Hill’s Cafe

Best burger ever! Didn’t plan to have a burger, however our waiter Mason recommend the burgers and the corn nuggets. Also had excellent sweet tea. Great food, great service!

Came here for Saturday brunch with my boyfriend and our two dogs. YAY FOR DOG FRIENDLY PATIO! Kelly brought us water immediately and we chatted a bit about shelter dog luv. :)
This was our (fifth? sixth?) time here and we enjoy it each time — it was literally the first place we dined when we first moved to the area a couple months ago. Staff is always friendly to us, and we’ve never had problems with waiting for food. Mind you, we’ve not been in at peak hours — mostly weekend brunch around 11/​12, a couple visits around dinner time, but at most there were maybe 5 – 7 other tables.
As others have said, the chicken fried steak is good. I’ve had the BBQ chicken dinner (I think it’s on special early in the week) and that was delicious also. Not dry if I recall correctly. Brisket sliders are great, got those as a smaller meal once with some sweet potato fries. When we’re here for brunch I get the classic breakfast with a side of pancakes. The home fries are tasty! My favorite part is that the pancakes come with REAL, FRESH fruit — sliced strawberries and whole blueberries! None of that compote or frozen BS.
The patio itself is great. Lots of tables (there’s live music some nights we have yet to check out), didn’t see any mosquitoes while we were there, and even though it was around 90° it was comfortable enough for us and the dogs. Lots of shade.
Overall it’s a great spot for good food and good service!

We had a group of 17 arrive last Friday ⁶⁄₃ around 4 – 4:30 PM. When we arrived the waiter that greeted us became very stressed that we had so many people in our party and we had not made a reservation. He started saying he was the only waiter and just 1 cook. They had a large party coming in at 6:45. He asked us to wait. We told him that we were not in a hurry. As we looked in the dining room there might have been 2 tables of people at the time.
After he walked off another person came up to us «Matt». He said don’t worry I will take care of your group. Let me get a table set up. Matt had us seated quickly and he was great! The drinks were never empty, he kept the bread coming, appetizers came out quickly with our food orders to follow soon. The service Matt gave us was excellent!!!
The food was ok, service by Matt was great! The 4 stars is for Matt

Cafeteria grade food and slow service. Someone needs to shake up this old gem. Special was dry. Sides over cooked and salty. Beer was cold.
Music was good.

I hadn’t been here in awhile and some girlfriends and I went for lunch today. Was pleasantly surprised. The food was good and our server Matt — was great! We will be definitely be visiting again soon!

For the life of me, I can’t undestand why this place doesn’t have more business. There is not a better chicken fried steak in South Austin. Enjoyed having Matt as our waiter. Such a nostalgic place and hope that the new management can put this place back on the map. We always enjoyed coming here.

If you are in South Austin stop in this true icon of Austin. True southern cooking, the atomosphere and food takes back in time. Best corn fritters ever. I will come back for more of them. Service was friendly from the moment you walk in, our server Matt was so helpful and attentive to any of our needs. We will definitely be coming back again. The walls are full of history. I have added this as one of my Austin favorites!

DISGUSTING! Smells old! Slowest service ever. Fried pickles were so gross and salted like no other. There cornbread was also gross. And they ran out of bread to even give us some decent bread. The tea was gross. Our food was cold. After waiting a HOUR FOR IT. Those waitress were dressed like they work on the corner. This place has no class. Definitely not a family place. Like I said DISGUSTING. Even the MANAGER was gross. We saw her grab a handful of fries and put it on our plates. After she was walking around cleaning. We let her know about our experience and she couldn’t care less! Mc Donald’s is like a five star restaurant compared to this place. Don’t waste your money or time here. It doesn’t even deserve 1 star.

We went here for Brunch on Sunday and I fully enjoyed it.
I loved the atmosphere! It was a lot bigger than you’d think from the outside and even has a great outdoor area. I enjoyed the décor, looks like there is a lot of history here, and it actually felt like we were in Texas, which is rare in Austin!
I was pretty bummed because they were out of biscuits and I was really craving some eggs, biscuits, and gravy but I got a burger and it was really good — cooked perfectly.
The server and our first round of drinks took a while to get to us but after that he kept checking in on us and was very friendly, so I think they were just busy.
I heard they have live music, so we plan to come back for drinks and check out the night scene here!
Update !!!
We came tonight for food and music, the drinks took almost 40 minutes to come to us. She kept blaming the bartender — again, same excuse we got last time we were here, and then they were warm and the ice had all melted by the time we got them.
The servers all looked frantic and it wasn’t even busy. As a server, I was appalled. We paid for our drinks and left and never ate.
We couldn’t find a manager to even make a complaint, also — the bathrooms were disgusting. I’d rather of gone in a porter potty — probably won’t come back.

