Il Brutto — Restaurant in Austin

TL;DR: just go to Mandola's.

I haven't been here since pre-pandemic, but I have good memories, so my sister and I come for a belated Galentines dinner. We have a reservation, and arrive a little early. When I am greeted at the host stand, I say "hi, we have a 7:15 reservation, I know we're a little early" (it is like 7:00). The hostess gives me major attitude and informs me that our table will "be ready in a few minutes AT 7:15". Okay ma'am. Can we get a drink at the bar? No, the bar is fully reserved. Can we wait outside? Sure.

We go outside. We sit in the cold. I say to my sister that we should probably head inside about 7:10. At 7:09 my phone rings. "Hello, is this Adrian?" "No, this is Madeline?" "Oh! Okay sorry. Um your table is ready and we can't find you anywhere". We head inside. More attitude. "sorry, we couldn't find you, we've been looking for you". Not very hard, we were two feet from the door. Whatever.

We get seated in the dining room. We get water. The hostess comes back to the table and informs us that we have to move tables. Why? "There was a mixup with the tables because of the phone call and because we couldn't find you". She leads us to a tiny tiny two-top that is literally right in the foyer, next to the cold breeze from the patio door, completely dark, and being crowded by people waiting for the host stand. I have no idea what possessed them to put a dining table here. You're that desperate to squeeze in one more table? I ask if there isn't any other table open. No, the restaurant is fully booked. We are informed again that this is our fault because they couldn't find us. Look, I don't expect you to remember the location of every person you talk to, but you don't think to stick your head out the door and holler for someone before calling them in a snit?

Our table is miserable. We are cold and can't see the menu. My sister asks if we could maybe have a candle or something? We get a candle. Now we can read our menus. I try and fail to warm my hands. Our waitress, who is quite sweet, arrives as I am asking the hostess yet again to explain why we can't sit at our original table, which is still empty. Apparently it's reserved in 45 minutes. Our waitress asks if there is a problem, we give her the bullet points with our drink order.

Apparently she got the manager because someone approaches and tells us there is another table available in a different dining room. Would we like to see it first and decide if it's acceptable? We are really not that picky, we just don't want to have an expensive dinner in the dark and cold while being elbowed by people taking their coats off. We move tables. The new table is fine.

Are you exhausted by now? So are we. Fortunately our $17 drinks are quite good. After all this drama, I can't even recommend the food much, which could have maybe redeemed the evening. The burrata is nice, but bread with it will cost extra $$$. Our pastas are good, but the prices are absurd for the portion you get (yes, the pasta is made in house. I make my own pasta at home. It is not expensive). I get a tiramisu to go and share it with my partner later. It is a $12 box of chocolate pudding. I am so confused by it. Mandola's has much better tiramisu for half the price.

They end up taking our first round of drinks off the bill for the trouble but we still spend well over $120 for honestly not much food and a completely bewildering service experience. There are much, much better places to eat in Austin. Save yourself some trouble and...

The Highlights: “Burrata Bliss!” The Burrata was, without a doubt, a celestial experience. Creamy, fresh, and accompanied by perfectly ripe tomatoes, aromatic pesto, and a drizzle of the finest olive oil, it was the kind of dish that makes you close your eyes and savor each bite. Do yourself a favor and order it with a side of bread. The bread, actually pizza crust, lets you smear the Burrata to create a dreamy Margherita pizza-esque delight that will have you questioning why you’ve ever eaten anything else.

Service with a Smile: The service was another standout. Our waiter was attentive, knowledgeable, and genuinely friendly, adding a warm touch to our dining experience. They were quick to refill our water glasses and check in on us, ensuring we felt well taken care of.

The Lowlights:

Pasta Problems: Unfortunately, the main courses didn’t live up to the initial promise. The pasta was a major letdown—undercooked and rubbery, it was far from the al dente perfection you’d expect at an Italian restaurant. Each bite was a chewy reminder that not all that glitters is gold.

Drink Disasters: The drinks were a mixed bag. While the cocktails were expertly crafted and delicious, the $18 price tag made me want to savor every last drop. So, imagine my dismay when the wait staff prematurely whisked away our glasses before we had finished. It’s one thing to be proactive, but this move felt unnecessarily tacky and a bit presumptuous.

Overall, the evening showed flashes of brilliance with its Burrata and exceptional service but stumbled when it came to the pasta and handling our drinks. Would I return? Perhaps for the Burrata and a friendly chat with the waitstaff, but I’d skip the pasta and guard my drinks like a hawk.

Three stars out of five. If they can fix their pasta and ease up on the drink-napping, this place could...

My boyfriend took me here last night for my birthday and it was basically a disaster from the start. He had been here before, and had a great experience so thought it would be a good place to celebrate. Upon arriving on time for our reservation the host didn’t know where to seat us, first bringing us to a closed section before the manager corrected him and brought us to our actual table. From there we waited a half hour before anyone came back over to the table to take a drink order. Mind you, the restaurant was not busy. Our server came over and she was nice but not very attentive. We ordered 3 courses and a bottle of wine. The scallops first, then a pasta and pizza, and last the shrimp entree; this order of how we would like the food to come out was communicated to our server. The scallops came out before we received our bottle of wine. When our server did bring out the bottle she had a hard time opening it (I don’t think she quite knew how to open it) and she was apologetic about it. My boyfriend politely said he would show her how to open it after she fiddled with it for a minute and he went to open the bottle himself. Then the manager came over and took the bottle from him to open it. This just felt kind of chaotic. Next the shrimp came out and not even a minute later the pasta, and pizza. We really just wanted to take our time and enjoy each course but with those 3 coming out at once (and not really belonging all together) we kind of just felt rushed. My boyfriend was overall very disappointed with this experience. We corked the wine and took it home because once we finished our food we were ready to just not be there anymore. Again the servers were nice but this whole experience was less than ideal. We will not be dining...