Lou’s Eastside — Restaurant in Austin

I am going to give Lou’s 5-stars for if no other reason, to act as a counter-balance for what looks like a group campaign to smear a new restaurant’s reputation with 1-star reviews.

It seems Lou’s is serving as a punching bag for all resistance to gentrification on the East Side, which isn’t fair to its proprietors, nor is it relevant to the quality of the food they serve. This hostility, (often racially charged against ‘white gentry’ in the reviews) is offensive and misguided to imply these establishments (and a very specific class of people) are predatory and are seeking to destroy the culture and feel of a neighborhood that existed before any gentrification began.

I know the process of gentrification can be painful, controversial and even feel invasive from those watching on – but it’s actually a non-personal, purely economic phenomenon. As real estate becomes more valuable (largely due to its proximity to the central business district), rents, property taxes, and home values go up. That’s it. Its not a siege on the old guard by ‘whites’ and ‘yuppies,’ (since these seem to be the singled-out offenders mentioned,) it’s just what happens in popular destination cities, as Austin has been for many years now.

I think it’s time we all stopped kicking and screaming about change in Austin on a bigger scale. Yes it’s a different place than it was 20 years ago. Or 10. Or 5. But cities are dynamic – they are alive with the influence of the people who live there, and therefore they will always be changing. So why don’t we forget whatever aggrandized nostalgia of the past we’re clinging to (its not what you’re remembering it was by the way) – and stop using reviews as a sounding board to fight a force of change that’s beyond anyone’s control anyway… I highly recommend anyone reading on to disregard reviews that call Lou’s food “trash” or use other unsubstantiated slander – and to focus instead on the reviews that describe the menu, and the quality of the food and the service. These are likely the only reviews written by past customers… Just...

If I could segment my review I would give 5 Stars for atmosphere, service, and *some food, and 3 Stars for other food.

The atmosphere is clean, spacious and very kid/pet friendly. There are some yard games and ping pong tables and an outdoor movie screen that was playing Star Wars when we arrived. There are lots of fans and misters so even at the 6pm swelter hour, we were comfortable.

Counter service was as expected and it’s nice that they send out your drinks so you have them while you wait with your buzzer for your food order.

I had the raspberry lemonade, onion rings, and Brussels sprout slaw, the latter of which was notably good. The dressing was super zesty and the addition of sesame seeds made it memorable for me. Also, the dipping sauces that we had (horseradish, piri piri, and jalapeño chimichurri) were AWESOME.

I also had the chicken wings, and wasn’t that impressed. They are called “spicy” on the menu, but I couldn’t identify the spice, and I also found them pretty dry and only ate a few. Another friend had a chicken sandwich and commented that there wasn’t much chicken.

It could have been a one-off experience, but as a place that anchors its menu and marketing around their rotisserie chicken, I felt these chicken items...

The crew was SUPER nice with smiling faces! After a long workday and long week (ok, it's Tuesday but who's counting), I'm glad I stopped by. The smiling faces, shady umbrellas, & awesome misters really relaxed me. They also let me try samples of the custard (bc is it not just soft serve?) and the sangria (bc fruits or it didn't happen) which was so sweet of them! I had the vanilla custard with Mexi hot chocolate sauce and a small sangria. Chocolate sauce was regular. I think they put a dash of cayenne in regular choco sauce. I'm pretty positive the sangria was made with rosè or a blush wine at probably about 9% alc. I'm a mom. That just won't do. BUT everything was still tasty.

1 star off for the prices, honestly. There are a lot of overpriced places in terrible neighborhoods now in Austin. However, a majority of those places are actually offering some epic and creative food & drink menus. Lou's is definitely Dairy Queen but with alcoholic beverages and plated food (which IS epic in its own right) but $35 for a chicken meal? Nah. Grungy ole El Pollo Rico beats this for about $25 less. I'm sure their lease is astronomical, so I'm not going to pretend the prices aren't likely appropriate for their needs. They just need to...