Bar Mirabeau

The most interesting part of our latest visit to Bar Mirabeau was the fashion crisis of the hostess. Second to her colorfully striped hair, disheveled clothing and overall demeanor of confusion — there is a cute, rustic chic cabinet right next to the handwritten signs that point you to the bathroom that also drew our eyes.
Perhaps we came at an off-​hour for the staff because, other than us, there was one gentleman holed up in the corner on his laptop, and honestly, he very well could have been a staff member, as well. Aside from him, we had the place to ourselves.
We were seated awkwardly by the interesting yet uninterested hostess who seemed to wonder if we were supposed to be there, which made us wonder if we were supposed to be there. The waiter then brought us food menus but no drink menus, which we found annoying. Please assume that we are alcoholics and would rather have drinks than food especially when we come in between normal meal times and I already smell like tequila.
While we waited for our Four Meats Flatbread pizza, for my Paloma and for husband’s Manhattan we had plenty… oh plenty of time to find various things to criticize about the place. The first point of judgment was how much time we had to judge. In an empty restaurant. Where there was nothing to do but make two drinks. My husband had enough time to update to iOS7.
Once I was given my flavorless Paloma, my husband his cherryless Manhattan, we now had time to spare before our food would arrive. At this time my eyes roved over the furniture and décor in general. The atrocious, circus-​surreal artwork is repelling to say the least and certainly an appetite killer. Not my bag for sure, but if you like grotesquely distorted grins surrounding dead people while you eat, sit in the foremost corner table in the chair facing Sixth Street.
To say the furniture is cheap would be an hilarious understatement. The tabletops are tacky, cheap wood painted black on teetering podiums with creaky wooden chairs. Cracks are visible. And this is not part of a shabby chic motif. Or, if it is, they needed to spend more time on Pinterest before thinking this could pass as stylish. The overall warehouse feel of the building with total swank potential is completely defeated by the awkwardly placed seating and the clear message that they ran out of funding and /​or interest in this place shortly after buying the designer’s cousin’s daughter’s paintings (I’m assuming those are up as a favor to the artist…) and hanging curtains to separate Mirabeau from Jezebel.
The patio has great potential and I could see myself wanting to sit there on a cool evening and sip on something bubbly, poured from a freshly uncorked bottle that can’t be adulterated by the poor mixing of an uninterested or inexperienced bartender. The flatbread pizza was nothing noteworthy, but it was cheap (I think about $ 5) so that’s fine by me.
They do offer some appealing drink prices.
Perhaps on a bustling night, surrounded by friends and laughs and bubbles, when I explore the specialty drink menu and we can all sample a wider variety of their food, I’d have a better experience. But in the clean honesty of being in this bar when it’s virtually vacant and seeing it for what it is… I can’t say I’d go out of my way to return.

We met some friends here several weeks ago for dinner. The waitress was very accommodating to our special food needs. One of us is allergic to gluten and the other had a gallbladder issue and could not eat more than 5g of fat in one meal. The gluten free option was the hamburger with no bun and a salad. The fries are cooked in the same oil as the breaded crab cakes, so the fries were not an option. For the low fat meal the veggie burger worked great. A side salad with the vinegar only
My husband had the full hamburger and crab cakes. They came out great. Our friends also got the homemade chips, hummus, and salsa app. The chips were made with corn only so that worked out as one of the gluten free options
We enjoyed sitting in the lounge area talking for hours. We would come back again as the service was so accommodating and the food was descent.

I can’t emphasize enough the terrible service they have here, and I gave them too many chances. I come to see the Brazilian band that plays every weekend because I like them. In the time I was there I ordered 2 of their signature drinks and I had to send them back because they tasted horrible. How can they mess up their own signature drinks???
The servers barely came to see if we needed something. One of the drinks I had to order straight from the bar. Not to mention I ordered two appetizers and after 20 min the guy told me they got delivered to a different table and he would speed it up. Not only the orders got late but they were cold. I’m not into cold skewers.
I won’t come back to this place and would have to wait for the band to play somewhere else.

