Hill Country Dining

While staying at the resort, we had the breakfast buffet every morning. It was outstanding! Everything was fresh and tasty, with many different options. Hot breakfast options, great fruit selections, yogurt, toasts and waffles. All with great condiments to spruce them up your own way. The waitstaff was also very accommodating and quick on their feet. The omelet station was pretty cool too. I want it right now, just thinking about it!

The quality of the food was pretty average. not sure about austin area standards, but I found this place to be run of the mill and way overpriced. The $ 42 filet I got here couldn’t compare with a lower priced filet at Flemings or Ruth’s Chris. The broccolli rabe was awful, the mac and cheese was dry as the Texas desert. The much touted calamari was tough as tripe but the dipping sauce was pretty good. Save some money and avoid this place until the prices come down or the quality goes way up.

630am breakfast is perfect before golf or tennis. Food is 3 star with 4 star service staff.

This is the four diamond restaurant in the Barton Creek Resort. Oddly, there’s only 1 – 2 restaurants in Austin that have this high of a rating. The Driskill’s restaurant which i went to the next night is one of the others. It’s odd that so few people go there (maybe not so odd because Barton Creek is a little out of the way) but given that so few people make it there, it’s not surprising that this is the first review.
I’ll give this place 5 stars. The venison was awesome. The soup of the day (I want to say artichoke bisque?) was very well done and presented at the table artistically. The wine recommendation was a spectacular Lode red. The server didn’t just recommend the most expensive thing on the menu, he actually did take our preferences into account and recommended a nice wine in the middle of the menu’s price range. The wine list was shockingly affordable which could be just because I’m used to San Francisco wine prices and possibly also because I dined at the Driskill the following night which had numerous wines over $ 2000 per bottle.
And wow, the service was beyond belief? Why? Because we were the only ones in the place! The place is that good but it’s always empty. And we were there on a Thursday night. This restaurant, although one of the finest (by rating, by rep, etc…) in Austin, is 20 minutes from the center of the city and therefore, for the most part, only gets guests of the hotel. And they don’t add up to much. Our waiter says sometimes they only see 8 people per night.
If you’re looking for a romantic getaway dining experience, you should definitely check it out. The fact that it’s so good and the service is so excellent and yet there’s such privacy and a feeling of seclusion — like you’re in the middle of nowhere — it’s quite a treat. The dessert was a trio of cheesecakes, big enough for sharing but not too big.