Fion Wine Pub

This has been my favorite place in Austin for beer for two years now. The location on Bee Caves road is equally excellent. NOTE: Neither location is convenient for me. This is a destination beer establishment. You will not be disappointed and the drives are very pretty. If you are nearby, lucky for you.
I almost always sit at the bar. My experience of this place is that it’s almost like being at a good friend’s home. If you want something, you either just go and grab it, or you ask your buddy for recommendations. They bust their butt to accommodate you. I was there one night and my date didn’t like one of the cheeses. I thought it was fine and I was actually disappointed when they replaced it without the slightest hesitation. I have met so many delightful people who work here, I do not even know where to begin. One example of friendly service is that they turned me on to the best place to watch the sunset over Lake Travis. If they do not know something about their menu, they will find someone who does, or simply let you try it.
Beer and Wine: They have an amazing beer selection. The Bee Cave location has a broader range of draft options. Steiner Ranch’s selection is still very impressive. I love going into their back beer cave at both locations. It’s always full of odds and ends. The sampler beer flight is an unbelievable deal. It is so cool to be able to sample so many different excellent beers and basically have VIP service while you make your choices. I’ve never been anywhere that had more patience for pleasing their customers. It’s the same with the wines and the wine flights. They have a wide range of options at extremely reasonable prices.
Do yourselves a favor (if my description appeals to you at all) and go out of your way to try either the Steiner Ranch location or the Fion on Bee Cave Rd.

Ding Dong, the wicked witch is dead. Yay

«WE ARE VERY SORRY TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE ARE NO LONGER OPEN FOR BUSINESS» Cut and pasted from
.
For beer and wine selection they get 5 stars. The kitchen and service are hit and miss and only rates two stars. The chef is five star capable but tiny portions and missing staples are a major problem. Thursday is ladies night with half price bottles of wine under $ 70. Mel knows her wine and has an amazing selection.
The Happy hour appetizers in the bar are good although I did not care for the buns on the sliders.
Been there twice for dinner doubt there will be a third visit for a meal. First time had a great server. Second visit the server was clueless. Clueless that they had run out of ALL soup the day before, clueless that they did not have decaf coffee, clueless on what menu staples (and it’s a short menu) were out of stock. There was a lot of staples unavailable. The Paella night with visiting Spanish chef was not real Paella, too much juice and no crust and tiny portions. Second visit we were only told what was unavailable (what we ordered) until after we ordered.
Some of the bacon wrapped shrimp and Jalepeno appetizers were cooked evenly some were not and there was only four. The Tilapia was cooked to perfection but a tiny portion. The wedge salad was good. Only three desserts on the menu with one unavailable and after investigation no decaf available. They blamed Valentines day but we visited on the 16^th and they had time to recover. It does not help to tell us how great the dessert selection was two days ago and we had enjoyed great dessert there on our first visit.
I’m mystified why they did not have pork medallions, when quality pork tenderloin is easy to procure in Austin.
The kitchen and servers are letting down an excellent beer and wine spot. The servers are also not help the ambiance when they serve alcohol to loud customers who just walked in and are obviously intoxicated.
I’ve had the Tilapia at the Kobe Steakhouse on Anderson and it is just as good with decent portion of fish and vegetables. Give the tiny portion of fish on a big empty plate at Fion our server should have suggested an extra side.
I would have given a two star review were it not for the amazing selection of beer and wine.

I really want to love this place– I really, really do.
I am blown away by the amazing beer cave, wine selection, and I love how you can make your own 6-​packs! I also love how it is in Steiner!
However, the food and the service are lacking big time. The menu is lacking direction and the happy hour apps are nothing that would entice me to stay and pay $ 20 for a chicken fried steak. I know it’s hard to get that strip-​center feeling out of a place, but the patio atmosphere could be a little more inviting.
I’ll be back in again just hoping that «someone out there» hears us Unilocalers… and neighbors! Hopefully next time I can up this one to «Yay! I’m a Fan!»

This use to be favorite not just in Steiner but Austin till about a year ago. Wow! Beyond stopping for beers not a place to go any longer on all fronts… Food bad (not one but two cold meals sent back… different occasions), bad service (30 minutes for salads, 60 minutes no hot food when u have kids in tow)…seriously, owner tried making up with gift certificate but last experience so bad don’t plan to use free money… yes that bad! Now for drinks only… honestly a great place (do happy hours here)… Even bar food ok after few beers, but dinner, not so much! So for dinner night hit many other options in area… Drinks/​bar. Hard to beat Fion.

There is effort but just missing the mark on a number of levels for me.

