Mettle – East Austin Bistro

Mettle stuck me as a fun, eclectic dining place, and I wasn’t disappointed. The décor of the place is a mix of wood and metal and large open windows (we sat inside; it was chilly out).
Our host and server were great; very attentive, very knowledgeable about the menu and both were natural comedians. I felt bad I was keeping them away from other customer, but chatting with them was a lot of fun.
I had the chicken fried beef cheeks which had an amazing flavor, especially when coupled with the side of asparagus we had. Drinks were well done and unique, but not over the top.
Alas, the dilemma with Mettle is the dilemma I have with a lot of «eclectic» restaurants: it’s a bit on the pricey side considering the size of the servings. I was still hungry after brunch; just an ounce or so more would have been nice, both to appeal to the eyes and palette, as well as the wallet.

Although for the most part I can say I have had good food here, the service is what totally ruins the experience, and this is the second time I have felt this way so I hope this review helps management address some issues. First bad service experience was on one of the Eat East Tuesday nights, escargot was great, drinks were okay, but service was slow and the waitress was nonexistent most of the time, when they weren’t even very busy. A friend ordered a happy hour $ 5 wine and when it came time for the bill, she noticed the cost of the wine on the bill was 2x what she was expecting being that she ordered the $ 5 happy hour wine. After the waitress finally came out to us after a long time of waiting, my friend pointed out this wine price discrepancy, after which the waitress replied «oh, we were out of that wine so I gave you a similar one instead but it is more expensive». My friend said «don’t you think you should have said something before or at least at the time you brought out the wine?» The waitress replied «oh well I’ve already printed the bill so what do you want me to do?». My friend simply replied «do whatever you think is right». The waitress took her card and the bill and went on to charge what was already on the bill (2x more expensive wine), and left it at that. We were pretty floored.
Today’s experience: went for brunch on a Sunday. Again, not very busy at all, our waitress probably only had our table, MAYBE one other one. Service was fine until it came down to the food service. The four of us had each ordered a bagel plate, and I had additionally ordered the grilled asparagus and fried egg dish. The bagel plates were all brought out, and the waitress asked us if she could get us anything else, to which I replied asking about the grilled asparagus plate. She said that they had broken the egg (yolk) so they were cooking another one. TEN MINUTES LATER, we were all done eating our bagels (mine was cold and stale by the way), and my grilled asparagus/​fried egg was still not out, nor had we seen the waitress at all. I went and looked for her in the restaurant but she was nowhere to be found, must have been in the kitchen back area the whole time. Finally she brings the asparagus out and I said «Thanks. That took a really long time for an egg though and everyone has been done eating for a while». She asks me «oh do you want it to go?». I was at a loss for words so I just said yes. I ended up eating it in the to go box at the table because I didn’t want to eat it cold later after I had already waited like 15 minutes for it. It was a tasty dish by the way! Nothing was comped or addressed further.
If the restaurant was ever busy maybe I’d be understanding but this was twice that I saw lack of attention to detail and our waitresses not addressing obvious issues. It is very unfortunate because the food is actually quite good, except for the stale and cold cream cheese bagel.

I’m impressed but then again I’m easily impressed. Mettle is a great restaurant hidden in East Austin. Would I visit Mettle again? Eventually. But I had the fried chicken with fries. I have to say I was impressed with it. My fried chicken came with a watermelon salad. At this time, watermelon is not in season but it was good with the mint garnish. The fried chicken came with three different sauces which complimented the taste. The fries were good with mayo dijon and vinegar ketchup.
My dad doesn’t go to brunch a whole lot but he liked his asparagus with a fried egg. It was a good portion. My sister had the baked avocado and buttermilk biscuit.
For dessert, we tried the pretzel ice cream and honey ice cream. Honey ice cream believe it or not that sweet but good. The pretzel ice cream was surprisingly good and I’m not a big fan of pretzels.
Overall, we had a great experience at Mettle.

