I took my sister and her boyfriend here for an early Sunday dinner based on the reviews on Open Table. We loved that it was dog friendly and we could get a table last minute.

The food: We ordered one of each of the main items: a burger, a steak, salmon, and a half chicken.

The burger and salmon were good and got great reviews. The chicken was pretty good but not amazing in my opinion - tasted a little bit like it had been sitting out for awhile before it was served to me.

The steak was the trouble. It was served without the chives and without the peppers it said it came with. So it was kind of just the meat and potatoes - literally. My wife asked for it to get fixed and they brought out a small side of chives and offered brussel sprouts on the side. It was a bit troubling that they didn't mention to us that they were missing the peppers before we ordered or take responsibility for the missing items on the dish. We suspect that there might have been a new chef the night we went.

Drinks: Cocktails were great - the old fashioned was exactly how I wanted it to be.


Ambience: The entire restaurant was completely empty. As in, nobody at the bar, nobody at any tables inside, and just us outside. To be fair had a 5pm booking on Sunday so not busy hours but I thought there'd be more.

Service: The waiter was definitely attentive and clean and kept his distance. Wish he said something about the missing items on the plate but a manager heard and came out with the brussel sprouts solution after my wife pointed it out to the waiter.

The best part was that they did go out of their way to bring a piece of chocolate cake out for my sister since it was a celebration. That was a really nice touch that made her feel really special.

Price: For 4 apps, 4 drinks, and 4 mains we spent about $250 including tip.

Not sure I'd go out of my way to go back but I was really happy they made an effort to make us happy.

Service was slow at first. We asked about a heat lamp not in use to be moved. No was the answer. Then as we were finishing our overpriced meal, they brought the heat lamp to another nearby table.

First outing since covid vaccine! Fantastic in all ways!

Food was great, service was excellent, and value was fair.

We did the Valentines Day dinner, and it was exceptional! We enjoyed every dish we received and the staff was on top of everything. ❤️ Even accommodated the area due to weather.

It was hard to find but the food was great and I had the best chocolate ice cream ever there!

Family brunch the food is tasty the service professional and loved the heat lamps on a chilly Austin Sunday we will definitely go back

4 out of 5 choices we made in the menu were not available.
The music was so loud we couldn’t even carry a conversation. The point of having someone play during dinner is not to have a concert, it should be background music.
1/2 the items which came out were luke warm.

Just not a good night at Trace.

We had a wonderful experience at Trace over the weekend. Our server made sure to turn on two heaters so we would be warm enough eating outside. He was also very attentive throughout the meal, even catering to our children's requests for different menu items.

Trace has a lot of work to do if they want to be successful. After 90 minutes, we had been served one mediocre, cold flat bread. The rest of the food (of what was still available on the already limited menu) came out after about 2 hours and pleads with the manager and another hotel employee. Other folks around us were getting equally frustrated by the limited staff.

Give someone more deserving your business.

The band/performer that was advertised was not the person that was performing. We made reservations based on that show. Furthermore no management had any idea that that was posted incorrectly on your website.

Our food was generally good, though we found the soup bland and the salad just good, but uninspiring. We did like the warm mushroom side dish, which arrived with our salads though we expected, by the name "side dish," that it would arrive with our entrees. When all these items arrived at once, the waiter promised to bring our entrees right away, as if we could wolf everything down all once. We did manage to hold off the entrees until we finished the dishes already served, though it took a couple of efforts, as he kept telling us that the fish would be there right away.

To the waiter's credit, after I finally stressed that we did not want him to hold our fish and bring it dried out, he did produce fresh entrees after we had finished our starters and the shared side dish. We liked and can recommend the salmon almondine and the blueberry chocolate cake. Unfortunately, however, the service generally felt awkward, like we had a new and untrained server.

Great food, service & music!

Our experience was amazing!!!!! We had such a good time at the Dolly Pardon drag brunch. The only thing that dampened the mood was our waitress. She did not come to our table for 30 minutes upon arrival. When she finally did, she wouldn’t even speak to us. The only things that made it better were the support staff and entertainment. It was only a table for 2, so we were super easy and quick to order. Hoping she was just having a bad day? Aside from that, we had a blast and we’ll def be coming back for another fun brunch! Thanks Trace!!

