Food was fun and inventive other than the snacks. No true standout in the snacks. All pretty meh. The noise level is so unbearable you cannot hear the people at the table across from you. Despite the great food and service, i will only go back with people I don't want to talk with.
Celebrated our anniversary with Hestia and the food, staff, and ambience were collectively amazing!
Everything from the service to the food was great. I loved the idea of the kitchen staff serving the food and providing more insight into the food.
We felt the price for cocktails and a glass of wine was over the top.
Food was very good, quite rich, but very good! The customer service was outstanding, so we will definitely be back!
We had a view of the kitchen, which was awesome. The service was excellent, the staff was very knowledgeable, and the food was amazing. It's more an experience than a dinner
Beautiful location, bar and restaurant. Very attentive staff. Food selection was good - order less than you think. Favorite dish: beef tartar is super flavorful. We had a great time.
So loud we couldn't have a conversation without shouting and could only hear every fourth word our waitress said. Our brisket and halibut were both overdone and dry. All of the food was so salty it was almost inedible. Won't be returning!
All the food was too rich, creamy, floating in something. My companion and I agree we’re not going back. Too pretentious with too much staff rotating by our table to “explain” everything.
Very creative dinner. Will definitely be back many times.
The food and service was great. I felt like they pushed you to order a lot of the expensive one bite appetizers and the other pre main meal dishes. The cost was pretty high for the pre main meal dishes. However, I feel Austin has gotten so expensive for restaurants to succeed that they need to really up their prices on the dishes.
Attentive service. Creative dishes and thoughtful presentation.
Everything was outstanding
Hestia is wonderful! We loved the concept of interacting with the chef directly - getting to hear about his passion for the food made eating dinner on a Friday night into a chance to experience an art form. Truly so cool!!
The overall service concept is different from most dining establishments. The service consisted of two main groups.
Group 1, snacks and drinks. This group is comprised of wait staff and a few runners. They will explain the Hestia dining concept which includes drinks, a snack section, crudo, small plates, and entrees.
For group 2, a chef explains the crudo, small plates, and entrees in great detail. I was skeptical that this portion of the experience would be enjoyable, but I was so wrong! It was great seeing the chef become animated and excited when talking about all of the unique methods they employed while creating the menu and your food. It was very enjoyable, entertaining, and informative.
The food was outstanding. There are a lot of fish options - around half of the menu is not an option for some people (like my husband, who dislikes seafood). But, what is available is absolutely delicious! For two people, we ordered 2 to 3 snacks per person, 3 small plates, 2 entrees, and dessert (#gluttons).
The only major detractor for this restaurant is the noise level. Noise bounces from everywhere and it is difficult to have a conversation without shouting. So everyone basically shouts to hear and be heard.
I was excited to try this new restaurant as I had heard good reviews and the concept was interesting. My actual experience was mixed. First the good: most items were tasty and beautifully presented. The location and design of the place is very nice.
The not so good: wait staff is split between front and back of the house- meaning one set of staff take orders for drinks and apps and then the chef staff take your food order. The result was disjointed service. No one waited on us for a long time after being seated. Once they realized that, our service improved. However, you can’t order drinks from the chef staff or presumably food from the front of the house staff. The chef staff offered zero info about the menu items and essentially just said “what can I get for you?” We had to probe to get any input into the menu. A small, but irritating issue- the wine pours were exceedingly small, although not inexpensive. The entrees were of decent size, but the “bites” are literally just that. Again, a small issue, but IMO, a $3 bite of something about the size of a quarter should be really special or unusual, and ours wasn’t.
I’ll go back, but I won’t be in a big rush to return.
Too noisy to enjoy a conversation. Perhaps it will improve by eating on the veranda? Halibut was fantastic.
A fabulous new entry in the Austin food scene. Everything about Hestia is terrific, and we loved it. A creative, welcoming experience.
