Ezov — Restaurant in Austin

Seemed like a really cool ambience and atmosphere inside. We booked an early dinner or Mother’s Day right when they opened at 5:00PM. Made sure to specify we needed a high chair for our 17 month old when we made the reservation. Called a few days before to make sure they had high chairs, we could just bring our own if not which would be a small inconvenience but whatever, happy to. “No no we have high chairs that’s no problem and we are looking forward to celebrating Mother’s Day with you and your little one.”

We get to the restaurant at 5:00 for our 5:00 reservation for three people (2 adults and one high chair) right when they opened at 5:00. We are walked to table: a chair at a small two-person table along the booth wall. No high chair. I look around and notice two other kids sitting in high chairs. “Oh and can we get a high chair when you have a second?”

“Oh actually I regret to inform you all of our high chairs are in use at the moment, but we’ve put you on the boothed wall for your child to sit on. I believe we spoke on the phone with you about it this week.”

Had they just said “hey I’m so sorry we ran out of high chairs. We are happy to do anything we can to make this right and so sorry about your Mother’s Day dinner now in life wrangling your infant on your lap as she runs around the restaurant”. But to have the gall to lie directly to our faces and say “oh we cleared it with you earlier so this is okay, right?” Not cool.

Hostess says she’ll check in the back if they have one. She comes back 5 minutes later and says “I asked the other patrons using the high chairs and they say they all are needing to use them”. Yeah, obviously, we aren’t going to ask another table to give up a high chair that they likely also requested.

We reply “that’s okay, we’re just going to go to a different restaurant.” Hostess replies “oh I am so sorry, we are happy to give you a discount! The problem is that someone who didn’t request a high chair decided they did need one and it’s first come first serve.” I remind you all we arrived a minute after they opened at our scheduled reservation time.

We pack up and head to the car. I’m annoyed, wife is tired. Baby is hungry but chill. As we are loading up the baby in the car I notice two other cars pulling in and unpacking three children under the age of 2. I wish I could have stuck around to see their experience. The hostess that seated us caught up to us in the parking lot. “The other table that said they didn’t need a high chair is now willing to give up their high chair for y’all!”

Did she think we were going to walk back in after deciding to leave because we were lied to after the alleged table that caused the issue was shamed into giving up their toddlers high chair? God no.

We went down the street to Intero where they had about a dozen parties with young children, during the early reservation period of Mothers Day, in plenty of high chairs and had a great meal.

But the ambience and decor of Ezov was really cool. Food smelled...

When an Emmer & Rye restaurant opens up, you run don't walk here. With Hestia, Canje, & Emmer being our top spots in town, we had set the bar very high for this spot. Love that it's on the east side and that they have complimentary parking. Very cool atmosphere, however, one of the biggest complaints for us was how loud it was sitting in the back room (to the left of the entrance). It's never a fun date night experience when you can't hold a conversation without raising your voice. Also, the fans were on high blast so if you wear contacts they will go dry instantly. Service was great as expected. Now on to the food...

Smashed Cucumber - was my favorite app hands down. You have to try this! (side note for those who have the cilantro gene...it's in the sauce and my partner tasted it).

Sigarim - basically two very long eggrolls. The chicken hearts were very tasty. It was good to try, but for $9 each I would pass on these next time.

Frena - the classic bread and butter but make it Mediterranean. Even for 2 people, it was perfect to split down the middle, we left no crumbs behind.

Texas Wagyu - THIS. This was the highlight of the night. Honestly wish we ordered 2 because we were fighting over the last piece. The price is a steal for how well they cooked this.

For the finale, we tried all 3 desserts. Not sure if it's because Tavel's other desserts are some of the best we ever tried at the other locations, or if the Mediterranean dessert just isn't our thing, but they were all very average to us. Even though we both don't like coconut, the Malabi was surprisingly our favorite. The coconut flavor was very minimal and the strawberry gelly stole the show on this dish. Our least favorite was the coffee cake, it was very dry. The Baklava didn't wow us either, however, the caramelized bananas were chefs kiss.

For drinks, the Malbec paired perfectly with our steak. I know these spots are known for their cocktails, but I am an old fashion snob and was bummed about how mine came out. Just from the looks of it I already knew it was going to be too sweet and not something I enjoyed. We also tried the Equinox which is their version of a whiskey sour and it was also decent, but not living up to...

We booked a reservation for this restaurant on October 8, 2023 and we were excited to try this place as it had decent reviews and the menu looked great. Once we got there, our server Sarah suggested that for a party of 6 to order between 10 to 14 dishes but the menu has a maximum of 14 dishes. We expressed that we wanted more time to look over the menu and might order an entree each person. She expressed that “due to how the kitchen works” if we order the same items from the menu, that the kitchen can only bring out the food one by one as it’s done. It seems like she wanted us to all order different entrees but I’ve never heard of a kitchen not being able to control their food completion time. When she came back to take our order, she seemed a bit annoyed that we decided to not order all different entrees and wanted to share entrees between couples. She again said that “due to how the kitchen works” that the food can’t be controlled how it comes out and will be brought out as finished by the kitchen. That’s fine with us but seems a tad annoying when you’re trying to be controlled on what you’re trying to order and it felt like we were being upsold to order more when 9 dishes were enough for 6 people to share. Additionally, $13 for a hummus dish without any chips or bread to use and you have to pay another $6 for a small dish of bread? A little ridiculous. The food was ok, but the experience ruined it for us. When the individual who brought out the forks and knives come by, she was scratching her stomach where her shirt didn’t cover her stomach all the way and behind her apron and then proceeded to hand me unwrapped silverware to use. I mean, if you need to scratch yourself at least do it behind closed doors and not in front of someone’s face when they’re about to use that silverware to eat. We also didn’t have anyone come by and check up on how we liked the food until it was time to pay. Seemed like they were more interested in upselling the menu and was attentive at first but as soon as you didn’t order the exact dishes they expect you to, service dwindled. I would have rather spent my money and time somewhere else.

EDIT: Changing to one star because no one reached...