Hank's Austin — Restaurant in Austin

I will say my first experience here two weeks ago was definitely better than my second experience last weekend. A big part in why I rated this four stars is because of the ambience. I love the soft, earth tones, music, and the lighting. Absolutely love the lighting! I took myself out the first night and really enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere.

I ordered fries with aioli sauce and potato & gruyere soup for appetizers. The fries were hard, but I overlooked it because I assumed it may have been due to my arrival an hour before closing time. The aioli sauce was great with the fries. The soup was good, had an interesting taste but I loved the texture of it.

For my main dish, I ordered the baked salmon with farro and quinoa. I could taste no seasoning whatsoever on the quinoa; however, eating it with the salmon tasted fairly well. The cauliflower was my side order and at first was almost unbearably crunchy, but then as you keep chewing, you can taste the savory part mixed with cilantro.

For dessert, I had the crème brûlée with pear slices and that was delish. Magnifique!

A few additional notes - The hanky panky tiki drink was fruit-tastic. I learned that cabernet sauvignon is a horrible pairing with a salmon dish, and I always love when the manager takes the time to say hello, which he did on my first dine-in visit.

Now my second visit was radically different. I was sitting at the bar this time and tried to order the hanky panky tiki but they were sold out (this is at 9:45pm on a Saturday). So they made me another drink without charge, which was nice. Then I order fries with aioli sauce - really to see if they are always that hard but also because of the limited choices on their late night menu. For some reason, it took ridiculously long for them to bring them out. I asked the bartender midway through waiting to just have them in a to go box, but when I finally got them, it was half the amount as the first time I ordered them! What's worse is that the amount of aioli sauce they gave this time wasn't even worth a few dips from the fries, which also was nothing like the first time.

There was a guy who approached me shortly afterward and I explained the fry amount to him and then asked for more aioli sauce. He came back with more sauce and said that was the last they had for the night so I got lucky there, but I should've gotten more fries because it's the same price as the regular menu. So, needless to say, this experience was definitely different, but I still will plan to come back...

Wow..... If your a hipster this is the place for you!!!!! Coming from a San Antonio chef, this is not upscale cuisine , at best this is line cook 2 star food . I ordered the bacon burger dressed out with a brioche , parmesan fries , charred okra with "sun roasted " tomatoes , and the Mediterranean meat balls( 3 meatballs just a hair bigger than a quarter with some kind of cucumber dill sauce not freshly made. Where to begin.... The sweet tea I had to sweeten with rock hard packs of sugar, the okra was slimy under cooked with a horrid taste , the meatballs were not evenly and properly seasoned with a very dry very hard gritty texture. The burger was pretty good though, it came medium without asking and I love my beef with a Lil raw flavor like my steak !!!! The seasoning on the brioche was well thought out, the fries litterally were overcooked shoe string fries with block paremsan graded up on top , no spices, no patté , no life. Then at the end of this exquisite experience , I get charged 80.00 after recieving my bill that said 54.00 which is ridiculous to begin with!!!! I have paid much more in many places but I also get way more of an experience in those places. This was terrible , dim lighting so dim you can't read a name tag let alone enjoy what is supposed to be 4 star or higher quality food based on the prices, and sad service all the way around , the waiter understandably was dealing with short staff and waiting on many people so I over looked the many errors from spilling tea all over the table to messing up the bill. I will say to the owner of this establishment , it needs work. The quality is a far cry from the prices your setting and I know quality, a competitive food judge that minimum judges 4 big events a year, and holds a fb following of almost 8 thousand people. With many restaurants , food trucks and caterers in San Antonio. Please do better for the sake of the customer, I do not feel wined and dined in the least bit.

Edit: 1/15/2022. My mobile banking is showing a 203.00 charge , an 80.00 charge and 64.00 charge. All this for 2 cheeseburgers and an appetizer? What a...

Upon visiting Austin for the first time, we asked friends for recommendations, and Hank's came up.

We looked up the menu and decided pizza sounded really good. I can't do tomatoes and they had tomato-less options. We decided Hank's was the way to go.

Parking was a challenge (as is most of Austin, we've discovered), but we eventually got a spot.

We went in and were seated immediately, which was nice. I excused myself to use the restroom and my husband sat down.

When I came back, he had an annoyed look on his face. He said, "No pizza." Surprised, I asked why.

He said the waiter came by and he asked for a regular menu, as he'd only been given the brunch menu. The waiter said it was brunch only. My husband started to ask if there was any way we could get pizza, and before the word "pizza" came out of his mouth, the waiter cut him off and said, "That's all you get," then walked away.

I looked at my husband and said, "Let's go." He agreed, so we got up and left.

We get that the waitstaff probably gets tired of that question, but it was a FAIR question. In addition, it was after noon, so we were surprised brunch was the only option.

The reality is that we didn't leave because we couldn't get pizza. And we didn't leave because it was brunch only. It was because the waiter "aggressively" told my husband (his words) that we could only order from the brunch menu, then simply walked off.

There is no reason for rudeness. My husband and I are kind people. But that encounter confirmed that we'll not only never come to Hank's again, but that story will be shared with others.

Too bad, because I've heard the food was good. 🤷‍♀️

(I have no pictures to share for obvious reasons. But you can check out my review for Cipollina, as that's where we ended up---it was excellent and the waitress was...