Black Walnut Cafe

First time and disappointed on almost every level. There are no signs when you walk in that it is not a full service restaurant, so people just standing around crowding the entry. After almost 10 minutes I asked the bartender if I should seat myself; she said to order my food first. OK, how was I to know that? When I did order I had to wait several minutes while the girl at the desk ignored me. Ordered a sparkling water, she handed it to me and seemed to find it a challenge to get me a glass; arrived back at my table and realized that it was not a screw off top — had to go to the bar to get it opened. When the food was ready my buzzer went off and I walked to the area where I had ordered only to be completely ignored again; some guy in the back waved me over to get my food — was there a reason I was not told the food would come out at a different place? I had told the original person that it was my first time visiting; she could not have cared less that I received horrible service and information.
The food would have to be outstanding for me to consider a return trip; it was average at best. A little information would have gone a long way.

Interesting upscale restaurant. I found the ceiling fans especially fun. They are two bladed and run by a cool looking (if not air producing) pulleys. I’m pretty sure they are powered by squirrels on wheels in the back, that are chasing a black walnut dangling in front of them. Good thing they have a modern day HVAC system that is helping these poor squirrels in meeting their cooling goals. As has been mentioned in other reviews, there are no servers, but instead a paging system, and cafeteria style layout for you to get your food and coffee. But if you expect the savings of being the server to be passed on to you, you are sadly mistaken. That my friends, will go to the aforementioned squirrels and their insatiable need for black walnuts. Finally the food. I got the Cordon Bleu Eggs Benedict (13.50) and a coffee, totalling $ 16.67. I will say that my go to breakfast spot is Café Java on Metric, but being that they were slammed, I decided to check out someplace new. I was thrilled that they served Eggs Benedict, one of my favorite breakfast dishes (Café Java does not make), but was a bit disappointed, especially for the price you pay. Can’t really put my finger on what was missing because it has been awhile since I had a really good Eggs Benedict. I suspect its in the hollandaise sauce. Felt like the eggs were a little tasteless. More than anything, I tasted the baked parmesan on the chicken. They get points for presentation though, very pretty looking dish.

Best coffee, great food, great atmosphere. Very friendly staff. Definitely will be as much of a regular at this place as possible. SNL

I like the atmosphere of this place and how nice and clean it looks but this place is just O.K. The food here seems a little pricy for the taste, quality, and the amount they give. Also my husband’s and my food came out really late when we weren’t even the last ppl to order in our group. We got our food by the time one of our friends were done eating his food.

What I liked: the staff were all very nice, helpful and could give suggestions.
What I didn’t like:
–cafeteria style– order you food at the front desk, get a buzzer and pick it up from the kitchen station along with napkins, silverware, condiments and non alcoholic beverages. If you bought an alcoholic beverage you then had to go to the bar to pick up your drink. It’s a beautifully decorated sports bar/​bar, why would your food service be this way?
–the prices– if I have to serve myself then the prices need to be way reduced. It made me want to tip less which is unfortunate for the other staff. I’ve been in the service business so I didn’t but many have not. I hope the staff get paid more than minimum wage.
–the food– for as nice looking of a place and the prices I expected much better. We got three appetizers; salmon dip, guacamole and ravioli. The salmon dip was great, the guac was good, the ravioli very mediocre. The let down were our meals. One friend got one of their special burgers and was underwhelmed, another friend got this gumbo looking dish and was not impressed whatsoever. I got the chicken croissant sandwhich which lacked flavor completely.
Step it up black walnut!

Their menu is awesome! I recommend the Cordon Bleu Benedict for Brunch! The staff is friendly and the place is perfect for brunch.

I will return. The coffee was very good and on this Sunday there were three to choose from. They had a large tub of cut in half oranges and when you order an orange juice, it is freshly squeezed, which… is…damn…good.
Some items on the menu are expected but done in an unusual way. Everything was cooked well and the staff was very good.
Large dinning are with smaller bar section and then lounging chairs/​sofas running along the almost floor to ceiling windows. Very clean and well maintained.
Yes the ordering is not the usual for a sit down, but I think many places will move to this more casual way and will be able to focus on quality of food.

