Agustin Kitchen — Restaurant in Tucson

Used to be one of my wife and I's favorite restaurant in Tucson! In fact, 2 years ago I gave them a 5-star rating. So, what changed?

During our Valentine’s Day dinner, Augustin Kitchen delivered on the worst service imaginable, and did nothing but disappoint us all night long.

Now having shared our experience with all our close friends and relatives, I thought I would share my experience with the world, so others do not make the same mistake we made and can find a better place in Tucson to dine.

The night was Valentines Day 2021. We had reservations made for two and planned to enjoy their Prix Fixe coursed menu with wine pairings. We arrived on time and were immediately seated. Enter problem number 1. They seated us not in the restaurant, but in the overflow area next door, completely hidden from the restaurant itself. My wife did not mind so much, but the space felt like an afterthought. We were seated within 3 feet (not 6) of at least two other couples, and we had no direct line of sight to any servers, unless they ventured off the beaten path to visit our space.

Anyways, on to the bigger blunder. We were each poured a glass of champagne, so we brushed off the space and began to look over our food choices for the night. Our waitress came in to take our full prix fixe order, and we informed her we would like to add the wine pairing. As we finish our champagne, a busser came by looking thoroughly confused and set down our first, or second course, he wasn’t quite sure. Turns out, it was indeed our “second” course. We had not yet received our first wine-pairing, but with no server in sight, we decided to just start eating it, and worry about that later.

By the time we finished this “second” course, our server appeared. We let her know about the mistake and missed wine pairing, and she apologized and soon brought our actual first course. Shortly after, we received our “second” wine pairing. When we asked her if we could receive the first wine pairing, since we missed the second altogether, we were told the champagne poured when we were seated was indeed our “first” pairing. If you’ve been keeping up so far, you’ve realized, like we did, that the champagne was poured before we even ordered or added the optional wine pairing. Well, guess we just had to enjoy our non-wine pairing, and our first course as-is.

On to the third course. My steak, which was ordered Medium, came out well under Rare. Aside from the edges, the entire inside was practically raw. In addition to that, it was missing the bing demi sauce which was advertised in the menu. My wife’s pappardelle, although delicious, had a fully-cooked egg on top. The yolk was not runny, as it should have been, so it could not be mixed into the pasta as intended. We also had to ask for a steak knife, as one was not included with the food. Side note, this may just be personal taste, but the weird rubbery spinach in each dish was gag-worthy, and the only part of the dish that we completely avoided.

At this point we decided to speak with a manager. The manager came by, and we brought up all of our concerns thus far, and explained everything that went wrong. His response? The wine-pairing was justified, so mistakes aside, that didn’t matter. But he did promise to get us some bing demi sauce for our steak, as well as include a free steak to-go, and a discount on our bill. Ok, at least he’s wanting to make something right.

Fast forward ten minutes later, and we had not seen or heard from him or our waiter since, and there was no sauce to be found. With just two small bites of steak left to go, our waiter appeared, and we asked her if we could get the sauce. Finally, we tasted the steak the way the recipe described, but all-too-late. At this point it was almost comical, and my wife and I, although deeply disappointed, were thoroughly enjoying the entire debacle and absolute insanity of this restaurant.

Character limit exceeded :( Manager did nothing to help. We won't be going back, and will recommend our friends +...

Edit 4/2022:

Awful. Wilted Cesar without flavor (they claim of anchovy on the bread and I just tasted grease), overcooked steak (asked for medium rare and it had zero pink) covered in what tasted like a1 x McCormick seasoning, the pork burnt ends were actually very good, osso buco was rather bland and approaching dry… Servers walking around asking if we ordered X or Y, server took forever to take our order or bring drinks, mains turned up with apps, server brought me a steak knife that was actually a regular knife. It was a mess. Never again.

Agustin is one of those restaurants we were thrilled to see in Tucson, when they opened.

