Tree House Italian Grill

Every time I go to Austin on business I get taken to the tree house. They have the oldest tree in Austin in their patio, hence the name.
The food has always been great. the last time I went was not on business and went for a romantic dinner. My veal was great and she had pasta in a lobster sauce which was very good. They had an Italian wedding cake that is to die for.
With that said, there were a few cons. The coffee machine was not working and neither was the air conditioning.

Wow, these bad reviews are SAD.
I had a very lovely birthday dinner here last year around this time and I was hoping to go back, but maybe notttt…
Last year I got the eggplant parmesan and it was actually quite delicious and memorable. The waiter was nice and there was a man playing a cello. The décor was kitschy-​cute and my whole party loved it.
But a roach in the oil? And no apology?
I’m going to have to go elsewhere.

I wish I didn’t have to give a star. Roach in the dipping oil. Yup, roach. When we told the waiter and cancelled our food order to leave, they still made us pay for the bottle of wine we were drinking. I regret now not making a huge scene. Manager never came out to apologize either. AC was broken too. Place was dirty and gross. Don’t go!

I had been wanting to eat here for yearrrs but don’t know what took me so long. So obviously with that kind of anticipation and eagerness, you’d think my expectations would at that point be a tad too high. Really though I think the customer service could have better along with the food nonetheless.
The hostess that sat us was the nicest and seemed to care more. Damn she should’ve been our waitress also.
Way overpriced for what you get and the taste of the food in my opinion.
Keep in mind how small this place is. Like the size of a one bedroom apartment with indoor and outdoor seating. So you would think waitstaff would take extra care in how they move about the restaurant right? NO, they don’t and they didn’t. I think the next table’s waiter behind us made me feel like he was going run into my chair or my head like 8 times and NEver once said excuse me or try to walk slower.
Our waiter didn’t come around enough and barely spoke English. And when I said I didn’t like the way my food tasted the cook (who was obviously one of management or owners) came out from the kitchen in his dirty frock and asked me to taste it while he watched me as if that was gonna make it taste any better.
I always get dessert when eating out and usually have a major sweet tooth by the time dinner is done so I ordered the Italian cream cake which I like. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if your cake is dried up and feels like cardboard, it is OLD. I told them that’s why I didn’t eat it and we left.
THE END ^_^

I don’t have much to say about this place. The food is ok but over-​priced for the quality. The description of the dishes sounds so wonderful but didn’t nearly meet my expectations. Service wasn’t stellar either.
There are better Italian restaurants in Austin to dine at.

This was the first time that I went there. I really enjoyed it and I’m ready to go back again. The people are friendly the food was good and the atmosphere is awesome. I would recommend it for a romantic night out or you just want a very elegant way to have Italian food. Give it a try.

This place is total garbage, canned tomato sauce, old old old chicken parmesan, frozen disgusting sea food.
Stink bugs crawling around everywhere.
Please don’t waste your money.
Service was absolutely horrible as well.

Just not good.
In my opinion this is a place that is trying to get by making cuts here and there and is now serving substandard food.
We pull in at noon sharp on a Wed and the parking lot is 90% empty. Truly this is all you need to know. We go in and the place is 90% empty. Our waiter who had some hygeine issues (nice but something we all noiced) brought us water and gave us some time (a little too much time) to decide on what we wanted.
We order the lunch specials and get iceberg lettuce, low quality canned baby corn, LQ canned garbanzo beans and a black olive (pizza black olive not italian). The dressing was fine. Actually light flavored and one of us liked it alot.
Meals — same deal. Sauce not to bad, chicken was obviously precooked and then reheated and tossed in last minute. The artichoke and mushroom sauce was more like their red sauce that they trew in some LQ canned artichoke quarters and some pre-​cooked mushrooms into. No mix of flavors. The base red sauces isn’t so bad but it could have come from a jar.
Garlic bread — plenty but tastes just like the frozen stuff you get at HEB. Fine for home, not out.
Our waiter filled waters after the each went empty and when he delivered the salads the pepper mill stayed under his arm without an offer… took his time taking care of their bill too.
Our table started talking about how low quality everything was at the table. Once we got to the car it dominated the conversation back to the office.
I didn’t even mention the décor. On the line between classy and kitchy over the top — but really in the sad in between stages of one of the owners really bad taste.
Great candidate for a restaurant makeover show. Place needs help, we won’t be back.