I was back here more recently and I liked my time.
It had been a long day of moving boxes around for me and my dining companion, so having a burger and french dip sandwich while sitting on nice plush low leather chairs was a welcome relief!
Plus, just marveling at the crazy ceiling fans and using the fancy soda machine.
Both sandwiches were quite good, although one of those bottles (maybe «Mango Salsa») is very hot!

Came here for breakfast last Saturday and I finally understand why everyone has told me that I must check out Black Walnut Café. When you walk in its a bit confusing, its so nicely decorated and looks more like a formal sit down restaurant but you actually order at the counter and then get a buzzer to let you know when your food is ready to be picked up. I enjoyed a delicious omelette while my boyfriend had a breakfast sandwich and a side pancake that we both happily shared. I really enjoyed my latte that I had as well, I think it was better than going for the regular coffee that they offer. There are several seating options and from the look of it, they have a pretty full bar too. Needless to say, we will be back very soon.

As someone stated below, BWC is like a higher end of Panera which is a good thing since I do love me some Panera. That being saying, BWC had some misses for me.
Walked in at about 3:10pm on a Tuesday. Very confused on where to go/​what to do. There was a bar area to the left of door and gelato counter straight ahead. Who takes orders? I overheard somewhat say they wanted their food to go and that was my only indication that I should place my order at bar. There were a total of 5 customers including me. Bartender seem to have been at the end of shift so he was trying to get all orders in quickly.
I placed my to go order, Chicken Pesto Pasta Salad at 3:15pm. I did not get my food until 3:40pm. Long time to be waiting for a salad, especially when there are only 4 other diners.
The salad was decent. Nice flavor in the pesto and chicken was juicy. However, I was somewhat frustrated with the amount of «juice» at the bottom of my to go box from the balsamic vinegar, tomato juice and oil. In fact, when I go out of my car, I guess the juice seeped out of and ruined the bag and my car seat (rented car BTW). Luckily, the seats were leather. Had it been any other material, it would have stained the seat. Regardless, it was a mess I had to clean up. The idea is to EAT the food. Not wipe it off your seats!
Will I be back? Yes. Even though the food was a bit pricy for me, there were some items on it that caught my eye. Also, I could have come on an «off» day and am willing to give it another chance. I am hoping if I dine in, my experience will be completely different.

As others have pointed out this is fast casual dining. Order at the counter, take your pager, grab your own drinks and silverware etc and have a seat. If it’s not busy they will bring the food out to your table, otherwise, pick it up at the counter. Three things that stood out: they use a pulley system to operate their ceiling fans (yes I’m a dork who notices things like that); they have seriously delicious fresh squeezed orange juice; and, they have some very tempting desserts.
We got the American breakfast (eggs, house potatoes [think frozen ore idea cubed] sausage and bagel), turkey croissant (turkey, bacon, swiss lettuce and tomato) with fries and a slice of Italian Cream cake. Hubs liked his breakfast just fine and gobbled it all up in no time and said at least three times he wanted to go back. I’m not a fry person, but, I will give shout out to good ones when I find them, and, these fries were pretty darn good. I was almost fooled that they were fresh cut. They’re not though. My turkey croissant was tasty and I liked the bacon that was on it. My problem was that by the time I got two bites into the second half the salt was getting a bit too much. Nice soft buttery croissant + salty meats = overkill. Yeah I couldn’t finish it.
Hubs literally devoured his cake (cake ain’t my thing but I did try a bite and it was really good). He really liked it and will probably make me go back just for that reason. LOL. I’m going three stars on this place because of the menu. I just wasn’t that impressed and I thought they were a bit pricey on most items. When I went in I was hoping for a nice salad with some fish. Chicken seems to be the popular protein here. The Asian Tuna salad (besides the tuna) just didn’t sound appetizing at all. I think because of the Asian dressing (sounds too sweet for me). So I turned my attention to the Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad. I was sold until I read the words Caesar Salad. That has got to be one of the most stupid salads ever created. Seriously. All it is is shredded lettuce with Caesar dressing and cheese. Add blackened salmon and they charge $ 14. No thanks.

