Maie Day — Restaurant in Austin

Maie Day 8:30 pm Saturday 11/16/2024

Atmosphere Patio seating is all high top, so choose indoor dining if you have back issues. Patio seating was also super loud due to a party in the adjacent hotel meeting room - I mean SUPER loud. (Grateful the accommodating hostess was able to move us inside.)

Starters Skip the Bloomed Onion - not amazing and takes up tummy space you will need for other deliciousness. Crab claws get three yums. Don’t worry about them being messy - easiest way to eat buttery crab ever. So smart they come with bread - perfect vehicle for the extra sauce. Grilled oysters also get three yums. Wish I had skipped the bloomed onion and had another oyster.

Steak Ribeye is cooked perfectly and extra juicy, but expect it to be extra salty. Three yums.

Side Mashed potatoes are typical but also on the salty side. Left me longing for East Side Cafe garlic mashed potatoes (oh how I miss East Side Cafe!). (Hint hint, nudge nudge.)

Dessert Caramel cheesecake is four yums. Would be an out-of-the-park five yums if the toffee pecans were roasted. (Why were those raw?) Chocolate cake is meh. The cake is plain - doesn’t even taste like chocolate. (Frosting is yummy but the overall experience is like having frosting on bread because the cake is so plain.) (Sorry, pastry chef.)

Drinks “Pecan Espresso Martini” (pecan vodka, cazcabel coffee liqueur, licor 43, giffard vanilla liqueur, pecan bitters, espresso) - Overpowered by something (Licor 43? Cazcabel coffee liqueur? Bitters?). If you like sweet espresso martinis, this one is not for you. If you like smoky drinks and need a pick-me-up, go for it. “Red Your Mind” (agricole rum, heirloom alchermes, orgeat, lime, holiday pie bitters) - Companion reports, “It grew on me, but I would try something different next time.” Böen Chardonnay was solid. Companion reports same for Argyle Pinot Noir No decaf available for my late-night dessert, and no Bailey’s. (Irish sad face.)

People Server Joshua was stellar! Just the right amount of attentive and treated us like life-long friends. Will definitely be requesting a seat in Joshua’s section for future visits. Hostess was super accommodating about the move to indoors from our original patio reservation.

Parking Complimentary valet parking was a great surprise!

Overall experience 4 yums, mostly thanks to the people.

Congratulations on your Michelin status! We...

My experience is based solely on the “happy hour.” My mom and I went out to eat on Saturday afternoon. Since it was after 3 p.m., it was hard to find a place that was still serving food—until we came across this “restaurant.” The host at the door was friendly and let us know that the kitchen was only offering a limited menu because of the time, which was fine for us. We ordered two burgers (the only main dish available) for $14 each. The waitress nicely asked if we wanted to add fries, and we said yes and that was the whole interaction. About 20 minutes later (the restaurant was completely empty), the burgers arrived. Nothing special—neither good nor bad. But the fries were 1) frozen and 2) reheated. You could tell they hadn’t just been made. They weren’t hot, and they were hard to eat. But we were hungry, so we just ate and didn’t say anything. When the check came, we paid without really looking at the total. But as we were about to leave, we realized we had been charged $28 per burger instead of $14. We let a different server (not our original waitress) know, and he told us it was because the fries weren’t included and were an extra charge (which was not mentioned anywhere on the menu or by the waitress). When we complained, he said they’d issue a refund. Thirty minutes went by. The restaurant was still empty, and we were still waiting. No one came over, no one apologized. Our waitress saw us a few times but was clearly avoiding us, hiding behind a wall. We called over the server who said they’d give us the refund, and he told us they were “working on it.” He said if we didn’t want to keep waiting, we could go up front and talk to someone, so we did. When we got to the front, no one had any idea what was going on. We spoke to another person (don’t remember the name), who apologized and said nobody had told him anything. It was incredibly disrespectful to waste our time like that and to be treated so dishonestly. In the end, they refunded us $28 for two orders of fries added to the burgers. Honestly, a ridiculous price for a side—especially frozen fries. Definitely not...

Maie Day is another recently opened restaurant in Austin that has increased the awareness that we are a city to be reckoned with when it comes to the food game. We thoroughly enjoyed the lively ambiance (although, it is a tad too loud), the delicious food and the attentive service we received from Olivia. To be clear, I have dined at restaurants in L.A. that have actual community seating with long tables that are not separated, so I was a little confused when we entered Maie Day as the tables are long and could be connected, but they are not. So, I think community for them, means ton of tables in a shared space with no booths or private seating and also the shared plate theory. The plates are huge and all are meant to be shared, so if you come with a party of 2, you will not have the option to try multiple dishes. However, for parties of 4 and larger, you have more options as we did. We started with the smoked fish dip with homemade ritz crackers and let me say that I wish these ritz crackers were the ones sold in stores. They were so good, but they only give you 4 crackers for a good amount of dip so we requested more and noticed they charged us an additional $3! The crab claws are served with a small piece of crusty bread for dipping in the sauce which could have used a tad bit more garlic and butter. We used to love the blooming onion at Outback Steakhouse so, for nostalgia reasons, we had to order it and it was really, really good. Again, they skimped on the sauce and we were charged an additional $1.50 for extra sauce. For our main meal, we chose the butterflied 'n grilled fish (red snapper), prime rib, grilled mushrooms, loaded baked potato and Texas chocolate cake. For spirits, we chose a bottle of Tempranillo and it went with all of our food choices. Although it was a tad annoying to be nickled and dimed for the extras without prior disclosure, I now know what I am in for when we...