Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar — Restaurant in Austin

We tried Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar via Postmates, dined in, and when our apartment catered.

Loro has a spacious setup with both indoor and outdoor patio seating. Once you're ready to order, you head up to the bar area where they hand you your drink along with a table number.

Boozy Slushie Flight ($14.25): You can choose three flavors at $4.75 each. We picked Mango Sake, Vietnamese Coffee, and Killer Colada. The Mango Sake tasted more like juice, the Vietnamese Coffee was true to its name, and the Killer Colada had a horchata-like flavor. The drinks were small and light on the booze—definitely something one person could finish easily.

Chicken Karaage ($11.95): Served with chili aioli, Szechuan salt, and Thai herbs. The flavor was a bit puzzling—it leaned sweet, which was unexpected given the Szechuan salt. I preferred dipping it in the chili aioli to balance the flavor. The chicken was juicy and well-battered, though I think it might’ve been better served dry.

Oak-Grilled Edamame ($7.50 | GF): They’ve replaced the snap peas with edamame, topped w

Crispy Chicken Sandwich ($13.95): This sandwich came with citrus-cabbage slaw, pickles, hot honey, and smoked hot sauce. They put the slaw and hot honey sauce on the side, but even after adding the slaw and dipping the sandwich in the sauce, it felt deconstructed and didn't quite come together. I think the slaw would have been better mixed with mayo instead of citrus, which didn't complement the chicken well. Unfortunately, the chicken itself was dry and lacked flavor.

Char Siew Pork Belly Bowl ($16.50): The pork belly was phenomenal but the portion size was small for the price, especially in contrast to the crispy chicken sandwich. There was barely any rice so they covered the bowl with a layer of veggies instead. The sauce it came with was really good and paired well with the fresh veggies.

Wonton Chips & Dip ($8): Wow these wonton pieces are huge and crispy. They paired well with the thai green salsa which I thought was chimichurri. Even with the salsa on, the wonton chips remained crispy for a long period of time.

Smoked Shishito Queso ($9.5): These weren't your average tortilla chips but were huge half moon, crispy chips topped with kimchi furikake. They were great with cheese and would have been better if they got it with protein.

Smoked Wings ($13.95): Even though the wings were cold by the time we ate them, we could still taste the smoky flavor. However, I was surprised to see the menu description mention miso blue cheese because I didn't taste it at all. The hot sauce was noticeable, but it wasn't spicy.

Smoked Beef Brisket ($18.95): This was one of the best briskets we've had! The meat was incredibly juicy and fatty, though you could easily trim the fat if preferred. The chili gastrique and Thai herbs complemented the brisket nicely, but honestly, the meat was so flavorful on its own that it didn't need much else.

Crispy Potatoes ($7.95): Unfortunately, the potatoes were hard, so we didn't enjoy them too much. They were seasoned with miso mustard, habanero aioli, and toasted white sesame, but the flavors were subtle and didn't stand out.

Sesame Rice Noodles ($7.95): These gluten-free noodles were tossed in a chili vinaigrette with black sesame, green onion, and cilantro. While they were decent, they didn't pair well with the brisket or wings. I'd only recommend ordering them as part of an entrée rather than as a standalone side.

Chocolate Chip Cookie ($3.95): The description says it has salted toffee and almonds but I didn't taste any almonds. Nevertheless, the cookie was good, sweet, and a good size.

House Made Lemonade ($4): The lemonade was too sour for my taste, yet tasted surprisingly good...

Bleh. I wasn’t expecting to like this place and yeah I was right. Okay so it wasn’t bad! But definitely not worth the hype that it was getting from almost everyone I know!

Food was decent but nothing of a WOW factor. I think food can better executed. I was quite disappointed that they just threw in a bundle of cilantro and called it a day on the garnishes! Haha yeah, pretty much all my dishes were heavily filled with cilantro or green onions. I love cilantro but not on every single dish!

Pork belly 1/5 I ate one piece and called it a day. It was heavily drenched in sauce. Pretty much inedible for me. It was hella salty! I needed a good cup of ice tea after one bite. I think the sauce was just too over powering. With that said, I do like the fact that the pork belly was quite tender.

Loro cheeseburger 3/5 Well it wasn’t bad! However it was poorly executed. The burger itself was lopsided. Ingredients weren’t evenly distributed throughout the burger. One side would have all the cheese and onion jam and the other side barely had any. I think it’s a good burger but nothing crazy. Wish it was cooked to medium rare and not well done. It was quite dry tasting even with the aioli! I do like their pickles on it though!

