Home cooking, comfort food and desserts! Love their classics like mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, meatloaf, chicken fried steak and desserts are fabulous, too. Support this long time Austin business! read more

Hoover's has the best baked beans in Austin. They call them cowboy beans and they are spiked with brisket. Lots of it. We also love the meatloaf and the pork ribs. read more

It was DELICIOUS! Ordered the fried catfish with potato salad, Jamaican rice, and green beans. For some reason I forgot that Jamaican rice and dirty rice are two very different things but it was a nice surprise. The potato salad was my FAV! It was the perfect mixture of sauces and chunky potatoes. Greens beans were cooked perfectly. Mr. Hoover is a sweet older gentleman. I had the pleasure of having him help me. I think the FOH staff seemed a little newer to their positions as Mr.Hoover was answering their questions in between helping me but they were all working hard on their tasks. read more

Fantastic, Texas southern comfort meets Cajun meets Tex-mex meets farm-to-table food in an unpretentious busy location. My boyfriend and I went for an early Sunday brunch and had no problem getting a table. We both opted for brunch; I had the chicken fried chicken with etoufee and he had the chicken and waffles. Both our meals were huge, so filling, and very well done. My chicken was juicy, crispy, and warm, the biscuit was good, and the etoufee sauce was truly worthy of Cajun status. I want skeptical that I would enjoy the etoufee sauce but it was as good, if not better, than many places I've had in Nola. My boyfriend ate his entire chicken and waffle platter, which was huge. He said the chicken was amazing and the batter of the waffle was crispy and very flavorful. We would definitely come back. The portions were huge, the waitstaff was friendly and so attentive, and the food was authentic and delicious. Great place to eat! read more

Everything sucked The service was poor and slow and the food was bland even the fried chicken needed salt. The side salad is tiny and the "cornbread basket" is a pathetic joke it tastes like styrofoam read more

As usual, the food at hoovers is pretty good, but why not seat a party of 3 when 2 are standing right there ? I met 2 buddies for lunch and we drove over 20 minutes on our lunch hr to get there. The host didn't want to seat 2 of us so I said fine, we'll take a table for 2. He could have screwed us and gave us a 2 top, but he didn't (I did see a party of 2 sitting at a 6 top table). On top of that, I had called my order in and it was waiting for me. We finally got seated and my "eat there" order was bagged up to go (when I specifically said I would eat it there, you know to save precious time). I understand not seating larger parties when only a few arrive, but really, 2 out of 3 ?? Bottom line, maybe not the best place to go if you're in a rush on your lunch hour read more

I personally love Hoover's, I take all of my out of town guests there. I love the moist meats, side dishes, cornbread, sweet potato rolls and salads. During the Thanksgiving, I get the giblet gravy, spot on cornbread dressing, delicious greens and macaroni and cheese catered to go When my husband is in the dog house we go to Hoover's, He convinced my to move to Austin by taking me to Hoovers. He proposed after a dinner at Hoover's. We love the place and tell everyone how great the food is. Avoid Sundays after church it will be super crowded and I must say the desserts are not great so I avoid them. read more

Haven't been to that nice Christian owner's restaurant in some time. Glad I had time to go. Service was good, they were eager to attend to a patron's needs. Tables were cleaned promptly. The food was really good. Loved the jalapeno cornbread muffins. The sweet tea was not overly sweet. Interesting artwork and pictures on the walls. I remember that Hoover was with the Austin iconic, 'Nighthawk Restaurant.' He was there visiting with patrons. read more

Hoover's has great home style cooking. I love the mac and cheese, fried okra and chicken. Hoover himself has stopped by our table more than once to say hello and make sure everything is ok. We stop here when we visit our family in Austin. read more

The chicken fried steak was good- but everything else was very mediocre. I don't know how they managed to mess up mashed potatoes, but they did. I hate when a restaurant doesn't have tasty sides! Typically side dishes are basic, so these should be mastered. I'd go back one more time to see if my experience was a fluke. read more

Whenever I'm in the need of some southern comfort food this the place for me..I have yet to be disappointed with any order of food..They also have a small selection of wine and a mini bar...My go to dishes are the Southern Fried Pork chops with mash potatoes and mustard greens or on Tuesdays the chopped steak lunch special.. read more

Their biscuits and gravy are really good and carry out was a breeze. The website doesn't always work though. There have been 2 occasions where I've tried to order breakfast but it says the store is closed. read more

hoovers had a very home feeling in their restaurant with very tasty food and delicious desserts. i ordedered the honey mustard chicken sandwich, and although i barely tasted the honey mustard part of it, it was still an amazing chicken sandwich with great fries. read more

This is place serves terrible food! Don't eat there. Pies are tasteless and food in general doesn't taste good at all.