Let me start by saying this place has great food. The reason for only 3 stars; the service was a bit lacking the night we were there. First, we asked to be seated outside but was told there were no tables. Another group with the exact same number as our group came in right behind us and asked to be seated outside and the waiter took them right to a table. We asked why and they said the table wasn’t clean when we walked in… but it was 30 seconds later? That is the reason for losing one star. The other reason was because the wine we initially asked for was out of stock. They tried to substitute it with one that was «a couple dollars more»… well when we checked the menu it was $ 15 more. That’s more than a couple dollars in my opinion.
If anyone from this restaurant sees this review… remember UnilocalERS have a voice and customer service plays a BIG role in reviews.

I’m really not sure why this place is rated so low. I’ve anted to try it for a long time but when I looked it up on Unilocal the reviews turned me off. However, last night we tried it for the first time and I have to say… two thumbs up.
Food was excellent for the price, the service was great, and it’s surprisingly nice inside. We where also surprised to see they had a nice outdoor patio area.
They could definitely benefit from a happy hour, but overall we really enjoyed it and will definitely be back.

My family and I went to this establishment to eat with family. When we entered the parking lot (which was vastly empty for a sunday afternoon.) made me a little suspicious, which by the way is just the beginning of the story my friends. Join me on our little tour of horror!
The ambience was well old and dusty, and a little (way too little) dark. Apparently the a/​c was not working well either since there were fans everywhere blowing their little hearts out. The music they had being piped in was stuck in a loop. It only played three songs while were were there. OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN…
Now, we all had different orders, as you would expect of course. I ordered the veal saltimboca with lemon/​butter sage sauce. My wife ordered the eggplant parmasean, and grandma Sallie ordered the fettucini with crawfish, and of course Grandpa ordered the seafood plate.
Now grandma and grandpa’s plates looked well, and they did not offer any complaints at the time of eating (though grandpa does not complain about peoples food.)
My veal came out on a plate, that when the waiter placed it in front of me looked more like a soup with something flat and white in the middle of the plate./ The veggies that were supposed to be served with the dish were on a separate plate. (guess they figured that if they put in on the plate it would be a soup. the sauce was so runny. Not to mention that it was SUPPOSED to be a «lemon, butter, and mushroom sauce with sage.» Well, if there was any butter in it, it must have evaporated, and in place of lemon I got baslamic vinegar. I am sorry, but the lemon butter sauce over saltimboca should be creamy, not to thick, and definately not SOUPY either. Never should baslamic vinegar be used in place of lemon. It just does not turn out right. If that was not bad enough, the veal was tough as shoe leather and drier then the gobi desert. Not good eats.
My wife’s eggplant parmasean was even worse. If you order a parmasea dish, it should never be swimming on sauce… Why do you ask? We it simple, it turns the breading into enedible MUSH. Which is was happened to my wife’s dish. That and we soon discovered upon cutting into the eggplant that it was 98% breading. the so called eggplant looked like it was shaved into micro slices. I mean come on man, really… Skimping on EGGPLANT. I can see it in the way of VEAL or something more expensive, but not eggplant.
The one saving grace of the dinner last night was the fact that the marinara sauce was REALLY good. I mean it tasted freshly made, no bitter or acidic bite like what you get with canned sauce or canned tomatoes. It was very very good, and had absolutely no complaints there.
The service from our waiter was quite nice, and prompt. We had no complaints there either. This place would have gotten a 1 star review, but the good service we received and the fact that the house marinara sauce was really good I had to give it 2 stars. I just don’t know if I will ever be going back here again. I will just have to see how brave I am.