8:45 reservation on a Saturday night. Showed up about 45 mins early. We weren’t expecting to be sat early, but it was 9:20 by the time they honored our reservation. Extremely slow service from waitstaff and food took a very long time. Food was just ok, smoked pork belly was the best part of the night. We were really excited about Hestia because our prior experience at Kalimotxo was incredible. I’d skip Hestia and do Kalimotxo instead.
Outstanding view. Personal and attentive service as you are assigned your own chef for the evening. Everything we ordered was delicious - and there was quite a variety from bites to small plates to our entrees! I would not recommend the pork chop as it’s 85% fat. However, everything - everything - else was amazing all the way down to drinks, coffee, and desserts. Try the s’mores dessert! Left feeling happily full but not stuffed. It’s definitely a special occasion place. For a party of 4, we spent about $90/pp. we also met the owner who is a former pro basketball player from Africa turned chef. He’s done very well with this venue and menu.
Super pricey, food was fine, but unmemorable. I found it gimmicky. 14 different people visited our table throughout the meal to talk about the food "philosophy"--it was distracting, unnecessary and it deteacted from my enjoyment of the meal. Also, despite all of the visits, they still forgot to bring my drink and a side that I had asked for!
The space itself is beautiful and it's new, so I'm hoping that they can work through some of the issues. I'd like to see fewer gimmicks and much better food to justify the astronomically high prices!
Staff knew how to compliment plates together perfectly. Wonderful experience!
Very unique concept everything was cooked on wood so a lot of smoke flavor. The chiefs also serve the food I am not sure that is working as we wanted to order additional food but it was a while before our server/ chief came back around the table. We had a lot of single bites and small plates all were very different and good. For dinner I had the ribeye steak and it tasted like it came of a charcoal grill which was great. The other dinners were also very good from the chicken, pork chop and pork belly. So everything was very good and hopefully the service picks up.
Amazing experience!!
The restaurant is very pretty, with a modern but warm aesthetic. We were greeted and seated promptly. The menu is fairly small, but with plenty of choices, especially if you like seafood. Their concept is interesting but a little odd: they seem to want you to order little snacks first, for $5 or $6 each before a “chef team member” comes to discuss appetizers and entrees. We skipped the snacks but did consult with them. We found this pretentious and annoying, and not useful, as you’ll see below, since we didn’t gain any useful information by it.
We ordered a grilled salad called ‘grilled mustard’ that was a mix of mustard greens, bok choy and lettuce. It was good, but they didn’t say on the menu that it would have a dusting or drizzle of halibut sauce or something on it. Fine for me, but NOT for my husband, who doesn’t like fish. In fact, we chose that appetizer precisely because it didn’t list any fish as an ingredient, so that was frustrating.
For our entrees my husband had the wagyu filet, which was served sliced, and was probably five to six ounces. It was absolutely delicious. So was my smoked pork shoulder, which came garnished with orange slices and some vegetables, and was a somewhat heartier portion. The Hanzell Pinot Noir we had, at $17/glass or $70/bottle was excellent, and went perfectly with both dishes.
Over all, the food was good but the meal was expensive, and the miscommunication even after a supposed consultation was annoying. We may go back again, but we won’t rush.
New Year’s Eve: excellent service, every course was presented beautifully...food was cook and prepared to perfection. We will definitely recommend to friends.
Outstanding in every aspect. Creative innovative dishes prepared with a passion that shines through when the chef drops by your table. They care! Might be the new top restaurant in Austin.
Their New Year’s Eve dinner was amazing. Great quality and preparation, creative recipes, and outstanding wine pairings. Very impressive!
Beautiful ambiance and very professional, pleasant service. The food was beautiful and artfully done but occasionally leaned a little too far beyond the bounds of creative yet appetizing. It was a set menu for the holiday so regular dinners are likely unaffected by this issue. Overall, a welcome new restaurant keeping the downtown area dynamic, beautiful and exciting.
