Texas Chili Parlor

My husband and I visited Texas Chili Parlor for the first time, and it was such a cool experience! He's always wanted to go because it's featured in his favorite movie Death Proof, so we finally made the trip--and it did not disappoint.We kicked things off with the Mad Dog Margaritas, which were absolutely delicious. The smoky mezcal flavor added a unique twist that we both loved. For food, I went with the signature steak and baked potato, and everything was cooked perfectly. Even the house salad was fresh and tasty! My husband got the chipotle chicken, and he said it had the perfect amount of spice and amazing flavor.Before we left, he grabbed a green chartreuse shot and was pleasantly surprised by the reasonable price. Overall, the atmosphere, food, and drinks made for a great visit. We're already planning to come back tomorrow before we leave Austin!

Very cool old school Texas vibe. The hot chili was HOT! Just as advertised. Honestly the taste wasn't for me but the rest of the gang loved it. Service wasn't great but it is essentially a dive so didn't bother us too much. A cool place to take visitors to give them some old school Austin atmosphere

Absolute legend. Killer chili, killer other dishes, killer drinks. Been there forever. A must-try whether you live in Austin or just visiting. Used to be a main meeting spot for old-school Texas politicians and celebrities like Ann Richards and Molly Ivins.If you're a Tarrantino fan, it's the location of the pivotal scene in "Death Proof" where Killer Mike is first introduced.

It's a dive bar with great chili. If you expect more than that, you're going to be disappointed. If you embrace it you will have a great time. Of course we both got chili which was fantastic with big pieces of beef throughout. We also got an app sampler that had queso, guacamole, and a sampler of their gumbo which was also surprisingly good. Embrace the slow service - it's a dive bar. If you're nice to the servers they will be nice to you. If you're a jerk you're going to wait forever lol.

Delish!!! We weren't sure where to eat and this place popped up on my Maps. Decided to check it out and so glad we did!! Great atmosphere, friendly servers and workers, food was phenomenal. Will absolutely recommend and visit again!

FINDING FRITO NUMBER 4! So as it was or is Shana's birthday month she picked the place this time. She went old school dive bar, fantastic vibe, not something I mention much in our Finding Frito quest but should as it counts and could mean the difference between 2nd and 3rd place. We came right near opening, there were already people coming in, including several motorcycle cops and more cops later, a popular place for them. The decor and vibe is pure dive bar, less restaurant feel and has some unique wall art and various things.The way their chili works is for the Texas Red Chili, NO BEANS as it is Texas chili you pick the spice/heat. Then for the Frito pie you can pick several types of chili to go on top. The others like Venison tell you if it is mild or hot, no options so pick carefully. I went with Red Chile and medium heat, it sneaks up on you and was perfect for me. Added flavor and spice without overwhelming the food. But first things first.We had a very friendly server, we tried the queso and the guac. Shana being the guac person. The queso was good, the guac as Shana puts it was a B- for Austin but would be an A just about anywhere else. The chips were fine. I usually try whatever frozen alcoholic drinks they have and they had a Rum Runner but it was not ready, even by the time we were getting ready to go. We stayed awhile but sadly no luck. It was a disappointment. But really since it was the worst thing that I can say that's not too bad.SHANA SAYS: The bathrooms are tiny and not really that clean, even right at opening but they do have fun graffiti! The food was legit and cocktails were great. They have so much fun and cool decor and the portions of the food are generous even when I got the smallest size.The meat in the chili on both of ours was large and plentiful and it tasted good. So far this is overall number 2 for the Finding Frito, Frito pie search but it is right on the heels of the first. Glad we gave it a go and we should go back one day to try other menu items.Finding Frito #4!

