Sabor Veracruz Seafood — Restaurant in Austin

TL;DR: Do not recommend. Drinks are weak or alcohol-free, most food is questionable at best, and a few items might actually make you sick. Seafood is okay. Everything else—avoid.

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Scene: Mother’s Day Time: Sunday evening Setting: Two full parties (6+ people each), only two servers on staff.

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Review: This place is wildly overpriced for what you get. I paid $20 for a meal I couldn’t even eat because I didn’t trust it—completely unacceptable.

The aesthetic is nice, but the red flag was the massive, all-over-the-place menu. For a “seafood” restaurant, I was shocked to see chicken Alfredo—so we ordered it out of curiosity. Big mistake. It was clearly cooked on a grill, smelled and tasted like it too—absolutely disgusting. We sent it back, and the replacement was identical. (The person who ate it got sick later that night.)

I ordered the Mexican-style beef with no beans. They gave me beans anyway—apparently “Mexican style” means they think they know better than you?

They claim to make handmade corn tortillas, so I gave them a try. What I got was a plate of tortillas with a thick black hair in it. Sent that back too.

The drinks looked nice but had almost no alcohol—except for the bottled Modelo, which was the only legit drink. I’m confident about that because this was my second Mother’s Day celebration of the day, and I know what alcohol tastes like.

We also tried the ceviche. It was basically a DIY project. They tossed some sketchy seafood in a bowl with two giant chunks of avocado—no lime, no seasoning, nothing. We had to doctor it up ourselves with Valentina sauce from the table.

Only the fish and shrimp seemed safe—and that’s because it’s hard to screw those up. The rice, on the other hand, was undercooked, cold, and hard.

I left disgusted, disappointed, and honestly embarrassed to have spent money here.

Bottom line: Never coming back. Save your money and go literally...

Our office was recently moved to Parmer lane and this little place is across the street. It looked promising and being that it’s a short walk I decided to try it. The inside is very nice in its decor, brightly lit and very welcoming. Our server was very attentive and checked on us often. I noticed their menu options were a little too diverse and that put up a red flag but I was determined to have an open mind. She ordered shrimp on a skewer and I ordered ceviche. The shrimp looked nice on the bed of rice but were so overcooked that they were not edible. They had good flavor but were so rubbery that they went to waste. The ceviche I ordered looked promising because it was a large portion and presented well but it was very dry and tasted like it was probably made a day or two ago. Not good. We didn’t finish the food and I doubt I’ll come back unless someone else is picking up the tab. But their bar looked very inviting and I could see myself grabbing a drink after a bad work day. really I think a solid 2.5 but it’s either 2...

I was very pleasantly surprised by this restaurant. From the outside, you'd never know this was a nice place to eat. And the atmosphere inside is not great (not terrible, just not a cozy or upscale place). But the food and service... awesome!!

I had a delicious chicken breast with rice and salad. First off, it was a huge serving. But more importantly, it was delicious. The meat was pounded down so that it was thin and tender, perfectly grilled, moist, and flavorful. The little salad was fresh and the perfect accent. The rice was perfectly cooked. And the corn tortillas were homemade and delicious.

My friends had a shrimp fried rice that they all loved. Again, big portions.

All was served with fresh chips, salsa, and limes.

The menus is pretty extensive, too.

And the service was really great! Our gal was so sweet, helped with meal selections, and checked in on us frequently.

I would definitely go there again, and frequently if I lived in Austin. It's right across from the Dell campus, so it's...