M2

I love when people start their reviews with «I really wanted to like this place» because I was thinking just the opposite here. I really wanted to not like this place because my wife picked it, and I hate admitting she picked anything good. However, one of the most exciting things about moving to a new city is finding somewhere new to eat every night. After a couple of minutes of searching on the internet she finds M2, which we both agree sounds good. M2 is located on West 4^th between Lavaca and Colorado in the heart of downtown Austin.
As I walked up to the place it looked nice, very dim lit, chill electro music playing at the perfect volume. We were greeted by a guy that I am not 100% sure if he was dressed up for Halloween or if he always dressed that way. We got sat down and I couldn’t help but notice the umbrella lights on the ceiling. I liked it, cheesy but I liked it. I could have done without the hats and ties on the wall but that’s a different story. Now I am not going to knock the service because it was good, but I didn’t know who was waiting on us. The guy that sat us was taking our order and then the bartender came to take our order. I didn’t know who our server actually was but besides getting asked the same question a couple of times the service was actually good.
The menu is small and not overwhelming at M2. We both ordered a glass of wine and started to take the place in. I sat there thinking, the staff is very nice, the overall bar is nice, the feel is nice but I have no idea what they are trying to accomplish at M2. Now I know this place is not trying to be a pizza place but we are down to write a review about anyone offering pizza. They make 4 pizzas which they call «flatbreads». You can choose from Grilled Chicken, Three Cheese, Veggie and Margherita. Normally I would order Margherita without question, but I thought I would try the three cheese to mix things up and my wife ordered the grilled chicken. On a side note, we had an app of hummus which was very fresh and light.
After a few minutes we got our flatbreads. The three cheese pie was not greasy like I thought it would be. The bread is extremely soft, almost like it was fresh baked pita bread. It was topped with mozzarella, parmesan and havarti. Now I am usually not a fan of Havarti, but this pizza just flowed. Light garlic, light olive oil mixed with the cheese on the flatbread was a very nice touch. It was simple, but nice. I was unexpectedly delighted with the flatbread. My wife was not as excited about the grilled chicken flatbread. Grilled chicken with caramelized onions was nice but it came without cheese. Personally I think if it would have been topped with cheese it would have been a great flatbread, but prepared this way it was just plain. After finishing our meals and I sat there still bothered not knowing what the goal was with this place. In summary: M2 had good food, solid service, and was clean. A nice place to take a date, and despite the look it is not a stuffy establishment at all.

What happened to this place? I remember going a few months ago and the drinks and food were SOOOOO much better.
I took a friend and his girlfriend this past weekend and was not very impressed. The food was decent, but nothing special — could have been pre-​cooked and warmed up to serve. :(
The drinks were not good at all. I ordered a beer and was finally impressed by something. Yikes!
Our waiter had no idea what drinks were on the menu and couldn’t offer a decent recommendation on anything. It appeared today was his first day in the industry. Shame on you M2.
The only reason I gave it two stars is that the ambiance is awesome — great music and cool décor.
Do yourself a favor and go next door to Peche.

There was an episode of «3^rd Rock from the Sun» where Dick was learning about the concept of tipping for a job well done. He placed a stack of $ 1s on the table and then removed a dollar from the stack every time expectations were not being met. I sure wish I had used this method when we went to M2. But I’ll start with the good stuff first…
Food: I really, really liked my meal. I had a burger and a side of veggies. The veggies were some of the best ever — must have some type of butter sauce on them to make them that delicious. The burger was also awesome. My meat-​loving husband agreed that the beef was truly top notch.
Décor: Oh, please… the umbrellas on the ceiling and ties on the walls are not really all that cool. Even my husband, who never notices décor, commented that the umbrellas are just strange and should go.
Service: Service is the reason for such a low grade (I gave them a star upgrade, actually, because I did like the food). The waiter was uninterested in us throughout the meal, with an attitude that we were inconveniencing him. It took him 30 minutes to get us our check after he took away our plates and we said we didn’t want more drinks. 30 minutes! But he had plenty of time to stop and chit-​chat with the other tables. The ONLY reason he got a tip from us was because we used a
coupon and he automatically added 18%. I nearly requested that he take it off.
We won’t be going back. We will be ordering some ground beef from that place in Yoakum that M2 uses and making our own burgers at home!

