Este

Excellent food and drinks! So tasty. Beautiful interior with loads of natural light. Very seafood forward and all of it was phenomenal. The staff were accommodating and friendly. Great happy hour.

I’ve been twice now and would describe each as one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Every dish I’ve had has been incredible with impeccably balanced flavors and beautiful presentations. I was skeptical of some, such as the camarones “el ricas” (shell on shrimp) and the betabel asado (charred and pickled beats), but was blown away every time. I wish I had pictures of the dishes to include but we ate them too quickly. I could recommend any of the dishes I’ve had and am excited myself to try the ones I haven’t in the future, but one worth noting is the pork carnitas. Being that Este is a seafood focused menu this dish might be overlooked but it is incredibly delicious and worth ordering. The last thing to note on the food is that they recommend ordering family-style to share and it is certainly the way to go. Most dishes seemed as if they were meant to share between maybe 4-5 people at most, so if you have a larger group keep that in mind. We ordered one dish per person (not including desert) and that seemed to be the right amount for us. Plus, you can always order more.

As for drinks, there isn’t much to say but it’s all good. The wine list is wonderful and the margaritas are delicious. I also had the Del Mar-Tini which was delicious.

Finally, the waitstaff are great. They explained every dish to us in appropriate detail and were very helpful in assisting us to decide on drinks or dishes based on our stated preferences.

Este has quickly become my favorite restaurant in Austin, and while the price is on the higher end, the quality of ingredients and service make it well worth it in my opinion. I will most definitely be returning.

This is truly one of the most disappointing meals I’ve had in Austin. My family and I went in with high expectations that were quickly trampled by what seemed like many technical cooking errors and some bad flavor combinations. I took a bite of the grilled squid and had to chew it for almost 10 minutes before I could get it down. The tuna carnitas almost seemed like they were made with old tuna as they had an incredibly fishy flavor that didn’t mix with any of the other flavors in the profile of the dish. I actually had to take multiple pieces of cartilage like meat out of my mouth when I took a bite. And I don’t know how they did it but I wasn’t able to taste butternut squash or cheese when I tried the butternut squash side dish. It just left a foul flavor in my mouth that lingered for the rest of the meal.

There were some good dishes at Este such as the fried mushroom dish and the T-bone steak that I will say were pretty tasty. But it’s somewhat telling that the best dishes in my opinion weren’t even seafood which is what the restaurant is known for.

I’ve eaten at multiple high quality restaurants in Austin like Odd Duck, Suerte, and Canje that I would go back to in a heartbeat but I will not come back here and I cannot recommend it to others.

Edit: We ate at Este with 6 people and ended up paying around $700 in total for the entire meal. At this price point and with the reputation of Este in mind it is abhorrent that we received this quality of food from what should be a high level fine dining restaurant.

Had dinner tonight at Este before the play at the Bass Concert Hall. Exquisite! Had dined before at sister restaurant, Suerte. Andy was my server and I sat at the bar in front of the Kitchen. The 'two Isaaks' and Andy were exceptional. Andy helped guide my menu choices and the 'two Issaks' were enjoyable to watch! They were too busy to verbally communicate on a regular basis but did so non-verbally when possible. The food and libations were of the highest quality!. I traveled from Dallas but will return as this is a destination restaurant. Also, the female host was charming but I forgot her name!

Very cute place, food was good, very cute atmosphere, full on little details. Their Este ceviche is highly recommend it and their margaritas. Also Friday happy hour start at 1130 am so is a great place for lunch

Meh. The food was pretty good but overpriced. We waited a month to get a reservation but unfortunately the wait was not worth it. If I’m going to have a fancy dinner I would much rather go to Uchiko or maybe Justine’s. The food here was a solid B+. Service was mediocre. My water was empty more than it was full and it took 30 minutes for my drink to arrive. It was a great drink but it took 90 minutes to get two drinks. Fail. The oysters were as good as what I’ve had at Perla’s and Clark’s but equally expensive.

Incredible authentic Mexican seafood. Pricey but great for a special occasion.

Food are overpriced and the quality are not good, some are extremely salty that you would not feel you tongue. We don’t know what’s the hype from. Also the waiter/ress didn’t serve us the carb that’s supposed to go with Ceviche and we wonder what’s that about?
(And we ordered more than 5 courses and we still don’t know what this is abt)

Fabulous! Fantastic service and great food.

Delicious! Really enjoyed this place as a pescatarian. The flautas are delicious! Ceviches are really tasty too.