The Original Hoffbrau

In 2000 my wife and I found this establishment while in Austin. We have talked about how great the steaks were for years and I compare all steaks I eat against my Hoffbrau experience which was the best I ever had. In 2016, we finally made it back and the steaks are as good as I remember! This restaurant has a long tradition of food excellence and you will not be disappointed when you visit. It has been owned by the same family for many years and most of the staff have worked their for 30+ years. Smothering a steak in butter is genius and brings out such a good flavor. The salad was simple but so delicious! I think it was called the take it or leave it salad and I definitely took it! You MUST try their steaks at least once before you die! Put this place on your bucket list and be prepared for the most succulent steak you have ever eaten in a historical building off 8^th street!

How disappointing. We just left there after having the NY Strips which came to us floating on a plate of what i hope was butter, but Im not sure. The $ 19.95 steak was so thin, chewy and had a lot of fat. There were 2 of us so we received a small plate of 5 potato wedges total. I wonder how many you get if your alone? The «love it or leave it» salad; My friend left it, i ate half because i was hungry. This came with 2 slices (total) of sandwich bread. I’ve always wanted to go there because it is an Austin Original as am I. Well, at least i can say I went. Sadly I could’ve cooked a better steak at home in a frying pan. I can still taste it… and its not good. :-(

Every single bite was heaven.
We had the NY strip and the Top Sirloin. Omg the love it or leave salad was perfect. No wonder this place has been around 4ever
They have their food and systems down.
Great service, food was outstanding, and great experience.
Hole in the wall with the best steaks out there.
They add lemon butter sauce on your steak that you sop up with the yummy wonder bread they give you.
Sounds silly but ohhhhh so good.

This place is wonderfully historic. If you’re looking for something more contemporary, this is not your place. It’s down to earth and old school. Steaks were amazing, as were the fried pickles. It really is a simple place and a simple meal, but the style of ambiance is a rarity (and treasure) to be sure. Our waitress was the nicest lady who had worked there 20+ years. Great visit!

Amazing!!! A must try staple in Austin! This establishment has been around forever! It’s generational!
Really cool that the establishment is in it’s original location! Loved the authenticity and originality! Very take it or leave it steakhouse! I loved it!
Starts with a take it or leave it salad with lettuce, olives, and tomatoes tossed in olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic! I loved it! So did my husband!
Enjoyed a top sirloin and my husband had a ribeye, both smothered in garlic butter sauce that will make you drool!
They provide a nice slice of bread for the sopping or you can dip you thick cut steak fries in the yummy butter renderings!
They were under construction, adding on a patio area and maybe a bathroom! Lol

This place is absolutely amazing! They don’t have a lot of options so don’t go here expecting not to eat a steak! & that’s the way it’s suppose to be!
The staff is extremely knowledgable and it is best to follow there suggestions! They provide excellent service and are extremely courteous!
I will be returning, with FRIENDS !

This is a classic, no-​frills steak, potatoes, and salad meal. They have added a full bar and are still cranking out good steaks for a fair price. I had dinner with friends on a recent guys night out and it was nice to enjoy a good steak and simple sides at a bargain price (without having to pay for the atmosphere).
I recommend it for a very casual and classic steak night out.

Been eating really good steaks since 1957. When The Hamby brothers ran it. Best steaks ever!

Amazing. When I crave steak. This is where I come. Friendly staff. Small and cozy. Everything is always cooked to perfection. Seems like they are adding an outdoor patio soon. Will return soon. That lemon butter sauce along with the steak and steak fries Are DELICIOUS.

I know I’m really late on this, but we came here on Valentine’s Day due to hour+ waits everywhere else. Felt like I was walking into my grandmothers kitchen and the food tasted like it too. We met the owners as well as the chef who had been there for decades. Take some time and read their history on the menu. I guess we’re the kind of romantics who can drink a beer, eat a steak, talk to the waitress about motorcycles, and feel like we found the best Valentine’s Day in Austin.