OH MY GOD!!!
I’ve never written a Unilocal review. And I know that Paris is the best city in the world. If you’ve been there and been out to dinner with some thoughtful preparation, you know I’m right. So… What’s the point. The point is the dessert. Just eat through whatever you order. It’ll be good. But when you order dessert, please please please order this dessert: the BEET S’MORE.
And also ask to be seated in Carter Rainke’s section. And ask him to order your food. You won’t be unhappy!!! TRUST ME ON THIS!
He’s also a great musician.

I had a gift card to Monger’s tonight… a restaurant that doesn’t take reservations. I took my boyfriend there, and when we were quoted a 60 – 90 minute wait, he asked if we could go somewhere else. He suggested Mettle.
So because this was an unexpected change of plans, we headed over without reservations. On a Saturday night. Realizing there will likely also be a wait… we hoped it would be less than an hour. We arrive to a packed house, and the host stand was deserted. We waited. We waited some more. I counted half a dozen servers blow through the host stand without eye contact, obviously it’s quite busy. We waited for almost 5 minutes on a Saturday night at an empty host stand. Where’s the managers? Anyone? We have a line behind us when one stressed young man whisks up. One host for a large, packed restaurant on a Saturday night.
We tell him we don’t have a reservation. In a disarmingly patronizing tone, he quotes us 15 – 30 minutes. It’s the tone that says: «Are you seriously showing up here without a reservation?» This was a time frame we were glad to wait, but my boyfriend is also clearly a little surprised by the rude energy. We look at each other to make a decision. In that awkward pause before I can speak, the host goes on to motion to the line behind us, reminding us that all THESE people have reservations.
So that’s it for me. I tell him thanks and we were out of there. I saw enough. We went to Takoba, where count em’ 3 hosts greeted us at the door… calm, and happy… in an also packed house. I asked if there was anything available even though we didn’t have a reservation. The reply: Of course! We paid half the price we would have at Mettle, for a great meal and an awesome date night.
I don’t blame the host. Talk about an over-​stressed kid in a lose/​lose situation. Why aren’t restaurant leadership/​owners staffing the heck out of the front and/​or running support circles around that restaurant? The front of the house should be able to deal with normal restaurant things in a warm friendly, calm manner… you know, like a couple coming in without a reservation. Imagine that.
My guy and I both agree, there are way too many awesome places in town. If you’re failing at the most base level of put smiling faces at your front door on the busiest night of the week, I don’t want to experience the rest.

I gave a rave review from Saturday night… well we loved it so much we went back to give their brunch Sunday morning a try. Was exactly as we’d expected… excellent! Both Frank and Elizabeth were there again and we were delighted.
I wish I could give more than 5 stars, the food, the interior and the people make this little hidden gem. They made us feel like we were locals. Loved it!

Décor and cocktails on point, underwhelmed with the food. I had higher expectations especially living in Austin. It was ok. Had the burger, okra, tots, pork chop, chicken fried beef cheeks and scallops amongst a group and it was mediocre. Would def come back for drinks and to chill, cool location

This is my second time visiting Mettle in about a month. First time was for lunch on a Sunday and tonight was for dinner on a Saturday night. I called ahead and made a reservation and when we arrived I was pleasantly surprised to see our table ready and tea light candles lit.
The service was pleasant and prompt. The food was all delicious. We ordered the Red Fish, BBQ Ribs, Fried Chicken, and the BBQ Shrimp. Everything was fantastic. We even ordered dessert after. A truly nice find here on the east side. We will be back!

Tears and sobs of downhill disappointment abound …
What the hell happened to the service here?
Spread out over several visits, the lack of attention to detail and attention to much of anything has me taking this down a couple of notches. When you bring me a cocktail in a dirty glass that is barely half full (and no it wasn’t supposed to be because I looked at others come out full as you would expect) you should not be waiting tables, and I should be taking my big fat baguette elsewhere.