Smoke oaked salmon bowl 3/5 okay I enjoyed the salmon a lot! It was perfectly cooked, and had a nice charred or smokey taste to it. However, that was it for me. The fish sauce that came with it was okay. Not bad. But this dish itself was quite tangy! Citrus on top of citrus. It was unbearable. That tang just kind of threw my taste buds off. The rice was soaked in a yuzu sauce, so that was already tart. Then there was all the pickled veggies underneath. Even the fish sauce had a tang. I think it was just too overwhelming with citrus for me. Maybe a little more salt & spice. Less tang.

Crispy potatoes 4/5 I liked it. Can’t go wrong with carbs. haha yeah and the aioli was on point. Probably my fave sauce from them. Can dip anything into it!

Smoked brisket 3/5 hella pricey for just a few pieces. Very tender and moist but lacked salt. Needed more a Smokey taste to it. I didn’t take a picture of it bc I was too hangry at one point. Haha

Chicken karage 5/5 love me some fried chicken. And thy ear were nice and crispy! Hella crunch. It was also served with their aioli. Amazeballs. It had a nice little kick from the chili sauce glaze on top. No complaints on this one!

Overall, food was decent but like I said, nothing of a wow factor to drive my taste buds into an explosion of flavors. Enjoyable and a great place to hang out. I really loved the large open space and patio area. I would come back on a nice day out and eat lunch here. A little pricey for casual bites but nothing too crazy.

I just dislike the ordering at the bar, paying and seat yourself concept. There’s really no service. And when the dishes came out, they kind of just dropped it off and didn’t explain the dishes. So I’m tipping pretty much on nonexistent service even before the food came out. And even after, not a lot of servers are readily available to help ya out. Napkins and drinks were pretty much self served. Eh but that’s just me. But I’ve noticed a lot of restaurants are doing that now so maybe it’s a trend that’ll stick and I’ll just have to...

This place is one of the best places I’ve been for happy hour!! I love that it starts at 2 PM. That way if you want to do a late lunch with libations it’s very easy to indulge! It’s definitely a very happy hour price wise! The two adult frozen slushy’s on the menu were a Mango Sake and a Gin& Tonic. At $4, both were genuine bargains and delicious and refreshing too! After discussion with my two dining partners, my eldest grandchildren (both over 21) and I decided to try them both. They also have other beer, sake and wine on the happy hour menu with reduced pricing. Enough said about that...onto the food. Gosh-I really am at a loss for words! Scrumptious comes to mind.. Happy hour food (til it’s gone) consists of five items-we ordered four of them and then since all of us love pork belly we decided to do a pork belly bowl from the regular menu. We determined we would just share everything so that we all could have a taste and if we needed more we could always go back to the counter and order more! Everything was so unique and so flavorful. Our favorite two dishes ended up being the Louro’s Cheeseburger and the Chicken Karaage. Who would’ve thought that a thin layer of smoky red onion brisket jam, on a perfectly cooked beef and Muenster cheeseburger, would be so freaking delicious??? The fluffy light bun, butter lettuce and sweet pickle just added to the perfection. Ok-the Chicken (we ranked #2) was ridiculously tender, the Szechuan salt, fresh whole herbs with a chili aioli dipping sauce ....made by angels. Ranked #3 was the Smoked Brisket Tostadas. This dish Consisted of two crispy corn tortillas, each about 3 1/2 inches in diameter, topped with Smoked Brisket, a dollop of Creme Fraiche and some shishito salsa verde. Divine! The Char Siew Pork Belly Rice Bowl was also very tasty. It consisted of a generous portion of sliced pork belly in a bowl with coconut rice, seasonal pickles and lots of Thai herbs. My grandson really liked this as he is a pork belly aficionado! Last but not least the Lemongrass Beef-Noodle Salad was also enjoyed by all of us. A little lighter, lemongrass, fish sauce dressing on slender glass noodles?, and finely chopped beefwith some sliced grapes (a refreshing pop of flavor)some small chunks of cucumber, chili and the best rice crackers any of us have ever tasted! This was an extremely successful late lunch, happy hour event. My grandson and I will return to enjoy it again while my granddaughter is in South Korea. You order at the counter, you are given your drinks and in your food is brought to your table. Every dish we tried play shareable and we all enjoyed every single thing we ordered. Can’t wait to go back. There were a couple of things I really wanted to try but we were so full after trying but we had ordered we did not return to the counter to order again. Can’t wait to return and I already have a list going! Heading it are the crunchy sweet corn fritters and the crunchy cabbage salad. All three of us recommend Loro...