Unfortunately our Christmas dinner was quite bad. Seemed to be severely short staffed. We waited almost 30 mins to even get an order taken, and then drinks took another 20. After an hour and 15 mins a table that came in after us had appetizers delivered, and we had not received anything yet. I did go to management twice. They were very apologetic and offered a free round of drinks, unfortunately we weren't drinking... The manager did come by 2-3 times (after 2 hours) to apologize and offer more free drinks. Overall this was a 3 hour meal that was poorly serviced. To top it off, our dessert of choice was then sold out by the time we were ready. Top to bottom, poorly executed dinner. Food was good but for Prix fixe, I would have expected a lot more. I hope they have figured out what went wrong and can adapt. The staff seemed frazzled, so I am guessing it was a matter of not having enough people to service the tables booked..

To start, the reservation number to call if I was running late wasn’t working so my table was taken when I got there. The vallet was extremely rude(long haired white guy) not sure if it is because me and my boyfriend are black or because he’s just a rude person. But besides that the place is beautiful and the waiters and inside staff were great

My Christmas Day dinner was ideal! I was solo this year due to COVID and kinda down in the dumps. The ambience was nice and there were only about 4 other tables. I sat on the covered patio that was I pleasantly covered in all white Christmas lights. My server (older with glasses also bartender) was great. Walked me through the entire menu and checked on me just enough. The busboy was a borderline server’s assistant. He was great-refilled my water, cleared my plates as soon as I was finished, and was always smiling. The butternut squash soup was charming and plated beautifully. The prime rib came out Medium Rare as requested. My only complaint was the potatoes being a little dry. I had the wine pairing for all 3 courses and they all paired nicely. The Chocolate Yule Log dessert was absolutely decadent. I walked away with a full stomach and some Christmas Cheer that wasn’t there a few hours before. I definitely recommend this spot for the solo diner on holiday.

Great food and service! Loved every minute of our experience there!

I was very disappointed in this experience. I was taking My Best friend out for a birthday lunch and it was both of our first time here. The food was not good, pecan pie was so cold I couldn't cut it to eat it, and the server was not very attentive. We will not make a second visit here.

The outdoor atmosphere was wonderful! It was so great to hear live music again.

We reserved an outdoor table for the 3 course Thanksgiving dinner. Here is how it went:
- no outdoor table available (for us and other guests) so we settled for a table next to an open door. I had even called to confirm we would have an outdoor table.
- actual menu was not the exact same as online.
- meets had definitely been prepared hours before.
- portions were small.
- nothing was hot (including the soup).
- service was adequate.

Very good food and their recommended wine pairings were on point and added a fabulous dining experience.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner inside. The food was innovative and delicious and the staff was very attentive. It was a relaxed and comfortable dining experience.

Trace opens at 7am for breakfast and we arrived at 7:20am (7:30am reservation). They are the only breakfast option for the W Hotel in Austin, where we stayed (and breakfast was included in our rate). We were the first in the restaurant for the morning. We were seated at a nice table inside, overlooking the patio. Then someone started sweeping up with a broom all around us, with dust flying in the air. Why was he doing this with customers and why wasn't it cleaned before it opened for the morning - esp with COVID going around? Service was poor. We waited for long stretches without any understanding of why things were taking so long. My wife tried to alert the man behind the bar, who seemed in charge, and he acted bored, gave no apologies, and didn't thank her for bringing the issues to his attention. No wonder we were alone in the restaurant. We ordered Eggs Benedict and a side of sausage links (two small links for $5), which took 30+ minutes to arrive. Finally after about 20 minutes, the chef came out and apologized, letting us know there was a problem with the grill and brought some fruit in the meantime (nice gesture I guess, but we didn't want it). We thanked him and let him know we really appreciated the communication. It is no fun sitting in the dark wondering what is going on with your food. Once the Eggs Benedict and sausage was delivered it was cooked perfectly. However, my wife found some bone fragments in her thinly sliced ham. Mine was very good, however the side of pork sausage links didn't taste very good and was extremely greasy (stay away from the links). The eggs were perfect.

