Serranos

Awsome food. Mex with Tex flair. When visiting Texas will go back for sure.

The only restraunt in austin I have walked out of. It took them like 15 mins to seat two of us when the damn place was empty. Then no one came to take our order for like 15 –20 mins. we finally walked out and no one ever cared…

I can’t believe it is closed! It took a while to figure out b/​c the signs are still there, yet It has a bright pink poster on the front door to say, «go to this other restaurant 5 min away…» Whaaaa??? Boo! Serrano’s, you had the best salsa and chalupas. I sad.
Edit to change my rating. There is no notice on their website that it’s closed. Boo again, serranos for not notifying anyone!

CLOSED??? how can they be closed?
this is so sad.

This was my favorite Tex Mex in Austin, but IT HAS BEEN CLOSED! No signs, the art is removed. I am so sad to see this restaurant go.

I visited this location with my wife last week. It was very busy, but we still managed to get seated right away.
I wasn’t very impressed with the food. The salsa was fairly bland, and the beef taco was pretty soggy.
I doubt I would come back.

Just a quick review. That’s how much there is to say about this place. If you want Tex-​Mex then I guess you could say that this a good place. If not then don’t bother. What you will find here is a good place to grab a drink and watch the game and grab some decent chips and salsa. But don’t over indulge cause I think it can make you sick, the salsa that is.
You definitely could choose better places to eat but sometimes you have to roll with the crowd. So there you have it. Take this review as is.

Met up with some ex-​co-​workers at this Serrano’s, their idea. As one who’s losing weight, I’m always appreciative when a restaurant has eggs on the menu. At 70 calories each of mostly protein, they’re ideal, and made fresh, so not a vehicle for ridiculous restaurant calories.
It’s important to reflect on your mistakes/​tendencies when reducing calorie intake, so here’s my play-​by-​play of helpful and unhelpful decisions:
Credit: Water. Never drink calories except liquor (and that without food).
Debit: Ate a chip. Shit.
Debit: Ate another chip!
Credit: Located suitable dish. Migas, three eggs — perfect.
Credit: Ordered the migas with no cheese.
Credit: Confirmed that refried beans are lard-​free.
Debit: Another few chips slip past me.
Credit: Resisted urge to order round of shots.
Credit: Did not ask for tortillas.
Debit: Damn, home fries. Didn’t even think of that.
Debit: Ate the fries. Tasty. But not good. Needed double beans.
Credit: Almost opened drink menu, but didn’t.
Credit: Slowed down eating the stupid migas.
Conclusions
Next time I’m going to place the chips out of reach immediately and read the menu item more carefully to avoid sneaky fried potatoes.
I pronounce this restaurant diet-​friendly, barely. As always, though, and as anywhere, it’s all on you. I mean, me.

Excellent grilled fajitas and homemade corn tortillas. Salsa is wonderful, as well.
We come here all the time!

Taco salad and tortilla soup were super bland, the chips weren’t fresh and the salsa overdosed on cilantro. The staff was wonderful– attentive, fast and courteous, loooved them.
However, if you’re looking for good Mexican food, this isn’t the place. If you’re going for the bar or for appetizers, the atmosphere is great and the building is nice– I love the patio.
Overall, I’d rather be stuck in traffic than kick it at this Serranos.

We won’t go here for the good Serrano’s food. Service was pathetic. We were told we would have a 20 minute wait for 4 on Friday night. I saw 2 vacant tables inside and only 1 table was occupied outside. We told the hostess we would like to sit outside. She said she would have to ask all on the list in front of us. Then she never did.
We left.
Go to Lakeline’s Serranos. Better service there.

We dropped in for some margaritas and an appetizer during the holiday craze. There was a wait but plenty of room at the bar… we like to hang at the bar…
Was glad to see a familiar face… the bartender also works at the Lakeline location and is a sweetie! Marg’s were good. We had the queso perfecta with some beef fajita action thrown in… Good but the cheese was a tad soupy today. Wanted something more to eat but we went for more margaritas instead.
The last time we ate at serranos lakeline the «flag» that they put on every plate (lettuce, onion ring, tomato slice and a serrano) the serrano pepper had an OBVIOUS BITE out of it! They should not re-​use their garnishes.
However I know I will eat here again and again… great salsa! El Grande with one chicken one cheese HELL YEAH! Flaquitos, Flautas and Flan OH MY! IT is all good and reliable tex mex for a fair price.

No no no no no no.
A cow-​orker dragged me here, so I looked through the reviews to find what others liked, so I tried the brisket fajitas.
I imagine 15-​year-​old birkenstocks taste better than this.
Tragic x 10 000.
Service: El Suckador. I have to beg for a coffee refill? Look, I know it’s not a NJ diner where coffee refills occur every 8 seconds, but come on.
Price: $ 12 for a plate of rice considering I couldn’t eat the vomitose beef? Yeah, no.
Sorry. Nope.

