290 West Bar & Grill

Tried the French Toast! Super yummy!!! So delicious it doesn’t need a lot of syrup! Another great meal!

I’d love to be able to review my food; unfortunately, after sitting here an hour, I still have no eggs, bacon, and toast. I’ve watched one waiter/​bartender carry out one plate at a time for an hour. I’m afraid I will be as old as everyone else here by the time I finally get my breakfast.

Stopped in to take shelter from the rain during a motorcycle ride and find a great bartender, no BS breakfast with great bacon, potatoes, and eggs. I left fueled up and with a few new friends. I plan on doing this ride again, and will be stopping here rain or shine.

I have only been here for the bar and the pool tables so can’t say anything about the quality of food.
What I can say is that this is a dive bar. 100% dive bar. But I love dive bars so this has slowly become our local joint. They occasionally have live music and when they don’t, they have a juke box that you can choose some tunes from. One catch — if no one is willing to pay for music and there is no live music — no music will play. So the bar is silent other than the patrons. It is kinda strange. But I digress…
One of the bartenders — the fact that I can’t remember her name right now is an indication of how many specialty surprise shots she made for us — is wonderful. The pool tables are usually available and the rest of the patrons tend to be super friendly.
Overall, a great little local place.

We live in Plano, Texas and journey to Austin often, we always find time to have the weekend breakfast at the 290. Great good food, migas the best I’ve ever had, homemade strawberry jam, nice thick bacon, and great service. We wish there was a place like this in Dallas. Can’t imagine giving any less than Unilocal 5 stars!

Cool location, vibe and atmosphere. Want good food, good time and nice folks, look no further. Wish we had a place like this in our town!!!

Best burger anywhere near Drippin’!
Aren’t we lucky to have such a unique place right out here in the country.
If you’re looking for a vegan, healthy food restaurant, this is definitely NOT the place. But, if, like me, on occasion you just want to wallow in a good ol’ down home Texas style burger, you won’t find much better anywhere.
These are the kinda burgers you’d make yourself. You can just tell the cook is thinking that, from the results. Not the plastic turdlets you’d get a McD. or B.K.,
This thing always comes out so hot I can hardly hold it in my hand. And, accompanied by fries that were obviously cooked to order, especially for you. Add to that a big schooner of your favorite draft beer, then walk out for under ten bucks. What’s not to like!
Don’t forget breakfast as well. All breakfasts come with the most delicious buttery/​bacon-​y mini-​biscuits. Wish I could just order about a dozen of those little babies, that’s all I’d need. No, this isn’t the place you’d hit for breakfast every day (unless you’re serious about bringing on that diabetes), but when that once a month urge strikes you for a seriously down-​home country greasy breakfast, it can’t get any better than this.
The cook, wait staff, and bartender are all friendly and responsive. And, oh, to the reviewer who whined about not getting quick service: this is a sit-​at-​the-​bar diner. sure, there are lots of tables, but anyone who’s been there more than once knows you sit and eat at the bar.
As far as the very local «regulars», it can be a tough nut to break into the inner circle. I frequent this place maybe every 6 weeks or so, and have yet to be included in the gang, but… just keep those little mini bacon-​biscuits coming, and I could care less.
Oh, from passing-​by observation, this seems to be a pretty popular watering hole in the evenings (I’ve not yet sampled that end of the day), as the parking lot is frequently full until waaay into the night. I understand there is karaōke, game night, and occasional live music, but for now I’ll just stick with my regular burger fix!

Great breakfast! This bar/​café reminds me of some bars that I have been to in Western Montana-​a family joint with great food!
We always go to Robin’s 290 Café every weekend. The portions are great, the service very friendly and homey, and the food is just down home comfort food! The country scramble or the Migas are the specialty of the house and the home made strawberry jam is wonderful!!!

This place is definitely 5 stars for its genre. The bad reviews sound like they are from people not looking for a local dive. Don’t go here if you’re looking for a fine dining experience. Absolutely go if you’re looking for good food and friendly, unassuming service at a local low-​key place. The breakfast is delicious. Fresh strawberry jam and fantastic grits. The grits are better than what I make at home. Grits from restaurants are usually lousy; these don’t disappoint. There is one friendly cook who comes out to say hi and all her homemade goodies are great!

It is your local dive… it’s local and run by the owner. It is a road side bar — you cant expect much. The cook comes out and talks to everyone and she is very proud of her food.
Food is awesome for a road side bar! The Chicken salad sliders are devine and the Turkey melt is very tasty. Skip Nutty Brown and go here. It has that local feel and yes it is very rustic and it’s not run with a wait staff or a buser or a hostess.
If you want to take a bite out of Texas — come here. If you want standard ‘blah’ — come here and it will blow you away!!!

