Micheladas Cafe y Cantina — Restaurant in Austin

Server was great and the food was great but the MANAGER WAS THE WORST!

5 adults and 1 child - we place order. Took awhile but we weren't in a hurry so no biggie. Order finally comes and the server gets hit by another employee dropping this huge tray of food within inches of the child. Pieces of food and broken dishes hit her and she scared and crying. Server apologized but MANAGER NEVER CAME OVER TO APOLOGIZE. Waiting for our new order took forever to come. Was not made a priority we were now behind other customers that came in. Then it comes in pieces.......2 meals come, about 5 minutes later, another meal comes and then about 5 minutes later, the 4th meal comes.......everyone is eating and I am still without my meal. MANAGER NEVER CAME OVER TO APOLOGIZE. About 10 minutes in I catch my server's attention and he tells me that another server took my meal thinking it was one of his orders. About 10 minutes later, I tell my server to forget the meal but at the same time I am telling him, my meal finally comes. Everyone in my party was done eating and we had already been sitting over 2 hours so I told my server that I didn't want the meal. From this point on, we never saw our server again - he was embarrassed with it all and so our water glasses never got refilled, we were not offered dessert, etc. Finally another server came over and asked if we needed anything and explained that our server didn't want to come back to the table - REALLY!!!

Due to everything that had happened, I figured they would comp some of the meal but the bill came and nothing. I went to speak to the manager and have never been treated like this. He basically told me dropping a tray is an accident and he didn't feel he owed an apology for it. WOW!!! When reiterated that food and pieces of broken dishes hit the child, he still didn't apologize. WOW!! When reminded him that I never got a meal because another server gave my meal to someone else, he still didn't apologize. WOW!! When I said our meals, my late meal all should have been a priority to make and give to us, again, he didn't care, people who came in after us were served before our orders were remade. WOW!!

I asked for some type of comp to compensate for all that happened and the manager (who refused to give me his name) again was nasty in his response and stated he owed us nothing. He said we ate the food so he owed us nothing. My daughter even spoke to the manager about the food and broken dishes hitting her child and all she asked for, from him was an apology and he wasn't willing to do that. WOW!! That's great customer service!! My daughter had worked for a chain restaurant and said his reactions, attitude and actions were unacceptable.

I will say the service and the food was great but the Manager made the experience the worst! All he needed to do was to come to the table, apologize and compensate in someway to make his customers happy and he did nothing. If this manager speaks to other customers like this, the restaurant will go down the tubes.

I told him I will write a review and his response was "go ahead, I don't...

Great food, great service. We are only here in Austin for a few days and my wife and I had decided we were going to come back day after tomorrow. My wife was even going to tell all of her work colleagues about this place and get them to come here too.

Then we got our bill. The owner should be ashamed of themselves. They are scamming everyone who eats here.

There was a $4.28 'admin fee' - as well as $21 for a tip added onto our bill making our bill a total of over $141.00 for the two of us.

In my 57 years on this planet I have never seen an 'admin fee' on a restaurant bill before. The prices here are already high, even higher than the food prices inside our hotel which is the Fairmont a few blocks away. Folks, that says a lot!

We asked our server what the admin fee was for and he said it was for 'processing payment'. We asked if this would be waived if we paid for our bill in cash (which we have plenty of) and he said no. He apologized and said that he hated having to tell people that the owners have put on this admin fee and it is not revocable in any shape form or fashion.

The 'admin fee' is roughly 5% of your bill.

At this point I have to ask: Is there ANY restaurant in Austin that is normal FFS?

Owners of Michelada's - I also have to ask what planet you got your business practices from?

We had three large house margaritas that cost $18 a piece. Pricey. This is the same price you can go to all neighboring restaurants and even bars inside of hotels for. $14 a piece would have been reasonable, $12 would have been a great happy hour price in the rest of the state of Texas.

It seems that this place is nothing but an opportunity to screw over visiting business people/travelers, which comprised the rest of the restaurant customers when we were there. I'm sure that they are charging this admin fee to every individual in there and making a killing for absolutely nothing.

I overheard one guy saying this was his first meal in Texas. Michelada's...this is the sad way that you represent our state to outside visitors?

Great food, but due to the owner's business practices not only would we never be back but we warn you to not go there and give you their business either.

Putting the tip on our bill was a bad mistake, it is the least amount we have tipped in a long long time. Yes I know we could have tipped more, but after seeing that admin fee, no way. And then even after you get your bill after the credit card has been processed, there is yet another line to put in guess what? A tip!

I have to ask how many people tip, after they already have paid a mandatory tip? I can only imagine there are probably been thousands of people who have plenty of drinks and didn't notice that the tip was already added to the bill before they paid and most likely put in...

Stopped in for a quick drink and wound up staying well over an hour and having a great experience.

Out-of-towners visiting Austin, we passed this place on our walk around town and the name of the place reminded me that I hadn't had a michelada in years, so I convinced my friends to circle back later. We told staff we were only going to have a drink, but they immediately brought us out a complimentary basket of fresh, warm nachos and fresh homemade salsa which were both excellent. The waitress said asked if we wanted queso or guacamole too, and one friend wanted one and the other the other so we wound up getting both, and both were also excellent. The guacamole was made fresh right at the table, and the queso had whole slices of jalapeño in it so you could eat them or not as you like. The micheladas were too spicy for my friends, but I liked it a lot. It was honestly spicier than any michelada I've ever had in Mexico, but I think that's because they made the mix from scratch with fresh chili powder instead of using the pre-made mix that's so readily available in Mexico.

We had a whole team serving us! We were met outside by a greeter who took us in to our table. Our waitress came right over and got us started right away. She was cheerful and casual- attentive without being overbearing, helpful without being pushy. We felt relaxed yet never left waiting or wanting for anything. The real marvel, though, were the auxiliary staff in black who were circulating the floor busily, filling water glasses and nacho baskets, bussing empty bottles and plates. The entire time we were there, no water glass or nacho basket ever got empty before it was filled again (and we were working them, believe me!) Honestly this was some of the hardest-working casual dining restaurant staff I've ever seen. I really hope they get a share of the tip we left.

It did seem that a lot of staff were Mexican or Mexican-American (or Central/South American- one shouldn't assume that just because we're in Texas...), and personally I think it makes for a better experience if you're able to speak Spanish with them.

Music was all in Spanish with a lot of cumbia beats but otherwise a decent mix. Natalia Lafourcade 'Nunca es suficiente', a vallenato: 'Los caminos de la vida', and even an interesting rendition of Los Auténticos' 'Loco' (and not the Alberto y Roberto version, I don't think, this was a different version I'd never heard).

Interior was open, clean and warm with nice finishes. A lot of finished wood and framed paintings (prints?) of folk dancers, toreadores, etc. Very...