This is probably one of my fiancé’s favorite «brunch» places, because he likes to tell me that men don’t brunch. So, if it were up to him, this would be a 5 star and for me a 3 star, so I gave it 4 stars, right in between. Here are the pros:
(1) It is counter service so you can seat yourself. There’s rarely a long wait so this is definitely a good place to go if you have a large party. You order at the counter from their extensive menu and then they give you a pager, which will vibrate when your food is ready.
(2) Service-​wise, we’ve always had a great experience. There’s usually a greeter at the door to hand you menus and explain how the counter service works. The cashier at the counter has always been friendly and eager to help if you want suggestions.
(3) The prices. Pretty low and fair, but if you keep reading my review, you will know why.
What I’m not a number one fan of is the food. The food is not bad, but it’s nothing spectacular and the portions are on the small side, which is probably why the prices are deceivingly cheap. I can probably eat 2 entrees to be truly full. With that said, the food is not bad and I probably shouldn’t eat so much, so I’d give the food an average 3 star rating.

I just moved close to Black Walnut, and have had breakfast from them twice.
The first time was the morning after the move. We wanted to grab something carry out to not leave the dog alone on her first morning in a new place. So we called in for an American breakfast and a Frenchie.
My husband went to pick up the order. He waited in line several minutes at the register, then was told to go to the bar, where he could see our order waiting. He went to the bar and waited several more minutes, while several employees glanced at him without offering to help or asking what he needed. Then he spotted a manager, asked to be helped, and was told the bar wasn’t open yet, he needed to check out at the register. So by this point he’s pretty frustrated. He gets home with cold food.
For that visit I’d give one star, obviously lousy service, cold food, and honestly, pass on their potatoes, they’re bland and rubbery. But the French toast is awesome– even warmed in the microwave it was really delicious.
We decided to give them another try just because the menu is pretty good and they are so close (honestly I had to twist my husband’s arm a bit after the first time), but this time eat there. I got a build your own omelet, and it was really good. Hubby got a breakfast croissant and said it was good too, grudgingly, lol. So I’d give that visit 4 stars, because it wasn’t spectacular but was good.
I do think we’ll continue to go here occasionally for breakfast, but we will only dine in.

Great brunch location after church. The omelette and French toast are yum. A little busy but seating is ok for small parties. Walk in-​order-​sit-​eat!!!

This place is like an upscale version of Newk’s. The food was just ok and it’s pricey for what you get. I had the chicken and waffles, again just ok… The waffle tasted like it was from a box and the chicken tasted previously frozen… There are better to places to check out in the area but it’s quick so that’s a plus if you are in a rush and don’t want fast food. There are also worst places so this one is the middle of the road for me.

I went here for lunch recently with a group of friends for the first time and was pleasantly surprised, especially after reading all the low reviews. I was greeted at the door warmly by a staff member who handed me a menu and asked me if it was my first time. We acknowledged our newbie status and she kindly explained how the ordering and pick up process worked. We reviewed the extensive menu and walked up to the counter to place our orders. The gelato and dessert display cases are definitely distracting. It makes you want to skip your meal and go directly to dessert. Once we placed our orders, we were provided with buzzers and found seats. The seating area is lounge like and very cozy. They also have a full bar, which I wasn’t expecting.
Our buzzers didn’t take long to alert us to go pick up our food. The salads, and sandwiches my friends ordered were all decently portioned and good. Nothing fancy, just good basic food. I would come back here. We didn’t have to bus our table at all. There was someone going around cleaning up and picking up everyone’s dishes. They even asked us to clear the table. None in my group complained, and were actually talking about coming back. Always good to find another faster but comfortable food option near the Domain with great salads.
Bonus — they have decent gluten free bread that doesn’t crumble when toasted. It actually tastes like toasted bread!

This was my first time at Black Walnut, and I’m not a fan of the concept at all. You walk in, order and pay at the front get a buzzer for your food, seat yourself, and pick up your food when the buzzer goes off. Not a difficult concept to grasp, but it feels super awkward to walk up to the front and ask for a menu to look at. The whole process would be much smoother if they had a menu board with all of their offerings written on it, so that everyone in line could see. It isn’t super obvious that you are supposed to do all of your ordering at the front either. At first glance, it looks kind of like a Marie Callender’s where you can order some things from a display case (BWC has the same sort of display case/​register setup), but also can get table service. I think a large menu billboard would make it immediately clear, but BWC is lacking that.
The prices are a bit expensive for what you would expect at a place that requires you to serve yourself and bus your own table. Our food was decent (I got a breakfast sandwich, my husband got the ahi tuna salad) but not terribly impressive. It seems like the best strategy is to go in already knowing what you want so you don’t end up standing in front of the register, awkwardly looking at the menu as the cashier waits.
As far as the menu itself goes, it looks like there is quite a variety of things on it, many of which I’d like to try. I think I’d like the concept of this restaurant better if they made the process more obvious.

