Sadness! I used to love Austin Diner, but it did not fare well in the move to the strip mall by Savers. Ugh. I went 3 times in the hopes that I was catching them on an off night. Nope. I was one of fewer than 5 tables each time I went, yet the service was still painfully slow and they could never seem to get our orders right. The last time I went I ordered biscuits and gravy and the biscuits were tough and chewy. We got a cheesecake chaser and it was like eating melted wax. Gross. I gave a bonus star because I had one dish that was enjoyable (the California Skillet, I think). I used to love the food at Austin Diner, but I won't be going back to this location. Sadness. read more

Real american-style Breakfast huge portions, greasy food, but a great variety. If you like this kind of stuff, you will enjoy. http://bit.ly/v8dYWo read more

New Jollyville location: Went there the other day for a late breakfast. They have done nothing to the place but ad a new sign. I'm guessing the place now has two owners- one for the bar business and Austin Diner for the food. The management needs to train the waiter staff to be more attentive. Check the table and make sure I have everything when my order is delivered- that's restaurant management 101. Took forever to bring my bill and settle up. Food in general- Meh I really hope they improve the ambiance too. Late morning and the had tv audio on with loudy crappy music blaring over tvs- not really what patrons at that hour are excepting I think. If you want to escape the loud music and the bar area and its not good outside, there is a separate room with terrible, bright overhead lights. I'm hoping they make some changes- will try it again at some point to see! read more

Hole in the wall giving you exactly what you would want from a vintage diner. Great prices, great portions, and good food. If you've noticed this place before but haven't been I'd definitely stop by read more

My boyfriend and I have tried this place out on multiple occasions, both dining in and ordering a la carte for pickup. Besides their house biscuits, the food is mediocre and the service is less than desirable. They bake their bacon. If you're into this method, you'll probably enjoy your breakfast here. If you prefer pan fried bacon, prepare your gut. Their omelette is so-so, and as far as I can tell, the rest of their breakfast food (sausage, potatoes, scrambled eggs) is not a notch higher than "okay". Service is meh. My boyfriend drops in for coffee or an a la cart biscuit once and a while, and usually he is left standing near the door with no acknowledgment. When dining-in our experience with the servers has been consistently lukewarm. Also keep in mind that the joint needs some sprucing up; I don't think they've had an interior update since the early 90's. While I can see that they're going for an oldies diner appeal, the booths are worn and cracked, the blinds are dirty, the tables seem to have a wobble...it's just old and kinda gross. read more

My (large) running group ate here over the weekend after our final pre-marathon run. They were incredibly accommodating given the size of our group and allowed us to add table/chairs as needed. The breakfast menu is extensive and veggie friendly. I ordered the California Skillet - black beanks, hash browns, eggs, avocado, salsa, mushrooms, spinach - and it was AMAZING. I am a generally a migas lover, but this dish makes migas seem sad and lonely. Everyone else in the group seemed to love their meals as well, so the food was an all around hit. When we had finished our meal, the waitress split our checks (without being asked!) and quickly/efficiently charged all of us (a group of 20). At a previous breakfast elsewhere, closing out our tab took over 30 minutes. So when it took just 5 minutes here, we were all smiles. The only real negative was the attitude of some of the staff. Our waitress was friendly, accommodating, and efficient. Others were visibly bored/irritated and not at all welcoming. read more