It’s steaks only, but they are really good. Their salsd is, as they describe it, «take it or leave it» dressing, but I like it a lot. Their French fries are enormous hunks of potato, but again, good. These are also their signature dish.

Absolutely terrible food. The steaks were served raw. The salad was literally the minimum you could have on a plate and still call it a salad.

If you’re looking for a LARGE and I mean large steak swimming in garlic butter you’ve come to the right spot. Don’t look for pristine decorum cause you won’t find. The steak is pretty good… however just a little toooooo much butter for my taste

Short review: No.
Longer review: Seriously. No.
A medium rare steak was raw. «Salad» was chopped lettuce with two cherry tomatoes.
Seriously. No.

I’ve heard that this place is an Austin institution, so I thought I would give it a try. I really like how old school this place is. Everything is very original and there was even an outdoor patio. I sat outside and had a very friendly and attentive waiter.
I believe I had the New York strip special that night, that included salad, fried shrimp, thick steak fries and bread. It was a great value, but I thought the food was ok. The salad had a very strong dressing and the garlic flavor was overpowering. The fried shrimp was crispy and fresh, the steak was on the slim side and a little fatty. It was in a butter-​garlic sauce. It tasted good, but I wasn’t really blown away. It was nice to soak up the remaining sauce with the potatoes and bread.
I would say that you get what you pay for, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, you’re in the mood for an affordable, good, satisfying meal and this place delivers. I’d definitely come back again!

The place is very timey and has alot of character. 80 years and it doesnt look like they changed a thing.
The food is ok, the steaks come with thick potatoes and a side salad. The potatoes were nice and crispy, and pretty good actually. The salad is made of shredded lettuce, and what seems like a cup of oil, i would say it was over dressed but all i tasted was just oil.
The steak wouldve been a lot better if there were little better quality, and for the price i expected as much. The steak lacked a good sear, although the flavor wasnt bad from the butter sauce that they drown the steak in.

Very nice staff. Quick, attentive service. Kind of cool in that it hasn’t changed its stripes since day one. That’s where the positives end.
Steak wasn’t very good. Undercooked and fatty even for a ribeye. Every steak sits on a pool of grease and butter which overwhelms the taste (probably a good thing actually).
It also wasn’t cheap. Menu says salad and potato wedges are included in the price and yet we were charged extra for them. Small ribeye, small salad, and two potato wedges cost me $ 35. I wouldn’t go back.

So if this is the original I am so glad they revamped the Hoffbrau ’ s in the DFW area! This place is a pretty big dump. The staff was nice enough but everything else is old, small and stinky. The food was not even worth it. One bite for me and I packed it to go for my pig. I do not like to give bad reviews but this poor little original steakhouse really needs to think about change. They served an iceberg salad on a plate too small to eat without it all falling off the sides. And sides? They do not offer those here! You don’t even get a baked Potato. They serve giant potato wedges that are not cooked through. Period. That’s it. Steaks covered in butter.. It’s just gross. Sorry!

This is a place for those of us with deep Austin roots. It is what it is… which is awesome. Not sure I want to know how much butter is actually put on each steak but for the price you pay, this is darn good eats. Simple. Reliable. Authentic. The only reason for 4 stars is because their hours are a little weird.

Brother-​in-​law and I were in town for some golf. We asked about a dive with good food. This wasn’t really a dive, but food was good or at least interesting. The steak is literally floating in butter. The steak came with a salad with that had a corn oil dressing, yup.
They did stay open for us and after a couple beer the steak was amazing. Also opted for onion-​rings. They had beer and steak, nothing really to complain about.

Very nice people in a true vintage establishment. Limited menu: 6 steaks and a chicken breast. The iceberg lettuce salad was room temperature, which was a shame, because the salad dressing was awesome, vinegar and garlic yummy with green olives and pimento. The bread was grocery store wheat bread, nothing special. The New York steak was good quality meat. It was under seasoned but cooked perfectly. Very tender. The potatoes were OK. Lots of butter for everything, which I don’t mind at all. Butter is a food group, isn’t it? They gave us dog bones, too. Really nice folks. I give them 4 stars because it was such a nice experience. The food is probably a 3.