Excuse me, but I am WILD about this place. My father took me here for the first time on my birthday of last year and I enjoyed a whippersnippin' plate of chicken and waffles. They get their coffee from Texas Coffee Traders, so I was in heaven, along with my heaping mounds of fried food. The next time I came here was for a professional organization holiday party. They reserved a series of long tables for us in a secluded part of the restaurant, and we dined in delight! I was able to taste a sampling of appetizers, their signature chicken fried steak, and their one of a kind Blackberry cobbler for dessert. Oh my goodness. I came back to work, after my lunch break so freaking satisfied, and with my belly full. My coworkers (or should I say colleagues) were jealous of my humble bragging that I dined at Hoovers. *Mission accomplished.* The last time I entered this locale was when a couple of friends were in town for their fake birthday. We started brunch right with chicken fried chicken and cheese and queso. And tons and tons of coffee! Such wonderment. Unfortunately, the waitress during this day had a bout of slow service. (she forgot that we had ordered chips and queso all together, and did not offer to discount or mark off the tab) I understand the brunch hours on Sundays are laboriously busy, but I was a bit disappointed that a menu item had been forgotten and my table was not given appropriate customer service. None the less, I will always remain faithful to Hoover's Cooking. It's simply a staple I cannot live without after all. See you later, Alligators! read more

Good southern food. Enjoyed my chicken fried chicken with three sides: Mac and cheese, buttered carrots, and steamed broccoli. I've been a few times and I've had consistently good service. I'd go there more often if I had a car. read more

One of my favorite spots in Austin, a great place to grab some home cookin' Big fan of the meat + side plates. The jerk ribs/chicken are especially good, and you cant go wrong with any of the sides. Desserts are also really good read more

Chicken fried steak was average at best! However the menu has lots of choices. The place deserves another shot! Not sure I have found a really good chicken fried steak in all of Austin? Forgot to mention great service! Food was out very fast! Large portion to share at a great price! We will be back for other menu options! Still looking for a chicken fried steak in Austin ? read more

TL;DR Mac and cheese bad, most everything else really good So I was really excited to come here after one of my friends ranted and raved about their "soul food," "down home southern cooking," "comfort food".... ad nauseam. He also said the margaritas were great. Okay... sold! I will say he built up a huge expectation in my mind but I guess I didn't consider that he's originally from Idaho; this food would've made my southern Gramaw blush. You should literally never, EVER have to season your collard greens! Oh the blasphemy! That having been said, however, is that the food is pretty good... once you put salt and hot sauce on it. Put some pepper vinegar on them collard greens and they were 33.3% as good as mom's. The fried catfish was pretty good but there was something a little off about the batter (read: bland). The mashed potatoes and gravy were GREAT. No added salt needed. Chips and queso were fair to middlin but I was hungry, so I ate them all. Margs were not good; I switched to an EastCider after I drank the super weak cocktail. Here's the kicker: I ordered mac and cheese as one of my sides and my friend chimes in "NO, GIRL... do NOT get that, it's terrible!" And I was just kinda like, yeah yeah ok, you're talking to the girl that likes school cafeteria rectangle-cut pizza and never throws food away or sends it back. You know Mac n cheese is one of those things, like sex: even if it's really bad, it's still good. As it turns out, she was right and I was WRONG! I had to send it back! It was like gritty, mushy elbow noodles in pasty water, ugh! So I told my server, who was great, to please take that nonsense back to the kitchen and pick her favourite side and bring me that. She chose the cucumber salad which was great. My party of three finished off by splitting a chocolate bread pudding a la mode and it was HUGE and to die for. We couldn't finish it it was so big. Our server I don't think ever said her name but my receipt said Capricia, and she was amazing. I felt comfortable and well taken care of. So, the long and short of it... if you are a transplant with a "California palate" (my friend used that phrase and I thought it was funny), then you'll probably really like the food. If you're from the south, be prepared to use hot sauce. Also there's plenty of parking which is a breath of fresh air. Will be back! read more

My wife and baby and I came to this place January 2014, looking for something good to eat. I have to say I liked my charbroiled catfish, mashed potatoes, green beans, and mac and cheese. I should have ordered two catfish filets because one was not enough, and I really liked the green beans but didn't care much for the mac and cheese and mashed potatoes (and gravy). My wife had two really tasty chicken fried pork chops and she enjoyed her buttered cabbage... This was our first time eating here, this was the beginning of the week (Monday) and right after the holidays. I did expect better and unfortunately I was not that impressed with my meal. I loved my wife's chicken fried pork chops and the green beans and for that I have to say this place is at least a decent place to eat. read more

Good southern homemade style food. Great menu selection. Good service. Lots of food, generally.