I’ve been here twice now and my experiences have been, um, forgettable. I’m not even sure of what I ordered the first time. Today, I had the fish tacos. They were uninspiring (uninspired? you decide) and basic. Couldn’t even taste the fish, which, I suppose, could be either a good thing or a bad thing. My lunch buddy had enchiladas, which was a shock, he doesn’t like enchiladas… and wasn’t very excited about them. We topped it off with some sopapillas (puff pastries with honey and powdered sugar), nothing to write home about. Too bad I’d gotten myself all worked up about the prospect of dessert. I’m told the chips were stale (still not eating crunchy after my wisdom tooth debacle). The homemade flour tortillas were tasty… and made with real lard!
The restaurant was clean enough, I suppose. The service was average, but not exceptional. Had to ask for drink refills a couple of times, the waitron was definitely NOT slammed, as it was the middle of the afternoon.
On an interesting note, the paramedics showed up about halfway through our meal. Not sure what happened, but they were very quiet and not disturbing of any of the tables around the person they were trying to care for. But, paramedics at a restaurant… not such a great sight to behold.
When it’s an alternative to the cafeteria food at work (the downtown location, anyway) and it’s free, I’ll eat it. I just won’t go out of my way to return.

I can barely recommend this Serrano’s, for the big bar, flat-​screen teevees, and decent chips and salsa (though the salsa is served in tiny little nut cups).
Went in last Monday evening. There was a big sign, «we aren’t serving fresh tomatoes,» even though the tomato scare is last month’s old wives’ tale. We sat down and were greeted by a lackadaisical waitress. Standard patter, but her heart wasn’t in it. Two tables within sight hadn’t been bussed.
Okay, those should have been bad signs right there, but we pressed on just to give Serrano’s a fair shake. I asked for a cold Carta Blanca, and got back, «Gee, I don’t think we order that from our supplier any more.» I said, «If you don’t have any, I’ll have iced tea.» She found one.
I ordered beef and chicken fajitas, my companion ordered Serroano’s «special» brisket tacos, but asked to substitute corn tortillas instead of flour.
The food came out slowly — about five times longer than it would have taken at Chuys. The fajita beef was excellent — really good — juicy, smoky, and grill flavored. Unfortunately, it was ruined by the worst flour tortillas I’ve ever had. Triple-​thick, gummy, tasteless, heavy, dried-​out monstrosities. As for my companion, they forgot all about her corn tortillas.
Oh, and since no fresh tomatoes, no pico de gallo with my fajitas. No substitute made from grape tomatoes, or even canned tomatoes. Would have been too much work, I guess.
Avoid this location. With so many good Mexican restaurants in Austin, it isn’t worth fooling with.

Not much to say here but Bleh!
The salsa was not very good and came in a tiny dish I had to ask to be refilled 3 times before the chips were even low. The rice and beans were not good. Big Hint: If a Mexican place cannot get rice and beans right then the rest of the food will be bad. This is a staple.
We ordered a chicken fajita salad and a migas combo with steak fajita meat. In both our dishes the meat had a decent texture but absolutely no flavor at all.
That is far as I had to go. Bad meat, rice and beans constitutes bad food in my opinion and I won’t go back, I gave it two stars because I didn’t see bugs running around doing the mexican hat dance and the bar looked like it would be fun at happy hour. That’s it…

The food here is consistently good the atmosphere is fun and the staff has always been friendly. So, why not 5 stars? It just is not as good as my favorites for Tex-​Mex.
I work near or in the Arboretum area 3 days a week and this is my favorite place for cheap Happy Hour: From 3−6PM you can get 2.50 Margaritas some $ 1 beer (not sure which ones) and $ 1 cheese quesadillas, bean and cheese nachos and chicken flaquitos. The margs are great and the $ 1 appetizers are not the greatest but well worth $ 1.
Mondays are buy-​one-​get-​one-​free enchilada dinner night. I have not been here on a Monday but I have had the Spinach Enchiladas with white wine poblano cream sauce and the Shrimp Enchiladas with ranchero and highly recommend both.
My favorite thing on the menu is their Jalapenos Rellenos — jalapenos stuffed with Jack and Cheddar Cheese breaded and deep fried. They are so Delicious on their own no need for the extra 500 calories of Ranch dressing they serve on the side.

The food is good, reliable and sizzling hot when you receive it. They have a great happy hour Monday through Friday with some half price appetizers, $ 1 Shiners and discounted margarita’s and wells.
Get there early if you’re going Friday, they always have a crowd.

I wish I could give this place 2 ½ stars, but I can’t bring myself to rounding up to three.
The food I had a Serrano’s last night was fine… nothing to remember, nothing worth mentioning, no «mmmm» sounds. The food was average, the service was average, the atmosphere was – average.
If you find yourself shopping in the Arboretum and you’re starving, craving Mexican food, not wanting to drive, and you can justify spending money on a forgettable meal, then I could maybe recommend coming here.
If you do visit Serrano’s make sure to write your Unilocal review right away… or you’ll forget you ever ate here.

Ate at the Arboretum location, which Unilocal couldn’t locate, but I’m pretty sure the menu is the same all across town.
Pros: really lean meat in the beef crispy taco (says my tablemate), a clear menu with good lunch options, and ample choices for vegetarians. I had the hot vegetable fajitas plate, served just like normal fajitas, but with mounds of blackened onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. Tasty! Lucious flour tortillas and black beans to seal the deal.
Cons: an insect in the iced tea. Ewwww! But, the staff were in the middle of bleaching down the bar and maybe that insect made a final desperate leap into the tea as it was being brought to our table. It’s summer in Texas. Bugs happen.
Drinks were comp’ed without asking.
All in all, a good, safe place to bring mixed company. Nothing on the menu was challenging, but it all looked tasty. And probably a much shorter wait than Chuy’s.