Mongers Market + Kitchen

Love this hidden gem. It is very close to where we live. We go here for special occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, end-of-school-years, or what not. I love seafood and the food here is great and fresh. The beet salad is a repeat order. In the most recent visit, I had the scallops over ravioli. The scallops were cook perfectly. They were seasoned a bit on the salty side but the rest of the dish, the kabocha puree, has a little bit of sweetness in it. At the end, the whole dish works great. We'll be back!

Mongers is an upscale seafood place with a very small regular menu.Small is good here.It means that they do the same dishes over and over again bringing them to a high state of perfection.We attended a Feast of Fishes which were seven dishes that are NOT on the regular rotations.Since these were experimental offerings, the results were more varied.But what was good was absolutely positively spectacular.The wine cellar and the sommelier work are particularly distinguished.The wine drinkers at the table were drinking different items by the glass.Everyone was ecstatic with their glasses.Before I start effusing high praises,let me squawk about the dish that nearly everyone except the Brazilians and Portuguese get wrong.Bolinhos de bacalhao (called bacala on the Mongers Menu)These are fried fish balls.They are insane when the Portuguese speakers do them.Everyone else makes a wreck of them - including because they are new to the dish ... Mongers.Bacalhao is expensive dull fish.It is usually one of the most expensive dishes on the menu - so everyone thinks this is going to be good.Almost always it is not because bacalhao does not taste like much. It costs a lot because the slabs are big so you get a lot of fish for your fish.One of the Brazilian tricks is to make your bolinhos small - the smaller the better.Want to have a generous serving?Serve a whole basket of these mini-balls - none of them bigger than a tater tot.Tasty deep fried crust nearly always tastes better than the codfish itself.The bigger the ball, the higher the ratio of tasteless to tasty.Americans want to go big. So do upscale restaurants who want to have a dramatic looking dish that they can plate artistically with swirls on top.This virtually guarantees a tasteless ball.Mongers fell right into the trap.* * *But then after that it was one spectacular taste sensation after another.Five courses of pure decadence?Sign me up!Insanely good head on shrimp.Linguine in a clam sauce to die for.I wish I had bread or a spoon because I was trying to soak up every molecule of the sauce that was on my plate.I left way way too many molecules.A good wine-y cioppino. Most cioppino including my own is tomato based. This has tomato too. But there was a very very good red wine in there too that changed just about everything.A cioppino that was serious food for thought.A suave limoncello sorbetto. (Suave and limoncello rarely appear in the same sentence.)First rate cannoli. (which really needed a fork and knife but was totally divine after you somehow wangled it into your mouth.) I am willing to work to get my divine.Actually GOOD biscotti. (Good and biscotti rarely appear together in any sentence that I would write.)* * *That said, I think the way to play Monger's is to do the regular menu.The regular dishes look fine and the wine cellar is good.There is much to explore here.

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary at Mongers last night. We tried six different items on the menu. All were perfectly cooked, tasted exquisite, and were beautifully presented.We tried both of the soups on the menu. Of the two, we liked the Seafood Chowder best. The other choice was a Crab and Shrimp Gumbo. Generous different kinds of seafood in each dish.We also had the Blue Crab Cake and Burrata dishes. The latter did not have tomatoes with the cheese, which it is traditionally paired with, instead arugula and a fig marmalade accompanied it. The crab cake was stuffed with crab and very little filler (which is the mark of a good cake). Served with a smoked tomato aioli.Finally, we sampled the daily crudo (tuna) and daily ceviche (scallops). They were the stars of the meal. Both so delicate and presented wonderfully, but also they tasted the best.Service was excellent, attentive but not overwhelming. Paired dinner with a French Sauvignon Blanc. We were treated to dessert to celebrate. A nice touch to an amazing meal. Thank you!

It's so crazy how there are so many gems in Austin I still haven't discovered. I came to Mongers with my friends, and they'd been before so they had tons of good things to say. Service is awesome, and the restaurant is very vibey. It's perfect for a date night or a small gathering like the one we were having. We ordered a delicious bottle of wine and some oysters to share. The uni + tuna crudo was delicious, and I could've eaten maybe 10 pieces of just that alone. I adored my lobster risotto, which was one of the specials. My friend's fish was also so yummy, and the fish and chips absolutely knocked it out of the park. I would 11/10 come here again because service, food, vibes, and drinks were incredible.

