Blu

Three reasons why this place is not worth your time:
1. Parking is pretty much nonexistent.
2. The food and drinks are overpriced. ($ 3 cup of tea, without hot water refills?)
3. Cold, stark, with echoing acoustics. It sounds like you’re in a tin can.

I went in here once with a friend for a drink and was feeling grandpa-​ish so I decided to order what I consider a standard drink: a manhattan.
The drink came out, and as I went to stir it, I noticed a dead fly floating around in my drink. Ok, it’s gross, but it happens, so I brought it to the barkeep’s attention. She took it back and actually remarked something like «well, it’s not all bad, I think I made it wrong anyway». I thought «yea, flies aren’t traditionally served with manhattans» and also «how do you not know how to make a manhattan?»
I got my replacement drink and it was poorly made, highly priced and served with an attitude. Combine that with a LA meets Europe, meets obnoxious atmosphere and I’m outta there, never to return.
Sorry Blu, but I guess you could say that I’m giving you that «E» that you’re missing from your oh-​so-​chic name… ohhhhh! high five someone else!

This place is SO stainful. It is honestly the best way to describe it.
We left an event at Austin Music Hall and decided to pop by here because it looked cool and we had never been. (and well, we’re Unilocalers!) I don’t know if it was just a rare case but the whole place was swarming with above average looking people. Like WAY above average. I realize you are reading this and probably thinking, man, that sounds awesome, but in the end, no normal person can really enjoy themselves in a room full of people making pouty lips and looking at themselves through the reflection in the glass. To make matters worse, the drinks were tiny and the prices were not.
They are obviously going for a very European vibe, the décor definitely seemed to emulate a Euro club and therefore maybe they hired the models to be there just to make it MORE Euro? Hopefully not. However, I will never be returning there so I guess I’ll never know.

Original plan: go to Mulberry.
Backup plan in case Mulberry is super-​packed: none.
Thus, I am presented with another all important life lesson: MAKE SOLID BACKUP PLANS!
D’oh. Since I had not yet learned this lesson, here’s how our evening went:
I’m wearing my boots. THE boots: the ones I splurged on because they were black and sexy, and the leather was soft and expensive looking. Of course, as with most sexy black expensive boots, they freaking hurt my feet.
Strike one against our night.
We walk into Mulberry, it is packed. We’re on a time constraint.
Oh crap, strike two.
Back up plan: none. Strike three.
So, we had two options: Garrido’s or Blu.
A few minutes later, we’re sitting down inside Blu; I was second guessing our choice.
The menu is pretty one note: you’ve basically got salads, paninis, and pizza with a choice of proscuitto, chicken, or smoked salmon. Although, considering the loungey/​coffee house vibe they’re going for here, the menu is appropriate, and really similar to Primo 360’s menu.
We start with the salmon and tomato basil bruschette. Oh man, the bread was super crunchy and hard, so it tore the roof of my mouth.
The guy opts for a margherita pizza, and I get a salad with chicken. The salad was pretty standard, and his pizza was all right. The crust on his pizza was crispy and chewy, but the crust on our friend’s pizza seemed heavier and doughier.
As for libations, I ordered a Mexican Martini, which seemed like a major mistake from the beginning. It was super sour and lacking in tequila.
So overall, it was a night of missteps; next time, we’ll bypass Blu and go to the FroYo place next door!

My husband and I went to a fashion show a couple of weeks ago on a Thursday. We weren’t too hungry so we shared the panini caprese (a favorite of mine) and it was delicious! It was so good, and the salad it was paired with was yummy too!
I also had a café latte that was made perfectly.

I stopped in yesterday for a glass of wine at happy hour. I like Blu. It was chic while still pulling of a homey vibe. It felt like a neighborhood hangout with sleek design and hip chillout music. It’s a block from home and I’ll be back.