I’m disappointed to read other low reviews of this place. If you are looking for a health conscious place to get beef flavored tofu go to the Whole Market down the street. But if you want delicious steak for a value price and you are a butter lover, then this is the place you come to.
I’ve been going to the Hoffbrau since I was 9, and 25 years later it is still my favorite steak place. The ambiance of this place will take you back to a simpler time when good food was what you dined out for not the fru-​fru crap diners tend to go for these days.
The waiters are awesome, the cooks are fantastic guys, and in my opinion you can’t do better then this place for a good steak. I’d rather go here then to the Vince young Steakhouse where you can’t get out for less that 100 $. But here I can have a big olé steak, potato wedges, salad, and drink for $ 30.

Not sure if it fair to even rate Hoffbrau since we didn’t eat. Many moons ago, enter late 70’s early 80’s, my roomy and I used to come here on pay day Friday. It was our best and really only big meal we would eat all week. We were young and broke so we would really look forward to coming by and stuffing ourselves with the huge plate of fries and a steak in a hot tub of butter. I liked the simple salad and it seems they haven’t missed putting garlic in it. For a dining experience, I would defer to Mark F’s review since it is exactly how I remembered it years back. What I can report is we popped in purely for a flashback moment. I wanted Suzie to experience it and just kick back and let the memories soak in. We came in and I asked if it would be okay if we just got a beer and reminisced. The young lady gave me a huge smile and said OF COURSE. Two Shiner Boch’s appeared and we sat and took in the smells and sights. I loved the fact that it simply hasn’t changed one bit in 30 plus years. We sipped our beers and a charming lady came out to visit with us. I mean who does that? We shot the shit for a little and then she told me she remembered me and didn’t I graduate Austin High… How the heck she knew that was beyond me. Upon further discussion she said she remembered me have long hair in a pig tail. well I did have long hair, but never in a pig tail. who cares if she may have confused me with someone else, the fact that she came out to greet us and welcome us is epic. Yes, you may find a nicer, modern place, with prices twice what they are here, but you won’t replicate what made Austin, Austin.

I’ve been in Austin 35 years and I finally made it to the Hoffbrau!!! I know, I know what was I doing with my life? Okay maybe since I don’t eat much steak and I did have chicken here, which was quite flavorful. My friends had steak and the discussion centered around which types were okay and which were better then others.
I thought the prices where reasonable. Oh, and their pies come from The Texas Pie Company. Can’t get better then that.
Oh, and our wait person. Well they ALL waited on us really. Yeah the same person took our order and gave us our bill, but everyone was attentive to our table.
So go. If just once. I mean you really have to be able to say you’ve been if you want to call yourself and Austinite!

I’m confused by the low reviews but you know some days are better than others and I was lucky enough to catch this place on a rock star type day! This place has been there forever with a cast iron flat top from the 60s!
I ordered the chicken and a small ribeye which comes with salad and sopping bread. The salad was amazing with green olives and a olive oil drwssing that has fresh garlic blended in a blender!!! Hands down the best salad ever and the waitress even broight me more when I commented on how good it was, no charge!
The chicken and steak were moist and cooked to perfection, drenched in margarine with garlic infusion for a better taste! It would have been under seasoned without the margarine sopping butter!
This is a no frills texas steakhouse please understand that! I used an outho7se bathroom and there was checkered table clothes on picnic tables. Also the inside is quaint but old. I kind of like it that way, showing off the old texas dive steakhouses that centered around good food!
The server and cook were so sweet and even gave me a side show view of their kitchen. They were so proud of the cast uron flattop and cast iron fryer for the potato wedges. I xan understand why because not vending to the new streamline cooking techniques is amazing! Lets face it old cast ironed seasoning is something to applaud!
Out the door for $ 40.00 for two dinners, salad, bread, ice tea and a shiner bock… um you can’t go wrong!
Check it out and you will agree!