If Fion completely screwed me in every way I would probably still give them four stars based on the beer selection. A gleaming wall of bottles basking in the white light of refrigeration. A f’n wall! And a walk in cold room! Besides that, there is also a great tap selection. Lots of great Texas beers and beers from all over that you would be pressed to find anywhere besides a big liquor store or craft beer store.
The food is excellent. I started with bacon and jalapeño wrapped jumbo shrimp stuffed with goat cheese & chorizo. So so so good. Of course it has bacon wrapped around it, so, duh. It came with four giant pieces and someone at our table ended up getting the same thing as her entrée. As my meal I got the Cast-​iron Skillet-​seared Beef Tenderloin with sautéed spinach and oven-​roasted Yukon Gold potato hash. The tenderloin was covered with blue cheese and was cooked very nicely. The potatoes were good, nothing to write home about. I love spinach, but this was bland and tasteless. I would try a substitute if there’s an option next time.
Great dinner spot and it looks like there’s some good beer specials available during certain times. Seems like the service can be a little spotty, we had a couple issues. Overall definitely worth visiting one of the two locations.

Always impressed with Fion’s unique, off the beaten path, wine and beer selections I was equally impressed with their cuisine.
We had Fion cater our wedding, and there aren’t words to describe how amazing the experience was. The chef put together one of the most creative catering menus that I have ever seen, while still being within our budget. Josh and his team handled everything down to the last details making the entire planning process painless and stress free, and the team that worked the wedding was professional beyond compare!
Having spent over a decade working in catering and fine dining restaurants my expectations are exceptionally high and the team at Fion not only met those impossible standards but far exceeded them. We heard raves and compliments for weeks about the food!
The entire experience from start to finish was perfection, we will be supporters of Fion for years to come.

I love Fion’s! The owners and managers are awesome, the food is fantastic, and the wine prices are the best you will find anywhere. You just have to check them out for yourself and experience the FION Fun.
Ask them about their Chef’s Table! Great times when you have a group of friends joining you for dinner.

Love this place and that it is my hood. They have slacked a bit on some of their new wait staff. With the selection of beers they have, it would be nice to talk to servers that know something about beer.
That said, I have always enjoyed myself in the pub side and their food on the bistro side has yet to disappoint! Lamb sliders are my favorite!

My boyfriend and I visited Fion Wine Pub at Steiner Ranch last night for the first time.
I’d like to preface by saying that both he and I worked our way through college as servers, so we love to go out, and since we have extensive experience with the ins and out of restaurants, we are extremely patient and generally very easy to please.
When we arrived at Fion, we were awkwardly greeted by someone who turned out to be our waiter as well and after not saying anything to us and roaming through the restaurant looking lost, pointed to a far away table. After dropping off our waters, he awkwardly ran back to read us the specials, stumbling over several of the words and sauces such as «Mediterranean» and «rigatit…rigaton.» He was trying to say rigatoni. As we started to peruse the wine and beer lists, we both asked questions about wine flights and draft beers, very familiar with varieties and the process of making both, but hoping to learn more and try new things at a wine/​beer specialty restaurant! Our waiter could not answer ANY of our questions. When my boyfriend asked about types of beers (as in IPA, Amber Ale, etc.), the ONLY thing our waiter could offer was that one was «very medium.» ?!? He asked for recommendations and the waiter offered, «a good light beer, if you like light beers.» After we ordered our drinks, he proceeded to literally rearrange my wine flight FOUR times saying «left to…, left to ri…, left to right is top to bottom.» I asked, «so which is which?» as I was fairly certain at this point he had no idea, and he again just said, «left to right is top to bottom» and pointed to the menu. He had no idea which wines were in my flight, and I have no idea if I was drinking what I thought I was.
Our server never checked back about how are food was… and it was hard to eat a steak without a steak knife. After sitting finished for a while, we asked him for the check and declined dessert because we told him we were trying to make a movie time. After watching him stand in the kitchen, expo-​ing food for 10 minutes, he finally grabbed a manager to take care of our check, so we rushed out to not be late for the movie.
Basically, we were excited to try a new restaurant and wine bar that, and were expecting a fun atmosphere with experienced and knowledgeable service for the price of the food and drinks, and especially on a Friday night.
We have literally NEVER complained about service before, but after a ruined date night, emailed the manager. He apologized, but didn’t offer us any consolation other than a better server next time after an $ 80 meal with service you’d expect at a burger chain. :-(
The food was good, but overpriced, especially for the absolute lack of experience.

Fion Wine Pub is a strange combination. They have conversation cards, funky lighting, a guitar player on the patio and wine flights, all things that I love. However it also reflects the strip center stereotype — strange layout, slow service and Steiner Ranch dwellers who don’t want to go home just yet.
The BF loved his beer — some dark concoction — and was impressed by the huge selection. He and his friend grunted, explored the place and discussed the merits of various bevvies. I enjoyed my two flights and the things we learned about each other through the crazy convo card topics.
So when I give this place three stars, it’s because I am evenly divided between being impressed by the beer cave, the wine selection and the cozy corners and annoyed by the uninterested wait staff and the generic feel of it all.

