June's — Restaurant in Austin

Never reviewed ANY restaurant for good or bad online prior to this - so here it goes... June's used to be my favorite place in Austin to eat at (and I would always recommend the place to people), however, last night (2/17/24) we had a horrible service experience there.

We walked in a bit after 8pm on a Saturday expecting to wait at least 45 to 90 minutes for an inside table. No biggie (I get it - Saturday night in Austin w/o a dinner reservation). We were told there was about an hour wait. We said cool, we'll go grab drinks at a bar a block away. Around an hour later, we got the text saying our table for 4 people was ready.

We arrived at the host stand within 5 minutes of getting the text. When we gave them our name we found out that "whoops!" our table was accidentally given away to someone else. They told us to go wait up at the bar while they figured it out. The host said "feel free to order some drinks". We said "Okayyy, are they on the house?" After all we just spent an hour of our time waiting for the table you gave away to someone else. The reaction from the host was "Uhhhh not sure, lemme check".

We then were waiting by the bar (as we were told to do by the host), bartender approaches us and says "Do you guys want to order anything?" We told her that we were waiting on our table situation to get figured out and we were told to hang out there by her colleague.

We sat there for another 10 minutes and after nobody updating us on the situation/offering to comp anything for the trouble/offering a genuine apology - we just decided to grab a pizza from Home Slice, go home and call it a night. When we were almost out the front door - the woman who was presumably the manager came up to us saying multiple times "What can we do to make this right?" We told her we were over it and just leaving.

I've managed multiple restaurants in the past - at least offer a gift card to someone in this sort of situation on the way out and say "Hey, we're so sorry we messed up. Please come back another time and give us another shot." We would've been okay with that and no hard feelings. Sit us at the bar, offer a round of drinks and an appetizer - cool, no hard feelings. Mistakes happen, I get that, just try to make it right.

Not sure why MML Hospitality's service has gone downhill. June's used to be such a great place to go for a meal or just a couple drinks, and had great service. I know the parent company is opening new locations in California, Aspen, and Houston, so maybe they've taken their eye off the ball here in their hometown. Just seems like there was a large lack of basic customer service and being respectful of...

This pains me to write because normally June’s is one of my favorite spots in Austin. Unfortunately, I had a pretty poor experience this week. I went to happy hour with a girlfriend intending to get a little work done but also enjoy the wine and food. As we were deciding which wine to select, the waitress continuously pointed us to the most expensive wines on the menu ($130+ per bottle). We finally stated this was out of our price range and asked her to come back when we decided. We ordered a bottle of wine (not on happy hour) and a few food dishes. After we ate and had plenty of wine left to drink, the waitress kept coming back and asking if we wanted dessert. It was a mere 10-15 min after finishing the food. We were working on computers but said we’d consider it in a bit. After the 3rd time asked, the waitress said she had another reservation coming in 20 min. We were gracious to pay and leave on time and continue our work elsewhere. On my way back to my car 45 min after leaving June’s, I saw that no one was occupying our table and the next reservation was a ruse to get us to leave. While the food is excellent and I’ve usually had a great experience, this one has put a sour taste in my mouth as I felt like my presence was only good for the highest bill. When it was clear I wasn’t going to spend a few hundred dollars, I needed to be moved along to open the space for someone who would which surprise, wasn’t even necessary. I’m disappointed in this service and because of it will second guess June’s as my go to lunch and dinner spot for friends and out of...

A few things to note: their happy hour applies only to drinks not food, and runs from 3-5 pm. The restaurant was mostly empty, so you can just walk in without a reservation. The place inside looked like a typical café, but the outdoor seating area is what really sells the place with that classic French street café charm. However, being a French café, it sure lacked any French pastries.

As for the food, the tartare on its own was quite good, with the capers adding a nice layer of dill flavor. However, a good slice of bread would have balanced the flavors better. The horseradish served in the eggshell, which you’re supposed to pour over the tartare, added a wasabi-like spice that was a bit too strong for my liking. The fries were perfectly crisp, and the creamy, dill-infused sauce added a soft flavor and texture to them that I really enjoyed. For the price, though, I’m not sure it was worth it—it’s about twice as expensive as other tartares.

The bread had a peculiar flavor—very salty with a citrusy, almost lemony undertone and a faint touch of spice. When dipped into the soup at the bottom of the dish, it absorbed a pleasant seafood essence, which was quite enjoyable.

The beans were cooked to perfection with good seasoning, and the mussels were simply amazing. They had a fresh, briny sweetness and tender texture that comes with expert...