Cru

We go to Cru very often and we love it there. The place is very nice. The food is always very good, and the wines of course too (they have very nice wine flights). Their pizza is also delicious. We have also been to some of their events and we loved it every time. The staff is very nice and friendly.

My review is solely for the ambiance and the bottle of wine consumed. Service was great, the ¹⁄₃ off bottles on Sundays is a huge plus, and the décor is well done. I’ll definitely come back, as it is conveniently located in the Domain.

I have only vaguely heard about Cru’s food, but have only been in to enjoy their wine options, which are always delicious. Yesterday evening I decided to give their food a try, as I had a coupon to try a menu item for my birthday. After glancing over the plenty of tempting options, I decided to go with the filet mignon with maytag blue cheese & rosemary chianti sauce, which came with potato-​fennel gratin and haricot vert green beans. The only way I can describe the taste of the entire meal, was heavenly. I dine often around Austin, and this was honestly one of the best meals I’ve had since I’ve lived here. I just wish I had known more about their food before now! The lady serving me at the bar also gets 5 stars. She was very attentive and informed me of free pizza Monday’s. With a purchase of a bottle of wine, you can choose any pizza from the menu for free. She also told me about their brunch and showed me the brunch menu that I was not aware of. After looking at the brunch options, I can’t wait to go and try it in the near future. For happy hour, Monday– Friday, there’s also discounted appetizer options along with $ 3 off any glass of wine.
The only feedback that I would give, is for them to put their menu online. If it’s on there somewhere, it’s very difficult to find. The 1^st thing I do when wanting to try a restaurant, is for me to go to their website and check out their menu options. The word needs to get out to more people about how delicious the food is!

My experience here was great, The bartender was excellent. She let me tell her what i liked and what she brought me was just what I needed. The Mimosa was good. Not too strong but just right for me. I’m a bit of a lightweight when it comes to drinking. She gave me samples of some wines and the cheese tray was very good as well. It went nicely together with the Mimosa. I will be suggesting this place to the work gang for happy hour!

Cru– It pains me to write this review. When a group of fellow Unilocalers and I came here for Thanksgiving– we expected a really lovely experience. Unfortunately I left 2.5 hours later frustrated, hungry and disappointed.
For $ 38 plus drinks, I would have expected more.
To start, our waitress was super sweet, but pairing a new waitress with 8 veteran diners on thanksgiving was a recipe for some difficulty.
The bread they gave us (initially 3 – 4 slices for 8 of us) went super quick, was cold, and when we asked for more, it took a long while.
It took a long while to take and give our drink orders and it was difficult getting suggestions or information on the wine we were interested in.
My polenta starter was somewhat tasteless (I will say the ravioli and soup I tried from others were stellar!)
My turkey dinner was extremely salty– in every aspect. Both myself and my other friend who ordered the same thing left most of our dinner uneaten. I love salt, don’t get me wrong, but there is something to be said for too much of it. I will say the other diners seems to be pretty pleased with their various beef and fish courses.
My dessert, a chocolate torte, was the highlight of my meal– but on par with most of the other chocolate tortes I have had.
Cru– every other time I have visited you I left after a delicious meal with stellar service, very very tasty food and a desire to return. This time I am leaving, a bit disappointed, hoping this was a one off experience, and wishing for a better time next time.

Let’s start off with my one complaint about this place — the seating and size of the restaurant. It’s not a good idea to take large parties here. They put up in the back and we were super cramped.
However, the food experience itself was great. Being a large party, we were able to sample a ton of appetizers. Their calamari was fantastic and their pizza was great as well. Their small plates were great, but you have to remember that well, they’re small plates.
I think because I was full off of the appetizers, I couldn’t quite find room to experience my entrée the same, but it was still good.

This is our favorite wine bar and restaurant in Austin!
First the food:
The Sinful Experience cheese board is fantastic. Great accoutrements including honeycomb, apples, different spreads, fig jam, and assorted breads. If you like soft cheese, you will love this selection. Caprese salad is a perfect lighter option with delicious mozzarella.
Scallops with risotto are to die for. Garnished with some citrus, slightly spicy marinara to balance everything out. Filling for a scallop dish. Chicken piccata with broccolini and potatoes was very good. Perfectly cooked and seasoned. The filet is perfection for any red meat eater! Green beans and a cheesy potato stack of goodness round out this twist on the traditional steak and potatoes. Order it and thank me later.
Chocolate lava cake: do it! Best dessert I can think of while I’m eating it so quickly I burn the roof of my mouth. Love it.
Oh yeah, and they have half off bottles of beautiful wine on Sunday’s! A steal basically.
The staff is also very welcoming and friendly. Our favorite waitress, Nikki, closes every Sunday night and takes care of us like we are guests in her home!

We dropped by here during happy hour for a flight of wine and an appetizer. The pizza was good. pretty salty. The wine was just okay. It left me with a headache shortly after. The bartender was nice and pretty funny once we got him talking. Why only 3 stars? I would expect a little better for the price.

GREAT wine bar in the Domain. Happy hour is M-​F 4:00 — 6:30 — and it’s $ 3 off flights and glasses of wine and special small plates that are discounted. As a vegetarian, I can recommend the goat cheese beignets, bruschetta, and margherita pizza. Just a reminder: the small plates are SMALL plates!
Their dinner menu has a lot of great food! I can’t wait until it’s winter again so I can order their grilled cheese and tomato basil soup! I’ve also had and loved their roasted golden beets! Other vegetarian options include: fig & gorgonzola bruschetta, cru house salad, crispy baby artichokes, caprese salad, cheese fondue, several pizzas, and cheese boards!
It’s a classy, chill place! Great place to sit and try some wines!