Can I just say what a huge disappointment this place was? BIG!
My boyfriend and I were wandering around ’04 after a day of errands, trying to find somewhere «nice-​ish» and new to have dinner. We chose Tree House.
From the outside, the place looks great! They have a huge deck, which boasts what I understand to be one of the oldest live oak trees in Austin. How wonderful if they would add the thing that Austin is most known for: live music! That porch seems like an under-​utilized gem, and it kinda breaks my heart a little.
We walked in and the place is super cute Italian-​esque. Instruments and Italian-​style art on the walls, big, intricate furniture and a very nice and widely open dining room. Though we didn’t sit on the deck because it was too cold, I imagine that it’s quite nice, weather permitting.
The meal started off with their complementary bread and seasoned olive oil. I admit it, I’m kinda a sucker for the warm bread + olive oil thing, so I was pretty stoked about that.
I ordered pasta with tomatoes and broccoli; my boyfriend had chicken parm, I think.
The pasta was appalling! It had CLEARLY been cooked much earlier in the day, and kept in a hot water pan for far too long. It was limp and mealy and not fresh. Apparently I misunderstood what I ordered because I didn’t realize that I was just going to get a plate of pasta with steamed broccoli and tomatoes and little else regarding seasoning or flavor of any sort. I was surprised. I asked the waitress if that was how it was supposed to come, and she confirmed that it was, so I asked for a side of marinara. The marinara, now not at all to my surprise, was mediocre. I didn’t finish the meal, and I would not have even considered bringing it home.
Supposedly the chicken parm was «ok».
Their wine list is fairly decent, apart from the fact that it’s organized terribly and doesn’t include pertinent information that a customer may want, like the vintage. It’s also fairly over-​priced — that bottle of La Crema Pinot Noir retails for about $ 20 and they charge $ 48, which is pretty significant considering restaurants don’t even pay retail prices.
Oh! There was a guy in a suit walking around and chatting with a few tables who seemed to be either the owner or the manager, though I suspect the former. Doesn’t he know the quality (or lack thereof) of his food?

The reason they got one star is because of their patio.
I ordered chicken piccatta and as a chicken picatta lover, this was nothing like it. There was some weird sauce on it and they put their nasty spaghetti sauce on the spaghetti (that was supposed to be angel hair).
Seriously, this place is a drink and sit place, not somewhere to eat. It’s sad that I had 16 disappointed women with me, not one girl liked it and we weren’t in any way picky, that says a lot.

I have a couple of friends who love this place, but I think its more about the atmosphere outside than it is about the food. Take a look at the reviews — really, just about everyone recommends that you sit outside and take in its charming patio. Word of mouth, I’ve had recommendations to go there, but never got out there until recently.
It was cold outside, so we sat inside. Our party of four ordered different items, so we got a good spectrum of the menu.
–The bread that came out for us was warm, but not notable.
–I had a salad, and was disappointed. The lettuce was your typical iceberg, and there really wasn’t anything interesting about it. It was so uninteresting, I really don’t remember what it was.
–The hubs had Chicken Parmesan — as its normally a safe bet — and it was just OK. The pasta sauce seemed generic, and the chicken seemed processed.
— One of our friends ordered a seafood salad. She didn’t really talk about it.
— Our other friend had the Cannelloni, and wasn’t too into it. The beef seemed a little over processed as well.
They’ve been around for a really long time, so that should speak a lot for it, so hopefully they do lots better in the spring and summer.

Worst dinner ever.
I have never gone out to eat and had an experience this terrible. The food was the worst thing I have ever eaten. IN MY LIFE. I ordered the Al Salmon with olive oil and garlic. What I got was a few shards of salmon and about ½ cup of rancid olive oil over maybe ¼ cup of overcooked pasta. I’m surprised I didn’t wake up this morning with a face covered in zits from the few bites I was able to take of this «meal.» I’m not sure how much salt they actually used in my dish but I would be surprised if they had any left for the other dishes they prepared that evening.
Besides the totally awful food was the terrible service. And, let’s not even go into the atmosphere… one word.horrid.
I’ve eaten at Tree House before, many years ago, and thought the food was great. I’m not sure what happened but it’s needs fixing!
Ugh!!!

this is basically Olive Garden. The menu was in comic sans which I can’t hold against people who cook and don’t care about fonts… but seriously… comic sans?
Food was alright, prices were tryin’ real hard to make me feel fancy but no, it wasn’t that great. Great waiter, great location. But not a spot I would seek out again.
The waitstaff was so nice and friendly (not just our waiter– everyone was nice, chatty and friendly) — though I just have to say– go there once if you think paying ~$ 25.00 for an Italian meal is no big deal– the waitstaff there is very nice and my palette is terrible so maybe someone else might enjoy it a lot.

