Cafe Monet – Triangle

I’ve been to the Triangle many times to eat, and being a huge fan of arts and crafts and decorating, I have always wanted to try Café Monet.
It’s a modest establishment with a comfortable interior, and the staff is very welcoming and helpful.
I love the selection that they offer in ceramics — from mugs and plates to ceramic figurines. We went with a tea cup set — I painted the cup and my boyfriend the plate. It was a really fun experience, and there were a lot of colors, brushes, and different tools to use so I feel like you could come up with some super creative stuff.
I think I’ll definitely return again — this was super fun! There aren’t many places like this in Austin so if you’re in the mood for some crafts I recommend coming here! It’d be an awesome place for a date or a girl’s day out, or to bring your friends or colleagues for some bonding.

I love Café Monet! I’ve been coming here for the past four years to paint gifts for my family and friends, and it’s so fun! There’s a wide selection of pottery with a variety of cups/​mugs, dishes, animals, piggy banks, dog bowls… and more! Even seasonal ones like ornaments during the holidays!
I’m a bit of a perfectionist so it usually takes me at least an hour to decide what to do and then another couple hours for me to paint. Phone service is pretty bad too so I would suggest planning what you’re painting ahead of time (aka googling images, fonts, etc. and taking a screenshot!). The workers will tell you this, but I like painting 2 – 3 layers of paint to avoid uneven layers. Sometimes I make layers really thick and I’m afraid it’ll run when it’s getting fired but it doesn’t. You’ll just be able to feel the thickness when it’s done.
I think it takes ~5 days for the pottery to be fired and whatnot before pick up but you can pay an extra $ 5 (I think) for it to be ready in 3!
I would definitely recommend for a girls night, date night, or even some quiet time for yourself to be creative. I do really wish they served coffee or other beverages (cough cough café) to enjoy while painting but you can always just pick something up before.
OH and UT students get a discount with an ID!

We recently stumbled across the concept of «Love Language» and discovered we both rate highly on shared experiences as a way to show affection.
We took our daughter here for an experience-​as-​Christmas present. All three of us had a great time and were so focused on the great time we had painting that we really didn’t care how it turned out.
That is the perfect recipe for being pleasantly surprised. We loved how all our stuff tuned out looking, but more importantly, using our mugs or looking at our kid’s little shark statue will always remind us of what a great time we had this Christmas as a little family.

I enjoy comming here once or twice per year on a friend date. They have a good selection of pottery at decent prices. The people who work here are always pleasant and helpfull.
Tip: Come during the week! There is more parking, no studio fee, and extra discounts depending on the day of the week.

everyone should try it at least once! we went in a large group for our bonding for the women’s retreat and we all had such a relaxing time! while we were there the songs that played were all taylor swift songs: -) they also have student discounts and stamp cards– $ 10 off w the full stamp card! the staff was friendly and kind– only down side was some of the paint bottles were empty and they were completely out of those colors. great experience with great people.

I really like Café Monet. I have been here a few times with my almost three year old daughter. I took her to the Triangle location yesterday so we could paint a plate for Father’s Day. Pros: No studio fee, lots of pieces to select from, lots of paint colors, and the piece gets fired in just a few days. Also, I like that there are so many places to eat right in the Triangle, and a small playground just a few feet from Café Monet. In other words, if you have a child you can really make a day of painting some pottery… grab something to eat, some frozen yogurt, play on the playground, and paint pottery. Cons: Usually I have a great time. I LOVE letting my daughter go crazy with the design and colors, and this time was no exception. I’ve never had a staff member mention anything critical regarding my daughters paint/​color choices, (she’s not even three, for pete’s sake!), until yesterday… I’m not sure if the staff member was purposely being… critical…or if she just has no kids and is clueless and thought she was being helpful. Anyway, my daughter was happily painting her plate using an array of purple and pinks – it really was coming out quite lovely, if not a bit thick and messy, (again, she’s a toddler!). The staff member came up to my daughter and said something to the effect of, «oh that’s way too much paint, let me show you something» — She then proceeded to grab this tool and SCRAPED OFF SOME OF THE PAINT. Tears ensued. Even as I type this, I’m a bit flabbergasted as to why anyone – even someone who maybe has zero experience with kids – would think it’s a good idea to scrape the paint off of someone else’s pottery piece? It was weird. I spent the rest of the time there, (which was only about 5 more minutes, as my daughter was now upset), doing damage control – reassuring my daughter that her piece was beautiful and letting her go to town with the pinks and purples again to fix the area that the staff member had ruined. (For those of you wondering if maybe the staff member was just trying to say that it wouldn’t fire as well with so much paint – not true-I’ve done pottery/​glazing/​firing many times and there wasn’t «too much paint» on the plate… it was thick, yes, but didn’t need any scraping). This incident won’t prevent me from coming back, and I still recommend it. Maybe the staff just needs to learn how to work with/​talk to kids a bit more. :)

