Angie's Mexican Restaurant: Austin TX

Angie's Mexican Restaurant
900 E 7th St
Austin, TX 78702
(512) 476-5413

I'm one of the few Austinites who doesn't rave about Angie's. I've never understood the attraction. When they were in the old location, the parking lot was awful, there was always a wait for lunch, the food was average (and in Austin there's no need to tolerate average Mexican food when there are so many excellent and cheap options to choose from) and the service was spotty.

So now they have a new location in the same neighborhood; they built the restaurant from the ground up. It looks great from the street, very pretty colors. But the second thing you'll notice is that the parking lot is very limited. We had to park on a side street and walk. Strike one.

I was with four office mates on a Thursday at 12:30pm. We had to wait at least fifteen minutes in a crowded vestibule. Strike two.

The new building has one large, open dining room. The floor is a beautiful terazzo-like tile. Pretty, but awful for acoustics. The dining room has a wood cathedral ceiling. Looks nice, but awful acoustics. Why do restaurant designers allow clients to make these choices. Our group had to shout at each other to be heard. And of course every other table has to do the same. Who wants to eat with friends in an environment where you have to shout to be understood? Not me. They had this place built to their specifications; in my book, there's just no excuse for building a dining room where people have to shout. Strike three.

The tables are all two-tops and four-tops. So if you're a group of five, as we were, one person has to squeeze into the end. Very uncomfortable. Strike four.

Service was lacking. They initially gave our table of five only one bowl of salsa. It was quickly devoured. After waiting a few minutes for a refill, I had to take the salsa bowl to the server station to get it refilled and ask for a second bowl for our table. I had no issues with how long it took to get our food, but felt like I had to beg for refills and removal of empty plates and bowls. Strike five.

They refuse to split the check among our group of five. I understand that some places don't like to do this. But it is quite convenient when a group of office mates visit a restaurant together. Very few people pay with cash these days, so it's just so convenient when a restaurant will split up the check and let everyone pay with their own cards. I'll continue to frequent those places who provide this convenience. Strike six.

Now... the food itself. Look... everybody knows that Austin Texas has no shortage of good Mexican restaurants. I had the Carnitas lunch special which consisted of shreded pork, refried beans and rice with some corn tortillas on the side. The pork was good, the refried beans were refried beans and the rice was rice. So I'd say the food was ok but nothing special. The corn tortillas were the best part of the meal, frankly. No strike, but no hit either.

Prices were acceptable. I paid $9 for the serving of pork, beans, rice, tortilla and water plus tax and tip. Not terribly expensive, but I wouldn't call it a good value. No strike but no hit either.

So in the end, it is quite unlikely I'll go to Angie's Mexican Restaurant again. There are too many good choices in Austin to put up with mediocre food, inhospitable environment, poor service and poor value.