The League Kitchen & Tavern — Restaurant in Bee Cave

I really wanted to love this place.

Checked out the menu and came for an afternoon lunch with my son. It's a little on the pricey side, but the menu looked delicious, and we were excited to try it.

There was a host at the front, but he had no pad nor device to take our names or how many we had in our party. We were not the only people waiting, which made for an interesting situation.

We were finally seated in a cozy banquette near the bar. However, there was a table that was unbussed right next to ours. It remained dirty the entire time we were dining and looked as if it had been there a minute.

We waited probably 10 minutes before we ever saw any waitstaff. Once she arrived, she was pleasant enough and told us the history behind the name of the restaurant and its furnishings. It is a thoughtfully designed and decorated facility. Old tile floors, dark wood, black and white photos of what I can only describe as the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. It is a very large restaurant, and I found the furnishings helped the ambiance a great deal.

We each ordered a specialty cocktail and a glass of water. We also gave our food order at that time. We ordered a couple of appetizers: the meatloaf bites and the spinach and artichoke dip. My son ordered the Southern burger, and I, the prime steak sandwich. We both ordered truffle fries as a side.

About 15 minutes later, our cocktails arrived. Know what else arrived? Our entrees. We never saw our appetizers. We had intended to have a couple of cocktails and enjoy the appetizers and then have our meal. Our waiter didn't even remember that we had ordered appetizers! They were gracious enough to cancel the order of the appetizers, and for that, I am grateful. Because, like I said, this place is a little pricey.

My son said he enjoyed his burger. I found my 22.00 prime steak sandwich to be a little bit of a letdown. The meat seemed more like a Philly cheesesteak than Prime steak. It tasted very heavily of the Rosemary mentioned in the description of the item, but not much else. The meat was stringy and kind of chewy, and if it had had cheese whiz on a hoagie roll, and I was in Philadelphia, I probably would have been okay with that.

I freely confess I had something akin to Houston's legendary French Dip in my mind, and that's not what I received when I was served. The bread was just okay, weighty enough to hold the steak and cheese, but it lacked much flavor. The au jus, too, seemed to not be spiced at all, even with salt and pepper. It had no depth of flavor.

The waiter only came back once to refill my water and did not check on us again until the end of the meal.

I'm not sure how long this restaurant's been in the Galleria, but if they can remedy these problems, it's a solid space. Otherwise, it's just a cool-looking space with notmuch potential or heart.

If it seems like I'm complaining, I guess I kind of am. I just expected more, wanted more. The exception to this discourse is the fries. They were delicious, but not enough to bring me back for a second trip. I am afraid we will...

Pot Pie Perfection Needed to kill some time and my lunch was past due. I had seen this place on many occasions but it was always to busy to go in. It was my chance to finally check it out. It was in the middle of the day past lunch time so the place was pretty empty. It has a nice relaxed environment with a bit of a sports bar vibe. Staff was very friendly and courteous. The waiter went through the menu and highlighted the most popular dishes. When he said pot pie I knew it was the one. I'm a big fan of this dish, I haven't found many places in Austin that serve it and more often than not they aren't very good, not here. The pie was baked to perfection, a nice light golden filo dough pastry that was delicate and buttery. Underneath reveals a perfect pot pie filling. Typical I run into fillings that are either too soupy or way too thick. I found this one just right, it wasn't soupy but viscous enough to bring out the nice flavors of the pie and filling. A soft shredded chicken with salt pepper carrots and peas. Many times I've had the pot pie filling with large unmanageable chunks of vegetables or chicken gristle to spoil the taste, not so with this example. This was a nice flavorful filling, piping hot, just a pure delight. If I had one criticism it would be the lack of a bottom crust. I understand this is a matter of style, can't really take anything away for that, but would have loved more crust to go with that filling. The portion was quite generous, it looked a little small on initial inspection, but trust me it's a full meal. It came with a fruit cup, the fruit was good. As a surprise extra, the waiter brought out a slice of complementary chocolate cake with a side of vanilla. Apparently a bonus for first time visitors. I was pretty stuffed but I can't say no to a nice scoop of vanilla. Even better it looked home made, maybe sourced from near by Amy's. Couldn't have been a more satisfying lunch. Will have to go back and try the breakfast special that initially...

I want to preface this review with, we have dined at three different League restaurants in Lakeway, Belterra and Bee Cave and have always enjoyed all three and never have had a bad meal and the service is always great. So when a Father’s Day add popped up on my Facebook with an ad for a free Dad’s meal of prime rib served all day Sunday, I told my wife we are getting a reservation, so we did for 6:15. My daughter and her family came with so we had a party of 8. Well when it came time to order, we were told they are out of prime rib. Immediate buzz kill when that is what they promoted and nowhere did it say until they run out, the ad literally said all day, so I would rethink your promotion for next year. So we were told you could get a second meal of equal or lesser free. Well we had two fathers at the table with 8 meals and were only comped one meal. So I went to my go to meal at the League which is the Fat Tire battered fish. I have never had a bad order the many times we have been at all three locations. This fish was more batter than fish and it was horribly greasy. My wife ordered Brussel sprouts and they were very hard and she couldn’t eat them. They did not charge us for those but just added to a bad night out especially being we were looking forward to a nice Father’s Day dinner. Might be awhile until we go back to the Bee Cave location if the food is going downhill. We like the League and I am sure we will give it another try. I really am the kind of person who is not that fussy about my food, just bring it to me in a reasonable amount of time and hot and I am fine, but this was not a...