Austin's - Incline Village

We had a great meal. Comfort food! The meatloaf was amazing along with the chicken fried steak.

When we arrived, the staff informed us that they weren't certain they could honor our reservation, citing that they had "real" reservations that took priority over OpenTable bookings. Eventually, they seated us next to the door, despite the freezing 28-degree temperature, even though other tables were available. The service was erratic; our children's drinks arrived well after the meal was served. The portion sizes were generous, but the food itself was just mediocre.

We arrived for our reservation to find the restaurant extremely busy, and unfortunately, our table had been given to another large party. However, they kindly seated us in Cool Mess, their ice cream shop located behind the restaurant. The atmosphere was cheerful and bright, and the staff went out of their way to make us comfortable by adjusting the lighting and bringing in lanterns. Our server, Tyler, even invited us to play our own music. We received outstanding service, enjoyed delicious food and dessert, and experienced an intimate dining atmosphere. Thank you, Tyler and Austin’s!

To begin with, we experienced a delay of about 30 minutes past our reservation time. There were four of us, and we quickly ordered appetizers and drinks. While those arrived promptly, we didn't see our server again for quite some time. We finished our appetizers before having the chance to place our orders for entrees and additional drinks. It took roughly an hour for our main courses and the next round of drinks to arrive. Our server was largely absent, and the other staff member seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, completely disengaged. The bartender appeared more focused on chatting with patrons at the bar than on preparing drinks. Unfortunately, we had a similarly disappointing experience during our last visit here before the pandemic. We won't be returning.

We made reservations and received a confirmation but when we arrived at Austin’s it was closed for renovations. We are from out of town and were found with no reservations for a busy holiday week. We are very disappointed that they showed open on OpenTable.