Bambino — Restaurant in Austin

i’ve liked this place pretty well since it opened (the little stinker is delish) but had a super weird experience yesterday.

I was ordering takeout, so I walked up to the counter (where i’ve ordered multiple times before) and watched two servers waltz casually around the restaurant. it was not busy, there was one table of two, and some employees doing a wine tasting. after 2-3 minutes waiting at the counter someone from wine tasting said to have a seat and that someone would be right with me. I sat down and waited another several minutes before someone even approached me.

I finally got to order, two appetizers: wings and cheesy garlic bread. i couldn’t BELIEVE it cost me $35. the server asked if I wanted marinara with the garlic bread but neglected to tell me it was an extra $2 to add it. 🫥 horrible practice that breaks down trust for customers.

it took them about 15 minutes to prepare my order. I got a text when it was ready, so I walked back from the gym next door to pick it up. when I approached the pickup counter, I was informed that my food was, in fact, NOT ready. I waited several more minutes at the counter.

the wings were difficult to eat and bland. the cacio e pepe ranch had an overpowering dill flavor that drowned out everything you put it on. the cheesy garlic bread was boring as well, didn’t taste of garlic and was barely salted, but the bread was nice. the two ounce cup of marinara may well have come out of a can and they charged me extra for it…

the service charge is wonderful in theory. as a hospitality worker myself, I wish more establishments would put effort into creating fair wage programs. I do think they’re going about it wrong. it’s very misleading to tack on an additional nonnegotiable 20% to each ticket when they could easily build it into the price for each item.

the service I got was quite poor, and I did not receive the aspect of experience in any way. an obligatory service charge should be necessary only where it applies. “service” is hardly applicable to the experience I had last night.

overall, i’ve liked this place in the past but not sure if I will be back. very let down, I’d give one star if this were my only...

(MY FIRSTBORN ASKED ME TO POST THIS)

Are you are thinking of going to Bambino’s pizza? Definitely go! It is a family-owned pizza business that just opened. I know the owners and they are very nice.

When I went, I discovered that Bambino’s is located next to a large climbing gym, which makes it a very good place to go get some exercise. Then get some pizza at Bambino’s. The parking lot has easy parking and accessibility.

As I got to the restaurant, I noticed that it was much bigger than I thought it would be. It could fit hundreds of people if you’re having a huge party. On the shaded patio, there was a TV playing a pretty good football game. There was so much outdoor seating, I could not believe it. Inside, there was a very nice bar with some wine, and near the windows there were some tables for two.

We ordered inside at the bar. Right off the bat, I noticed that they have kid’s menus with a few things that are of interest, such as chicken wings, cauliflower nuggets, and kiddo drinks but sadly that is all. My sister got the chicken fingers. I ordered off the adult’s menu (I am only ten) and got the cheese pizza with pepperoni, an optional topping. The pizza is very cheesy, and the crust is probably the crunchiest I’ve ever had. We also got the garlic bread, which turned out to be very good and garlicky.

…On to the service. The man who took our order was probably one of the nicest waiters I’ve ever met. He was really patient. Another waiter helped us, later, even though he wasn’t ours. After a few minutes of watching their outdoor TV my sister’s chicken wings came, and just like my mom had ordered them, they came with extra catsup, but they were slightly overcooked. The pizza took ten or fifteen minutes because they were making it from scratch. We were really hungry, so it felt like longer than it was. The waiter refilled our water cups without us asking.

In conclusion bambinos is an awesome place to grab some food but the only drawback is that for the three of us to eat the total cost was sixty dollars with...

I had been really excited to come try this place. I left feeling dissatisfied.

The menu was cool, I was excited, there were some good flavor profiles on the menu. I thought for sure I’ll be coming back to try more of these since I’ll only be getting one right now. We tried to order the smashed cucumbers, the server at the bar said ok went to ring it up and then came back and told us they were out of it. Upon leaving I heard they ran out of dough! How does a pizza restaurant run out of dough. The pizza was good, good crust, good flavors, but it was room temp, and I wouldn’t say that it stood out or anything.

The service was by far the most disappointing part of the experience for me. Upon being greeted the bartender just seemed really annoyed. I asked my partner if it seemed like the bartender was in a bad mood, she agreed. As stated in one of the recent reviews there wasn’t much interaction beside the menu drop, bev/food drop, check. Which yes is disappointing since they are including 20% grat. When we asked the bartender for help choosing a pizza they had some solid advice but the hospitality just wasn’t there. They seemed distracted and annoyed and ultimately blew us off and told us they’d be back. I was walking to the bathroom and a server was walking so fast that they almost ran into me. Everyone in there just seemed so stressed, the energy was bad. The pizza took about 40 minutes to come out. When we walked in the first thing I noticed was the dusty bar counter tops. I was shocked by this experience. I just couldn’t believe how bad it felt. One beer, one full pizza, one club soda ($3.50), $42. Sorry, not worth it...