The 290 bar has pretty good patrons, but if they know you’re «From Belterra» you get the opposite side of discrimination…
The bartenders are busy, but when approached to get our drinks (after several tries), the bartender got snippy and presented us with our bill… Really?!? We ask for service, and when we ask why the bartender is just standing there doing nothing, we get handed a bill and asked to leave!
Don’t get me wrong, at this point it was good to just leave, but it felt like… you’re not one of us and we don’t want you here!
One reviewer said it right, lots of regulars… I guess if you want good service you’ll have to go somewhere else…

Bad service and sh*tty food. This place is also DIRTY. I mean, every surface is covered with a layer of grease or dust.
The food is expensive for what you get and the coffee is awful. I won’t be returning.

This place is great! Delicious food, laid-​back place. I got the Mama’s migas, with lots of fresh veggies and scrumptious homemade sausage. I’m definitely looking forward to trying out a beer and a burger sometime, as well as their advertised bands.

Homemade sausage was fantastic. I also loved the potatoes and the eggs. Our table was given complimentary biscuits with homemade strawberry jam which was wonderful. There was a full bar here too, which was awesome. Free WiFi and breakfast for 4 was under $ 40… Apparently they also host live bands at night. I’ll come back.

I went here bc there sign states they have breakfast starting at 7 and lunch ends at 2
I was there at 9 am, and the doors were locked, it looked dead but I got out of the car anyway and continued reading the sign in the parking lot a few times… it makes no sense to post their «correct» hours on a small sheet by the door and have incorrect hours for the passerbys. I don’t know how the food tastes, but oh well, I will be going to thyme & dough instead. I really wanted to try this place, I like affordable breakfast, but after reading what I assume to be the «manager’s» comment below, I decided a manager who bitches about a customer or potential one shouldn’t be a manager, so I won’t be ever going back.
Maybe you guys should post your correct hours clearly on your sign under the billboard instead of right by the door, so people can see while they are driving by, instead of me walking to the door to check your hours, which I did get out and didn’t see the sign bc I was too busy staring out the large sign on the road
Jason or whatever your name is, remembering your name isn’t worth my time, I am glad it’s yours. I just suggest that you admit there is a clear disconnect from you breakfast hours posted on your large sign and the one you state you have at the door.
So, yes, thanks Unilocal for dinging your awful business. If you hate Unilocal so much then don’t bother using it. Reviews are about the whole experience, and yet I can only review the service side of it, and not even stepping through the doors, it’s enough said.

We have returned to 290 by invitation from James (All Starz Karaōke) and his assurance that there were new bartenders. We have been going every Wednesday now for a couple of months and I am happy to report that 290 West has redeemed themselves. Thank You! The service has been very good, the drinks are good, and the karaōke is great! We did have an issue with being overcharged once, however the bartender quickly repaired the bill.

We stopped in this weekend to see what their breakfast menu had to offer. The breakfast menu had about 6 ‘combos’ to pick from.
My wife had the French Toast (2 slices) with a side of bacon, and some coffee. She said everything was good. Price was $ 6.95
I had the Breakfast Scramble which was 2 scrambled eggs, ham, potatoes and cheese all mixed together, with an english muffin for $ 5.95.
Breakfast for 2 for $ 13 + tip. Not bad at all. Food and service was good. It’s definitely an older bar type of environment with not much seating room. But we will go there again for breakfast.

This is a roadside honky tonk that happens to be open for breakfast and lunch. A huge, hand-​painted banner announcing «Breakfast» below the «Robin’s 290 W Bar & Grill» sign pulled me in from the highway about 9 AM. Several locals were at the bar, variously reading an Austin paper as well as a menu. All of them knew Sarah by name; Sarah stayed behind the bar and in good communication with the kitchen. Another staffer came in and turned on about a half dozen fans that probably made it as fresh as it could get between the Friday and Saturday bar nights.
Since no one was smoking, and only one patron was already drinking beer, I figured it was worth staying. The old dark wood inside had obviously seen a lot of boots, and another sign that read «Spit in the Air/​Blood on the Floor» gave me a good idea of what it might be like at 10PM instead of 10AM around these pool tables.
I ordered the breakfast «taco» which was an enticingly soft flour tortilla filled with egg, bacon, & cheese. Delicious, y’all. The breakfast menu offers a taco with two fillings for a buck and a half, then lists «other stuff» that you can add for 50 cents an item. A thick ceramic cup of coffee was a dollar, so my bill was all of $ 4.33

Ummm, it’s a different crowd. They allow smoking inside, which is ok for some but I prefer not to smell like an ashtray.
I gave this place a couple of tries with mixed results. This place is full of regulars, and they seem to be the hardcore drinkers. Down to Earth drunk people is how I would sum it up.
Not for me.