«STICK A FORK IN ME — I’M DONE!»
I am abandoning my previous review which was meant to be helpful and balanced, and instead writing a review based on my breakfast experience this morning.
I was up early so I decided to take in breakfast before going to the office. I decided to try BWC based on the fact that they were open and that my prior breakfast experience was tolerable. I was the only person their until I ordered and then, it was me and 1 other guy that was just pounding beers after a night shift. I arrived at 6:38 and promptly ordered the Cordon Bleu Benedict.
The bartender asked me if I wanted a water. I replied, in English, «No.» He then promptly filled up an ice water and put it in front of me. I guess water is now mandatory.
My food came out at 7:15. The staff had me outnumbered 5 to 1 and it took 37 minutes for a Benedict to come out. The 37 minutes was blamed on the hollandaise sauce having to be prepared. Hollandaise take 10 minutes max, not 40.
My food was served room temperature and with a broken yolk from one of the poached eggs having run all over the plate. I don’t know about you, but when I order a $ 16.00, 37 minute benedict, it had better be warm, and the yolks had better be in tact.
I wish the list of misses stopped there, but alas it does not. The chicken was poor quality and tough (I’ve had better chicken at Chic-​fil-​A), the ham was not carved, but rather looked like chopped up lunch meet. The 37 minute hollandaise had way too much lemon flavor. As mentioned one of the yolks was broken, and it was served anyway, which shows a complete lack of pride in one’s work. The English muffin was tough enough to be a challenge for the steak knife I requested and screamed «previously frozen» as did the chicken. It was just all wrong.
I had also, out of curiosity, ordered the pancakes to see what they were like. Previous reviews had pegged them as thin and overly chewy. Mine were Thick and fluffy, but were so dry that I had a great deal of difficulty swallowing them. The Maple syrup had a sour metallic taste and a hint of what I’d compare to pinesol. The butter was good. I took a few bites, trying differing degrees of butter and syrup on each bite. Abysmal.
I made the bartender aware of the problems, but insisted that he not adjust my bill. He disregarded my request and deducted the charge for the pancakes.
The moral of the story is, if you like poor quality food, service that disregards your requests, and a place to start drinking at 6:30am, then this is your place.
None of these attributes holds any appeal for me, and my 4^th visit here is my last. Dropping from 3 stars to 1.
It’s not rocket surgery… it’s food service. You know better.

I came here when they had their grand opening and it was greatly organized. They had reservations so that you could RSVP for the time that you were coming. I was very impressed at how well they did it.
There are some great items on the menu, the chicken tenders are good, the pastas and the salads are pretty good. I got one soup and it wasn’t very good though, it was very greasy. The food for the most part is good, the fries are not good though.
When I told them the soup was really greasy, the food expeditor was not very nice about it, he told me that’s how that soup is and that it is made fresh every day. It didn’t help the fact that it had a pool of grease on top of the soup.
Everything else is good though, I wished they had pistachio gelato still though. There are a few other options for gelato but I’m sad that the pistachio one isn’t available anymore.

I’ve been to the BWC before in Houston so I kind of knew what to expect — wide ranging menu, brunch, lunch, dinner, beer, wine and good ol’ american food. We stopped in for brunch today to scope the Austin version out and it’s much the same.
There’s a bar area with high tops, a «fast casual» seating area and then there’s a «nice» area with booths. You order when you walk in and pay right away. I had the grilled cheese & tomato soup. It was uninspired… but then I suppose so was my order. My friend had a breakfast quesadilla and a really decent bloody mary and my other friend had a chicken sandwich and something called «morning sunrise» that looked like it stepped right out of a sex and the city episode — pink sugar rim and all. Despite the presentation, that drink was light and citrus-​y and pretty good. Sadly, her tiny chicken breast was so tough she removed it from the sandwich.
I’d go back and get something else. Maybe that carafe of mimosas? The salads looked good and so did some of the benedicts but overall it’s a step up from a fast casual chain. You won’t leave here inspired by food art but you probably can please the whole fam.