My family is taking a mini vacay from San Antonio, and Hoover's was on the recommended list from friends. Sadly, we were not impressed. I will say though, the staff seemed overwhelmed and apologized multiple times for the confusion and the length of time to receive our items. My husband had to go to the truck to retrieve our wipes. The high chairs were absolutely disgusting. My fried chicken was fresh and tasty. I asked multiple times for a leg and wing no thigh and still got a thigh (whatever). The greens were cold and tasted clearly like sugar. I didn't like the Mac and cheese, but both my babies ate some. My husband had the fish. It wasn't great. His fries tasted extremely oily. I wish I would have went with my gut and requested my $65 back, but we went into the evening focused on the experience so it was worth it seeing our friends. read more

Love coming here!!! I havent tried everything but they have not disappointed me yet. I feel in love with the muffaletta and the fried chicken. read more

Best southern cooking in all of Austin! I didn't think I liked mustard and collard greens before I had them here. Now I crave them! Everything is delicious! read more

Some of the best southern cooking I've ever had! Hoover's has a great atmosphere, and the prices are extremely affordable. Not to mention, they have a massive menu with some great drink options. The highlight of our meal was the candied yams. These candied yams are the best damn candied yams you will ever have in your life! read more

How is this place still in business ? Food is consistently sub-par. Nothing tastes "homemade". Everything tastes like it was previously frozen and is under seasoned . I have been here 3+ times because I really do want to Hoover's a chance. Food is overpriced, margaritas are overpriced. Everything is just so bland . No, their food is not "bad" but it is not anything I would ever remember. IHOP and Denny's are both better, if that gives you a quality idea. Come on Austin , put out some better southern food ! read more

This has been one of my favorites for years, but I don't get to eat here as often as I'd like. Well an opportunity came up yesterday at lunch and I grabbed it. Same experience as always: A menu full of things I want to try some day but know I never will because I love my regular favorite dishes too much not to get them every time. Then there's the chalk board of more choices beyond what's on the permanent menu. I always leave full and happy...a nap often follows. Thanks, Hoover's, for another great downhome meal of Southern favorites. read more

I ordered a fried porkchop, macaroni & cheese, mustard greens and a side salad to go. The service was prompt and the waitress was nice. The place looked very clean. The food was just okay. The fried porkchop was big but the seasoning seemed to only be in the breading and not on the porkchop itself. The macaroni was firm and the cheese was not creamy. The mustard greens had sugar in them - in fact, way too much sugar and they were not seasoned with meat or vinegar like I would have expected. Overall, I was not impressed. read more

Lunch was great! We ordered fried catfish po-boy with fries, chicken and dumplings with mac and cheese and chips, queso and salsa all of it was great. For dessert we got banana pudding and we were not fans of it. Our service was good and the price was about $10 per plate and $9 for queso and salsa. The serving side was huge too! read more

Hoover's Cooking - Wednesday special chicken and dumplings with a side of mac and cheese! - Southern Near Me - Austin, Texas

See all

Best soul food in Austin. I had the chicken breast, fried pork chop, mustard greens, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and yams. The biscuit is sweet, not too sweet. The cornbread is nice and filling. I will definitely be returning to the area. The parking was sufficient. read more

Good lo-fi dinner place. The food is a good mix of fatty fried foods, comfort foods, and leaner meals if you so desire (eg the jerk chicken). The dessert selection is impressive. No problems with the service. The ambiance isn't great, but it's not awful. The only major issue is that it is FRIGID. If you're at all prone to getting cold, wear long pants and a sweater. It feels like it's below 60 degrees in there for some reason. read more

I enjoyed my experience here. I had the meatloaf, which was great... my only complaint is... Just like my granny, they use sugar in their savory dishes. The tomatoes on top of my meat loaf were a bit too sweet for me... I also had the greens and they were sweet as well. My sister had the veggie plate, massive portions.... the lima beans were very rich and tasty.... all in all, I would recommend it! read more