I just got home from The Triangle location. I came in around 7pm with my husband for a date-​night. In 2 hours we were able to select our pieces, paint, and pay upon exiting. The total was approximately $ 45 for 2 pieces, including paints. There is no studio fee. The girl who set us up was especially helpful and pleasant.

Work did an event here and we had a relaxing time painting and bringing out the creative side of our finance minded people.
Things I liked
+There’s a private room in the back for groups which includes a small counter space to lay out food and drinks.
+The employee serving our group was super helpful, informative and patient as most of us had not ever painted pottery before.
+It’s been a while since I’ve painted pottery and the pottery selection at Café Monet was more creative and fresh than I remember other pottery places from back then. They had both non-​standard and innovative pieces, as well as the classics — mugs, plates, and tiles.
Needs improvement
— Parking was crazy. This area is popular and finding a spot took time or you can walk from much further.
— Even though it’s BYOB, I was surprised they didn’t have a wine opener.
— A very specific situation — There’s a hook where all the aprons are stored for anybody to use while painting. My coworker picked one up and asked an employee why this one had a name puff painted on it. The employee rudely replied «Because that’s mine.» then grabbed it from her. This was not the same employee that was helping our group.

Took my sister here on a rainy day for fun. We are both in our 20s but painting pottery is always a great time. I called around and Café Monet said they didn’t charge a studio fee so I figured we’d check it out. We went during the holidays so it was a bit hectic but the staff was friendly especially considering the chaotic mess of all the people. My smaller piece was only $ 16 total and hers was a mug for $ 20. My husband had brought me to Color Me Mine before and it was always much more expensive because of the studio fee. They fire the piece in only a few days. I’ll definitely be back to Café Monet!

took 8 y.o. daughter here for first time recently. She really enjoyed it, the staff was very helpful, the facilities clean and nicely laid out, and the cost reasonable. We’ll definitely be back.

I will happily return to Café Monet, the only drawback is parking at the Triangle. Fortunately the Triangle is a mini-​destination and finding side distractions isn’t a problem. They are locally owned and have three locations– The Triangle, West Gate, and San Marcos.
Café Monet, located next door to Mandola’s, is BYO food and drinks– including spirits. Reservations were easy to make over email and the small shop is a no frills type of place, very efficient. They have a special every weekday such as 20% off Mosaic Mondays, $ 2 off Two Buck Tuesdays, and 10% off on Thirsty Thursdays. With pieces ranging from ~$ 10-​$ 40 I would estimate that every $ 10 gets you 30 – 45 minutes of entertainment/​work to do, but you can take as long as you’d like technically. You can even come back and finish a piece free of charge Monday-​Wednesday.
Containers are useful so finding a piece to personalize is fun, I have my eye on a cupcake cookie jar for future endeavors. After choosing a piece on the right wall one of the employees will take you to the back and explain what they have to play with, this is a good time to ask for an apron. Next time I will take my time and plan my creation a little better, I wish I had used the magic «invisible» markers to stencil out my plan first, asked for advice on techniques, and taken more time to mix the right colors; but I was generally happy with my giant «Texas sized» mug ($ 22). If you really want to play the perfectionist card bring painter’s tape or masking tape. Once fired in the kiln these are food safe but I keep it out of the dishwasher because it seems prone to chipping.
This is a wholesome outlet to meet your crafting cravings, which I view as more of entertainment than just the price of a mug. Plus shiny makes everything look prettier so you really can’t fail!

We had our kiddo’s birthday party here last year. While the staff were friendly and the pottery nice, this is not a great place for a big party of energetic 2^nd-​graders. They finished their pottery pretty quickly, and then they had nothing to do. And nowhere to go. So we had to buy another «round» of pottery, thereby bringing the cost of the party to something resembling rent money. I was really deflated by that. I had mistakenly thought that whoever created the party packages were sufficiently savvy to ensure that the kids would be occupied with artsy stuff except when eating cake.