This was recommended by our Lyft driver and man o man was he correct! We weren't ready for a full meal, but after our day of walking around downtown, this was worth it! It's a short walk from the Texas State Capital, so we did work up a bit of an appetite. Happy Hour drink prices made this "snack" stop worth it! You walk into the bar area to grab a menu and pick your seat. The décor is so random with signs and pictures and gives off the local dive vibe (which is totally my jam). The LYFT driver suggested we go with the chili sampler, which he was not wrong on this idea! This gave us the ability to try almost all the Chili. Although, there were so many items on the menu I wanted to try! NEXT TIME! List of Chili in order of flavor and YUM:Habanero - it is hot, hot, hot, hot, hot however, the flavor was just bold and came thru amazing and wasn't so hot that you couldn't find the flavor.XX Spicy TX Beef Chili - I feel like this one was hotter than the habanero, but the meat was chunky and so goodBlack Bean and Sausage - super flavorful, sausage was crispy and worked perfectlyVenison - this one fell flat for me, I do love deer meat, but I didn't get much flavor out of this one. You must order cheese and sour cream (much needed for the hotter chilis to give your mouth a bit of a break). We were served with an entire basked of saltines, which again, PERFECT! Our waitress was so kind and was on top of it the whole time. Although they had run out of Shiner, due to the race and football weekend, I still was able to get a good local Amber. My newly 21-year-old niece got a bomb drink and loved it. The waitress said she was impressed that I wasn't crying eating the XXX hot chilis, hey, I live in New Mexico, our Christmas Chile is no joke. I highly recommend this restaurant!

We did it. Been talking about going here for a long time and finally did it during a campus orientation for my daughter. This is a 1976 hole in the wall that you should check out. My son and I loved it. Staff was great. 4.5 stars - steak and enchiladas. Yes it's cheap, but it's a solid win. Pico and guacamole was fresh. You pick your chili temp - we picked medium which has a little kick, not hot. My wife ordered potato with chili and a salad. She loved that the salad had black olives. She hated the onions. 4 stars. Pretty grungy, but it's a whole in the wall. My daughter would have hated it. No fancy pants.

This place is very divey, and it's a great experience if you want to have some comfort food. The food is decent. The service is great. They run the place pretty well, given it seems like it's usually busy. It's just a walk a way from the capitol building, so it's very convenient. Warning - the bathroom was really dirty and made me not want to come back. Yikes.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but disappointing was my overall experience.Knowing that I'd be back in Texas for a limited time, I knew that I wanted to consume all the cuisine that I had come to know and love. Texas chili, however, was not one of those things I had ever sampled in any of my previous times in the Lonestar state. This seems to be the place, so I gave it a try.Four of us ended up there for dinner, it was a Thursday night, about 7 o'clock, and we had to wait a few minutes for a seat. OK, nothing on there. However, the gentleman who seated us, would quickly walk off, put your menus on the table, and then go perform another task, paying no attention or mind to if you had followed him, or if you moved slower than he did. Several times I saw people, confused, wondering where they were supposed to sit, with nearby tables, indicating where they were supposed to go.The chili was not really that great. In fact, nobody really had much to say about their food. I got their flagship, Texas red chili. Now I'm not sure what their spice rating is, but it followed more like Thai food, and less like chili. The medium that I got was so hot that I had to add sour cream and crackers to bring the heat down. my buddy, who got the chili sampler, commented the same thing about his chilies. But the overpowering flavor was the spice, and that prevented him from really tasting much at all.The service was OK. Not terrible not amazing. The waitress was kind and friendly, but we had to ask for refills, extra napkins, that type of thing. The menu, as you see when you browse it, is an interesting hodgepodge of things. I'm not 100% sure one thing necessarily goes with another. Perhaps it's more of what somebody really enjoys to eat, I don't know. The ambience is more of a roadhouse bar, and less of a restaurant. A real no-frills establishment. Not really an issue for me, and perhaps it's more of a stick catering to that "Texas feel". Due to its location, this place probably does a brisk business. If I lived in the area or worked up there, I'd probably frequent it, but if I'm on vacation, and we're looking for an experience, I'd go elsewhere.