I went to Hoover's with very high expectations mainly because there are so many of you guys with 4/5 stars. When I first stepped into Hoover's, I thought, "this place feels like how Hoover's should be." What does that mean? it means it felt right. I ordered the meatloaf, which was very good. Although, I was disappointed at the small portion! The good part is that it wasn't false advertisement because it looked EXACTLY like it was pictured on their website. Kudos to Hoover's. My girlfriend got the sausages and was supplied with FOUR sausages. It was almost twice the meat I had with my meatloaf... again *sad about the lack of meat I received*. The sides come in large portions... YES. The mashed taters (what's taters precious? you know po-ta-toes. Boil 'em, mash 'em, put 'em in a stew!) were mmm. That and fried okra..... *drools* The blackberry cobbler was also sooo soo good. Didn't get the ice cream as recommended by the server (cuz I'm fat), which probably would've made it even better. All in all, I'll probably go back again. Overall, good southern cookin'. read more

Great soul food. It really hits the spot, if you're going for comfort food. The meatloaf, jerk chicken, and catfish are incredible! Mac & Cheese is basic, nothing special so, a little disappointing as that is a classic soul food comfort side. Some of the best sides the candied yams, fried okra, carrots, green beans, & black eyed peas. Definitely don't pass this joint up, if your looking for good soulful food!!! read more

Hoover's Cooking - Daily special's menu! - Southern Near Me - Austin, Texas

Let me first say the food was pretty good in this place and we were seated fairly quickly. The fried chicken had a good crunch and the gravy was perfect. I'm annoyed and the reason this place only gets 2 stars is because our server was awful. Like beyond awful. She didn't want to write anyone's order down, she brought us all the wrong drinks (aka not what we even asked for) then our food arrived and 2/3 people got the wrong meals and sides. So sure I was kind of disappointed at that point but it gets worse. So after waiting to have our order corrected to the right food, she never came back to our table. Like a good magician she was gone. So she finally appears once the food is gone and asks if we want dessert? We say no just the check please. And thus began the 1.5 hour long process of closing out our tab. She showed up 30 minutes later and said so did you decide if you want dessert? We insisted once again no we just want our tab to go. So 20 minutes till by and we finally get our tab and we made the mistake of asking her to split it. Well she charged each of our cards 3 times for different amounts while she tried to figure out a register. So my bank throws my card into fraud mode. We ask for a manager and he comes by and destroys the receipt which is not legal. He disappears with our money again. Comes back with new receipts promising all is good in the land of banking and says I fixed it. Well sure enough I called my bank and the original charges were dropped thank god, but instead of splitting the tab he charged each person at the table the full amount for the meal. I would say come here for the food not for the service. read more

This is for Hoover's Thanksgiving service only. I'll do a regular one at some point, but I want to bat this one out while I'm still thinking about it. They opened at 11am, and the four of us got the last table at 11:25 before the waiting list began. I did see a couple leave with their doggy-box at 11:35, which seemed pretty fast. Hoover's had a prix fixe Thanksgiving Day menu, with a choice of one entrée and two sides for $16. I tried to bribe our waiter to score some fried okra which wasn't listed, but he couldn't do it. I understand the turkey, ham, pork roast and vegetarian portabella as entrées, but I'm mildly curious how many people went for the jerked chicken or smoked sirloin as their Thanksgiving choice. So in a nutshell: The good: Turkey, Caribbean fruit salad, mustard greens. The okay: Mashed potatoes, white gravy, candied yams, cornbread dressing. The forgettable: Green beans, bread basket, cranberry sauce. It started to become slightly claustrophobic when they began joining tables for large families on either side of us, so we had our desserts packed to go, and I haven't done any of them yet. Incidentally, they do sweet potato pie here instead of pumpkin. I'm not big on judging a place by their holiday prix fixe fare: If it's great, it's a bonus, but I'll cut slack for a slammed kitchen essentially pushing out mass amounts of institutional food for a festive crowd. No excuses tomorrow, though. I denote Thanksgiving restaurants by those using waitstaff or those doing a buffet service. Hoover's does waitstaff, and our waiter was a good guy. He did get bogged down toward the end cashing out other tables, but no big deal. All in all, a pleasant experience. Four dinners, four desserts, no booze = $100. One warning: To expedite table changes, two incredibly fast buspeople used big sheets of brown industrial paper as tablecloths. Although it looked solid sticking out three inches over the table edges, it wasn't. If you moved stuff around, you had to make sure there was some table underneath the paper. read more

