Jeffrey's — Restaurant in Austin

Where to begin? For my wife’s 50th Birthday, I decided to take her Jeffery’s for a quiet dinner. That makes this dining catastrophe partly my doing. We arrived on time and were seated promptly. Drinks and appetizers were ordered. Drinks arrived quickly. Appetizers arrived sometime later. The Ricotta and Sprint Garlic Tortellini was MEH! The Tortellini was overpowered by bitter morel mushrooms that resembled the consistency of an old dish sponge. On to the disaster that was the Foie Gras. There is no pleasant way to describe what happened. The well-constructed tarte managed the pineapple, shallot, and hibiscus nicely. Sadly, there was exactly one toasted pecan on the plate, perhaps they are experiencing supply chain issues. The Foie Gras was disproportioned to the tarte pineapple combination and was prepared like a child might make a bowl of oatmeal. This should have been the indicator for us to run, but sadly we had already ordered the main course and side. As we waited for the oral armageddon to subside we order another round. My wife ordered a delightful “Roma with a View”. I asked to see the spirit menu and the waiter offered me a few minutes to make a selection. On to the Entrée, my wife ordered the Peking Duck breast "au Poivre" and I ordered the Petite Tenderloin Filet (Rare). The sides were Yukon Gold Pommes Puree, Oak Grilled Broccolini, and Crispy Brussels Sprouts. The Peeking Duck was prepared competently though I would have expected the duck preparation to have been more meticulous. Sadly, the flavor profile was underwhelming at best. The duck had more salt than I would have expected, and the overall flavor of the dish was short-lived. Now we spiral into a culinary Dante's Inferno. At the first level of Hell, we have the Oak Grilled Broccolini. The title suggests grilled. There was nothing grilled about the abomination that landed on my plate. A limp overly steamed almost boiled green pile of stagnant salty green pond scum. The Yukon Gold Pommus Puree was a horror show. Somewhere Joël Robuchon is rolling over in his grave of that I am certain. The prep team had whipped the life out of this side. It was nothing short of a tragedy in a bowl. The Brussel sprouts saved the appetizer portion of the meal. Sadly, it was my wife’s reminder server that we ordered the Brussel sprouts. While they apologized for the misstep, it is a mistake I would expect at Outback Steakhouse. Oh yes, that lovely Petite Filet. Poor defenseless filet. I am not sure which part of Rare was missed, but rare is not Medium Rare nor is it Medium or Medium Well. Rare should have a cool center at 125 degs. The waiter took so long to return to ask how the meal was progressing that my wife was almost done with her duck. While he agreed the steak was not rare and offered a replacement, I felt I gleaned enough from this culinary genocide. I said,” No thank you, my wife is almost done with her meal, and I would rather not have to make her wait and watch me eat.” Especially on her 50th Birthday. No one came to apologize for the dumpster fire of a meal they prepared. The desert server asked how the meal was going, sadly I told her. “Honestly I wouldn’t know, most of this was inedible” She smiled, clearly not understanding what had just been said to her while she proceeded to regurgitate her dessert menu. When the waiter returned one last time he brought my check, minus the roadkill tenderloin. We paid for the meal, tipped 15%, and left. Oh yeah. You thought I forgot. Remember those few minutes the waiter gave me to review the spirit selection. Yeah. He never came back to take that drink order. There is fine dining in Austin that is far superior in food quality, service, preparation, and overall atmosphere. If you want poorly prepared food coddled together by subpar wait staff, then I would suggest you try Jeffery’s. I would have been better served at Capital Grill, Uchi, or even Eddie V’s. Honestly, Outback would have been an upgrade from...

The hard knock life of a four dollar symbol restaurant in Austin. This place is pricey, but is it worth the price (and the fact that you'll feel pretty out of place if you walk in wearing flip flops)?