So I went for the Chopped Viewing party. Either A) I was one of the ones to NOT get the email that the date was changed (their fault) or B) I was one of the ones who got the email and didn’t read it correctly (fine, I’ll take the blame).
Even so, it was just a weird experience. First of all, there were 3 other patrons in there. And many of the staff seemed kinda clueless. The hostess and the event coordinator were sort of apologetic. Sort of. (Maybe it was my fault… even so, maybe be slightly more apologetic)
The bartender was super nice and friendly and offered suggestions… after he asked someone else. He knew there was some sort of something going on, but didn’t have answers. About anything. He wasn’t sure which foods and drinks they were offering specials on (because of the not-​happening-​tonight-​viewing-​party-​thing). I guess I’m glad he asked, rather than blowing smoke up our rears, but he still seemed kinda clueless about the night, as nice as he was. (Friend asked when we left, «Did you kinda get the feeling that none of them have worked in a restaurant before?»)
Parind was even on the patio. You’d think if the owner was just outside that you’d know a bit more (like a Food Network viewing party – EVEN IF it’s not happening that night) about what’s going on.
Another patron came in to pick up his to-​go order. Servers and bartender kinda seemed a little unclear as to how that process worked. They almost seemed surprised that you could even order food for pick up. Seems they got it under control – or the guy walked out with food – but still…
I had a great glass of wine and my friend liked her Mirabeau Martini. We shared mediocre oysters. With horseradish that came out when we had one oyster left. (And who serves only 5 oysters, anyway?!) We also shared the cheese wedge fries (yes, with bacon!). They were pretty good, but super super salty.
I only got to go to Jezebel once when it was on Congress and LOVED it. I know it’s not the same, but I did have high expectations. And they weren’t met. It was sadly a waste of money and calories.
I’m sure I’ll go back for the real viewing party, but it might take a bit more to get me back besides that.
(Just wait for my friend’s update… her card was charged FIVE times, at time of print. Hopefully that gets taken care of).

Our experience was horrible. We had friends in town from Dallas and specifically picked this place to try while in town for a birthday dinner. We arrived early and had drinks at the bar. While very nice, the bartender was not good at his craft. We ordered a capirinha that was made with packets of sugar, not simple syrup which you know is a bad sign. We had asked the hostess if we could pre order a dessert for our birthday boy. She took our dessert order and said she would take care of it.
We sit down and its a beautiful patio with a beautiful view. The waitress takes drink order for the folks who didn’t grab drinks at the bar and we also gave her our appetizer order. We wait 10 minutes and no drinks. We ask the waitress and they finally they arrive 5 minutes later. Still no appetizers. 10 minutes later those arrive – waitress still has not taken dinner order.
Finally she takes our dinner order but then we run out of chips on our appetizer. We ask for more, nothing. Go ask waitress again who is standing at the bar not doing anything, and she still doesn’t bring them! I finally have had enough and go ask the hostess, who is really the manager and we finally received our chips. By this time, there was no point because the queso is cold and solid (we waited 20 to 25 min for more chips!). We ask the waitress for new queso who is dumbfounded that we can’t use the chips with the solid queso.
At this point, I go and talk to manager (dora) about horrible service (except her). She buys the table a round of drinks-​awesome! Dinner comes, food was decent. Another person in our group asks waitress for birthday dessert. Guess what, we never got that dessert that we kept asking for (3 different people at our table had asked for dessert for birthday boy). We weren’t even asking for a free dessert-​we would have paid!
Then after all that, their server crashed and couldn’t process credit cards so they had to manually process all of our payments. (Not a big deal, just wanted to point out yet another downfall of our visit).
1 star for the manager becuz she was quick/​efficient, a good listener, and did try to make it better — it still fell short on all levels though. Definitely not a re-​do even for drinks.