The goal: Great brunch.
The conclusion: Goal unmet.
The details:
Came here with a friend on Sunday afternoon to enjoy her final weekend in Austin, and I was hoping to find a place where we could relax over inexpensive, good food for a couple hours, and as I’d read about their new brunch specials on Unilocal,we decided to give this a shot.
The atmosphere confused us – were we in a club, a café, a coffee shop? It wasn’t quite comfortable enough to be a place where we wanted to just lounge, and the DJ seemed out of place at noon on a Sunday with lots of families and late risers (some pajama-​wearers).
The artwork, attitude and décor, while sometimes interesting, weren’t cohesive — NCAA softball on the TV, scatterbrained staff (minus one helpful guy), semi-​artistic photos, lots of modern furnishings and a coffee-​cup chandelier.
My $ 10 unlimited mimosa and waffle meal was plagued by temperature-​control problems.
I swear, they must have been keeping the orange juice and champagne on the counter near the grill or something — I felt tacky doing so, but I had to add ice cubes to cool it off a little.
The waffle might have been done before my friend’s food — it was maybe a degree above room temperature and served on a plate that was far too small. It was very dense and soft on the outside, not a fluffy-​innard, crunchy-​outside at all, but some might prefer that. The berry compote-​type topping (not mentioned when ordering, so beware) was easily the highlight of my meal.
I had two mimosas and three smallish square waffles — the first two being bland, cool and chewy — and third was actually warm, sweet and fresh and served with whipped cream (the first plate had butter instead). It took quite a while to get the third waffle because our server was less than attentive, smackin’ gum and running all around the place instead.
Overall, not a bad value, if the food had only been a little bit better. I’d rather pay $ 6 for a really good waffle elsewhere.
My friend’s meal, a prosciutto-​cheese crêpe, breakfast taco, chocolate croissant and Italian soda, cost a pretty penny, and she was underwhelmed by all but the massive, tasty croissant, so far as I could tell.
Lastly, I know this is unlikely to be a repeat occurence, but the DJ, who mostly kept it to the perfect volume and had interesting mixes, played one «Requiem for a Dream» sequence. NOT the kind of thing I want to be hearing while dining, thanks!

Blu offers happy hour priced martinis for $ 6 each, served up in a stemless martini glass. As a connoisseur of key lime martinis I found the one here to be nicely done, complete with a glass rimmer and a cherry, frothy but not too thick (not a dessert martini), a cheerful mint green color with tiny happy bubbles there to greet my tongue, while the delicate hint of lime played with my taste buds. I’m giving it 3.8 starts (out of 5); it was delicious but my expectations are high and I grade accordingly.
The appetizer pizzas — 2.5 stars (all four choices had garlic, and the mozzarella cheese were merely spoonful daps that didn’t cover whole slice or the generic sauce).
The atmosphere — 2.5 stars (the inside space is quite unassuming and the outside patio lacks the benefit of location and thus, interest).

If you’re looking for another trendy, overpriced place to hang out and drink, then Blu is fine. There’s nothing wrong with the place, but it’s hard for me to think of a reason to recommend it over other places. I didn’t eat any food.
The selection of martinis was excellent, and I enjoyed many of them. I started and ended with the basic Mexican martini. They were small and expensive, at least compared to places like Trudys, but on a par with many of the trendier places.
The atmosphere, décor, and variety of seating was nice. Outdoor tables are great, although there’s not much people watching in this area. For some reason, everyone who lives in the 360 has 2 dogs. I’m not sure that having a big plastic muffin display case on the counter fits the image, but I do like muffins, so I’m OK with that.
It’s pleasant to be there, the service is good, you can sit outside, and I liked the drinks. That said, for someone who doesn’t live or work downtown, the location is too off the beaten path for me. Overall, they simply lack a draw to get me to go there or to justify the drink prices.

