Moonshine boasts perhaps the most alluring and comfortable old (old, old) building in downtown Austin, a gorgeous twinkly light-flecked patio, and all the potential to take Southern comfort foods to a whole new level of deliciousness and excellence. Instead, it flatly refuses to improve, update its menu, or even convincingly embrace even one letter of the “sole food” movement (sustainable, organic, local, and ethical). Drinks are served in Ball jars, which is cute and homey, but specialty cocktails tend to be of the boring vodka-based variety. The use of homegrown ingredients like Tito’s and Paula’s is commendable, but the wine list could offer way more interesting bottles from our shores. A chaotic Sunday brunch offers Southern favorites with a Texas twist, like green chile cheese grits or biscuits with chipotle cream gravy, all congealing in a steam table.

If the unchanging menu hints at a lack of motivation in the kitchen, the execution is inarguable evidence for it. Horseradish-crusted salmon has come out disastrously overcooked, its lemon dill sauce doing little to help out the cause. Chicken-fried steak gets smothered by bland chipotle gravy that makes the breading sadly soggy. Neither tweaked mac and cheese dish—not the green chile mac, nor the baked version with pimento cheese—is balanced enough to warrant the bother.

There are worse restaurants in Austin than Moonshine, but few this lovely and with this much potential.