The Veranda
Austin, TX 78757
Phone: (512) 300-2660
- Price:
- $
- Hours:
- Mon-Sat 11am-2am, Sun 10am-2am, Restaurant closes at 10pm
Editorial Review for The Veranda – by Chip Rankin
In Short
Sharing ownership with Mesa Hills Cafe, the breezily stylish Veranda is an invigorating influence on its Northcross Mall location. Casual diners, area office workers and ladies-who-lunch fill the miniature labyrinthine seating areas, which feature bright spaces, green vegetation and colorful backlit orange and red wall tiles. The varied menu showcases specialty dishes such as pork tenderloin in ginger pineapple and a King George filet, as well as 22 salads and 22 sandwiches and burgers.
Editorial content is independent of paid advertisers. Any expenses are paid for by Citysearch.
Insider Tips
Where to SitIf you're looking for something informal, dine at the bar. It's separate from the restaurant and has its own entrance.
ParkingThe restaurant is located in Northcross Mall, but its two entrances are exterior and actually face the northern parking lot.
User Reviews for The Veranda
08/03/2008 Posted by meowmix007
I just got back from eating at The Veranda, and the food was simply awful. The menu is very long and eclectic with a range of styles from Greek food to paella to Tex Mex. It's been my experience that it's hard for a restaurant to do any one dish well when a menu is too ambitious, so I should have been forewarned once I saw the extremely full menu. I had called ahead to make sure the restaurant wasn't close to closing time, and the manager assured me they were closing at 10pm. We were seated at the restaurant before 9pm, so we assumed we got there before the kitchen closed. We were sadly mistaken. I ordered crawfish enchiladas and my boyfriend ordered beef fajitas. It took at least 35-40 minutes for our food to arrive, and the restaurant only had 2 other tables. When our food finally arrived, my boyfriend's $13 beef fajitas came on a sizzling platter that was barely warm and definitely didn't sizzle. We took one look at the beef and could tell the meat was microwaved. It was gray, had no grill marks, and tasted like it had been steamed or boiled. Moreover, there was barely any meat on the platter. I can only assume the kitchen already turned off the grill before our orders were placed. Meanwhile, my crawfish enchiladas smelled and tasted really wrong and super fishy, as if the crawfish had been frozen and then thawed under questionable circumstances. I ate a couple bites of my food and could not eat any more. Now my stomach feels wrong, I can't get this horrible taste out of my mouth, and I'm hoping I don't get sick from the food. I felt horrible about wasting our food, but it was so inedible that I didn't even want to offer the barely touched leftovers to a homeless person. Our bill came to $37, with only 2 entrees and 1 appetizer ordered. What a complete waste of time and money; you couldn't pay me to eat here again!
Pros: immediate seating, as the place was practically empty
Cons: food overpriced and microwaved
12/17/2007 Posted by seekinggdservice
Wow, what a let down. I've driven by this place several times and was curious. I checked out the website, seemed like a place worth trying. Now, I regret it. We had a party of 13 for our business Christmas dinner at Veranda. What a mistake. Now I feel bad and I feel like I let my employees down, sigh. The heater "was on the fritz" according to our server. It was FREEZING!!! We had 2 servers, one seemed VERY confused. If he was "new" that's fine, but he never introduced himself, so we weren't sure! All the food looks THE SAME- quality is LACKING for the price. Seems like SYSCO frozen/pre-prepared foods to me, which is sad. They were out of spinach, no desert of the day, they were out of lady fingers... all advertised on the menu. Food was COLD, but maybe it's because we all had to dine with our coats on because it was FREEZING! The restroom door had a sign reading "our pipes are bad", we ordered a banana split that came with an over-ripe, semi-rotten banana. Just a let down all together. Maybe they are waiting to be on Kitchen Nightmares??? ALSO- what is the sense of being a CitySearch Member if the owner/manager doesn't respond to customers negative comments??? They should try to make up for what is lacking, I read some other bad comments, but I guess they don't want to try to make an effort to show they can do better?
Pros: Potential, if they try a bit harder and maybe simplify the menu (and get fresh ingredients)
Cons: Not worth the money, heater not working, service poor, quality poor
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