I've now been twice. For a long dinner celebrating a friend and second time for their famed happy hour. Here's my takeaway:

I've experienced exceptional service both times. You will not experience top-notch service like this elsewhere in Austin. The interior of the restaurant is ethereal. Multiple tones of wood, beautiful lighting, and unique decor make it elegant, but not stuffy. You feel like a million bucks when you walk in. Free valet parking is much appreciated. The valet guys' outfits are flippin' hilarious. Joke's on them, it seems. Poor guys. Not for the vegetarian, and certainly not for the vegan. The focus here is the best the animal carcass has to offer (both land and sea). Wine list seems quite nice. I know nothing about wine, but it's pages and pages long on fancy paper in this beautiful leather-bound book. Cocktail menu needs improvement--nothing truly impressive on the list, and for a restaurant of this caliber, there needs to be a few things to write home about. Beer selection .... super weak. You don't need to wear a jacket, but you'll feel like a real jack-ass if you wear shorts. The menu: it's pretty classic French with a notable Texas twist. Everything is done very nicely--with prices to match--and the portion sizes may leave you wanting more. When the boss is buying and says she/he wants a really good steak, come here. When a vendor wants to take you out to one of "Austin's best restaurants", consider coming here. I love Jeffrey's way more when someone else is paying for it. ;-)

Much more specific to Happy Hour: Everyone else is right.... the food on the happy hour menu is all stand-out and incredibly delicious, but who would ever pay full price for these items? So while you're going to love what you eat, you may not feel like you're getting a "deal" with everything being half off the printed menu price, particularly because of portion sizes. You can make reservations for HH! A group any larger than four really won't work - bar space is tight, and if you don't have a seat, there's really nowhere to stand. But the seats they have are insanely comfy, plus, and dare I say sexy . $2 off drinks .... meh, they can do better than that. Lot has been said about the burger. It's excellent. Get it. Otherwise: pan seared bar steak is delicious, but small. Burrata (seasonal I presume) is absolutely incredible and a must. Cheese plate is tiny and unimpressive with boring with super plain baguette (and a high price that doesn't match what you get). If you're sharing, they will split everything for you onto two plates.

Make reservations, and for God's sake,...

I have to write about this place, I never pay so much for a such a bad experience. Imagine a sitting close to the restroom doors of a club and behind the waiter with forks and knives going at it along with super loud music, I was expecting a very relaxing dinner. Dining set not clean or iron. Yes.

Ordered ravioli with corn and sweetbreads, ravioli was not sealed properly so it absorb water inside during the cooking process. The dough was hard and chewy, beef jus sauce was correct, sweetbreads over cooked and slice of truffles with no sense because we are in summer time and they have no flavor, just to overprice the dish. At least they didn’t use truffle oil, thank you! Overall too sweet dish.

Second dishes was fried oyster, oysters over fried, no salt and leek with no flavor. Didn’t understand the dish.

Main course, ribeye with bones, 30+day aged 😂 came with garnish. 130 dollars, 26 oz

Beef cooked to perfection 👍, but the meat wasn’t dry aged 30+days, sorry guys. If you want the toppings and sauces you have to ask for them, if not. NO. They try to save some money 💰 for a 130 dollar steak. Fois gras butter was a joke, and béarnaise even more, I can teach you guys. The chef should pay attention more to the food before leaving the kitchen. The garlic confit was excellent.

3 big loaves of bread were on display, but no one proposed some bread.

Not the best, after more that 300 dollars for this circus, we decided to give a try at the bar, what a mistake. Old fashion, and dirty martini, simple.. The bartender Chris give me two cups of ice mixed old fashion with lemon, should go back to bartending school. I didn’t ask for a special creation just a classic old fashioned. After 15 minutes, a MALE customer sat close to us, with no problem. The problem was that this client was a Male friend to diva Chris, The bartender Chris grabbed a book my wife was reading, and said that he will be moving it out of the way, we said we are still reading it, so he placed it back down and moved it over, rudely and annoyed. Apparently his friend didn’t have enough eating space, having already the same space as everyone, but couldn’t be polite to my wife about it. We asked to talk to Molly, the floor manager, and he kept the rude attitude. She came over and made things worse by not having the knowledge for customer service and how to deal with the situation. Won’t be going back there unless they want me to teach them how to cook and run the high end restaurant they claim to...