Fonda San Miguel — Restaurant in Austin

When I saw the pictures of this place, I thought oh my goodness this has to be the most fabulous place to eat authentic Mexican food in Austin. And with so many great reviews ,I was imagining Pattis Mexican table from PBS, exquisite Mexican cuisine from the interior of Mexico ,Couldn’t wait to go with my husband and we finally went today. We ordered our margaritas. They were excellent and then we ordered the chorizi- queso As an appetizer, it was excellent although a little greasy but authentic queso de Oaxaca. I love experiencing and trying new cuisine, so I thought I’d try something out of the ordinary. I ordered the Duck Enchiladas in a poblano pepper and spinach sauce,supposedly, but I couldn’t taste any roasted poblano in my sauce and if you’ve ever had roast duck in a great German or Polish restaurant, you know it is deliciously and succulent. It requires no seasoning when it’s roasted its own fat. Roasted poblanos have a unique and delicious aroma and delicate flavor which should have been more than enough to give the spinach flavor, Mexican food is like the spice of life. We do love our spices adobo, Chiles and sauces. So maybe it was an off night ; when I received my dinner plate, I had three rolled tortillas smothered in a very bright green soupy sauce with nothing else on top, not even cheese, which is unusual for an enchilada maybe a little Cotija would complement that stark green sauce , but not any kind of cheese or anything else it didn’t look very appetizing, but I was willing to try it because I thought I love roasted poblanos and I love roasted duck. unfortunately it was completely devoid of flavor. The duck was bland. The sauce was bland I couldn’t detect any spices, no garlic, no onion,No roasted poblano not even salt! I thought to myself I should’ve stuck with the typical food because that’s probably what most people order anyway I also had my side of white rice and black beans. Also devoid of any flavor or spices completely bland, very unusual for a Mexican restaurant although I have to say their corn tortillas are excellent so I ordered some pico de gallo on the side to kind of, add flavor to it ,Well, it was tomato and onion and I think cilantro but no peppers. Missing was “the pico in the gallo” which would’ve added some bam! Although I myself would’ve never used tomatoes, I would’ve used roasted sweet, red peppers and cotija cheese a little more eye appealing, A la Bandera Mexicana. I barely ate one enchilada . My husband ordered the steak tacos, can’t go wrong with that, the sauce that came with that was very savory. It was the authentic salsa Casera, which has very roasted tomatoes and onion. It was delicious not very spicy, but delicious and savory, although he asked for his meat well done it was not well done. he called the waiter over and showed him that it was not well done, he was very accommodating took steak back and then brought another steak. This time it was medium rare even worse . he couldn’t even eat it. So by this time, we’re a little frustrated and very disappointed… we were going to take our food home and they kindly boxed it for us, but did not put it in a bag and we forgot it on the table. I think we were just frustrated and disappointed. What a waste of time and money which should’ve been a wonderful time in this exotically beautiful restaurant and great ambience that makes you think you’re in San Miguel de Allende. But I don’t think we will probably. Because to make matters worse by the time we got in the car and started driving. His stomach started hurting. My stomach started hurting and I never have stomach problems. It was just altogether not a good experience so sad and sorry that it’s such a beautiful place.. if you do choose to go, I would stick to the very traditional things and ask what do most people order and maybe the specials I don’t think I try anything that I don’t think is ordered a lot and I thought I can say hopefully your experience...

Food here was good. We were a bit confused with the way some of the dishes were organized or what they contained. Menu doesnt have non alcoholic beverages listed so we had to ask. Also we would have liked for there to be small spoons in each salsa to avoid double dipping or to be able to add salsa to the main dishes.

Definitely a must try if you are looking for traditional mexican food that is not tacos.

They offer complementary chips and salsa our favourite was the red salsa. We ordered the queso fundido to start with rajas and chorizo on the side. It came with tortillas as well, it was really good.

Then we got the cochinita pibil and tacos al carbón. The cochinita pibil came wrapped in banana leaf and in the side had slices of cooked plantain and rice The tacos al carbón came with cheese, pico de gallo and refried black beans as a side. The meat is served on top of a grilled cactus which is nice and you can really taste the charcoal flavour. Both dishes came with tortillas you could choose what kind you prefer (corn or flour) The tortillas were okay but too thin, so it was difficult to build tacos without everything falling out (thin tortilla =weak tortilla) Likewise we got the tortillas in rounds of 4, imo it would have been better to have more since the start since the dishes are made to build tacos with and we had to ask for more at times

The meat from the tacos al carbón was really good but the cut of the beef wasnt the best, it had some parts which were a bit difficult to cut and eat because of the veins of the meat. The cochinita pibil was really good, it tasted like mexican cochinita pibil.

Finally we had the tres leches cake which was amazing, by far the favourite dish. It came with a scoop of mango sorbet and slices of mango on top. The only downside of this dish was that it was lukewarm, imo it would have been better if the cake was chilled.

We also had an oat milk capuccino to go with the cake but the coffe taste wasnt good.

The waiter was weird, we thought he was angry. He seemed like a nice guy when he talked but his movements were a bit rough. He slammed some plates at times but nderstandable if he was in a hurry

Price of the restaurant is high but you can see the dishes are made with quality ingredients. Nice place for a birthday or celebration :)

We struggled a bit to find parking outside, there is limited parking and no valet...

One does not just walk into this place fyi...

I had to get a reservation a month in advanced just to get my mom and I into this place on a Tuesday evening and yes they get that busy and packed despite being much larger inside then I expected with easily over 200 people being served at tables!

The food: Five stars and the best of Austin. Nothing more I can say From their chips and red and green salsas (seriously what's in this red sauce I would pay just to take home a jar of this stuff!)

Chips are not thin greasy cheap but perfect. Not cheap store kind. Just perfect

Same with blue corn and small homemade like flour tortillas coming out fresh from the back in fancy wooden bowls (showing my ignorance here at what these authentic utensils and containers from South American culture are, please forgive me my Spanish ancestors! Lol)

And they had me at... Here is our special of the month... Lamb carne asada! O_O

My mom went with the chicken green sauce enchiladas.

Even the black beans were to die for!

(And you get what you paid for too with their drinks! The lemonade is perfect in every way, texture and taste!)

The place:

You get to see pictures of South American history throughout every inch of the walls as well as all kinds of unique art works as well contributing to the culture and atmosphere here!

Customer service: They earned their tips here hard-working smile and do everything they can to make sure your experience is top-notch with the experience of everything here to everyone's palate and satisfaction and definitely ours as well as accommodating a multitude of families here and yet still getting us food and served and under 30 minutes and I swear there's over two hundred people here tonight!

:) Our waitress Marilla easily made us feel like family and got us full and satisfied in record time and even made sure to get us more tortillas too ! Am soo stuff led and satisfied that when she came back to offer desert I nearly died lol

Seriously even there deserts (we are talking not cheap high quality no fake dairy all legit and even goat cheese and lots of lamb...