The bartender Kearra gave excellent service! She went above and beyond for me and my family dining and ordering drinks! She was super busy she seemed to be alone waiting on all the customers but still perfected our orders and got them out quick! I gotta say those drinks were gorgeous and super yummy! BEST bloody Mary’s ive had! The brunch was amazing and the food was excellent. Hit the spot! This experience definitely made up for the bad experience with the food i had a few yrs ago and i was hesitant to return. Now i will be going there often and asking to sit at the bar area! Thx Kearra and Hills Café for tasty food and great service!

A genuine Austin original full of history that regretfully doesn’t deliver the inflated reputation the local radio advertising endorsement would otherwise have you believe. Even Willie Nelson and some Texas country artists had a jingle on KOKE FM a few years ago singing it’s praises. Sadly, it disappointed when we went a few years ago. The most recent reviews indicate nothing has improved. Over hyped and overpriced, I recall the chicken fried steak tasting frozen and bland and the brisket tamales my wife ordering were dry and not fresh at all. Service was slow and the food was horrible. The only cool thing is the dark and rustic atmosphere it has going for it. Too bad you can’t bring your own food. That would be the only way to improve that dining situation.

Wow. Just… wow.
Although our party of 18 – 20 were seated promptly (we called ahead), there really is no definition for the quality of service and attentiveness that we failed to receive last Friday evening around 6:30.
Wait staff 101: Get drink orders first, and get the drinks out first. My wife and I got our drinks 45 minutes after ordering, and the couple beside us received simple Cokes an HOUR after ordering. No lie. Several of our group went to the bar on their own just to get something to wet their whistle since it was obvious that the wait staff was incompetent. Of course, we were blessed with glasses of water after a 25 minute wait.
Our food began arriving after 45 minutes with all in our party being served after an hour’s wait. Some orders were incorrect. The only positive note concerning my personal order was that the chicken fried steak was OK; it wasn’t tough, it wasn’t full of gristle, and the white gravy was ok as well. My 8 green beans tasted canned and flavorless though, and the mashed potatoes were chunky, stiff and barely warm.
Never during the course of our agonizing stay there did the manager come out to check on our status. They would have gotten an earful! The consensus among our group was that if we had been there alone, we would have been long gone due to lack of acknowledgement and service. It really was pathetic.
Congrats Hill’s Café … you have set an all time low for service in the eyes of more than 20 people

First time here for our entire friend group. It wasn’t busy when we arrived and our waiter started out super attentive. We ended up waiting quite awhile just for water/​drinks, with smaller tables getting serviced much faster. We weren’t in a hurry but made me wonder what it’s like when they’re packed. Everyone who ordered the chicken fried steak loved it! As for the sides, really good fried corn bites and grilled zucchini. The French fries and fried okra were both cold so perhaps those had been sitting around for a bit. Margaritas were tasty and nicely portioned. There was live music (acoustic) playing on stage which provided a great ambience. Definitely want to try out one of their bigger concert nights. Ample parking for a regular night.

In Austin for a weekend trip away from Dallas and a group of us with reservations went to Hill’s for dinner Friday night. It wan’t busy at all which should have been a head’s up that this might not be a popular spot. Cool looking place with a down-​home menu, and I really expected to like it. Sorry to say the service was the worst I’ve experienced anywhere, ever. That put me off the whole meal and dining experience that capped our fun Friday road trip.
It took 45 minutes to get our drink order for four people of two beers and two cokes, and the two cokes didn’t even arrive at the same time as the beers, but were served AFTER the meal was served an hour in. And this after I snagged a waitress after 20 minutes and said it’s been 20 minutes since our drink order. «Oh, okay, let me check on that.» It took another 25 minutes for the 2 beers to arrive. Even in a busy restaurant, this is abysmal service and it was slapped on the table without apology or explanation for the long wait by our nearly surly waiter.
If we hadn’t been with a group, we would have left. The food was just okay. My husband’s chicken fried steak was good he said — tender and not gristly. But mashed potatoes were stiff and canned green beans not tasty. I had the catfish platter which was pretty good with hot tasty fries and decent cole slaw. It’s hard to even care about the food at this point, we were so ticked off about sitting there so long without drinks and without attentiveness from our waiter who was obviously in a bad mood. The couple sitting with us hardly ate their food. I would hope management would get on top of whatever the service issue is because by the time you run that gauntlet, the food stops mattering. Bad experience. Hard to think about giving this place a second try.