Loads of potential here but they are at risk of losing everything. We went for dinner this week and arrived about 6:45. There were only two other tables of two there in the huge indoor dining room. No one was outside on the expansive deck area.
We were greeted by the cordial hostess who sat us directly next to one of the other diners. With so many open seats we easily could have had a little extra space.
The happy hour specials looked good along with the signature drinks. It took the waiter well over 5 minutes to even come to our table and when he did, he brought water and said he would be back… another 5 minutes go by and the waiter takes our drink and appetizer order… margarita and champagne cocktail along with the crab cake appetizer. 13 minutes later our appetizer arrives… I ask about our cocktails, he said he would expect those to be out before our appetizer… at this time we were ready to put in our dinner order but the waiter rushed off without asking or letting me speak. 10 minutes later the cocktails were not there. At 7:40, we got up told the waiter to forget it and we left. He said the apps were on the house and the bartender was training. Please keep in mind there were a total of 6 people in the entire restaurant.
The good news is that the crab cake appetizer was good. However, if it were not on the $ 5 happy hour special, I feel the size would be disappointing.
The location is great and the deck area is amazing. They need help, serious help here with service ASAP or this place will be gone soon.

Rating of the Bar at Bar Mirabeau. 5 Stars. Make that 8 stars. Fantastic.
Rating of the Food at Bar Mirabeau 2 – 3 Stars at Best
Rating of the Décor at Bar Mirabeau if You Look West 5 Stars
Rating of the Décor at Bar Mirabeau if You Look East 2 stars.
How can a place with such an extraordinary bar and such a wonderful location be weak on so many other aspects of their operation?
Bar Mirabeau does amazing mixed drinks. Amazing. Better than Excellent. Memorable.
I have had some of the best sweet drinks I have had in my life. I have had the best Vodka Martini variant I have had in my life.
If I am going drinking — this is where I want to go.
(although if you absolutely insist — I can be induced to go to Bar Congress as a nontrivial second best.)
The food?
Well maybe the hamburgers might be okay. (I saw someone else’s hamburger and onion rings and they looked pretty good.)
However, the fish small plates I had and the vegetables sides had haute cuisine prices and cooking school failure execution.
My seabass was nearly tasteless except for a char. My dinnermate’s salmon had a sauce that made it taste acrid.
The spinach with lemon beurre blanc was first rate and kept the dinner part of the evening from being a total disaster.
The carmelized brussel sprouts varied from average to tasteless.
A common flaw throughout was no salt … or salt that was unevenly distributed so that only part of the dish tasted proper.
This is basically a sign of no taste testing in the kitchen and sloppy execution in seasoning.
Now if you are going to a bar to drink … then environment and décor make a difference.
The music is Pandora and sometimes very cool. It is also at a volume consistent with talking to your dinnermate … a plus.
The Bar has a spectacular patio overlooking the Shoal Creek downtown greenbelt
and the patio is beautifully designed and super attractive.
The inside has uncomfortable pew like benches
(is this really what you want at a linger and build the tab restaurant?)
and some normal seats. (and a good sofa for the bar crowd.).
There are great great clownlike childlike paintings … a total plus.
So if you look west you see the paintings, the greenbelt and the patio.
If you look East you see a bar area of naked concrete and a shabby curtain that look like a backstage of a shabby alt theater.
The kitchen is open and frankly institutional and not pretty.
We ain’t talking Swedish country kitchen
and we ain’t talking chic modern.
We are talking a hospital cafeteria quality graphic.
The owner should do us all a favor and cover up the whole East wall.
The ceiling is exposed concrete and airducts — which goes zero with the warm wood furniture and cozy look of what is below. The place looks unfinished and uncomfortable … and impression matched by the hard benches.
But oh … those drinks.
So go drinking at the Mirabeau, sit on the patio, and
look west young man, look west.

The happy hour is a great deal and the Mirabeau martini is really yummy.

