Kerbey Lane Cafe - Northwest — Restaurant in Austin

I've never EVER done such a harsh review until today. I USUALLY reserve reviews for excellent service, but I can't hold this one back.

The crew I was with yesterday has raved about Kerby Lane for years, and I finally gave in and tried it.

While waiting for a table for 20 mins (a table for 6 in a moderately filled spot with full outdoor seating available) a customer was overheard saying she would never eat there again, and now I understand why.

The rest of the crew ordered things they loved from another location, and other than "soured tea", they seemed moderately satisfied....until the food came without silverware, and without my drink.

We requested bot (silverware AND drink) and after waiting several minutes, one member went to fetch utensils and saw our server making my drink AFTER the 2nd request.

When the forks finally showed up, they were dropped unceremoniously onto the table as I was presented with the worst version of my desired drink I'd ever requested. Hands. Down.

After that it only got worse. The best I can say is that the first time in my LIFE I ever complained about food or drink, the price was removed from my order.

Never have I ever NOT left a tip; I waited too many tables to be that kind of a human, but if I could have NEGATIVE tipped in this case, I would have...which, honestly, I may have essentially done considering I didn't pay for the food I couldn't stomach and the drink that killed my appetite.

What was worse....we were there celebrating my baby girl finding THE DRESS...her wedding dress. I didn't even want to complain put loud, but my love of food and a good marg is well known in my crew, and they knew when I took a sip and pushed it away in favor of water.

I pray the high praise for the other locations and other servers and dishes from this location is true, but KL is a FIRM no for me after that experience.

Server at this location on 5/25/24 at around 4 (?) PM was a handsome man, bearded, possibly mid-eastern....couldn't have been more ambivalent to a table of obviously happy women, who were on a wedding dress success high and ready to fat tip.

Your loss,...

We've been customers of one or another Kerby Lane location for over 35 years. We know to expect excellent food and friendly service from the competent staff. We recently visited this location, it was horrific. Though the waitress was wonderful, Janine, I believe her name was Janine, we waited 45 minutes for our orders. We ordered chicken fried steak. I took one bite of my food and knew that I had a problem: it was tough as nails, barely warm and completely unacceptable. The portion was small and the food was greatly overcooked. Our waitress was highly accommodating in reaction to my distaste. She offered to replace my entree with another and I accepted, ordering the eggs benedict. When they arrived 17 minutes later there was almost no Hollandaise sauce on it and the supposed Canadian bacon, though tasty, was extremely overcooked and impossible to cut with the provided butter knife. Our waitress was accommodating and we soon were visited by the manager. This was an unacceptable experience overall and the manager was not responsive to doing anything about our very bad experience. I explained that the home fried potatoes were extremely overcooked in old oil which left an aftertaste there which was unmistakable and easily identifiable. The manager was unresponsive and unaccommodating and clearly didn't care, being very defensive and offering us no resolution to this fiasco we experienced. This is unlike any other Kerbey Lane Cafe we've enjoyed; I do not recommend it. I do recommend avoiding it. Go to a different Kerbey Lane Cafe and get the decent food they are well known for at a different location. We paid our bill and as disgruntled customers left with literally a bad taste in our mouth. By the way, my wife's chicken fried steak was lukewarm but edible, barely. I can't say enough about the waitress though, she...

Such a disappointment! Sunday brunch for our party of six, including two locals who have enjoyed this restaurant in the past. However, our visit showed us there are BIG problems at this restaurant! We were presented with one regular menu and two special menu cards. One of us ordered from the "Carl's specials menu card," but "we are out of that" was the response. Another of us ordered from the "summer menu" card. 5-10 minutes after our orders were placed, a member of management came to our table and said, "we are out of that, what else do you want?" I replied, "well, I'll need to see a menu." She said, "Oh! OK, let me go get one." (really?). My order was then placed 10-15 minutes after the rest of our party. Another member of our party ordered from the "regular" menu. When her food was brought, it was missing fully one-third of the food that was to be included. We called our waitress back, and neither she nor the kitchen had noticed that. She went to the kitchen and came back and said, "we are out of that." We were compensated for that error, but, are you kidding? Also, that plate of food had arrived cold, as did the french toast another one of us ordered. We didn't even bother to mention that to them! And BTW, their french toast is bland and a very small serving. A very poor offering of a couple pieces of white bread with some powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Later we were told that they are ending the summer menu and that's why they are out. But remember, we ordered from two other menus, besides the summer menu, and they "were out!" Before we left a member of the staff told us, "you were lucky. It could be better, but it COULD be WORSE!" ... You've got to be kidding me! Clearly we had a very bad experience at this restaurant and will choose another...