Damnit! I hate to down grade a business, but, this one is deserving. Haven't been here in a while, so, this morning I told the hubby we were going. When these guys first opened this new location, they were ok. Never consistent, just ok. Today we went in and it was like WOW! "Are we in the old location?". It smelled like ass and the floors were so dang greasy that I almost fell. We both ordered the double trouble which was two eggs, two sausage, two bacon, home fries, sausage gravy and biscuits. What a nasty nightmare. Everything was cold, greasy, and, mysterious. The bacon was WAY over cooked. The sausage patties were nasty and scary. Seriously, they had a pale complexion, and, the taste was "spit it out fool"! The sausage gravy and biscuits were presented with the biscuits in whole. WTF! Gravy and biscuits are open faced people! The sausage gravy was worse than a can of Libby's. We sent the disgusting dishes back. Our waitress asked if we would like something else. I said no. The manager came over and asked why I didn't like the food. I told her everything that I have mentioned in this review. Her only comment was "ask for the bacon easy fry next time". Ok, sure, ain't gonna be no next time. I went to the bathroom to rinse out my teeth, and, ended up doing the moon walk on the greasy floor! Welcome to the NASTY list ya'll!! read more

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Uggggh, soak it in butter... oh, yeah... bacon up that sausage, boy... All my Homer Simpson tendencies come out when I'm here. The breakfast tacos are so fabulous when you have a hangover, and even though my heart hurts when I leave here, the flavor explosion I experience is worth possible coronary bypass surgery down the road. The pancakes are great as well, but the french toast left a little to be desired, kind of dry (more bacon fat, maybe?) It does seem to be muggy in there and the cleanliness factor might make me nervous, but that buttery, bacony goodness wipes all thought from my mind. read more

I'm seriously afraid to even post this review. This is my all time favorite haunt for breakfast in Austin. Blows all the others out of the water. Little to no wait (maybe not after this review), fast, friendly service. And the best part? Great freaking breakfast. The juevos rancheros is awesome. Best bacon ever. I love the Austin Diner. Oh, and did I mention the coffee doesn't suck? It doesn't. read more

if i could give zero stars i would. awful service, grounds in my coffee, burnt eggs, the prices the charge you are not the same that they charge when you pay, and cold and gritty biscuits. disgusting and expensive. read more

It kills me to write this review as their food is so good...However, I was eating there last Saturday morning with a client and we had finished our breakfast, just finished paying for the meal, were finishing our drinks and were casually chatting away when the hostess approached our table and said..."if y'all are finished, could you please leave as there is a line at the door?"!!! WHAT, WHAT, WHAT??? Yes, we were asked to LEAVE! I was raised in the restaurant business and service industry as my grandfather had 2 restaurants. I can without any doubt say that he NEVER asked anyone to leave a table because there was a line at the door! Sadly, I will NEVER go back to Austin Diner for ANY reason...and it's in my backyard. :-/ read more

it's noon on a saturday and my buddies are all hung-over. we head to austin's diner knowing we can still get breakfast. our server does not write down our orders, which slightly irks me. i am in no mood to deal with forgotten orders and such. but everything goes smoothly. everyone is enjoying their food, the migas are good....jake's cakes are delicious, my hash browns and scrambled eggs are quite tasty! hooray for a filling, cheap breakfast with no mistakes! p.s. i have to remove 1 star for the oj. it always tastes bitter no matter when i visit. they really need to get a better brand of oj. read more

dinner is good. breakfast is awesome! good variety for breakfast too. i would try the green enchilada thing with eggs. sounds weird but really good. coffee is okay...not the best. grits need some work. milk gravy on the money. read more

I came in to Austin Diner incredibly hungover and the Fried Green Tomatoes completely cured me. THANK YOU AUSTIN DINER!

I have been going here since Laura had this place as Laura's Bluebonnet Kitchen. it has always been good, and never great. As of late the service and the food at the new place is atrocious and horrible. Every breakfast item i order is always SWIMMING IN FRYMAX® LIKE OILY LAKES ON MY PLATE. When i ask that the hash Browns be crispy and well-done, they are oily and greasy and mushy. When I tell the waitperson, she tells me she can't get the cook to redo them, every time i ask. THIS IS A DINER, HASH BROWNS ARE DINER 101!!!!!!!!! The Salad i got had horrible taste to the lettuce leaves, like metallic old taste, and the tacos i had were you guessed it, greasier than ever. What happened? it used to not ever be greasy before the new location. Why would moving make the food greasy...new cook, owner gave up? dunno.... They are slow, get orders wrong, act like they are ignorant and do not care about you. So, I guess my life at Austin Diner is over. There is a lot of New Competition on Burnet, get it together or whither... btw, i have tried to write/call the owner and he does not try to return my attempts. read more

