Lonesome Dove Western Bistro - Austin

Incredible meal with wonderful service. You cannot go wrong with any of the appetizers. Very reasonably priced for the quality and service. I highly recommend the lamb chops!Sorry, it was a business dinner so I could not take pictures - but I wil be back next time I am in Austin

I took my cousin and his girlfriend here for dinner a few weeks ago to celebrate his birthday. He has been wanting to come here for quite some time, but being 23...he wanted to wait for his older cousin to take him here (I get it, word). I am someone who always likes to look at Yelp before I eat out somewhere new, and after scrolling on here I was *kind of* skeptical on what to expect. 1- I already knew what to expect when it came to dropping a pretty penny, but I had gone in thinking I would be paying quite a bit of money for mediocre food. Let me tell you... I'm not sure what anyone else has had, but I sooooo enjoyed my experience here. We had reservations at 6PM on a Saturday evening. We arrived a little early and got a drink at the bar, not busy at all. Even throughout the night it stayed consistent. The drinks were fairly priced. We got a mojito (I believe it was around $10ish?), spicy marg (maybe like $18?) then my cousin got a double on the rocks of whatever whiskey, that's his thing. That put our pre dinner drinks at around $80. Of course, he got a nice whiskey, so ideally that's out of the norm for the bill to be that high. We sat down for dinner and while yes, the menu is a little overwhelming, our waiter talked us through everything and gave great recommendations. Our total of drinks we had ordered were two bottles of a white wine, two rose Prosecco's, old fashion and two espresso martinis. For starters, you order everything at once and they bring it out in courses. To begin with, they bring a bread basket, and let's be real- who is not a sucker for that. Everything in it was 11/10. For the first course, we ordered the elk-foie gras sliders, the blue crabs, and the wild boar ribs. Each of these came with 3 of everything. Skipped the second course because eh, it's just a salad. For the main course, we ordered the roasted garlic beef tenderloin, elk loin and for special they had a fish, and a bison pot pie that we ordered. We normally like to split things, so ordering 4 entrees seemed like the best idea when we couldn't decide what we wanted. For sides, we ordered the mash and the Mac & cheese. (Now for the reviews saying it wasn't a traditional Mac, yes. It is a risotto, but that's still a pasta and it was so good ‍)For dessert we had the tres leches. While it was good, it wasn't very milky to me, and tasted more of a lemon cake to me. Still, I'd order it again because you can't go wrong with either. Overall, it was such a nice experience. They made my cousin feel so special for his birthday and I love how nice yet causal the place is. I definitely am planning another trip soon, even to try their Happy Hour! Roughly our dinner bill was around $650 plus a tip. I think it was well worth it for the quality of the food, how much we got, and the amazing evening we had.

My friend and I came here for Happy Hour. We both ordered the delicious smash burgers and the Burnt Carrots and Crispy Brussels as sides. As for my beverage, I had the Pineapple Express Daquiri, which was excellent, especially how it was presented. Under glass and smoked. You would have to see it to believe it. I regret not taking a photo of it. As mentioned, the Burger was delicious and could have been split between two people. Very filling. The Carrots are missing something, and we felt adding some brown sugar to it would have added more flavor. The Crispy Brussels seemed a bit saturated in the bacon vinaigrette and black garlic and was not crispy. They were savory yet lacked that crisp, so I was a bit disappointed. The interior has a rustic-modern flair to it, which was appealing to the view. Our server was great, despite having her handful tending to the bar as well as other patrons including us. I appreciated that she replaced my friend's second cocktail for another as the first one was not to her liking. Truly kind of her to do that.

While I really loved the place, my wife says it best: SHANA SAYS: Every year for their birthday I take my adult nonbinary child out for a special meal. Meredith was the pickiest of picky eaters growing up. Most nights they ate plain pasta with butter and parmesan cheese for dinner with a side of chopped white onions. Picky! The pickiest! But fortunately they've grown into a very adventurous adult with a wide-ranging palette. Their goal is to sample everything edible. Literally everything. I think it's great! So for their birthday we try some new or exciting restaurant! In past years we've tried places like Odd Duck, Dai Due, and Uchi. This year Meredith picked Lonesome Dove. And man, it was amazing.Top to bottom it was the best restaurant meal I've ever had. And top to bottom it was the best restaurant EXPERIENCE that I've ever had. Superb service, comfortable and classy atmosphere. Warm. Inviting. I just can't praise it enough.Let me give you a few tips and then extrapolate on the highlights.TIP #1Make a reservation, and give yourself enough time. Our reservation was for the three of us, at 5:30. We walked out at 8pm.TIP #2Be prepared to pay. Lonesome Dove is worth every penny, but you're going to part with a lot of them!TIP #3Come as you are. You'll be spending like a Rockefeller, but this is a chic and casual atmosphere.TIP #4Your waiter is going to want to take some time to go over the menu with you. Pay attention! Lonesome Dove serves by courses, and likes to give your WHOLE ORDER (with the exception of dessert) to the kitchen at the same time so they can sort of time things out. Let them. Don't try to be in control. Just let yourself be guided on this culinary adventure.TIP #5Try at least one new creature. Likely there are several animals on their menu that you have never eaten. Go crazy! Everything is so delicious!The three of us shared a few items on the first course menu. The highlight for all of us as the rabbit and rattlesnake sausage. They serve it on toasted bread. It is simply heavenly! A taste sensation! Meredith got an elk dish for their main course. I had red fish, and Brandon (my husband) had a lamb dish. We all tried bites of one another's food. Everything was amazing.Brandon: I do want to add we had an amazing waiter who heard us talking Star Trek and was a fan of that and some horror. Two big pluses for me and Shana. He explained not only how the menu works and how they prefer to do things but why he took that time. I see a few complaints here about wait times and bad staff so I wanted to add we have great service. Our guy was a huge part of why we enjoyed the visit so much.

Such a beautiful restaurant! Truly has southern charm with upscale fine dining. Our waiter was very knowledgeable and nice! We ordered the lobster hushpuppies, elk sliders, elk loin, and the tres leches for dessert. The elk sliders were by far the best thing I've ever had before! The tres leches was quite dense but unique! I highly recommend visiting here! I appreciate the game meat on the menu and how perfect everything was.

George was awesome! Great attention to detail in serving our large group. Very personable! Definitely coming back! Food was great. Max and cheese is a must. Get the Redfish.

Very upscale interior. They use leather for everything. I like the designs. The medium rare lamb chops turned out to be raw. The elk is good. The mushroom that comes with the elk is incredible. Redfish was alright. I won't come back.

Amazing service, the manager allowed us the sit in the wine room thought we didn't have a reservation at the time. ( we were a party of 9) Ambiance was breath taking, very nice and yet a very relaxed feeling. Our server Becky was incredible and very patient with our group, and the food was phenomenal, everything was delicious and drink were spectacular.

I just noticed some typos lol - * rattlesnake, and *they WERENT very big (referring to the size of the appetizers)

Here to celebrate a birthday while we were in town briefly. While the food was good, I can't say it would warrant a repeat visit. The highlight of our meal was the bone marrow. It frankly surpassed all expectations! Other than that the other courses were decent. The service was okay, and the overall vibe was honestly a bit confusing (I couldn't even begin to explain this even if I tried).