Like many others who’ve been here, it seems, I really want to like Hill’s. It’s southern food, it’s close to home, and the place clearly has history. Despite living here for 16 years, 2015 was the first time I tried Hill’s. During this visit, the service was fine and the food was decidedly average, but at least I had chicken fried steak in my stomach.
My wife and I went back on Sat. ⁰²⁄₂₀ at 7:30pm and had one of the most bizarre restaurant experiences I have ever had. When we walked in, the place looked mostly empty and there was no one to greet us at the front. We peeked in and tried unsuccessfully to make eye contact with an employee, and after 3 – 4 minutes of waiting at the front, a woman came to seat us and the couple who had come in after us. She sat us in the bar area without asking where we’d like to sit, and said she’d be our waiter.
The waitress seemed frazzled and confused, which in retrospect should have been an indicator to get up and leave. She came back in under 10 minutes to take our drink order. 15 minutes and one forgotten drink order later, another waiter comes up and asks us for our menus, saying they’re «about 40 menus short.» I guess there are 40 more people on the patio than there have ever been in the restaurant? In the time it took to ask for the menus he could have easily taken our order and then taken both the menus.
I saw a party of 6 get their food and soon after send a representative to the bar to complain about an incorrect order and lack of attention. I saw the couple who came in after us get up and leave. My wife and I followed suit. I don’t know the situation regarding the party on the patio or the staffing levels that night, but if you don’t have enough staff to serve any more people, don’t seat any more people. The staff were all in a bad mood and didn’t seem to be trying very hard to work quickly or efficiently, which indicates a serious problem in management. I’m going to have a difficult time giving Hill’s another shot without significant changes to the way they operate.

Super relaxed country/​antique/​home feeling spot. The food has been great every time I’ve been. Chicken fried steak, southwest burger down to the sides and side salad.

Love the food (esp) the chicken friend steak. Staff is nice

I really wanted to like this place and give it a better review this time around, but the food made that impossible. The server this time was great and he is the only reason I gave it more than one star. His name was Craig or as the receipt said Craiggers. He was attentive helpful and had a positive attitude and he was quick to fix or attempt to fix the problem I asked him to.
Upon arrival we were greeted by the host who told us we should sit outside and watch the band that was playing. She the proceeded to tell us how the band is like Mumford and sons. What she didn’t tell us was that the band didn’t start till 7 and we were here at around 6:40. Either way from when we sat till we ordered a dos equis took about 5 minutes and another few to get it brought to the table .
The server did bring some rolls and the drinks were ice cold
The food came out about 5 minutes before the band started. I ordered the chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. When I took my first bite it was of the mashed potatoes I noticed were room temp. I then tried the green beans which were army green in color and like everything else needed salt and room temp. I called the server who quickly attempted to fix the problem. At this point I didn’t notice the funny taste in the mash potatoes.
My partner order meatloaf with the same side as mine. He pointed out the mashed potatoes had a funny taste. I still didn’t notice something off. The server then brought me sides that were hot better than that room temp.
I then took a bite of my mashed potatoes and then it hit me. This wall of sour flavor coming from it. I’m not 100% sure the cause I can speculate sour milk or sour butter but still uncertain. It was gross just plain gross.
The fried chicken was once again overcooked not as dry as the last time but over cooked and missing salt.
The meatloaf was a little to undercooked in my opinion for ground beef and also lacked salt.
I mentioned the army green color earlier of the green beans which should have been blanched and shocked quicker and pan fried to order with the onions and bacon. The side was also swimming in some water/​broth. Also this needed salt.
Overall the food was really off this time but the ice cold beer and server craig were on point. I will give myself some time to decide on whether I want to return or not.

This place is trying to revive itself and I hope it does. Great appetizer’s + a full bar + live music.
Mel & Colleen were are bartenders and because of them I will go back. We had perfect margaritas made with fresh juice ! (Not too sweet) Bacon wrapped chicken tenders w a hot lil pepper on it was perfect w our Rita’s. Definitely worth a try, even if it’s for a drink!

If you are from the South then you have likely had chicken fried something in your life time. Hill’s café is good Southern home-​style food. It is also home of the world famous sizzler is case you were wondering!
It was 2 days before my wedding and I had lots of family that had just gotten into town from all over the US, so of course we had to take them somewhere very Austin and very Texas. Hill’s Café totally hits the spot when it comes to this type of atmosphere.
We did the call ahead for a group of 12 people. When we got there at 7:30 they had a table all set for us, which ended up being perfect! We ordered rounds of drinks for the table. I had a margarita and Texas tea. The margarita was my favorite of the two and a hit at the table. The other hit at the table was the chicken fried steak. Then there was the debate on if you should get the white gravy or their special yella gravy. That’s right it is yella — not yellow … you have to say it correctly in your head when reading it too. Several of us including myself went with the yella gravy and it was a total WIN! I think they must put chicken stock in it or something … honestly I have no idea, but it was GOOOD! The mashed potatoes were great too and had the skins on them, which I liked.
Everyone at the table loved their food and was pleased with their chicken fried whatever or whatever they may have gotten on the menu! The service we had here was great too. I am so glad I got to bring my out of towners here for some real Texas southern food!
Remember — do the yella gravy!