Mongers — Restaurant in Austin

3.5 stars! Mongers came as a recommendation and we thought we'd give it a shot. We had no reservations when we walked in but the FOH was able to get us a seat at the bar.

Ambiance: Mongers' interior feels like a moody speakeasy, if it weren't for the large flat screen TVs showing sports and the fact that it smelled like if a wet fish market and an old wooden cabin that has been abandoned for exactly 25 years had a baby.

Service: The bartenders were friendly but swamped. They were fantastic and did their absolute best however, and they were definitely what made our overall experience better.

Food & Drinks: 6 pieces of oyster - These were alright. Nothing stood out and while it didn't taste very fresh, it didn't taste old either. I do wish we were told as to what types of oysters we were served. Instead, we were just told that the oysters were paired and each 2 oysters were different types. We generally prefer going to Salt Traders if we have a hankering for oysters and after going to Mongers, Salt Traders has established itself as a better seafood restaurant, from our perspective.

Seasonal soft shell crab with Thai basil sauce - This was delicious. The crab was perfectly fried and the sauce was well-balanced. I did wish we had more sauce but, overall, this was a great dish.

Cioppino - My husband always gets cioppino at Salt Traders so it felt right that he ordered the cioppino at Mongers as well. They are very close in ranking but Salt Traders still wins this one as their cioppino has deeper & more layered flavors.

Swordfish - The cheddar poblano grit cake was exceptional and was easily the star of this dish. It paired really well with the perfectly cooked swordfish.

Whiskey sour - Delicious but the alcohol was weak. The bartender did ask me if I had a preferred whiskey but it feels like maybe he heard me say I didn't want any whiskey in my whiskey sour because the whiskey was nowhere to be tasted. My partner got a glass of chimay beer.

Final thoughts: Personally, while Mongers was good, it just pales in comparison to Salt Traders in my humble opinion. Salt Traders’ ambiance is cleaner, the food is just better and to top it all off, it's also a tad bit less costly. We likely would never go back to Mongers unless our car broke down, we're hungry and all the other restaurants in a 2 mile...

My husband and I make the trip from Lakeway every Friday for lunch to Mongers, as we loved the food. NOT ANYMORE!! I ordered the fish tacos as usual, which I love, but asked for a few fresh tortillas as they were falling apart and our bartender/server seemed put out. Also asked for more cabbage and he looked at me like I was crazy, and again BOTHERED he had to actually move from behind the bar to go get some! Also, my husband ordered the fish sandwich and it came out fried. There was never any mention of it being offered fried, so he asked if they could remake it grilled, which they did. When they brought it out, it was undercooked. We then asked if they could please cook it more and it caused a huge problem apparently. Our bartender/waiter(who seemed hungover, just completely out of it) started to parade my husbands sandwich around to other workers who were sitting at the bar and asked their opinions on whether or not it was cooked correctly. Completely unprofessional. For him to even ask other people was ridiculous. We are paying customers and eating it. Shouldn't even had happened!! ..just send it back and finish cooking it so my husband doesn't get sick please!! When we are spending $24 on fish tacos and $24 on a fish sandwich (also shared a salad for $12 and hubby had mkt price oysters (4 which were very tiny) and had 3 margaritas, which aren't cheap) We don't expect this type of service! Not to mention, the employees ordered about 5 or so pizzas and they were walking around eating it in front of house (not in the backroom, where they should!!) We probably would have been better off eating the pizza as it was probably COOKED! I would maybe expect this type of service at some fast food joint, but they would probably be more polite and remake our order. We enjoy going out all the time on Friday for lunch to have a nice date meal. They ruined it for us...typically I don't write reviews, but thought it was worthy of one...We WON'T BE BACK...We will happily spend our hard earned money at many other places this town has to offer and actually care about having returning...

The food was great and the server was really nice. Outside of that, the whole experience felt really off.

We booked a reservation for Valentine’s Day about a month out. When we arrived, there were a dozen or so people waiting outside, who we assumed hadn’t made reservations. As we approached the hostess, the front of house staff appeared to be on edge as they were rushing around the restaurant. We were told our table wasn’t quite ready yet. Luckily a space opened at the bar so we were able to get a glass of wine. After waiting a little over 30 minutes, we ended up getting seated at the window bar top. This wasn’t exactly what we were expecting for our romantic night out. We considered leaving at this point.

After looking over the menu, we realized that the night would be pre fixe. Pretty normal for a holiday, but this was unannounced to us prior to arrival. The first course came out right away which was great. But then we waited another 30-45 minutes for our waiter to ask where we were in the menu. Again, the waiter was super nice and we don’t blame him for the disorganization. One of the servers then attempted to deliver our desserts, prior to receiving our entrees.

When we finally got our main dishes, the food was fantastic. Seriously, only great things to say about the food. The second delivery of desserts tasted amazing.

Despite the undoubtedly quality seafood, I really can’t say that the whole experience was worth it. I doubt we’ll make it back to...