Pretty groovy place.
Location is not the easiest to find but the concept and décor are quite cool.
We came for desserts and drinks. We ordered four desserts and enjoyed each especially the panna cotta.
Beverage selections for the group were champagne, Templeton Rye, Jameson, Pinot noir and a cocktail. All were good. Plenty to drink here.
Plan to return for an entire meal. Based on my limited experience I expected their collective Unilocal review to be a bit higher. Stay tuned…

I’ve been a few times since my first two experiences, which were fantastic. I have to say the same magic wasn’t there. Maybe it’s because my servers weren’t as cool as my previous ones who spoiled me. Maybe it was because the food on the menu, which had changed, was not as good as the food on my previous visits. Maybe it’s because I didn’t like their Apple Old Fashioned (what was I thinking, apple and old fashioned just don’t sound right together!). Maybe it was because their burger was no where near as good as I’d hoped it might be; it was just ok. I still like the atmosphere and location, but based on my last few experiences here, I have to say, unfortunately, the thrill is gone.
Would I go again? Yeah, I would. Their fries and miso aioli were still great (that is if they still have it) and I’d be curious to see if they got their swagger back somehow. Only thing is I can think of a list of other places I’d rather go back to first, so it may be a while.

We decided to try Mettle on a Saturday night which seemed crazy without a reservation but actually turned out fine since we learned they don’t do reservations for their outside patio and that is exactly where we wanted to be since it is dog friendly!
We went with another couple and started with some signature cocktails and an order of Bacon tater tots. We tried one of the republic mules and an apple old fashioned first and really enjoyed them both. They have some creative twists and common cocktails all across their menu, many of which looked worth trying but vary from $ 8 – 10 meaning the tab adds up fast. The tots were not what we were expecting, only about 6 of them, fried well with a tasty ranch sauce but ultimately we would have loved a basket of them.
For dinner he got the Chicken friend beef cheeks since the server recommended it for chicken fried steak fans and she tried the ribs on account of them not always being on the menu. The beef cheeks had a nice fry on them and came with some tasty mashers. The twist was that it also came with some surprisingly spicy hot sauce that caught a couple of us off guard.
The ribs were probably the better of the two with a fall off the bone texture and a yummy bbq sauce. For our sides, the fries were a food addition to any plate and the asparagus were fine though none of us cared for the egg that came on top.
Overall we had a very enjoyable experience at Mettle even if the service was a little spotty and too relaxed (forgot one of our drinks entirely but ended up comping it at the end which was a nice make up move).
We will likely go back for the outdoor patio which provides a quieter escape from the hectic downtown restaurants. Another perk is it is in the same lot with Hops and Grain brewery so you can check that out if there is a wait… it’s on our list for next time!

With the wide ranging review experiences on Unilocal,I feel compelled to include our recent positive experience. I missed a flight connection to Austin the night prior so we ate at 5:30 pm so the restaurant wasn’t very busy when we arrived. They are open continuously on the weekend and it is a good time to eat if it works for your schedule. We have been wanting to try this spot since seeing it during our Dinner Lab evening across the hall at Sky Candy. Our UT daughter had brunch here a few weeks ago and she and her party were impressed.
Our experience was very good. We will be back. The deck is inviting but the afternoon sun was intense so we opted for indoor dining. Our young waiter, Nick, had been with Mettle in back of the house roles before his current waitstaff role. He was personable, knowledgeable about preparations and sourcing, offered good suggestions, was attentive without being hovering. A great service experience. As others have written about the design of the space is quite nice.
The food. We split an Arugula salad which was very well done. I had the rockfish which was excellent. Such a large portion, I also had it for lunch the following day. My husband had chicken fried beef cheeks – he thought it was tender, well prepared and delicious. We also split a side of the greens which was amazing. Sorry we cannot review the desserts since we were too full to order any. A lot of people have written about the cocktails –one brief add – my husband is picky about cocktails and was happy with his gin and tonic. I tried two wines suggested by our waiter. Both were ok table wines. I settled on one, it was fine but nothing extraordinary. Next time I might pass on the wine by the glass for something else or select a bottle to open.
All in all, a great experience. I love the vibe of this place and its east Austin locale. The owner has some bars on Rainy and she has done a nice concept and establishment here. I can highly recommend.