While the food is fine, the place itself is absolutely filthy. Last time I went there for bunch there were roaches everywhere, and I mean everywhere. One crawled in the booth behind us, they were on the walls, and none of us wanted to eat our food, given the filth we could see just in the dining area! As we left I noticed a really extra large roach over the door by the hostess sand, which I proceeded to point out. Her reply? "Oh yeah, they come in from outside, not much we can do about it." And she went back to looking at the seating cart. Lovely. read more

The staff is pretty nice. Nice like the lady at the swapmeet who knows she's selliing you a broken lamp. Heck, you might feel like you're at the swapmeet, with the cheesy 80's toys layin around, the LASER DISCS hanging from the ceiling, 50's mixers, and random lps on the wall. But even the swap meet has better food. read more

I hit this place in the off hours and had a somewhat depressing lunch, where the hostess swept around the tables--and no one greeted me with a smile or any enthusiasm. If this had been two in the morning, it might have carried that romantic, lonely diner feel, the ways diners during late nights can. But there was no lonely, lost-looking waitress, no moonlight, no neon reflection through the rainy window. There was just me, in an empty diner, with a bored staff, eating a mediocre Reuben and aging salad. The more notable part of the experience was a homeless man who hovered in the bathroom nook, who said, "Good bless you," as I entered the bathroom--where he had just been--which had that dank body order smell that homeless people have. read more

Love this place! I've only had breakfast yummies there, but it has all been great. Had the vegetarian taco for the 1st time today - quite possibly the BEST taco I have ever eaten! yum yum yum yum. read more

Everything about this place was amazing! Walked in we were greeted and seated right away. Drinks came fast, sweet tea was so good by the way I love extra lemon! Our waitress was super sweet, gave us plenty of time to browse since we were new and helped order exactly what we wanted. Food came out fast and hot and taste was delicious! I recommend the chicken mexicana! Fried juicy chicken covered in queso, toms, and bacon. My veggies on the side were cooked perfectly. Me and my husband will definitely return next time to try their breakfast items! read more

This place is definittely keeping Austin weird. The staff made me feel like I was really inside an East side taqueria, but the decor was more of a soda-fountain diner. Same with the menu: fajitas, migas, huevos rancheros, southern food, breakfast, just as God intended. This was my first time here and we asked for coffee in these teeny little coffee cups, you know the kind, and I said to myself, wow, these servers must really hustle if they are gonna do a good job and keep us filled. She didn't disappoint. Now for my first time, I love a big country breakfast so I had the whatever plate with scrambled eggs covered with sausage and gravy over biscuits and a side of home fries. I like my food right out of the pan and close to scalding hot and it came out a little on the luke-warm side. I'd say it was standard breakfast fare, nothing to write home about, but I've never ever had a scamble, biscuits, gravy that made me say WOW, so this is not a criticism. Now the standard short stack of pancakes, I'll never order again. I've had better out of a box of bisquick. I had at most 4 bites and the only good part of them was the syrup. I told my companion that I swore it tasted just like the flour they were made with. Would I go back? Sure. Would it be my first choice? no. read more

this place can be really weird. on weekdays, the service is average to poor and the food seems to be slightly bland. it seems like it might mostly be the owner's family working during the week, and they're pretty disinterested in good service, eye contact, special requests, refilling drinks, or bringing you your check. then on weekends, another crew comes on. a bunch of young hip-looking girls take over as the wait staff. the food comes out of the kitchen warmer and better-tasting. drinks are refilled. special requests are granted. they play albums by bob dylan and the velvet underground. why can't these dudes make the weekday service more like the weekend service? 2 stars for weekdays 3.5 stars for weekends giving them the benefit of the doubt and rounding up to 3 stars. read more