I read the reviews and had to admit I was a little apprehensive, but OMG I just had one of the top ten meals of my life. The interaction with the chef was cool and the team oriented service ensured constant attention to detail. We did two snacks each, one crudo, two small plates and two entrees and were stuffed (oh and the s’mores dessert). Such a great experience and highly recommend.
A great place for folks on keto/paleo diets. I liked my vegetarian dishes, but a limited selection - can’t imagine going back to eat the same thing anytime soon.
Great wine list, knowledgeable and helpful wine captain.
We loved everything we had. It was a great spot for a date night.
Still pretty new and working out some kinks- like not publishing their menu on a website so you have no idea what the food is remotely like. Very few vegetable options and the menu on balance is a little off kilter - some dishes are refined - almost too refined. King Crab Legs was more a light salad, had no discernible "hearth influence" and most of the seafood lacks any "open hearth ". Worthy of another shot in a few weeks to see how they pick up the pace and if any positive changes are made. You can't even use the drawers where utensils and napkins are stored while you are seated, so even though it is a clever idea it is useless. They took some risks, but some of their choices are odd. The far room is probably great in the summer open to the city, but it lacks the warmth and lighting of the rest of the restaurant and feels dark and remote.
Good food. Small portions for what you get. Great service! Awesome location.
AMAZING food! EXCELLENT service! STRIKING design. 5 stars!
Hestia is a new concept which is started by the Emmer and Rye team:
Pros:
NY strip steak - cooked perfectly and the sauce so good
King crab small dish - the custard
Equitable pay structure for all staff
Cons:
Not well ventilated-needed to take a shower afterwards to get smoke smell out of clothes
Halibut - needed to be cooked better, the poaching concept didn't work that well
Broccoli - sauce should be on the side
Staffing - there seemed to be more staff than diners with many unsure of what they are doing. Hopefully this is just a new opening thing, and will resolve itself. Also chef/server should provide a story.
Making us wait for a table when we could clearly see empty tables and we had a reservation.
Service was warm if not a bit awkward. It's always strange and obvious when a multiple table visits from the chef are required by management.
He did great but, our server was more than capable and it was unnecessary for the chef to visit multiple times, this would have been fine except for the exceptionally long wait time for the food (which was never addressed).
The food was well executed but, seemingly over priced (I say seemingly because rent in Austin is insane now for new restaurants and I know they are pricing accordingly/fairly).
Wine list could use some work, it's a bit basic and seemed phoned in.
Lastly, it was my wife and I's 12 year anniversary and they definitely missed the mark on making it memorable.
I never expect or ask for any special gifts but, as a hospitality professional, I would never dream of not gifting a couple of glasses of bubbles for a couple's wedding anniversary.
They did not and to me that is a massive fail to hit an opportunity at great hospitality.
Kalimoxto looks great and we will definitely visit but, Hestia needs to work on it's thoughtfulness of service.
It's a great company and I'm certain they will get there.
I want to love Hestia... it has amazing ambiance and delicious cocktails. But please increase portion size! These portions are tiny- we were 2 small ladies and we left hungry. We got 8 snacks (they are literally 1 bite each), 2 apps, 2 entrees. For small plates the king crab was delicious but for $25 it was 2 tiny bites of crab per person. I genuinely asked the waiter if there was a serving mistake.. I thought they forgot to plate the whole thing. I’m so glad our waiter recommended the potato small plate- it was unique and amazing. We got halibut and pork for entrees. Both good but everything was just... tiny. It overshadowed the taste and experience because all we could focus on was how small it was and how hungry we still were. I will try again soon.. fingers crossed they will increase portion size by then.
The small plates (parker house rolls and grilled potato) were excellent. The crudos (snapper, pompano) were good but not exceptional. We had the NY strip entree and it was good as well but nothing different or unique.
Staff wasn’t very knowledgeable about the wine list, but most of the food was excellent. Dessert was a bit of a miss not least because it was a total departure from the ethos of the fire-centric concept.