Let me start by saying I love wine, so it’s sort of hard for me to not like a wine bar. But I don’t like this one. I ordered a flight of wine, one of them tasted like raisins (so to you non-​wine drinkers, that usually means the bottle had gone bad). Now, I’ve been known to down a case of 2 buck chuck and like it, so if I think the wine is gross, it’s pretty god damn gross.
They informed me that the wine was NOT bad, but in reality, just super nasty tasting. The exact words were «actually maam, it’s fine». First of all, don’t call me ma’am. Second of all, don’t inform me that a wine just happens to taste gross, a wine that you proudly serve in a flight in an attempt to get you to buy an entire bottle. Did I mention I love wine? Because I do and it was so gross I couldn’t bear the thought of ordering a whole bottle and that is just tragic.
To add, the sweet potato fries were burned and the lamb sliders were just tiny pieces of lamb on bun. Lamb didn’t fill the bun and no toppings or sauce. They were also out of at least 4 different beers and several wines on the featured wine list. YOU ARE A WINE PUB!
In short, we won’t be back.

First off, living near Fion is great. On a night where I get out of work late this is the perfect place to unwind. The bartenders are beyond nice and always willing to help you pick a beer/​wine. Just remember, no liquor served here. This place is the perfect spot to relax, have a glass of wine, listen to good music on the weekends, or just hang outside with your friends. They have a great wine selection and you are able to order glasses or bottles. They also have a ‘beer cave’ where you can pick your own specialty beers. I can always count on Fion for a good glass of Riesling and a cheese platter.
The food is somewhat good too — its a little on the expensive side but it’s good. They have a few happy hour specials between 4 – 7. The cheese platters though are great, if you like that kind of stuff. You can pick your own cheese/​s, and you end up getting crackers, dried cranberries and nuts as well. Its the perfect balance for your glass of wine or microbrew.
All in all it’s a great place to hang out and relax. I couldn’t have a better time, I’m there almost every weekend. See you there.

This place is just what we were looking for. Excellent selection with good selection of cheeses. There seems to be specials most days of the week. When we went there was also a great band.
Just wanted to up my review to 5 stars. Went back a second time and really figured the place out. Picking out a couple loosies from the fridge is awesome. Staff is very friendly and atmosphere is very chill.

I would give this place 5 stars for the concept but in reality they lose a few stars in the translation. I mean, who wouldn’t love a large wine selection to both drink by the glass or flight or to peruse and purchase a bottle and have it chilled if need be and served (no corkage fee). Or if you’re a beer person, check out all the microbrews and the big specialty beers in the «beer cave» and have one opened for you or purchase a make-​your-​own variety pack for $ 8.99 to take home. If you like cigars, they got those too (sorry didn’t really check out that area as it was too damn hot to even think about sparking one up on the patio… maybe in the fall). Lastly they have a pretty extensive menu ranging from «pub food» like burgers, brats, and sammiches to bistro food including salmon, steaks, and chops.
All this was happy-​kid-​feet-​dance worthy. But several things fell short. Walking in you will immediately notice that the place is split with the pub to your right and the bistro to your left. We were obviously lost and hesitant but when the waitress asked if we wanted dinner she seated us on the bistro side. We found out later, you can get either menu on either side. We also found out later that the AC wasn’t working right on the bistro side, so my knees were sweating before we got dinner. The pub side was much cooler with all the refrigeration going on and the bistro side had a huge cook grill that added to the inferno.
On to the food, which is almost a sidenote here. The calamari was kinda bland altho the marinara sauce was good enough to eat with a spoon. Hubby’s lamb sliders which we ordered based on their popularity here were tasty but had no dressing at all. Just meat and bun. And my friends burger bun was burnt on top. The cheese plate was nice, however, served on a chilled granite slab with nuts and dried fruits. And my naan salad was good with greens, goat cheese, walnuts and apples served on a crispy, grilled naan. Unusual and tasty.
After dinner, we moved to the pub side to cool off and my friend had two beers. When he got the bill, however, he was charged for 3. First we had a hell of a time getting the waitress to notice us (or did she and just ignore us? it’s debatable) and then they told us there was a «glitch» in the computer system, «never seen that happen before», and they couldn’t take it off, so they paid my friend for one of the beers in cash cause he put the whole tab on his card. It was confusing and we still think somehow he got screwed in the deal. Hard to do that kinda math after drinking. Diabolical plan!
Me and the grrl had a flight of wine each, which for happy hour is a dollar off. Their flights range in price from $ 9 to $ 25. Decent pours and informative characteristic cards. Nice. Their draft beers are also a dollar off for happy hour, which I think goes from 4 – 7. They also have an extensive calendar with movie nights on Wed on their large patio, steak nite Sun for $ 13, and family style on Sun afternoons for $ 20 for 4 people to eat. They are obviously working hard to make this a neighborhood hangout and hopefully they’ll work out the kinks to make it so. I’d definitely give them another try, when it’s cooler, cause this place has the makings of a wino’s dream. Work it out folks!