My experiences at Austin Diner have been so consistently bad that I've been fantasizing about the review I would write. Here it is. I live across the street from this local establishment. How wonderfully convenient it is (conceptually) to have a diner within 2 minutes walking distance. I love diners. I love local businesses. I would love to go to this place every weekend, maybe even twice every weekend. Read this review and the reviews of many others and you'll see why I CAN'T. Service is SO SLOW it's almost NONEXISTENT. One morning, after I was seated, I read an entire chapter of Coyote Summer and nobody even put water in front of me. I never even got a menu. For literally TWENTY MINUTES. I simply got up and walked out, totally dejected. A waitperson smiled and waved to me as I left, adding insult to hunger. On another occasion, they had served me coffee but I had made it through two essays in Hunter S Thompson's On The Campaign Trail '72 before they took my order and subsequently refilled the coffee. Yes, you can measure the speed of their service by the number of BOOK CHAPTERS you read while waiting. I get less reading done waiting for the bus. On my most recent trip there, it was about 2pm and the place was completely empty. I seated myself among scattered tables of dirty dishes and proceeded to wait. I knew going in the door that I would be waiting a long time, but it was mid afternoon and I had time to read. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a family of four clamors in and sits in the booth right behind me (probably because there weren't any other clean tables) The waitress goes straight to them and takes their order first! Not only did I patiently sit in an empty restaurant for 10 minutes to have my order taken, but now my order would be behind 4 people that arrived after me. It's just so consistently frustrating. Boo! read more

Take a 50's style diner with a warm and friendly breakfast staff and some of the best pancakes you'll find in Austin and you easily have a five-star review. . . .for breakfast. However, after living within walking distance of the Austin Diner for several years and enjoying many a stumble-out-of-bed-and-scarf-down-pancakes kind of morning there, I decided to try out lunch. I ordered a turkey sandwich that was sadly lacking any taste. My dining companion tried a pot pie that was lukewarm and bland. Even the tables didn't look as clean as they ordinarily do. The verdict: go for breakfast. read more

Austin diner is a great place to go to chill off a Sunday afternoon hangover. Food is okay, not awesome, they have a nice outdoor patio that gets good sun, and they serve beer by the bottle cheap. It is lame that they close at 2:30pm on Sundays but weekdays they are open until 9pm. Over all pleasing to the senses. read more

You've moved to a new location and MORE THAN DOUBLED THE PRICE of my favorite menu item. $7 for Oscar's favorite? Get real! I'm never coming back to this place. read more

Went here early Saturday evening - felt like breakfast for dinner. Waiter was ok but barely spoke English. My omelette was good but then I decided to order a slice of pie for dessert. The "chocolate ice box pie" was thick and tasted awful. Decided to switch to pecan pie and it was terrible as well. Only ate 2 bites for a $5 dessert. At 7:30' they suddenly decided to close the restaurant early (door said open till 10) and refused service to 3 patrons who walked in when the OPEN SIGN was still on. I thought this was terrible service and sent a bad message. Worst part of my experience was when the dumb ass waiter accused me of not paying my check on my way out, when in fact I had signed the credit card receipt at the table and left a better than average tip. He had also left the cash register drawer wide open for like 30 minutes and was totally oblivious to it all. I will not return to this unprofessionally run place. read more

Old school diner with great texture mex and classic affordable diner food. This is a very family focused place with great shakes and kids will love it. Chicken fried steak was excellent and mashed potatoes were yummy! read more

this place seriously needs a renovation!! the food was quite alright, but the establishment definitely needs some fixing up. the booths were TAPED together & the tables were so dingy. my boyfriend & I decided to try the chicken fried steak, which was pretty good. the potatoes were AWESOME, but were a bit too greasy. the portions were generous & the waitress wasn't very attentive. don't think I'll be back.... read more

