Phoenician resto cafe — Restaurant in Austin

Our daughter had a craving for some Mediterranean food so we stopped on over here for dinner.

This is a smaller restaurant with a patio/bar/hookah lounge nestled on top. There is construction all around it to and right in Rainy district so traffic was a bit much.

We enjoyed our delicious meal, but let me get to that a bit later. What threw this off for us is the fact that there really is no Private parking for this place. We happened to have had our doggies with us, no dogs allowed here..ok, that's fine. The weather is good enough to leave them in the car fora bit, not hot at all nor sunny.

We pull into this tiny parking lot next to the restaurant, we thought this was the lot for this place, the private one... Nope! The man standing in the entrance told us $5 to park, we mentioned we were coming to eat at this restaurant and he looked surprised, like this was a lot to pay and park to walk up and down the area to hit other spots. We told him we had our doggies with us and just wanted to eat at this restaurant, he replied "Give me your keys and $5."... um, sounded a bit odd, we did not feel comfortable doing this at all so we decided to take the dogs home and come back, finding a different lot to park in or see if we perhaps missed the private lot. We realy wanted to try this place.

So we come back and drive around the blocks behind the restaurant, nope.. no private lot anywhere. We wound up parking down the street in an even more expensive lot and walked on over to get a bite to eat.

The service...

We were greeted warmly in this darkened room that only had a couple other patrons visiting. The waitress was really sweet and we have no complaints there.

The food, we ordered...

Falafel (4pcs) - these were probably the best I have ever had. They were not over cooked nor had that texture/taste of bad or old oil. They were light and seasoned perfectly. Chicken Shawarma entree x2 - This chicken was amazing!!! You get a huge portion and its all shaved/sliced up and piled on the plate. Again, this was perfectly seasoned, but no over powering so you can still enjoy the meat, cooked to perfection we were both really happy with this selection. Gyro Plate entree - The Gyro meat here is a mixture of both beef and lamb and wow do they really pile on the meat. What was so awesome about this meat was that it was not overpowered with those seasonings alot of other places do, this tasted lighter than any other Gyro meat we have ever had. This did not disappoint at all and we highly recommend it...

Between all of us, for the sides, we had...

Hummus - Perfection, I cannot explain it any other way ... creamy, smooth, balanced.. yummy! Baba Ghannouj - First time I ever tried this, it had a smoky flavor to it and I was taken back on how much I really enjoyed it - highly recommended Greek Salad - Just as expected, the dressing was spot on perfect! Rice - cooked perfectly, it had the perfect texture good rice should with a light seasoning that kept it from being bland but subtle enough to know you are eating really good rice, it was light and fluffy and they do not spare the on the portioning

and the sauces

Tzatziki sauce - AMAZING!!! It has a bit more dil than I am use to but actually, I liked it better this way. We had to order extra! Garlic sauce - pretty much explains it all, its garlicky - very garlicky, but we expected as much hence the name. It complimented the chicken well

All in all we really enjoyed our visit here. Amazing food and great customer service.

I would really love to give 5 stars but the whole parking mess prevents me from doing that. I am not a fan of having to pay to park to eat at your restaurant when I am already paying...

My son and I have travelled from NY to Austin to participate in a science convention, and this restaurant was the glows and highlight of our entire journey. The Menu was impressive, and we debated if the food would live up to the menu. YES!! IT MORE THAN LIVED UP TO THE MENU AND SURPASSED OUR EXPECTATIONS. First , surprise was the ZAATAR DIP experience. The Zaatar tasted incredibly delicious! The Zaatar was served along a mini taboun oven mounted on charcoal to warm up the bread. So we sat there with a mini oven next to us on the table, and excitedly enjoyed warming up our pitas, and while freshly baked, we would dip them into the zaatar-olive oil mix, and watch ourselves melt in the experience. My son and I couldn't stop smiling. We then ordered the SAMKEH FISH marinated in Tahini sauce. OMG! OMG! OMG! that dish was an experience of its own. We could not believe the delicious taste of the fish. The dressing, the marination, the proportions were all perfect. I remember my son telling me that of all the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurants we have eaten at throughout the United States, this one experience TOPPED them all. We decided to try to slow down eating the tahini fish in order to prolong the experience---this is just how much we loved it. The salad portions, the dressing, the French fries, the rice, and everything in totality was SIMPLY PERFECT. As for the servers, that is another experience. WE always say to each other that the food is as good as those who serve it. The ladies were true ladies! They exhibited Etiquette, Elegance, Class, Professionalism, and Balance. They were unearthly sweet, calm, and knew exactly what to do. The Kitchen staff, especially the cook who walked out to serve the main dish himself was incredibly nice. And we have no doubt that the owner/manager himself is an amazing human being as well, because it takes amazing people to create amazing things! The tea, and the baklava sealed the deal! Everyone and everything in this place was PERFECT. I must admit that we walked away heartbroken that we were returning to New York. We know we will never have that experience anywhere else outside Phoenician Resto Cafe! This is why we felt that we should get the word out, and let everyone know how fantastic this place is. I hope the place, and the people in it can maintain what they have. We look forward to returning to Austin Texas to enjoy this experience once again. We ENTHUSIASTICALLY, WHOLE HEARTEDLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE TO EVERYONE IN THE WORLD. Thank you to everyone in this place for making our challenging journey to Austin a worthwhile experience. Best wishes...

One of the most authentic Lebanese restaurants in town, and the best one at this particular price point. Best hummus in Austin if you prefer Syrian/ Lebanese style hummus. Highly underrated Austin joint in this category.

Their grilled meat items are solid. I like the lamb, and beef kofta best. I don’t like their fries however, i wish they would upgrade to better fries bc the fries remind me of something you would get at a really bad burger chain. They are crinkle fries but don’t have any flavor to them. Not offense, just not good.

Their fattoush is solid. They put the dressing on the side if you order so your salad isn’t soupy by the time it gets to you.

I didn’t like their tabouli— It was wayyyy too salt to enjoy the flavors of the veggies coming through.

Baklava is okay. Better than most places since they use real pistachios, walnuts not like the cheap peanut blend you get at most places.

Wish they had kunafa, and wish they brought the fruit cocktail back. Both are pretty unique items that you don’t find on a lot of menus in this restarting category.

again all my feedback here is based on my experience ordering to go so i really don’t know what their indoor dining experience is like. i think they do a good job maintaining the structure of their food in togo packaging which i appreciate. hate it when i get my food and it’s soggy.

Overall would recommend. Especially if you’re a fan of levant style...