink orders, with no water to drink. We chose to sit outside because it was a nice evening, so maybe we were a bit forgotten out there, but the place wasn’t very busy at 6:30pm. Maybe the bar was busy, causing the long drink delay, but he should have come back to check on us far sooner.
Then he quickly ran off before we could order any appetizers or ask any questions about the menu. Another extremely long wait. I finally had to go inside and track someone else down (he couldn’t be found at all) who could take our appetizer order. This kind of thing went on all evening. So basically the service matches the European theme.
Food was good, but not fantastic. Certainly not worth the extraordinary prices… $ 48 for what is supposedly a two-​person paella, yet in reality is just slightly more than one portion. Really? $ 48? A friend ordered the steak and he liked it. Drinks were very pricey and my martini was not very well prepared. Asked for olives and there was *one*. Wine selection, as others have noted, is not great. I ordered a Tempranillo that was $ 12/​glass and it tasted like $ 6/​bottle.
I wish Fino had lived up to its promise. I promise I won’t be going back anytime soon.

If you are going to close outside of your posted open hours, put that info somewhere (e.g. website) besides your front door.
I don’t live at your front door so it pisses me off beyond belief when I am starving and arrive to some raggedy sign on your door saying «p.s. we’re closed!»

Wound up here by mistake. The place I wanted to go was closed, and this was close by and had a full bar. I was happily surprised to arrive on a nice day so we could sit on the patio. It was a business meeting, but that means drinkies, so that’s good.
I had an old fashioned, which was quite tasty, made with rye. We had about half of the tapas (one was free with my check-​in!), and we enjoyed all of them. Someone also got the pork belly and octopus, and my goodness, was it delicious
$ 1 sherry during happy hour! I thought it had been printed wrong, that they meant $ 1 off, but no! I haven’t had much sherry, so I checked one of them out. Definitely going to be coming back for that.
The patio is nice, the interior is intimate, the bartender was great, and the service was pleasant and unobtrusive. Our server was really knowledgeable of their liquors and drinks, and was able to select a good beginner sherry for me. Outside happy hour, the prices can feel a bit high, but you get what you pay for. Next time, I’ll have to try some paella, which I hear is excellent here.

FINO is a cute spot located on west campus. I love the clean/​modern layout indoors and the wonderful breeze on the covered patio outdoors.
Brunch here is pretty straight forward with your typical egg items and the occasional salad but it hits the spot. Happy hour had discounted apps (the hummus is fab) and a few dollars off beverages. Tuesdays features half-​off their amazing, buttery, citrusy, perfect paella. It’s plenty to share and I got to sample all 3 varieties and I must say that the veggie was by far the best.

Happy hour here inspired me to coin a new word, one that embodies the magnificence and incredulity of the happy hour prices and offerings. Don’t everyone go and steal it. It’s «Huwhut?»
Half off pink and sparkling wine by the glass or bottle? Huwhut???
$ 2 off craft cocktails, beer and their Mediterranean style apps? Huwhut???
$ 1 sherry? HUWHUT???
I admit I’m not a sherry connoisseur. I’d always relegated that particular beverage to cooking or to adjourning for drinks in the drawring room, dahling, in old movies. But at $ 1 for a 2 oz pour, it’s easy to try all eight of their offerings and educate yourself on this potent wine. From the super dry and clear to the dark and sweet, you can find your preference. It was yet another little adventure for me and Bff that left us both giggly. And if you’re as ignorant as I was on this subject, our waitress Ashley, and all the staff have been trained to guide you.
We also got some of their apps which at HH are typically $ 4 – 6, with my fave being without question the Muhummara dip. A slightly sweet red pepper dip with walnut and served with fresh house made pita, it was a great acomp… accomppin…accompina…it went great with the bubbly I was drinking. We also had a chili rubbed pork skewer and our sweet waitress brought us out a sampling of the fried green tomatoes that were on special.
The patio is so cool and inviting and decorated super tropical with white lounging couches, pillows and lanterns. I could see myself sitting there any evening sipping my sherry. Sometimes I wish I had a black n white lens on my life… ahhh for the luxury of yesteryear.
Oh, and Tuesdays? It’s half off paella from 5 – 7. HUWHUT??? Indeed.

Here’s my thing about FINO: If you say, «Let’s go there and eat,» I’d say «Sure.» But if you say, «Let’s go someplace good and hip and cool,» I could suggest a dozen other places before FINO would come up. Now if you happen to throw in, «And I want my parents to come with us,» then FINO would probably move up a couple of notches.
FINO is small plates with a Spanish twist, they have great booze and happy hours (I get that from reliable sources), and the inside is dark and dim and high-​end steakhouse clubby. The bar separates the room into two dining areas and you can see the semi-​open kitchen from just about anywhere. The outside patio is a huge shaded affair, and it’s pretty cool considering FINO is on the second floor of a building. The staff here is great and our server Jessica was on top of her game.
Of the half-​dozen dishes we tried, I thought the Blistered Shishito peppers along with the «Bagna Cauda» dip and crudités were delicious. I enjoyed the frites part of the PEI Mussels, and my dining companion gave the Pan Seared Salmon a thumbs-​up. I could argue the fried Brussels sprouts would be just as appealing lightly dusted with the almond Romesco instead of being buried in it, and the fried anchovy stuffed olives were interesting. Incidentally, they’re big on aioli here.
On a Wednesday evening from 7:30 — 9:00, I didn’t see more than six tables in use, and the operative word of the day seemed to be «sedate,» which is slightly different from «sedated.» I don’t necessarily long for the hustle and bustle and trendy noise level of Uchi/​Uchiko or Barley, but I did think it was appropriate to wash my hands as quietly as possible here at FINO. It’s all an experience. I have heard interesting things about the Paella, Tuesday night is special Paella night, and Unilocalers I know rave about the Niman Ranch FINO Burger that comes with Shishito pepper relish, and lots of aioli. But if you’ve never been here before, FINO is definitely worth checking out, and I’m mildly curious what you’ll think and what the weekend crowds are like. And of course, I want your parents to come with us.