Austin Restaurant review time again! This time it is Vic and Al’s in central/east Austin. A restaurant that we found last minute, and I am so seriously incredibly happy we did! My husband and I were supposed to go to another restaurant at first, but they were actually closed (when their website said they were open), their loss was our gain!
It is honestly a hidden gem. We drove past it, with the GPS on and still could not see it. They have no roadside signage that we saw. If they do, it is not visible at all. Even when we drove into the location off the road, we were still confused. It is in the side of the little shopping center, and if you don’t see the signage, you just might miss it!
But oh boy, it is worth the confusion! This restaurant has it all, so without any more waiting, here is our review.
Vic and Als – Austin Restaurant Review
Parking: Grade B+, 4 Stars.
As mentioned above, we almost didn’t find this place! It is on the side of a mini shopping strip with three front facing stores that face the road. We were so confused as we turned into where the GPS said we were. My husband said to just drive to the back and side and there it was! On the side of the restaurant. There was about 10ish parking spots in the back, plus a couple more up front. We had no issues with parking whatsoever.
Bottom Line: No issues with parking, park in the back for best parking.
Ambiance: Grade A, 5 stars.
WOW! When you walk in, there is a cool, masculine, Louisiana vibe with old school, vintage chandeliers that adorn the eating area. Super cool and not what I was expecting when I walked in! When you walk in at first, there is a general store feel with a lot of powdered spices in large jars, open air onions and other products. There is a New Orleans vibe with stuffed alligators on top.
Bench type seating, steel welded bases, wood tones accented by roughly a dozen chandeliers all using a yellow lighting to bring out the wood grains, just beautiful and a total vibe in itself. Fancy and cozy and exciting to see some ambiance I have not seen around Austin.
Bottom Line: Super cool vibes, feels like New Orleans and Austin met in the middle here.
Service: Grade A, 5 Stars
As soon as we walked in we were greeted. You walk straight in and there is a server that greets you with the menu and explains the lunch menu to you. There are not a ton of selections, but what they did have as selections looked great.
Our server was extremely attentive, I believe she was the only server for the restaurant at the time. From entering, ordering, asking if we needed anything, timeliness of checking out, everything was great.
Bottom Line: Service was good, got in and out in time and never needed to hunt our servers down.
Quality of Food: Grade, A+, 5 stars.
For drinks, I ordered the Hurricane and my husband got the tea. Hurricane was on point! Smooth and packed a punch.
As an appetizer, we got the Fried Boudin to share. It was a thick, hamburger sized patty with an orange sauce that had a hot sauce swirl on it. A little spicy but not too much.
I got the Po’ Boy and House Greens Combo and my husband got the Blackened Catfish. I cannot express enough how everything was AMAZING! Every bite was flavorful, well seasoned, exceptional.
The Po’ Boy was moist, the house greens was a vibrant mix of greens, they didn’t skip on this dish. My husband’s Blackened Catfish with the sassafras rice was phenomenal! It came with sort of a pickled black eyed peas which were delicious as well as the rice. The blackened catfish was cooked perfectly.
Bottom Line: Everything we had was absolutely delicious.
Conclusion: Grade A, 4 1/2 stars.
The perfect experience once you find this hidden gem. Service, ambiance and food were spectacular! Everything once you enter is on point, divine and just wonderful. The only critique I could give is that it is hard to find if you don’t know exactly where it is at. But once, you do, it is a great experience.
Remember, these restaurants do not know I am coming! This is an honest review. Vic and Al’s did an amazing job with our experience. Kudos to the restaurant and team.
Check out my other Austin/Texas business reviews!
- Gabriela’s Downtown Austin Restaurant Review
- Cookie Wookie Kitchen – Cookie Delivery
- Texas Beer Co. – Taylor, TX.