Food is not spectacular. Looks like the same ingredients are mixed up to make different dishes. It would be clever if they were more discreet about it, but when my calzone looks just like my pizza, I’m not impressed.
I would only re-​order the mussels, as they were light and refreshing.
Flights were also a good deal, and service was punctual and relaxed. I would come here on another rare occasion to try some new wine flights.

Excellent customer service by Ryan (he religiously refilled our coffee cup, brought up our food fairly quickly and checked up on us frequently). Brunch menu was small but really good! Ordered the blueberry French toast and it made my belly super happy.

The wine flights are cute for a date night. We have been twice and the first time it was okay, not impressed, but cute atmosphere. 2^nd time more recently we came just for red wine and dessert (chocolate lava). The dessert was brought right away and I only ordered red wine to go with the dessert but the wine flight arrived 10 minutes later due to the wine glasses all being dirty. I would have been happy to drink out of any type of glass! That was the entire point of the pairing. The water staff was attentive but our waitress was clearly swamped on a rainy Friday night. I think next time I would rather sip at home (sorry)!

Nice spot. The wine selection is nice and the food was pretty good too. We had the crab cake and cheese platter.
I only wish the atmosphere were a bit more romantic. It’s pretty bright, but I guess that’s a personal preference. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

I really like this place. They’re classy, if a bit pricey.
Went here for a date last night and had a lovely time. Service was a tiny bit slow but completely understandable since hey, the date and I were certainly chatting up a storm. Smart to not interrupt us.
Two downsides to the whole experience:
The first two cabs we ordered were out. The one we got was nice, but that’s rough out of the entire wine selection.
The potstickers were a bit soggy and drowning in sauce. The lobster and shrimp filling was really nicely done. although you really can’t tell if you’re actually eating lobster and shrimp due to said sauce. That being said, perfectly delicious.
The charcuterie plate was lovely. Foie gras mousse was great (my date did not like, but he’s not so adventurous), prosciutto was on point, and it was a solid manchego.
I’d go back any time.

I’m a big fan of Cru. I travel from the San Francisco Bay area to Austin for work on a regular basis and I typically stay at the Westin Domain and Cru is a short walk from the hotel.
First, I really like Cru’s wine list. Cru offers some fairly hard to find wines at a reasonable price. On a recent visit, I had a bottle of Mica Cab from Napa that is fairly hard to find. I also noticed selections from small wineries like Ridge, Kistler, Round Pond, Copain and Kosta Browne. Even the Opus One is sold at a somewhat reasonable mark up.
Second, the private table in the wine room is a great place for a business dinner. If you have more than 6 people, I would highly recommend booking the wine room.
Last but not least, the food here is really good. I had short rib served over polenta one evening and it was fantastic. On another visit, I had a zesty chicken puttanesca over black rice that was also very good.
Overall, the vibe is lively and the patio is lovely on an evening with nice weather.

Absolutely, unexpectedly wonderful.
What a romantic spot in the Domain. Inside was small and intimate. The waitresses, and even those collecting glasses, were amazingly nice.
The décor is fancy, with a wall of wine bottles — they use a sliding ladder to take them down for serving. So great.
There is a large outdoor patio too. Great for watching your children in the little play area near.
I was told the bar is an experience in itself, if you want to come just for drinks.
We had the Pinot Noir Flight, a bottle of Malbec and appetizers. The cheese fondue was delicious with a variety of items like apples and fried artichoke hearts. The crispy FIG & GORGONZOLA BRUSCHETTA. To die for. Especially drizzled with a little fondue ;)
Lastly, if you get up to use the restroom, the waitress will nicely fold your napkin for you. Nice touch Cru!

Came here briefly while waiting on a table with an hour wait at a nearby restaurant. This place is cougar central. The ambiance is great and the place is beautiful, yes, and it feels like a fancy, cozy little spot, but you are primarily paying for appearance and not for quality of food or drink. This is probably similar to the, ahem, other transactions occurring at this place, if you catch my drift (if you don’t, just pair it with the «cougar» comment and maybe you’ll get it then). And trust me, you are way overpaying.
We ordered a spicy lobster appetizer that was pretty decent, if small on the serving size. We also got glasses of house wine. Everything was EXTREMELY overpriced for what we got. It was a $ 60+ «snack» before our meal. Do NOT recommend on that front alone.

The food here for events or dinner can be hit or miss. The appetizers though during happy hour have always been tasty. This is one of my favorite after work happy hour spots in North Austin (M-​F: 4 – 6:30pm); love the $ 3 off glasses or wine flights. Even though it is located in the domain, it is tucked around the corner from the main thoroughfare and always feels like a mini oasis (they even have a few spots outside for nice evenings. They really have a wonderful and large selection of wine flights here, one of the best, and it is always changing. I don’t think I have every just ordered a glass of wine here, always a flight. Maybe that is the adventurer in me, always looking to find a hidden gem, or explore new taste sensations.

Welcome to one of my favorite Thursday lunch spots. Why Thursday? Half-​price bubbles, baby! My favorite? The Perrier Jouet Grand Brut. The discount on Thursday puts the price point about $ 5 – 10 above HEB’s price. Not bad, not bad.
I also highly recommend the goat cheese beignets to go with it or the sinful cheese board. It is a perfect way to spend a girl’s lunch. I don’t recommend the calamari, though. Pretty bland, but they have lots of tasty goodies for your nibbling pleasure, but the beignets are my fave.

I’ve been there twice. Once for wine in the evening, and once for lunch.
The wine menu is good – there is a wide price range. The restaurant is very romantic in the evenings – they open the doors and light candles throughout the restaurant.
Lunch is good – got the Bento box lunch which was very filling and flavorful. My only reason for not giving them 5 stars is the service is not super friendly.