They were shorthanded due to COVID it seemed based on the way our waiter was rushing around all night at dinner. Our server in the outdoor area seemed stressed and was not very personable. They may have forgot our entrée order, as there was a huge time gap between our salad and our entrée with no sign of our waiter or our meal. Finally it came without apology for the wait or explanation. It also came differently than ordered on the menu. My wife had the roast chicken breast, but it came with an entire half chicken. It did not have the broccolini or fingerling potatoes as the menu described for the dish, but instead had sautéed spinach and some kind of serrano brown and white rice. At this point we just going to made do vs. risking sending it back. I had the Salmon and while it was a very small portion, it was cooked to perfection and delicious. For desert we tried the pecan pie, one of my favorite deserts normally. Their pecan pie tasted like pure sugar and molasses. We could not eat it being so sweet. The homemade ice cream on the top was very good and luckily disguised the two tastes of the pie we had. Another lengthy wait to get the bill and we were back to our hotel room in the W. On the positive, the food was very good and they have a very nice outdoor patio atmosphere to dine, which we enjoyed.

The server took 15 minutes to even get around for our drink order. The place was good, just not a "dinner date night" kind of place. Probably much better for the brunch or lunch hour crowd.

Disappointed in our first post-Covid visit to Trace. Used to be one of our favorite spots in Austin, but menu is much more limited.

We were there for a friends 37th birthday. The music was fantastic, food was great and the service was the best. We all highly enjoyed our experience.

I was warned not to have dinner at Trace due to the service and food but figured the advice I was given was just a bad experience. Sadly it was true.

Limited menu and they must be in need of a new head chef because nothing was really good.

The DJ really set the mood for the night !

I reserved an outside table weeks in advance to watch live music. When I arrived they sat me outside... but put me behind a concrete wall so I couldn’t seen anything. I am also currently handicapped with a broken foot and they refused to switch my table to one that is more conducive for my handicap and viewing purposes. They manager was extremely rude and stubborn even though there were 6 open tables he could have sat me at. I was very disappointed by the whole experience and will not be going back.

We used to come here all the time and they tripled the prices on mimosas, the service was awful, they charged us for food we never got, and the actual food was terrible quality compared to before. I don’t know what happened but we won’t be coming back. Such a shame we used to go almost every weekend.

We have been going to the W Hotel lounge for many years on Friday evenings. Trace has been our Friday night option in the COVID 19 world. The patio is perfect for an outdoor option. (We typically go for cocktails and not for dinner.)

Service is great! It’s not too crowded. We recommend it for the atmosphere and the service.

Always look forward to the drag events (e.g., bingo, brunch, etc). Vylette Ward puts on a great show and makes it fun for all.

Drinks are good but a little pricey.

Menu for food and drinks don’t change often (if at all, which isn’t great).

I ordered the steak and was so disappointed. Took about 2 bites and didn’t eat anymore. Was supposed to have duck fat fries. These were not fried in duck fat and tasted like they came out of a bag of frozen fries from the grocery store. The whole meal was quite awful.

We enjoy dining al fresco surrounded by plants and flowers. Our gazpacho was delicious and the chilled fruit was an unusual twist. My spinach and arugula salad is one of my favorites. The lemon dressing IC creamier and the balsamic drizzle is perfection. My husband’s go-to is the flavorful pulled pork tacos which are just the right size for lunch.

Perfect socially distanced get together

Beautiful place for date night with some music

It was fun to get together with friends and listen to live music outside. However, we got there at 5 and unfortunately only heard 4 songs even though the singer was promoted as performing from 4-6pm.
She talked a lot, took a 10 minute break and ended her performance at 5:45. That was disappointing because we chose to go there to hear live music. Maybe from 4-5 she performed more songs?

Food was okay, nothing to rave about.
My “salad” was pretty much an unripe fruit salad with vinaigrette dressing and 3 shrimp for $25 Server was very nice but other than that we won’t be back.