8212 Wine Bar & Grill

when staying at the resort, the convenience of not having to travel off property for meals make this a default choice. the hostess stand is inconsistent with hospitality. the servers have been pretty decent overall. the food is nothing spectacular, typical for resort food. the caesar salad (add shrimp or grilled salmon) is worth mentioning. as is the tortilla soup. skip the fish tacos… pretty bland. one thing i did appreciate was that that kids 5 and under eat free.

This is a really nice resort. But there is a rule that hotel restaurants don’t live up to the hotels. Unfortunately, this restaurant is not an exception.
The ingredients for greatness were there. The staff were all very nice and the food: chicken tortilla soup; local vegetables; a turkey pasta dish; and a local tempranillo; were all good. However, the place was either badly understaffed, or the staff were in training, or both because everything was very slow, except for bringing out the entre while we were still working on the soup.
It was a surprising meal. I was surprised when they nearly forgot us after we were seated. I was surprised when we didn’t get a drink menu and the waiter tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate it from memory. I was surprised when they delivered my glass of wine to my wife, who already had a glass of bear in front of her. I was surprised when we weren’t offered pepper or additional cheese for the otherwise good, but slightly tepid, turkey pasta dish. I was again surprised when our $ 6 side order of vegetables showed up with only six small vegetables: three small carrots and three small asparagus. The three small carrots were hardly cooked. For $ 1 per vegetable they should have at least gotten them nicely al dente rather than nearly raw. I was also surprised when I had to flag down a waiter to order a second glass of wine. I was even more surprised when we were billed twice for one soup.
Really folks, this place has all the right ingrediants, including a very pleasant atmosphere and pleasant, if disorganized staff. The food, at least the chicken tortilla soup and the turkey spaghetti, is pretty good, and the wine list is quite nice. Hopefully they can get it all together further down the road and live up to their potential.

Instead of a summary of everything that went wrong here, I will just post that it all did.

Was at Omni Barton for a night.
Ate dinner at the 8212 on site restaurant; there isn’t much selection however the Redfish Playa $ 28 was definitely top notch, better than any of the Chicago Restaurant week food I had. Not by a lot, slightly.
Impressive. Perfectly sauteed shrimp and asparagus, plus the portion was generous.
Highly recommended. Great atmosphere and nice pool table/​hockey table.

Horrible experience here. The waiters were rude. Food came out late. They ID’d my 28 year wife which was annoying as we just got back from a spa and left ID in room (who ID’s a 28 year old)?
Had the queso for appetizer which was cold and tasted like it was from a can. I also have the fish tacos which weren’t anything special for the price. Wife had the turkey dish and wasn’t too impressed either.
Wouldn’t definitely recommend only eating a quick lunch there, but the price is ridiculous!
I won’t ever be back.

This little wine bar is tucked away in the Barton Creek resort. It’s a little hard to find and you might have to ask for directions to find it. It has many nice wines but they do tend to serve many from Texas. I tried the Moscato wine and as I said before it was one of the ones from Texas. Honestly I wasn’t a fan but it was drinkable. Next I ordered a shrimp salad and found it to be not only large but really fresh.
I attempted to sit on the patio and once I got out there I realize there isn’t any view. I had them move me back inside because what is the point of being outside if there is no view and no eye candy. From what I gather the best view can be had at the Hill County Dining Room.
The staff goes out of their way to make your experience a good one and honestly that made up for the wine.

I would like to give this place 3.5 stars, but 3 is too low, so I’ll go with 4.
My fiancé and I live in Austin — close to the resort, so we decided to try 8212.
We had purchased a coupon certificate from
and dined here for our first time yesterday evening. We ordered the giant Texas margarita for 2 ($ 15.00). It was pretty good and it was the biggest margarita I’ve ever had, that’s for sure!
My fiancé ordered the Cavatappi pasta with chicken, he said he liked it but the sauce was a little rich.
I ordered the snapper in a coconut sauce and it was too sweet for my liking, but the snapper itself was cooked perfectly — moist and delicious. I really enjoyed the plantains and plantain chip that accompanied my dish. The beans my fish were served over tasted a little dry — like they might not have been just made… kind of a bummer for the price you pay!
Overall, the service was excellent. The food was 3 stars or a-​ok, the price was definitely 1 – 2 stars because I strongly feel for the price they should up the quality of food. However, our server was incredibly attentive and on top of things, I also like the ambiance and view.
There is a lounge upstairs with happy hour 4 – 7, and they have a pool table and shuffleboard.
The atmosphere is kind of «upscale old dudes who golf» but my fiancé and I didn’t really care — we were having fun!
I do suggest to management they lower their entrée prices, because I doubt we’d come back here over other Austin restaurants. I certainly wouldn’t come here again unless it was with another
certificate — which puts the price at where things should be.

Ridiculously overpriced food, this «Grill» must cater only to captive business clientele who are visiting on expense accounts. The food IS good but not $ 35 an entrée good. My family did enjoy our meal there as the place was serving only two other tables and we could easily talk and hear everyone at the dining table. A perfect dining place for the rich and hard of hearing. The resort of course is stunning as usual…

The Ex Mister and I had our first real date here since our split 2 years ago during Austin Restaurant Week. I honestly did not choose an ARW restaurant based on the fact that it was in a fancy resort HOTEL — I honestly chose it because it was the only upscale restaurant I had never been to on the list and it had a great menu I wanted to try:) Honestly, but it played out perfectly!
Driving up to the resort had me salivating in so many ways — the resort is just jaw dropping beautiful! I felt like I was on vacation a million miles away from home in a fancy shmancy resort!
We pull up and valet whisks the car away as we swagger in and are escorted to our dining destination by another valet.
The dining room is very upscale Texas with lots of hardwoods and leather and the service was spot on. From the looks of the other patrons they were guests and not Austinites there for Austin Restaurant Week — sweet because it was not busy and we got fantastic service!
I love Shrimp and chose it for both my starter and entrée. The Garlic Seared Tiger Shrimp on a bed of Texas Ruby Red grapefruit, fried avocados and Ancho chilis was Freaking Fantastic! The Jumbo Shrimp and Grits was good but not 5 stars — too heavy on the butter and bacon for me.
The Ex Mister selected the Cherry Bourbon Glazed Baby Back Ribs served with Cheddar cheese grits and the Pork Tenderloin Al Pastor with pineapple chutney and refried black-​eyed peas — both a fantastic 5 stars!
We both love love Mexican Vanilla Bean Ice Cream so we both went with the Fried Peach Pie with said ice cream topped with Amaretto Pecan Chantilly whipped cream for dessert. How could any 2 people still attracted to each other resist more after a dessert like that? Tell me because I needed an excuse.
We ended our dinner at the Red White and Blues Bar and decided since we had both been drinking it was best to get a room. Oh, Yeah Great Idea!

The 8212 Wine Bar & Grill is located inside the Barton Creek Resort so it’s pretty fancy. It’s nice to treat yourself to a fancy dinner every once in a while. Whenever you expect to spend more than usual you expect good food and we were not disappointed. We decided to try the appetizers so we ordered the spinach and arugula dip and the chips and queso and by that I was able to tell it was going to be a good meal. I then ordered a salad with lemon vinaigrette dressing and it was pretty good. For the entrée I order the special which was fish on rice and that was delicious. What I like the most about the meal was the dessert, I ordered the Warm White Chocolate Bread Pudding. Over all it was a good experience with good food and good company.