To the Beer Cave, Batman! Literally, they have a beer cave. And my husband made me walk around in the very cold beer cave explaining to me which beers he liked and how some are hard to find, etc, etc. It is the largest beer selection I have ever seen.
I, on the other hand, was drawn in by the wine. At one point, I did switch to a Guiness Champagne cocktail. It sounded awful and intriguing at the same time, and I found it to be pretty tasty. It tasted like a Guiness Light?
I snacked on a cheese plate that was served with a generous portion of nuts and dried cranberries. And for dinner (we sat on the pub side), I had the Lamb sliders.
Fion is quite and impressive and worth a drive out towards the lake. And hear a second one is opening in Bee Caves. Other than a little confusion about how the pub worked (maybe a hostess to greet and explain why there are two sides?), we enjoyed our time at Fion.
Next time, I will go to the restaurant side for a full meal. The menu looks divine!

I’m giving these guys five enthusiastic stars, and it’s not because we had a ‘perfect’ experience… we had a super authentic stop, and we definitely had a grand time, but I’m doling out the five star review because if I lived closer, these guys would never get rid of me. There are, and I’m not making this up, something along the lines of 500 beers to choose from. expansive troves of wine, and the three trips later to the «Beer Cave» in search of something fun and quirky netted some familiar and tasty liquids and some new and exciting possibilities.
Did I mention the humidor? ‘Cause there is one, and I couldn’t resist a couple of stogies, which I took to go. Ultimately, I get that in the real world, it’s hard for folks to get things totally right for everyone, and one thing that would have really made our visit resonate more clearly from the beginning might have been a quick explanation of how the place works for those of us who may have not been in before. But what was clear from the outset was that they take great pains to get to know their repeat customers, and the relaxed-​by-​way-​of-​helpful suggestions that are made often come in handy. We walked with a grab bag of intriguing brews, a couple of smokes and a bottle of wine. And we beamed all the way home. A light, perhaps, that will shine its way back when we head in this direction next time, off the shimmer of the lake.

We went to Fion last night with a big group of people. I actually give 5 starts for the wine/​beer selection and 0 starts for the food and rounded it out to a 2. I
f you are out at Steiner Ranch and you want an amazing selection of beer and wine, this is your place. It’s amazing. By far one of the largest selections in Austin. I love the cave where you can pick out your own 6-​pack from a large selection of beers, sometime very hard to fine. This is top notch.
However, the food there was not good and expensive. I should have known the prices as soon as the sign said «bistro». but I was expecting more of «pub» pricing. And I’m ok paying a bit more for good food, but this did not cut it. We 11 people in our party and none of them really liked their dinner. All the way from the meatloaf to the seafood platter, everyone said … «eh … it’s ok, but not great».
So …go for the alcohol, but don’t stay for the food.

So I found this place in a round about kind of way. I recently started importing wine from Argentina and in our efforts to get our wine plugged into establishments in Austin, these guys were pretty open to the idea of tasting wine. So I ventured all the way to Steiner Ranch from Kyle (where I live) to go sample our wines.
As I walked in, the entire place was very inviting. They have a pretty extensive wine selection so as you can imagine I felt a bit nervous. The owner just sat down to eat and welcomed me at his table. We chatted a bit and I learned how they got things started. A pretty exciting story. As our conversation went on, this guy was pretty down to earth. Not stuffy at all and was extremely friendly. He showed me their HUGE beer selection (beer from around the world) and the coolest concept which was «make your own six pack.» I asked him if he could make me a six pack and watched him scan his entire selection and hand-​picked 6 excellent beers for me.
Beyond the HUGE selection, they have an additional refrigerator with special microbrewery beers and a lot of Belgium beers. In the back of the establishment they have humidor with a solid selection of wine. In the front of the place, they have a dark wooden bar that makes you feel like you in a pub in Ireland. On the other side of the place, they have a nice European looking bistro with an open kitchen. Definitely a great ambiance!
The kicker for me was they had a small section dedicated to local, homegrown businesses where they can put their soaps, wines, salsa, and nicknacks. You gotta love a place that supports local Austin businesses.
I recommend checking them out of there. I won’t use Unilocal to throw in a shameless plug for our wine, but if you make it out there, ask them about their recent Argentinean wines. Provecho!