Please save yourself the money and don’t go to M2. My friends and I went there for the Sunday drag gospel brunch. The food was terrible and prices were steep at $ 20 per person. The frustrations… there was no menu and the waiter wasn’t really clear about everything being served. The quality was lacking, the food was bland, and simple things that could have been easily avoided like not overcooking the pasta and not burning the waffles were overlooked. For $ 20 per person… there are plenty of other restaurants I could have gone to and gotten more bang for my buck (e.g. Z Tejas, Moonshine, Taverna). Aside from the terrible food… the actual service from the waitstaff was good and drag show was entertaining.

Went for the first time at 7-​ish, this past Tuesday. The interior is very nice; I especially liked the white umbrella-​orb light fixtures. Inexplicably took a while for our orders to be taken. The place wasn’t busy. We just waited, and drew on the paper table cloth with their crayons (very Macaroni Grill). And waited.
But, the food came out quickly: 1^st were beet chips and olives. The dehydrated olive-​dusted beet chips were extremely delicate and flavorful. Very nice. The olives (I forget the type) were also quite delish.
For entrees, I ordered their hamburger, which came with more beet chips and a small salad. The burger was… what’s the word… divine. Perfectly grilled, and seasoned, with Vermont cheddar on a sumptuous dinner roll. Not full-​size, more like a large slider, but plenty food.
My girlfriend had the flatbread with oyster mushrooms and grilled tomatoes. Mushrooms were unbelievably tasty; I could’ve eaten a bowl of them. The flatbread itself was light, airy, and crisp. Wonderful.
If you’re having dessert, avoid the peaches. Again: no peaches. They were served in some type of cream, but the dish isn’t sweet in the least, and the peaches taste as though they came off the same grill as my burger without being brushed and cleaned first. Not a pleasant experience. Try the orange chocolate squares, instead.
I rate M2 four out of five stars because of how long it took eventually getting around to taking our orders, and those damn peaches.

Not only is the food fabulous, but the bar staff is top notch…
Hats off to Drake for «managing» my embarrassing friend, who crossed into her «party girl» personality last night, to the car with me and very nicely ignoring her advances to him. He is a sweetheart & a saint. Without his help, I would still be trying to «peel» her off the cute straight men in the bar.
**Note — Not even a first name will be divulged of said «party girl» to protect her identity here. I already shamed her this morning, and enjoyed it ;p

This new place is where Saba Blue Water Café used to be. Their official opening is tomorrow, but they are serving food and drinks anyway. I met a friend there last night for dinner. The space is sleek and trendy, with umbrellla light fixtures, and a really long bar. We sat at the bar and ordered several things to split, the beet chips with olive dust, pork crisps, and the pulled lamb sandwich. The beet chips were fabulous, very light and crispy and the olive dust was amazing. The pork crisps were actually pig ears, and I liked the taste, but not the texture. My friend enjoyed them. The pulled lamb sandwich was small, but very flavorful with a delightful added touch of pickled okra on a soft roll. This came with a salad that was simple but very tasty. There was also Nilgai on the menu and a heart healthy burger that looked good. Very interesting indeed, and I think it will be a hit. The dinner items, while smallish, were also very reasonably priced, between $ 12 and $ 16.

The spare, pretentious menu was highlighted by fried strips of pig ear called «pork crisps.» Literally gagged. Seared scallops in Peruvian pepper was tasty, however.

Meh. The atmosphere is very similar to its predecessor, sleek and chic, with good ambient music. But I went wanting some snacks, and the sparse menu was aggressively pretentious. The scallops were tasty, but it was a tiny portion. The grilled peaches were fine, but the charred flavor was at odds with the crème fresh. Bartender was friendly and competent, drinks were tasty and generous, but we ended up leaving to find food.