WORST BAR I HAVE EVER BEEN TO.
The drinks were way too over priced and not even that good.
Staff was terrible. Bartender got mad when I asked for a lime for a gin and tonic… which is supposed to already have a lime.
Outside Patio was dirty and the decoration was cheap.
As far was West 6^th bars go this is the bottom of the totem pole. Never going back

A week after I wrote this, they quit serving breakfast.

I found this new venue to be a bit disjointed. The dining room
Is large and cold. The atmosphere colder yet.
After trying 5 different plates I thought maybe the kitchen
needed more practice.
The pork chop was good, the crab cakes were passable.
Chicken wings were to heavy with a sweet sauce. The raw
Oysters need to be served with a choice of sauces. I’m not a
fan of vinegarette dipping sauce. The pork belly was good as well.
The portions here are small for the prices they charge.
It won’t make my usual list of venues to return to.

As a restaurant, Bar Mirabeau was unimpressive and definitely 3 stars for me. As a bar/​lounge, Bar Mirabeau would be 4 stars.
We were at Bar Mirabeau to ring in the new years. We made reservations so that we could get a table and had their NYE 4 course prefixe. In terms of planning and NYE, Bar Mirabeau was a great choice! They were able to accommodate our table of 10. Prices were reasonable. And, we were able to party in the same place after dinner.
Not sure if I would come back to try the food, but if I did, I think I’d opt for brunch and maybe on the patio. The space itself is nice, so I could see it being a nice place to catch up over a meal and enjoy the view.

Customer service is A+. We went for some weekend brunch, and the menu had some healthy items, and not so much of the usual grease grub. The patio is dog friendly, so it gets an extra star for that always. When we showed up there were already 3 dogs there at one table, and they went ape shite. Management went over there right away and talked to the owners. Basically said that they were very dog friendly there, but you got to keep them under control. Very polite guy and no harm to anyone’s feelings. One of the owners came by later and apologized. Class act by all involved.
But the food and the atmosphere were wonderful. Nice and laid back. And tasty food! I’ll be back for sure. They are a very young place at a brand new building, so I hope word gets out and they get a foothold in a very competitive area and end up sticking around for some time.

This review is regarding the brunch. The ambience on the outdoor patio was nice, overlooking the creek (albeit a bit on the dry side at the moment) and with live music. My crab cake Benedict was good quality and tasty: lump crab meat without much filler, an over easy egg and a green chili hollandaise sauce (flavorful but not really spicy). The pumpkin pancakes were also delicious. The $ 3 mimosa was worth that price… the $ 5 bloody mary looked to be a better bargain. Service was excellent.

Went to Bar Mirabeau for happy hour last night. The main dining room looked pretty empty, but it was early on a Wednesday night. We say at the bar and enjoyed the great happy hour specials, half off the entire bar menu and $ 3 off our cocktails. Had the cheese fries, which were really steak fries and a side of queso. It sounds simple, but it was amazing, fries were crisp, queso was perfect, with the right amount of spice. On the bartender’s recommendation we also got the onion rings. Both of us being from Massachusetts, the highest compliment we can give is they tasted like they came from a lobster shack on Cape Cod. Crisp, not too greasy, served with a great dipping sauce. The only small complaint would be they could have been a bit hotter when served.
Overall Bar Mirabeau is a great addition to west downtown Austin, and I’ll definitely be returning.

Bar Mirabeau is situated within the West 6^th district, in a residential-​booming sort of area, smack dab in between a couple small businesses, next to some Austin mainstays (Whole Foods, REI, Frank and Angie’s), and even shares residence with Cirrus Logic – a very sleek building.
Interestingly, they are cranking out grub at all points in the day, with an emphasis on housemade, artisan sorts of foods. With quality ingredients, of course. Heck, they are offering homemade yogurt, with housemade granola with a slightly burnt taste, tropical dried fruit being tossed in.
Additionally, the dining atmosphere is pretty awesome, as it runs right over Shoal Creek, has some pretty unique seating and furniture, and just really does feel like a clean-​cut sort of eatery – think modern hotel dining.
I don’t know precisely how I feel about it at this point – I didn’t think some of the items were a little pricey – and with no one dining at prime breakfast hours, I don’t know how they are going to make upkeep costs. We shall see how many of the logistics pan out in the coming days.