This past Saturday was absolutely beautiful weather wise– we were wanting to enjoy the weather somewhere dog friendly and stumbled upon this place!
I really enjoy the 2^nd street district and this place is a welcome member of the hood who also welcomes my Pup.
So, this past Saturday we had a very plesant experience. I started with a Esspreso Con Panna (with extra whipped cream please:) followed by an excellent plate of smoked salmon, prosciuto, goat cheese and crisp apples. My friend had a wine that she raved about.
My half of the bill was less than 10.00 before tip!

It was a lovely sunny midweek day, when I called a friend to meet me for coffee. Per his suggestion, we walked to Blu it was my first time there.
The décor is cool, bright and welcoming. I loved the leather furniture, and casual atmosphere.
We ordered coffee. It came out rather quickly, served with a smile, by a very attentive waitress (who we never saw again, weird).
The coffee. a regular cup of joe, was a little bitter (which i like).
My friend said he had been for lunch and liked it. I’ll give it a try and let you know.

Loved the ambiance and décor. So chic and slightly European. I had high hopes. They were dashed oh so completely.
We wandered in on a Sunday morning looking for a laid-​back place to brunch with some outside seating. This was the only place downtown we could find that fit the bill and got sunshine at 10am. They had some construction going on so we almost thought it was closed or just opening this week. I can read in reviews it’s been open almost 2 months now. But they were friendly, apologized for the mess and invited us in.
We went to sit outside, but the wind over-​powered the sun (50-​degrees out) so we moved in to some cumfy lounge chair. Nice music. Menu looked interesting with some different smoothies & drinks. We ordered the Chocolate banana espresso smoothie. On the menu was a ‘prosciutto crêpe’ and ‘breakfast taco’ with no additional details. We ordered one of each. Waitress asked what we wanted on them and Mylie is all ‘well, what are our choices?’ She didn’t really know… I mean, really? She mumbled some things we didn’t understand and we said ok and she walked away. I asked Mylie if she knew what we just ordered and she said ‘not really.’ She went ahead and got up to go clarify and see what we were getting. Apparently no real choices for the crêpe, but we could add spinach or tomatoes to the taco… ok.
Smoothie comes. It was ok, but would have been better if they used a ripe banana. You could tell they used a green one… you know? You can just taste its greenness.
Food comes and first couple of bites are awesome. I really liked both and so did Mylie. Then I hear loud drilling. I look over and some guy is on a ladder drilling into the ceiling. It’s concrete so making a lot of noise. There were probably 8 customers in this small space and I had trouble understanding the choice of timing.
But here’s the worst part… dust, everywhere. Probably full of asbestos and who knows what else. The door were open for a breeze and you could literally see the dust floating all over. I’m in shock. I call the waitress over and as nice as I can I say ‘Um, yeah, could you make him stop? He’s creating paint/​concrete dust and we’ve got food out here!’ She goes over, he comes down off the ladder and brushes the dust off of him… all of 5 feet away from us. She comes back over and says he won’t do it again and politely asks if she wants them to remake our food. I look down at my phone on the table, not much dust on it so I think maybe we were spared by the breeze or something. I mistakenly say ‘nah, it looks like not much is settling on our table so I guess it’s ok.’ Well, we start to eat faster because I can see dust starting to settle on my phone. A lot.
Finally, no pre-​bus and after she asks if we want anything else and we say no she just forgets about us. 10 minutes later Mylie gets up to go see if she can get our check.
Horrible service and asbestos sprinkles on our food…$ 15.
Seriously, how could anyone allow someone to drill into a ceiling above people eating breakfast? They should have bought everyone in there breakfast.
I hope someone comes along and trains their staff, I would love to go back sometime and upgrade my rating but for now I’m telling people to avoid it.

Summary: Avoid the coffee at all costs, stick to the beer and snacks.
I really tried to give Blu’s coffee a chance. They kept giving me free coffee to get me to linger. Sadly, I couldn’t choke it down — even with a pile of sugar.
They seem confused. Are they a café, pub, night club, restaurant or sports bar? They actually have a huge screen where they show games which totally baffled me.
I do think it’s a great place to sit outside and enjoy a beer and some snacks. They get nice afternoon sun.

