Fearless Critic restaurant review
La Condesa
Mexico City haute cuisine that won’t bleed the bank, in a sexy, playful setting
Mexican
Upmarket restaurant
Hours
Mon–Wed 11:00am–11:00pm
Thu–Fri 11:00am–midnight
Sat 11:00am–2:00pm
Sat 3:00pm–midnight
Sun 11:00am–2:00pm
Sun 3:00pm–11:00pm
Features Date-friendly, outdoor dining
Bar Beer, wine, liquorCredit cards Visa, MC, AmEx
Reservations Accepted
www.lacondesaaustin.com
Second Street
400 W. 2nd St.
Austin, TX
(512) 499-0300
The interior of La Condesa is a two-story visual orgasm—would you expect anything else in the posh and Dallas-ish Second Street District? At least this is the modern-high-concept genre at its best. A waterfall of white mesh fabric protects the dining area from front-door traffic, while lush, hearty tropical plants…
Want to read the rest of this review and the many others in the Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide, which covers 480 restaurants (and counting) in and around Austin?
Get the 592-page book—it’s an indispensable reference and a great gift—available online or at an Austin-area store.
Or, subscribe to fearlesscritic.com for just $10 per year—the price of a martini—or try it out for $2 per month. You’ll get access to the complete Fearless Critic content online, including more than 1,000 reviews from all Fearless Critic cities, new reviews as they’re written throughout the year, and advanced search features.
If you’re already a subscriber, please login to your account.
Comments (5)
Get the 592-page book—it’s an indispensable reference and a great gift—available online or at an Austin-area store.
Or, subscribe to fearlesscritic.com for just $10 per year—the price of a martini—or try it out for $2 per month. You’ll get access to the complete Fearless Critic content online, including more than 1,000 reviews from all Fearless Critic cities, new reviews as they’re written throughout the year, and advanced search features.
If you’re already a subscriber, please login to your account.
Service at the bar was very good except our food took a long time to came out, and I got served the wrong dish, though this was rectified promptly.
I like the decor, except for the cinder blocks. Otherwise, it is surprisingly good modern without being cheesy.
Cocktails are ok, way too many ingredients in each one. I had the one with the tobacco leaf infusion and mezcal essence but it was completely dominated by the pineapple juice. The bartenders don't measure. Aside from the mezcal essence, which is just a spray, in that one drink there are no mezcal cocktails, which is a huge field they're missing out on. They need to pay a visit to Death & Co. or Mayahuel in New York.
Food was quite good, definitely agree with Erin that this is one of the best brunches in town. The huevos con camaron comes with three big head-on Gulf shrimp -- big props for serving them head on -- how many restaurants in town do that? The huevos Condesa, with rotisserie chicken and bacon, was good. El chile verde with braised pork butt and poached eggs and ground hominy (like grits) was good but I was a little disappointed with the somewhat small portion of pork. The poached eggs on the chile verde and the fried eggs on the huevos Condesa were perfectly cooked with very runny yolks, as is essential for any good brunch.
Drinks are a little more balanced this time. The tobacco leaf one, now that it's not so overwhelmed by pineapple, turns out is not so great: after finishing half of it, the tobacco is just too much. A Manhattan-like calvados and apple-poached vermouth cocktail was top notch, far better than the others.
The menu is filled with a number of hits. I've been with groups of five and six and nearly every dish ordered for such a large group is still a hit. Best dish has been the pork ribs, perfectly tender, without being overcooked, with a slightly sweet, crispy seared crust. Pork belly botana is soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and not too fatty. Moles are good. Duck confit here is better than the many French restaurants' attempts at it.
The only downer was the trout ceviche which was a tiny portion for the $14 price. It was more of a sashimi than a ceviche, but even at a sushi restaurant the price/portion ratio would have raised some eyebrows.
Desserts looked boring other than the sweet potato flan, but I didn't try any, so can only speculate.
Service was attentive.