Hmmm, after hearing so much…
So, finally made it over here. Had a few friends in tow. While I’m all about new, I hate when new doesn’t live up to the hype.
Our service sucked. Yep, just flat out sucked. I hate saying that, but if it’s true…
That made enjoying the food a bit challenging. When you need something in addition to, or something that might have been left out of your order, and it takes 10 min for the server to re-​appear… I can only handle my food being cold for so long.
We all got something different, but only one of use enjoyed the meal. It’s the pork carnitas apparently that are worth eating. My Tortilla Espanola wasn’t anything to refer out, and the fried chicken expert at our table, didn’t find it at all satisfactory. Didn’t even eat half of it, if that says anything.
The one order that had a mixed review: baked Avocado with crab (i believe). So, maybe that’s a go… she mentioned it should have more of a ‘salad’ with it, to balance the textures.
So, because I couldn’t even think of enough to say, I had to include a snippet of our tables experience.
Back to the service: He just never appeared. We kept looking for him, but as we was the server for most tables around us, no one else came over to our section if he didn’t.
I will add: The french toast was ok, sugar and caramelization seem to be a pretty easy palette pleaser.

Yesterday I went to brunch for my friend/ex-roomie’s birthday! There was 17 of us and service was seamless. The birthday girl made 12:30 reservations. We all slowly trickled in and Austin took our drinks orders as we all came in. I enjoyed the Mettle Mimosa (Rose Cava with OJ). It was delicious! It wasn’t to sweet, blended nicely and it was a pretty color. Once we all got there and were settled he asked if we wanted come appetizers. He suggested a few plates of Fries and Crumpets. We all said yes. We were a mixed group of people from San Antonio, hungover party goers of SXSW and just some normal folks that fall asleep by 10PM because we’re grown up and don’t party as much as we used too. The Fries were perfect. They were hand cut fries, just the amount of crispiness and it had the most amazing Aioli. We also had a few plates of Crumpets with jam and butter. It was best describe as a fat pancake without the syrup. I enjoyed it very much. It was fluffy and slightly dense. The butter and jam was a great compliment to the food pillow going into my belly.
Austin finally took all our food orders and as expected it took awhile but we all enjoyed the drinks, conversation and appetizers. I noticed early on that Austin was very meticulous and organized when he was taking our orders. He was counting the seats and writing down accordingly. The space is beautiful. There’s huge windows allowing light everywhere which was really nice. We had 2 cloudy, rainy days so the sun was a welcome surprised. They have a really nice outdoor space as well to enjoy dining al fresco. When we were waiting some of us got a little toasty and one of the diners started using the birthday girl’s card to fan her self. Right before our food arrived we finally felt the air kick on. Thank goodness! It was starting to get uncomfortable.
Finally the parade of food started to emerge from the kitchen. My friend to the left of me including half of our group ordered the Fried Chicken gravy, adorable mini biscuits and pickled jalapeños. I didn’t get a taste but man did it look scrumptious. I kept hearing comments around the table at how juicy it was. I ordered the Shrimp and Grits that had a poached egg. The shrimp was cooked perfectly and seasoned nicely. Andouille Sausage had just the right amount of spice. Grits were so creamy and perfect almost like a creamy polenta. The egg was absolutely perfect. It brought tears to my eyes as I broke the perfect yolk on my grits. I wish this portion was double the size and I really wanted to lick my bowl but that would be inappropriate. Plus there would be 16 people awkwardly looking at me.
Now the hard part the check. The birthday girl asked the server if he could split our check and he said he already had it all organized with gratuity. He just needed to know who was taking apps. We all pretty much volunteered so he said he was sprinkle them throughout. It took a moment for him to bring them up but I think it was because he was printing up all the checks out. I could hear the familiar sound of receipts printing. This place is so pretty, food was great, service was good. Thank you Austin and Mettle for hosting a great birthday for my friend!