First visit was exciting and the food and drinks were excellent. We tried oysters, steak tartar, etc. All wonderful and we wanted to come back.

Second visit was interestingly for St. Patrick’s Day, probably three+ years ago and I had the best corned beef and cabbage I’ve ever had. Very good margarita, but I thought the second margarita didn’t taste as good as the first - wrote it off to clashing flavors with the meal.

Third visit, started at the bar for drinks. The bartender was excellent and her shaking technique was a hit with the dirty old men. She made a great lemonade (I was the designated driver). Don’t remember what we ordered but it was solid enough.

Fourth visit, started at the bar and moved to the table...reordered same drink which had been very good at the bar...and it arrived tasting nothing like the first. Hadn’t received our food, so I know it wasn’t food influence. It just sat there, server never noticed. Food must have been ok since I don’t remember one way or another.

Fifth visit (Around Christmas 2018) started at the bar waiting on friends. Again, drink excellent and this time I took note of the bartender’s name so I could ask for more drinks by him while eating. Table ordered apps and dinner, and drinks. My drink arrived and it was nothing like the first. Drank half, server never noticed. Food wasn’t as good...I think I had steak and it just didn’t impress me...and while I agree Barrio Bread is fabulous, it really shouldn’t be the hilight of a meal at a place like Agustin. This is when we decided maybe Agustin wasn’t worth returning to, for the price, and definitely wouldn’t reco to friends because we don’t feel the food/drinks are dependable. We have friends who stoped in after a flight, for lunch a few years ago, and were very disappointed. We had not recommended Agustin to them.

I would have rated it five stars when it opened. Now...no.

I have no idea what’s going on with drinks - if they are watering them down or using inferior ingredients when customers aren’t watching, or just not putting as much care into them...but the taste difference has happened too many times to be my...

upon arriving, my friend Charlie and i are told there is not seating available inside. the inside of the restaurant is at least eighty-percent empty. we are seated outside and provided with water and bread. soon enough, children playing in the space next-door to agustin begin throwing gravel at us after screaming at each other and running around for no good reason without shirts on.

i complain to a man who seems to be managerial, will, he has us relocated to a nook inside. this nook would barely fit my 4'11 mother. sadly, i, a 6'4 very broad man am crammed into this nook, desperate for food. it has been thirty minutes. we finally get our menus. ron appears as our waiter. i think things will somehow get better, but they do not. ron asks us "are you ready to order?" we were ready to order thirty minutes ago. i do not say this aloud. Charlie orders first, asking which wine ron recommends with his fish. ron says "white wine." really? we are easily the best-dressed people in the vicinity. do we seem to have not dined out before? perhaps we should have been given bibs and high-chairs? i don't know. i order the papardelle.

we eat two plates of bread while waiting for our food. the restaurant is still largely vacant. i resist the urge to head for the bar, order a fifth of scotch, pour my valium into it, and then swig it all. our food arrives, plopped down like so much offal. we are not asked if we would like anything else. while Charlie and i eat, we complain and try to enjoy the decent food. we converse about various books and films. we finish eating. our plates are cleared. ron has not said a peep to either Charlie or me. i go outside to chain smoke because Charlie is keen on trying dessert. i pace and smoke and pace. i am wary of gravel and ping pong balls. i failed to mentioned getting hit by a ping pong ball while seated outside earlier. sorry about that. i come back in, and Charlie's apple tart has arrived. it is almost completely cold. i am not sure how it takes ten minutes to prepare and serve a nearly cold dish that should be somewhat warm, but that happened.

we leave the restuarant and i resume smoking. the weather is lovely. really the only good thing all evennig besides spending time with my friend charlie. i have been given a ten dollar coupon for a free appetizer on my next visit. i am glad i did call ron over along with the manager and shred this coupon in front of them, though i'm not sure why i didn't. there will not likely be a "next visit." if there is, i'm bringing my own pingpong...