Fast Friends Beer Company — Restaurant in Austin

I’ve been waiting for this place to open, and maybe two weeks or so ago we finally went.

First off, I thought the beer was pretty solid (we tasted I think 5 or 6 of the lighter options between our group). Nothing that will blow your socks off, but nothing that was unpleasant and they also just opened. It should only get better from here which bodes well.

I did hope it would be a food truck situation so everyone can kind of get what they want. If I’m not in the mood for pizza I won’t end up going here.

BUT we ordered 3 pizzas and they were all pretty dang good. Mine wasn’t greasy at the bottom at all like another reviewer said, but it could have been slightly more crisp. The meat one was a little bit greasy and floppy but the flavor was solid. The crust was underwhelming for me, but I could and will absolutely eat this pizza again. They did not do the “calling-your-full-name” thing for pizzas when we got there so they are definitely taking and applying feedback. I thought the ordering process was straightforward, we didn’t have any problems.

The space itself is nice. The bathrooms were abundant, single-stall situations. The tables were cool, I thought it was neat seeing the building process of those on IG and they turned out great. However, the interior seemed pretty plain/generic with not a lot of character aside from the sparse (but well-executed) branding. I guess I was hoping for more character.

I like that they have the two-tiered deck outside but I wouldn’t want to sit on the lower level if someone dripped something through the slats. Also, I wish they allowed dogs inside but I understand with the health codes and all. It’s not clear if you are allowed to stand it line (inside) and order with a leashed dog though.

Finally, the music inside was… not good. It was like generic techno house music. It didn’t fit the vibe or crowd at all. Thankfully, it wasn’t terribly loud, but this is the thing I hope they change the most.

Tl;dr: pizza pretty good, beer pretty good. Give it a shot if you live nearby. I hope they change the techno house music.

Update for 8/15:

We went back after a friend of mine recommended the summer squash and goat cheese pizza and that one was slammin’. Definitely my go-to now. If you like artichokes, those were really good too but they weren’t personally my cup of tea (no fault of the dish, I think I am just not a huge artichoke fan). I’d like to try the pretzel next time.

The music was MUCH more chill this time, and the amber on tap was extremely good!! Really impressed. They are continually adding things and making improvements and seem like genuinely good people there.

Also they now have a unique table number/QR code delivery system now, so no more trying to balance a piping hot pizza on a metal stand while (possibly) walking up or down stairs 👍 I think we will be there a LOT more often once the weather cools off a little bit. I would bring my dog and sit outside if they had those mister...

Tim has wanted to stop here. We were hungary so I had to ensure they had food.as we couldn't find a menu online. He went in to check and scanned a QR code. I looked over the menu(not a lot of choices) but enough to satisfy me. We ordered the crispy Brussels. The flavor was on point. They were sprinkled with pistachio dust. My only complaint is they weren't crispy enough for me. We had the Italian sub on homemade bread which was delicious. We also tried the Buffalo and bbq wings. OMG, they were delicious with a touch of flavor like they had been thrown on the grill. They undoubtedly were some of the best wings we've had. The wings came with a homemade vegan ranch dressing that was out of this world. I dipped my sub bread in it and it was sooo good. They could add the bread and ranch dip as an appetizer as far as I'm concerned. I enjoyed the cider as I'm not a beer drinker. I can say I would definitely drink the Billy Cannon double IPA and become a beer drinker for this beer. It was phenomenal. Tim bought some to take home as it was just that good. We will definitely go back. Upon paying, the guy at the check out said to complete the special instructions section to request extra crispy Brussels. All employees we encountered were friendly and the establishment was very clean. They also had a large outdoor seating area which was dog friendly. A super wonderful experience and we...

Really wished we had a great time since it’s so close to us. Like others, considering the name, we were expecting staff to be at least friendly rather than sufficiently neutral (better than rude, though!).

The beer was okay, but the pizza was really not good. I’m not trying to be excessively mean here, but I’m not lying in saying the crust was like cardboard and the cheese was… crusty. It was like when you try to make pizza at home in the oven using a frozen pizza dough disc and basic shredded cheese and bake it for too long. I’m okay with paying $25 for a decent sized pizza if it’s at least better than chain pizza.

Other things were just not thought through. I’m fine with going up to the counter to get my food, but not when it’s a pizza tray too hot to touch and the wire rack you try to balance it on to avoid touching the pan is too small. Finally, you can’t control the weather, but there needs to be better climate control outside when it’s either too hot or too cold half the year — especially when it’s too loud and echoey inside.

I mention these critiques with care as I would very much like for this place to be better as I’d come all the time, but I’ll go...