Mettle has a great atmosphere, the outside entry and lounge area is very inviting.
Tried the escargot, which was too hot and overcooked/​tough and was served with very little bread.
Tried the housemade veggie pasta and was very disappointed — it was tough and served with a few chunks of butternut squash. I sent it back, they took it off my bill and then I ordered some delicious pork confit tacos.
The fries are amazing. The best part of my meal was probably the glass of port at the end.

I had been biting at the bit to check out Mettle for sometime now. When my friend asked my where we should go eat the evening of my bachelorette party this made it on the list as a place I had not been but really wanted to check out. My friend that was organizing everything said that Mettle was very willing to accommodate a party of our size and it was not a problem to book a reservation in advance.
We had 8pm reservations on Saturday night. As soon as I walked in our table was available for us, which was nice and impressive. Sometimes this doesn’t always happen at places like this even with a reservation.
Now — the cocktails here were absolutely 5 stars and the highlight for me. I had the Siamese Ciapirinha, which had a spicy Serrano pepper. It was perfectly spicy on the back end and I loved it. I love a spicy cocktail! My second cocktail i ordered was the Le Fin Du Fin and it was lightly sweet as it had pear infused green chartreuse, cognac, maraschino liqueur and lime juice … it was delicious!
On appetizers our table ordered quite a bit as there were 16 of us. I chose the lamb tiki masala, but there were the fried boudain, escargot, fries, kimchi fried rice and popcorn. My favorites that I tasted were the lamb tiki masala and kimchi fried rice. I felt like the boudain was lacking some spice and flavor as well as the popcorn. The popcorn I thought was just plain popcorn — boring.
For my main entrée I ordered the steak and frits. The steak was ok and a bit chewy for my liking. The fries were not impressive either. Overall I think the feeling from the table was ok. Some definitely liked it more than others. I was kind of expecting more from Mettle. Maybe their brunch is better than dinner? If the cocktails had not been so delicious — 2 stars, and if the service had sucked — 2 stars. Our waiter did a good job so if it hard for me to say this is 2 star worthy. In my book it is 3 stars — OK.

Located at the very end of east 6^th, Mettle is in a part of town that was shady AF maybe 5 years ago. But nowadays? We saw multiple tour buses and dozen of people walking around outside in this area. How times have changed…
The GF and I made a reservation for noon and were seated promptly. The interior of this place is pretty slick; very industrial but clean. Service was fine throughout the meal.
We decided to split 3 items: the shrimp & grits ($ 16, her choice), the fried chicken with biscuits ($ 15, my choice) and the french toast bread pudding ($ 8, both wanted it).
When the GF wanted to get the shrimp and grits, I quickly warned her of how hit or miss this dish has been for us lately. Sometimes it’s truly amazing, such as at Walton’s and Trace. Sometimes it sucks pretty hard, such as laV and Searsucker. Unfortunately, the shrimp and grits weren’t very good here either. For $ 16, you dont get a whole lot of grits? 4 pieces of shrimp and 4 pieces of sausage along with a soft poached egg accompanied the maybe 4ounces of grits. This dish was desperately lacking in salt. The grits were too watery and came in a pool of oil (see picture).
The fried chicken was so-​so. Cooked well. Moist chicken with crunch skin and decent flavor. It was close to being pretty good… but man, did they run out of salt in the kitchen today? Very disappointing. The mini biscuits that come with the fried chicken were useless; painfully dry and dense.
The french toast bread pudding… doesn’t that sound like a «can’t miss» dish? Meh. Slightly dry, the bread pudding was in need of ice cream or some kind of moisture component. The star anise-​cinnamon syrup was wayyy too overpowering. Which brings me to another recent trend in restaurants that I can’t stand; mixing savory with dessert. I’m all about balance of flavors and all that good stuff, but damn if you don’t know how to control/​balance the flavors, that savory shit you add to a sweet dish completely dominate the plate.
Mediocre/​underwhelming food. I will not be returning.