I want to like Blue, really I do, but I can’t bring myself to do it. They seem to violate almost every concept of a good restaurant.
Walk in and it’s not immediately obvious where to go. There are no indications if one orders first, sits down, or is seated by a server. If the servers looked at me and smiled, it’d be a lot nicer. Instead, they seem so overwhelmed by running the restaurant they barely have time for the customer.
I’ve been four times now and the service gets worse. The last time I went I ordered a double espresso and the cashier said nothing to me. She turned around and went somewhere else. She didn’t say, «Great, let me get that for you» or, «That’ll be $ 3 dollars please». Instead, she broke one of the simplest contracts of ordering food — acknowledge that the person ordered food!
After waiting for thirty seconds not knowing if the barista was making my espresso I went and sat down, I figured she would either make it and bring it to me, or I’d go somewhere else.
Eventually she brought me what I’d consider one of the worst espressos I’ve had. It tasted like she hadn’t cleaned out the head before pulling the next shot of coffee. And I think she applied too much force when tamping, and I ended up with a sour, stale espresso.
The interior is just too much for me to consider tasteful, but there are THINGS I LIKE:
–Prosciutto crêpe — delicious
–One of the few places I’ve found with 512 — support Austin
–Good location
Hopefully it’ll get better and next time I can give it five stars.

I don’t understand.
This place has the appearance of a will be successful establishment. The décor is modern, it’s in a up and coming location, it has the opportunity to snag new patrons (people spilling over from mulberry, the sunday church crowd that goes to the Austin Music Hall, urban residents), but Blu lacks the careful thought that other cafes have put in to their process and in personnel training. I have been a patron for atleast 10 different visits and here is what I’ve noticed:
1) The food freaking takes forever.
2) When people walk in, they don’t really know where they’re supposed to go.
3) The espresso is freaking terrible, but I suspect it’s the people making it and not bean quality, and on that note
4) The staff is untrained. You walk up to the bar/​counter to order, they ask you what you want, but there is no menu in sight to look at. They have the tv above that flashes some menu items, but the image changes so it’s not always on the menu, and when the menu appears, it’s in tiny print. When you finally get to order, the barista turns around and starts fiddling with what you ordered except you are not finished ordering. You also have no idea what to do next. Do you sit back down? Do you pay now? Do they bring it to you or give you a table number? Who knows?!
5) When you get your coffee to the table, some tables don’t have sugar. And there is nothing to stir your coffee with or napkins. What if you want cream?
6) In the evenings, there is a DJ that comes and he is stationed at a corner, but he blocks one of the entrance/​exit doors. Also, there’s not a lot of seating and if all the tables are full, where do you go? There’s no easy transition from café to lounge that keeps patrons in mind.
I guess what I’m trying to say is Blu operates with no purpose and a nice modern finish out does not cover up the fact that this establishment has not thought out or executed the simple details that customers would expect. Sometimes the owners are there, but they seem oblivious to the fact that there staff is untrained. Their staff wants to do well judging by the amount they apologize, but they can’t do it on their own and I hope the owners take note.

The thumping bass raucously slapping you in the face as you walk in the door is a bit much…
The unrelated photos of glamorous people holding wine glasses is kind of a stretch…
The neon blue lighting and $ 180 bottle service for Absolut is really reaching…
but the fact that they made me an Espresso Martini ($ 8.50 sub Bailey’s for sugar-​free vanilla syrup and soy) and it tasted like a delicious, boozey iced coffee complete with a sprinkling of espresso beans on top…
Not bad.