Wow, I can't believe how bad the food was. I really like going to local dives to eat and try out something new, but everything there tasted so processed. The chicken fried steak tasted like the frozen ones you buy from Sam's Club. The mashed potatoes weren't any better. The tuna sandwich tasted very processed. Probably something they buy by the gallon and just slop it on the bread and call it a sandwich. I'm really dissapointed. It's just my expectation that a local mom and pop restaurant should have homemade food and not just prepackaged and processed food they just heat up. I'll buy a TV dinner if I want that. read more

I actually quite like Austin Diner. The food fits the atmosphere and up until a couple of months ago, the staff (read: waiter slackers) and the music did, too. For example, I remember when I could go to the Austin Diner and have a hungover hipster as a waiter while chewing rhythmically to Wolf Parade being played on the stereo. These days the wait staff are like any ordinary waiters, folks you'd find at Chili's or any other franchise restaurant, and the music is Paula Abdul or if I'm lucky, Phil Collins. What happened? Did the restaurant change ownership? Or am I by chance visiting the diner while all the cool kids have the day off? read more

We tried this as a new Sunday breakfast venue It was horrible. 1 the interior is dated and needs update- the vinyl booths are all cracked and need to be updated 2 I ordered the homestyle breakfast - the potatoes were under cooked as well as the sausage. There was not any flavor to the meal. I felt ill eating the food and it took all day for me to recoup. 3 the waiter was horrible. For example we told him we were ready to order and he disappeared for 5 min 4 the restaurant had a strange odor Needless to say not going back read more

I like their food though it's not the greatest and generally inconsistent. My main complaint is they close whenever they want instead of sticking to their posted hours. If you go there at 8 you might be served or you might be looking for a different place to eat. I guess sticking to brunch is your best option... read more

We went here because the line at The Omelettry was a buzz-kill. Glad that we took a chance on the Austin Diner just down the street. Good food at a fair price. If you want great pancakes - plan ahead your time and get to the Omelettry. But if you want good breakfast food - not just pancakes - drive just a mile further. You'll be happy that you did. read more

Went this Sunday morning with kids and had a great time. The food was good, nothing too crazy, but solid. Kids enjoyed their scrambled eggs, gingerbread pancake and bacon (a nice serving, not just one strip). Coffee was poured nonstop and that's huge for us! My Brian's eggs were yummy, comfort breakfast food - eggs with cheese and bacon bits (large bits). The grits were heavenly and the biscuits were fantastic. The best part was that the wait staff was so kid-friendly and very attentive. We'll be back! read more

This is a fun place to come for breakfast. The people working and eating here just don't give a shit about anything, and the service is still friendly, the food is still good, and the atmosphere is 4.5 stars. read more

Food is really good, the atmosphere is pretty good as well. The interior could use an upgrade, but the food is what counts. The prices are very reasonable and the portions generous. Id definitely recommend this as a stop for someone wanting a good breakfast. read more

So sad, this place used to be so good but it seems to have gone downhill since they moved to the new location. :( I liked the old location and staff better. The food was better and the waitstaff was nicer. Took my boyfriend here a couple months ago all excited, talked it up a bunch, and was very disappointed. They used to have great tex mex but the enchiladas I got were only so so and the beans were terrible, tasted like they'd come straight out of a can and had been heated in the microwave or something. My boyfriend's club sandwich was mediocre as well. Might try this place again but I won't be able to get my boyfriend to go back. Hopefully they step up their game. read more

I would give zero stars if possible. We have been to this diner 3 times in the last few weeks to really confirm it is as bad as we thought. It's horrible. Don't go here. The service is indifferent at best. All of the servers are on their smart phones, and it's nearly impossible to get a drink refill. They also don't give credit card receipts. WTF? The food is really mediocre and does not live up to the descriptions. Honestly, Denny's is better IMO. read more

A pleasant surprise. The staff can be a bit moody, but the coffee is decent, and the pancakes are pretty good (good and fattening :).