I ordered a Thanksgiving Turkey Breast with trimmings by phone 0n 13 Nov and gave them a credit card number. When my wife picked up the order on 24 Nov they asked for the credit card. In reviewing my credit card transactions I saw that they charged the card twice, on 13 Nov and on 24 Nov. I called spoke to a manager who promised to look into it but I never heard back from him. I have initiated a dispute with the credit card company. Based on this I advise against placing phone orders with Hoovers. read more

The Dude abides...or at least resides...at Hoover's Cooking! One fine summer's evening, we were finally hungry after spending the morning competitively downing breakfast tacos (Adam Richman = muse), so we headed straight to Hoover's Cooking for some famed Southern Comfort. Our waiter bore a stunning resemblance in both manner and appearance to Jeff Bridges as "The Dude", which was a fantastic side bonus to the delicious comfort food! With some excellent guidance from The Dude, we ordered wisely: Bread Basket: free with your meal, the bread basket was a thing of beauty with sweet potato biscuits and cubes of jalapeno corn bread and ample butter Entrees: 1. Chicken Fried Steak ($11.99) - you can't come to the great state of Texas without trying this dish. Hoover's version had light crispy breading with well seasoned gravy. However, the pounded steak varied widely in thickness throughout, so some pieces had perfect breading and gravy to steak ratio and other pieces were lacking. There were perfect bites in there, with a large standard deviation 2. Fried Catfish ($11.49) - it's really unfair to judge the catfish after a recent trip to the Big Easy. Hoover's version was good, cornmeal crusted and served in a generous pile. I'll leave it at that Sides: served in large bowls, we got 2 free sides with each entrée and they were mostly great 1. Cowboy Beans - The Dude highly recommended this side, and I could see why. This ain't your ordinary bowl o' baked beans. No siree! These featured a ridiculously generous portion of pulled pork all up in the beans. It had so much pulled pork, it could have easily been an entrée! The Dude mentioned that he sometimes orders the veggie plate and gets Cowboy Beans for all 4 options. He eats 2 and takes the other two home to convert his friends over to Hoover's fine eating! Amazing, a pulled pork missionary feeding the masses, one heaping bowl of delicious pulled pork and beans at a time 2. Macaroni and Cheese - when I asked how the mac and cheese was, The Dude went to the bar to get a trophy that Hoover's won for Mac and Cheese. Now I'm a Southern Baked (with multiple cheese and eggs) kind of Mac and Cheese fan, so while the mac was tasty, I won't be handing over any trophies, but if you're into the saucier mac, you'll like this version a lot 3. Seasoned Green Beans - pretty classic, self explanatory green beans 4. Garlic and Cheese Grits - again, pretty unfair to compare the grits after our recent visit to Charleston. The garlic flavor was subtle to the point of being undetectable, but there was some cheesy flavor. We added some salt and butter to this to perk it up Desserts: 1. Blackberry Cobbler ($3.95) - The Dude's favorite cobbler, and it was easy to see why. The crust was wonderful and the blackberries were juicy and bursting with tart, sweet flavor 2. Pecan Pie ($3.95) - very solid pecan pie with a thick crust of pecans on top of the corn syrup filler PARTING THOUGHT: Hoover's was well worth a stop during our brief trip to Austin. It's a real down home eatery! Just be careful of the margaritas...the unofficial limit is 2 per customer! read more

My husband and I was looking for some soul food and came across this place online the menu looked good and had good reviews well reviews can be deceiving I ordered the fried catfish it was the only thing that was hot the greens came from a can no taste the sweet potatoes no flavor the corn bread dressing cold no taste husband ordered gumbo it had a pile of rice on it that was crunchy I guess it was left out to long jerk chicken was not jerked corn bread muffins cold and tasteless needless to say we will not return read more

Cowboy beans. That's all you need to know. You probably don't even need an entree if you order the BIG bowl of cowboy beans. There's BBQ brisket and sauce mixed in with the beans. Sooooo delish! I was scraping the bottom of the bowl to get it all! It's really a meal all it's own! But I did order sausage and ribs as well. Ribs I finished easily. The Elgin sausage went home with me. Both smokey selections were good. Maybe not Lockhart good, but tasty. Also, the large side of potato salad was thick and creamy. Bar had no wait during lunch. Good excuse to get a couple of Shiners. Staff was friendly and helpful throughout the restaurant! Looking forward to returning to Hoover's. I saw a tray with a catfish po boy and a big pile of fries that I want to devour - with a side of cowboy beans of course! read more