This review pertains to the brunch only as I haven’t been in for dinner since the menu changed. Myself and 5 other ladeeez gathered for brunch at the well-​designed Mettle space. It was a glorious day in December — one of those that all of my nor’eastern friends envy.
We ordered mimosas and bloodies and some of those biscuits, as well as the fried chicken, the breakfast green eggs and ham. And everything was okay. Well, not the mimosas. Those were greeeeeat (made with sparkling rose) though a little spendy. Our biscuits were kind of dry and uninspiring. My green eggs and ham was okay but not spectacular. My dining companions chicken appeared to be undercooked but we couldn’t really tell. Suffice to say she was uncomfortable eating it.
Everything else was fine to good and that’s why I’m dropping the A-​OK vote. It was not as good as I wanted but it was far from bad. Damned by mediocrity? Maybe. I will say our service was fantastic and the space itself is quite beautiful. You could definitely do worse.

This place is great. Definitely come here for brunch. After a night out on Dirty Sixth and sleeping in for a good amount of time, our group needed some brunch to bring life back into us – and there is no better place that I’ve been to in Austin recently that can do that.
Of course, we started with drinks (I mean there’s no other way to start a Sunday right? Also, I live in California where cocktails are significantly more than eight dollars. IT WAS FIVE DOLLARS FOR A MIMOSA! I couldn’t hold myself back.) I actually started off with the sangria and the others ordered the bloody mary. The sangria was good — a little weak on the alcohol but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The bloody mary was probably the better choice in regards to drinks. It was spicy and had the right balance of tomato juice… and the best part was the bacon, pepper, and olive garnish. Mimosas were great as well.
Now for the food. Below is the order of preference of dishes we ordered:
1. Beef Tongue Banh Mi – usually I stray away from banh mi because I know what the authentic ones taste like and why would I settle for anything less? Well. it’s not settling if you go for the beef tongue. It’s served with an au jus, kimchi aioli (my personal favorite), and curry ketchup. The tongue was cooked so well, the bread retained a crunchy and chewy texture without getting too soggy, and the balance of the veggies and jalapenos versus beef tongue were perfect. Also, the fries in this dish. Some of the best damn fries that I have ever had (dipping them in the aioli was just the cherry on top of their greatness). If you come here, get an order of fries. just do it.
2. Green Eggs & Ham — Fantastic. The slab of ham was thick, the bread held together, and the egg was cooked perfectly.
3. Pork Belly Confit Tacos — Standard taco but extremely delicious.
4. Shrimp & Grits (with the sixty-​eight degree egg) — I was in the South, so I figured getting something along the grits line was a necessity. It was pretty standard. I wasn’t impressed with any of the flavors. The shrimp was cooked to a good texture which brought my overall rating of the dish up.
5. Biscuits and Seven-​Pepper Gravy — I have to admit, I was extremely disappointed. When it comes to dishes like this, I look for a level of comfort that wasn’t there for me. The biscuits were pretty small which probably contributed to my disappointment. There was no Southern Soul in it. I’ve had biscuits and gravy like this at home.
The staff was extremely attentive and the vibe of the place is awesome. As soon as sat down, we all noticed that the playlist of the place was awesome. Straight out of ACL or Outside Lands. Even better, mid-​way through our meal, the band had set up and had started playing. Great vibes all around, cool metal (haha metal at Mettle) sculptures, and great food/​drinks. Definitely would love to come back here the next time I visit.