Is it possible to give a zero star rating? If so then this is the place that deserves it most of all. Quite honestly this place is the worst «coffee house» to get what they call coffee in Austin.
As a professional barista and a coffee connoisseur, I was appalled at their general lack of caring about how their coffee was made. Their coffee maker (I call them a coffee maker and not baristas because baristas take pride in their work and the coffee that they produce) not only does not know a thing about making espresso drinks, but did so many unsanitary and unsafe things that it would take pages to explain them all. I will hit the highlights for you all:
1. My double espresso was not pulled (brewed) fresh and served to me. Instead I got the leftovers from a science experiment gone wrong (triple upside down pineapple machiato to-​go for Stewart!!).
2. Even if their espresso had been pulled fresh and served to me piping hot it still would have had a distinct burnt tar taste to it. The use some cheap Illi knockoff – I am not saying that I like Illi coffee, but it is leaps and bounds better than the swill that they serve at Blu Café.
3. The espresso had too many grounds in the bottom of the cup after drinking. Now some grounds at the bottom of cup is acceptable and expected, but it was like looking into a coffee grinder when I finished my espresso. When group head gaskets get old they get harder and more grounds make it through the portafilter, but this place just opened.
4. The steaming wand is a pet peeve of mine – if it is not wiped off after every use it is a breeding ground for bacteria and filth. Theirs was not wiped after every use. Instead they let it grow layer and layer of crusty milk after every use. Think about that next time you drink one of their beverages.
5. Milk is an essential ingredient in most espresso drinks. it should be loved, caressed, and treated gently. MICROFOAM!!! Not big ugly chunks of foamed milk that could stand up on its own or be used to plaster walls.
6. On that note, the steamed milk instead of being discarded after steaming and used in a drink was put in their reach in fridge and recycled for the customer. Ewww… Again, a breeding ground for bacteria and filth.
In short, do yourself a favor and go to Starbuck’s if you want a bad cup of coffee. At least they have the oversight of their corporation to see that they are not serving bacteria ridden milk. Or go to Joe’s or Austin Java only two blocks away.

Absolutely wonderful spot. A little slice of Europe or Mid East right in downtown Austin. I will be a regular…

I love the fact that as Austin continues to expand/​evolve/​change somewhat, we’re getting more of these micro-​establishments in place with a taste for smart design and clever menu and cocktail options. This was my first trip into Blu, but I enjoyed it and it won’t be my last.
They feature the new (512) brand beers on tap, which were terrific. I tried the (512) Wit found and much easier to access than contacting the brewery directly (which I’ve done to no avail). The atmosphere is snug but decidedly modern, from the coffee cup chandelier (see the photos here) to the braile-​like look and feel of the wall. The staff seems to be learning their way around, but was decidedly upbeat and bought the dessert lover a cocktail when he was slow the first time bringing it around. They’re still finding their legs here, but so far, so good.

My wife and I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of blu and our expectations were exceeded when we arrived for the opening weekend.
blu is a euro-​style café/​lounge located in the base of 360 tower across from the Austin Music Hall. A wonderful location for stopping for some delicious Lavazza coffee or other refreshments when walking around downtown.
From the minute you walk in, you feel like you have tele-​ported from the streets of downtown Austin into a typical upscale café in Rome, Oslo or Barcelona. Austin, we finally have a real Italian style café in town!
I met one of the owners, Jean, who hails from Italy. He did a beautiful job on the design and ambiance of this corner café. The outdoor sidewalk seating is a very nice touch. High ceilings, hardwood floors, euro style tables and chairs and exquisite art and lighting. In the evening, blu transforms into a wine and martini bar with delicious small plates to go with the spirits. The menu might remind you of your last trip to Rome and the Via Condotti area.
One of the best reasons to visit blu is that you will not find hordes of student squatters hanging around with open laptops and textbooks like you find at most Austin «café’s». This place is more for 30 – 40 somethings with an appreciation for ‘the good life’ and looking for quality espresso, wine, martini’s and food and good conversations with friends. It’s all about the experience at blu.
Bonus: On weekend nights, blu brings in a DJ and turns into a happening lounge that stays open til 2.
I think I just found my go-​to café and where I will be meeting my friends and clients.
Enjoy!