We just moved downtown and heard this new place had opened in walking distance from us. Sold. We had been to Jezebel once long ago, and although we thought it was okay, we also thought it was overrated. This place suffers from some of the same flaws we saw there. Truly odd lighting, décor and a remoteness that could be attributable to the largeness of the new space, but that we had also noted in the old space. We came for an early dinner, so there weren’t many folks there.
On to food. I would have ordered the salad nicoise if it was offered… but it wasn’t. Moving on to second choices, I had the Grilled 8 to 10 ounce hanger ‘steak frites’ with steak cut French fries, & Dijon mustard. My husband had the Mac Daddy Beef Burger, house ground beef with sharp cheddar, green chili and fried corn tortillas. The big flaw with both was that they were just way too salty.
The waiter was definitely still in training, and did not check back often enough to catch empty water glasses, etc., and although the place was practically empty, the waiters seemed more interested in conversing with each other than serving the few patrons. By the time he checked back on us, we were too hungry to want to wait for a re-​preparation of our dishes to make them less salty and so we soldiered on.
The dessert was the highlight of our evening, as we split a piece of butternut squash cheesecake, but for us the jury is still out on Bar Mirabeau. We will give it another chance since it is so convenient, but the next visit may be the last if they have not ironed out the kinks.

So we were kind of excited to try this place, as it’s the same owner of Jezebel. However, walking into the place was quite disappointing. The restaurant is far too large (and was totally empty!), and unfortunately it wasn’t the quant brunch I was hoping for. Devoid of character and without soul. I’ll stick to Hillside Farmacy.
The waiter didn’t know what an Americano was!
My bf’s brunch meal came out with half the items missing. When I mentioned it, the waiter looked confused (and apologetic) and then took the menu to the kitchen to show them what was missing. He was nice about it, but it shows that maybe there needs be some more training. Neither the waiter nor the kitchen know the menu… hm.
When the waiter brought out the missing items there was still one item forgotten! And my meal was supposed to come with fresh fruit, but came out with home fries instead, but at this point we were beyond the point of caring.
Also — all of the waitstaff were wearing pajama bottoms. Apparently there’s a PJ Brunch thing, a really misguided concept that perhaps sounded quirky but in reality it’s not very appetizing to see everyone looking so sloppy.
Anyways, I wish this place good luck as there will probably be a ton of lunch traffic from the Cirrus Logic building, but it won’t be a restaurant that I will actively seek out.

Bar … Excellent (great cigars too)
Service … Excellent
Atmosphere and Patio … Excellent
Food … Incredible!!!
Going to visit again and again … AWESOME

I must have had an entirely different experience than the other 4 reviewers, but I personally think Bar Mirabeau blows for what it’s trying to be:
— $ 12 cocktails? I can get awesome craft cocktails at Weather Up, Second Bar & Kitchen, East Side Showroom, and numerous other places around town for 10 – 12 bucks that are much better than the plonk served here.
— Tiny portions for the price point — I don’t normally bitch about small portions, because I think many restaurants in America super-​size everything, but Jesus H. Christ, the burger here is tiny. I thought it was a friggin slider when it came out.
— Awkward lighting — the brightness of the kitchen lights casts a weird glow throughout the entire dining room.
— So-​so food — the food was OK, but again, for the price points here, I can get much better stuff at Haddington’s, Second, La Condesa, Lambert’s, and various other spots that I won’t mention.
Bottom line — save your time and go elsewhere. And if the owner thinks sister restaurant Jezebel is going to be successful with it’s $ 300 dinner for 2 & «jackets required» policy, the kitchen had better step up it’s game, and quickly. As for me, I’ll just go to Congress, Uchi/​Uchiko, or Barley Swine for top-​notch food.