For our last evening in Austin we decided to try one of its newer restaurants, Grizzelda’s. Only open since late November 2016, this Mexican restaurant (located at 105 Tillery Street) is owned by Adam Jacoby, who also owns Jacoby’s Restaurant & Mercantile. Since we had enjoyed our brunch at Jacoby’s in November 2015, rating it 5 stars, we had high hopes of being equally pleased by its new sister restaurant, Grizzelda’s. Would my hopes be dashed or fulfilled?
The first thing I noticed when we walked in the door at Grizzelda’s was how loud it was in the main dining area.
However, the next thing I noticed was how “Pretty in Pink” it was, from the pink lighted bar area to their pink menus, coasters and glassware…
Another thing I liked about the decor is their light fixtures, from the lovely black ones which hung from the ceiling inside..
…to the beautiful chandelier which hung from the ceiling in their covered patio outside.
We requested to be seated outside on the covered patio and were happy to find that it was much quieter out there than inside.
Now on to our dinner, which began with cocktails…
One of my daughters chose the Tropic Thunder, while my other daughter and I ordered margaritas (her’s on the rocks, mine was frozen)…
Left front: Grizz Mizz – Signature House Margarita on the rocks
Right front: Fro-Mo – House Frozen Margarita
Back: Tropic Thunder with vodka, mango, coconut, banana liqueur, and pomegranate simple syrup
My daughter thought her margarita didn’t have much tequila, however mine had plenty and was very good. My other daughter also enjoyed her Tropical Thunder.
Then we moved on to their food, starting with the “Aperitivos” section of the menu…
From this section we ordered two things, but first we were served a complimentary bowl of tortilla chips along with two different salsas, one green and one red…
While the chips were good with these salsas, they were even better with this…
Grizzly Guacamole with bacon, roasted garlic, serrano pepper, and queso fresco
This was delicious, and so was the other appetizer we ordered…
Empanadas with Jacoby Farm’s beef short rib, capers, rajas peppers and mole verde
In addition to these two appetizers, the three of us also shared two entrees…
We decided to try two kinds of Tacos, the pork and the beef. While we really liked the spicy pork…
Puerco Pibil – braised pork (I believe this was pork cheek) topped with pickled red onions and a crispy plantain, served with habanero sauce
…we loved the beef tacos!
And a close up…
Birria de Res – Dry-aged Jacoby Farm’s beef, crema, charred serrano peppers, radishes, cilantro, pickled red onion, and house fermented barrel-aged hot sauce
As you can see, their tacos are served deconstructed. You are given fresh tortillas with which to construct your tacos. To mine I added cream and some of our guacamole along with the flavorful beef…
While the tacos are served a la carte, we ordered a vegetable side to share…
Grilled Broccolini with Roasted Peanuts, Fresno Confitado & Aged Manchego
Although not listed on the above menu, the broccolini was a replacement for the brussels sprouts, which they were out of. I’m not sure if this was a permanent replacement or just a temporary one but hopefully it’s permanent, as the broccolini was good.
Though I would have loved to have tried their tres leches cake for dessert, we were all just too full.
Overall our dinner at Grizzelda’s was nearly perfect, perfect enough to give it a rating of 5 stars. Apparently this restaurant is too new to be rated and ranked on Trip Advisor, but Yelp reviewers have given it a rating of only 4 stars and ranked it #102. Sorry Yelp peeps, but we don’t agree! Grizzelda’s deserves better.
Taste of Disney 