Local Foods -- 2nd Street District — Restaurant in Austin

Best vegan queso in Austin by far! We consider Torchy's to be the benchmark for queso in Austin, but Local Foods vegan queso is worth mentioning as it has a vegan meat substitute that adds taste and texture to a decent vegan queso to start with ... it was seasoned well, had great taste, and great texture with fantastic fresh-made tortilla chips (from what we could tell). All dishes that we tried were super tasty as well.

We are a family with plant-based parents and omnivore kiddos, we tried several different dishes on this first visit. We tried two vegan sandwiches, the Bahn Mi made vegan with tofu and an Oyster Mushroom Po Boy (we've lived in New Orleans and were excited for the Po Boy). Both vegan sandwiches hit the spot for flavor in trying to replicate non-vegan versions. The use of quality ingredients was obvious.

The Avocado BLT and House Smoked Salmon sandwiches that the kiddos ordered were stacked THICK with fresh ingredients. Not too thick, thick enough to be fun enough for you to figure out how to eat ... some bites had more advocado, some more bacon, some more of that delicious bread! The breads were excellent as well and could have been a meal on their own from the quality that we enjoyed. The pickled vegetables (Escabeche) and pickles that came with each sandwich were fresh and allowed the oily (not bad, just fresh fried) chips to be thoroughly enjoyed with the vinegar cutting the fat.

Being in downtown Austin ... plan your parking or figure out how to get their by foot. ;) We enjoyed a late lunch, it was not too crowded at the time so the food came out pretty quick. The service was excellent even though we could tell that some staff was still training. We will definitely visit this place again. The ability to create vegan versions of almost every dish was super nice to see! They have an uncrowded, upstairs seating area that was rather...

I had a very bizarre experience here. The food was mediocre and expensive but I’m leaving this review because of the customer service (truly did not like the food at all tho as well lol). I ordered a smoothie (thinking it would be freshly made), so I was taken aback when the man who took my order pointed behind me and told me to grab the ‘smoothie’ from the fridge—a pre-made, bottled drink. Since this was not what I expected, and I knew I wouldn’t like it, I profusely apologized and asked if I could get a refund for it (I’m sorry but a freshly mode smoothie and a plastic bottled one that has been sitting out for hours is not the same imo and why would I pay so much for that?) but I was very kind and obviously feeling bad. His reaction was insane! He spoke in the most condescending tone and literally acted like it would be a HUGE hassle and inconvenience to refund me, even going as far to make a passive aggressive remark to a nearby coworker. He then essentially pressured me into keeping the smoothie so I just let it go, and of course as I expected I hated how it tasted and had to throw it away unfortunately. THEN, once I was seated, another lady came and gave me my food to which I politely asked where I could get some napkins (I had looked around and missed where they were), to which she responded SO CONDESCENDING ONCE AGAIN??? She passive aggressively told me there was a napkin in the paper bag with my utensils and then sarcastically asked if she should grab me more napkins, rather than just offering. I felt horrible like I had said something so bad when all I asked was where I could get a napkin 😭😭 genuinely the strangest experience ever, and all of my friends agreed and were also surprised at...

Local Foods on 2nd Street — Not Truly Pet-Friendly

As someone who used to recommend Local Foods on 2nd Street to friends, lie ya, and as industry, , neighbors, and out-of-town guests, I’m incredibly disappointed by my recent experience — especially as a pet owner.

At first glance, the restaurant appears dog-friendly. There are water bowls placed around the patio, which gives the impression that dogs are welcome. But the bowls were dirty, filled with stagnant water, and clearly hadn’t been maintained. My dog doesn’t drink from dirty containers, so I politely asked for a clean cup and some bottled water. They allowed me to purchase a plastic cup for $10 and bottled water for another $10 — a steep price, but I was willing to pay it to take care of my dog.

Shockingly, after completing the purchase, I was then told I couldn’t place the cup down and had to hold it while my dog drank. That’s not accommodating — that’s uncomfortable and impractical.

If you’re going to market yourself as pet-friendly, then be truly pet-friendly. Keep the water bowls clean. Provide options. And don’t make pet owners feel like a burden for simply trying to hydrate their dogs.

I used to be a regular here and in houston.and genuinely loved recommending this place, but I will not be returning. For anyone living in or visiting the any Highrise downtown or 2nd Street District area with pets — I strongly suggest choosing another restaurant that actually respects and welcomes four-legged family. I never leave bad reviews, but this is something that needs to be addressed. Whenever I ask to speak to someone no one would help me and they gave me a fake email address to talk to someone named Josh that did...