The Tree House is not hipster cool, but it is a decent place to have an old school Italian meal.
It’s not a craptastic chain but local. It’s not cutting edge but comfortable. The outdoor area — under a HUGE oak — is a great place for a meal and to listen to an occasional band (wish they would bring back Susanna Sharpe and her Brazilian band!!). Indoors is a pure ‘OG player goes to Naples’ fantasy. Nice and dark (relax — bad ‘date night’ skin will not be an issue).
The menu has a large assortment of pastas and entrees and a few salads. Here’s my take on the Tree House:
Pros:
— Good Chicken Marsala with veggies and a pasta side;
— Delish crab penne (when in season);
— Decent garlic bread (off menu item);
— Wines by the glass are cheap;
— Great outdoors patio area — HUGE tree canopy.
Cons:
— Service is efficient but forgetful;
— Caesar salad is AWFUL — croutons from da’ box, oily dressing with salad cuttings (not spears of Romaine);
— Prices edging up to being expensive;
— Lasagna pretty nasty — did I taste mainly Bechamel? Not sure.
So, a pretty mixed bag. I’d say it is an OK evening out as long as you are expecting the American Italian of the ’60’s. There’s beauty to this place; it could be a real jewel given an upgrade in the kitchen (cooks not too knowledgeable about Italian food, I gather).

Treehouse has a special place in my heart as it was the Austin spot of my first dating anniversary. Recently, is was the spot for our 6 year dating anniversary-​dinner (post 1 year of marriage). So yeah, my man is prettttty, pretttty damn romantic. *Technically, I give it 4.5 Stars, but only for the PS at the end of this review.
I digress. The atmosphere at this place is AMAZING! The beautifully– landscaped, tree lit patio transports you to someplace in Europe! The service is always Top-​Notch, the wine list is good and not too pricey, and their always fresh pastas are delectable. On another tasty note, they have THE BEST DAMN EGGPLANT PARMESAN in existence!
It’s never crowded– which scares me. GO! Overall, this is the sport for fantastic meal and dining experience that won’t break the bank. Bonus, its JUST off SoCo, so you can easily walk to see a show, have a nightcap, etc.
PS: Dear Treehouse, I do feel obligated to tell you that your «WHITE BREAD», well it SUCKS! You offer great Olive Oil/​Vinegar dipping Infusion; Please, PLEASE complement it with some nice crusty, authentic bread! Thank You.

Unfortunately we used to go here a lot and LOVED it. I’m sure the food is still good… but at our last visit, they seated us in a corner behind the piano & when we asked for a better table, they said it was reserved– no one else came in while we were there.
Had a good meal, and at the end of the meal (it was about $ 100), we put a credit card and the other couple put down a $ 50 bill. When we got the check back the full $ 100 was charged to our credit card. The manager told us that we were lying about putting the money in. We could not believe it! We had to threaten to call Amex and negate the entire bill for them to give us our money back. We spent about 40 minutes in the restaurant (AFTER OUR MEAL WAS OVER) trying to get our money.

Be careful when finding this place because you can easily miss it if you are new to Austin due to where it is positioned on the road!
Once you find it, though, relax and enjoy… sometimes, when you call ahead, the staff will tell you if they are taking reservations only or not, so be aware (this has always been during dinner hours, I have never been there at lunch).
I have been there a few times and have never had a bad meal… some of my friend’s and family’s favorites have been: the sausage and peppers, the pecan crusted tilapia, of course any of the pasta dishes have been great, and everyone seems to like all the deserts they have selected there, as well as the selection of wines they have.
We have been there when a band is playing and that was fun… to see the band play by that HUGE Oak tree (it is like over a hundred years old is what our waiter told us)
I like the lighting, candles, and I have seen people dress up there quite a bit, which is nice, too! This place is definitely worth going to! Enjoy it!