The restaurant was really nice! We made a 7:15 reservation and didn't get seated until 7:30. For 2 we spent about $165 but for the quality of food and service I think it was worth it. We started off with the oysters and Crudo (10/10). The Dover sole was delicious and flavorful! Red snapper was good but nothing too crazy. Brussels sprouts were yummy!

I love this place! I've been eating at mongers even when it was at its old location. The seafood is so fresh and delicious. Bianca our waitress was fabulous and recommended a pear martini to starts. I ended up drinking two! You HAVE to start your meal with the daily crudo and ceviche (change daily). It's a must. The halibut special and redfish were to die for! Keep pumping our amazing dishes Mongers and I'll keep coming!

What a wonderful experience at Monger's last night for a birthday celebration. We all enjoyed our food and drinks. The service was great and the mood was the perfect blend of upscale and "neighbor gem". I can picture people coming here for a date night and sitting at the bar or coming with a bigger group and sitting at the table by the window, or like us, celebrating a birthday with a party of 4.We started off with the blue crab cake, which had generous portions of crab, and the shrimp, which my family thought was great. (I don't eat shrimp) We cleared the appetizer plates, to say the least. For our main dishes, we ordered the gumbo, fish & chips, sword fish, and fish tacos. My family loved their dishes! My fish and tacos were very crispy but lacked a little flavor so I asked for some more of the chipotle crema!For dessert, they had key lime meringue pie and a white cake with berry compote. We LOVED the key lime and the cake was unique and refreshing.*Parking: Free 2 hr street parking right in front of the restaurant.

We went to celebrate my mom's birthday. We made a reservation for early on a Friday evening so it wasn't too busy. We were seated quickly with the hostess bringing a bottle of water to the table. While a bit loud, the restaurant is a good size but with a cozy, coastal feel. We started by sharing the blue crab cake and buttermilk shrimp. I had a small but flavorful bite of the crab cake but I had didn't seem to have any big pieces of crab. My daughter had the opposite experience, getting a big piece of crab but not a lot of flavor. We both enjoyed it, just noted the difference between experience. The buttermilk shrimp was delicious. While served with some celeriac slaw, they are separated on the plate so the shrimp doesn't get soggy. For my main course, I chose the swordfish. The fish was firm and well-seasoned. The burst tomatoes and grit cake added flavor levels. I substituted fingerling potatoes for the roasted carrots. It liked the substitution but won't critique since it's not part of the dish. For dessert we got the olive oil cake with a salted berry compote and the Keylime pie tart. Admittedly the Keylime pie tart was everyone's favorite. It was well balanced between sweet and tart. Very refreshing. The olive oil oil cake with a very compost was good considerably less sweet and if you haven't had olive oil cake before the berry compound cut through that richness a good amount. But olive oil cake isn't to everybody's liking. Overall, we enjoyed our experience and I would suggest checking them out and seeing what fresh seafood they have on the menu.

Best gumbo I've ever had and been to New Orleans many times! They also have a great steak if you're not into seafood.

Food 5 stars: Server 5+, The rest of the restaurant, 1. This restaurant could be great, but its staff are keeping it from realizing its potential. Do not get an 8:30 or later reservation, the restaurant will be buzzing with clean up around you, NOT by your waitress who was especially gifted in recommendations and service. Bianca is an amazing waitress and did her best toMitigate the bums rush around us. The reason I gave it 3 stars is because a. Restaurant should never offer can't a 8:30 reservation , and have other servers, not my sever, come and try to take my almost full plate away. Prior to that, was a delicious meal of Tuna, Oysters and drinks only to be spoiled by the constant movement around us. I looked at the time because I thought it was later, it was only 9:03. Our server apologized profusely and told us to take our time but the constant looks from the bar area made us feel unwelcome. Closing on a Friday evening at ten is something I'm not accustomed to.