Painting pottery never gets old, went in with my teen daughters and had a great time. Expensive pieces but they allow you to get your own paint refills and you can sit there as long as you like. Super friendly staff. Plenty of tables so never felt rushed. Lots of extra tools like stamps, stencils, etc to help with decoration.

Went here the other day with Katie M. and her daughter Riley. It was fine — about what I was expecting. We were one of two small parties in the main painting area and for about half of our time there had the echo of loud and screaming kids from the «party area.» The staff was fairly hands off — we picked our items, were given a quick tour of the painting area and the rest was up to us. I picked up my pottery and it turned out the way I expected from the description of how the kiln can «alter» your item. Still slightly unclear on if this item (a mug) is dishwasher safe and their website doesn’t provide much in the way of information. The mug itself, for the size, was a little pricey, but I guess you are paying for the experience, the paint, and the kiln work. Certainly not a place I would frequent, but I would not be opposed to returning either… like I said more/​less what I expected.

I love this place! My boyfriend took me here on a whim instead of the typical movie date. We had so much fun laughing, talking and being creative. The girl working was really informative and helped us get the look we were going for with out being over bearing! She was awesome! It was really exciting to go back a week later to pick up out creations after being fired and glazed!
It’s a little pricey but I highly recommend café monet. We had such a good time!

It’s always a great time when we visit Café Monet. Yesterday, we had a group event, used the party room and enjoyed an afternoon with friends. The staff, although busy in the main studio, never forgot about us and circulated through out, asking us if we needed anything, changed our water bowls and reminded us that we plenty of time. For some, it was a first time visit and everyone said that they wanted to come back and paint some more.
A huge thanks to the staff for everything, our visit was awesome

This place is great! I used to frequent the Westgate location every few weeks or so with my friend when I was in school and lived down south. Now I live north and actually work at the Triangle. Upon moving, I discovered an unpainted bowl and vase.
Took the bowl in to paint for my first time at this location. It looks bigger than the Westage location, which is nice but seems like the pottery selection is much smaller. Sad. Also unfortunately, the paint selection is still fairly minimal. Conversely, the employee here told us that it was okay to have paints on more than one palate at a time. That was a rather annoying rule at the south location that I wound up having to break because I was getting up for more paints every 5 minutes. I’m not 5, so I think it’s okay for me to accurately judge how much I need and how much I don’t.
I went in a second time with my vase but sadly did not have the ticket. They were able to look stuff up with my name, but weren’t able to find the purchases. Nonetheless, they just wrote me up a new ticket and it was no big deal. Yay! Picked it up after the usual 5 days and it looked great!
PYOP remains one of my favorite hobbies and if you like it too, definitely check this place out. It may seem expensive, but keep in mind there is no studio fee and that money has to go to pay for the pieces, the supplies, the employees, etc.
Also keep in mind that it might take you a long time to paint if you’re doing something intricate all. I frequently spend at least 5+ hours painting one piece. I enjoy it since the experience is very therapeutic for me.
The employees at this location have always been super helpful and friendly too
They also do mosaics and glass fusing here as well.

I love doing crafty things and Café Monet is a great place to come for an art fix. I prefer making the mosaics to painting the pottery, just because I feel like the final product never looks bad. On the other hand, the pottery can look different from what you expect after firing/​glazing. Regardless, this place is a ton of fun and if you don’t finish your piece before they close, they offer to let you come back another day to finish. Very sweet!

I went with my meetup group and there was about 5 of us and it was alot of fun. I had never been there before.
Positive: Got to bring out the kid in me and my creativity side
Negative: Pricey

A group of seven other ladies and I went here last night as part of a girls night. One of the others suggested it, and people seemed interested, so I set it up. I’d seen the place many a time on our weekly pilgrimages to the Saucer’s pint night, but I’d never really know what it was. Turns out, the space is much bigger than it appears from the storefront. It really opens up as you go back into the space. I think my friend only new what it was because she knew the people who made the Café Monet sign.
I was able to make a reservation (which are recommended for groups on weekends according to the Café Monet web site) via email, which was awesome. I really appreciate small business that check and respond to email regularly. When our party size grew from six to eight, they again quickly acknowledged and accommodated our reservation email request.
Once there, we had a ton of pre-​made pottery pieces to choose from. People in our group chose bowls, plates and platters, elephants, piggy banks and an xmas ornament (which was on sale). We were given a tour of the small self-​serve «paint bar» and some basic tips on technique and the available tools. Then we were let loose.
A couple others in our party chose to do mosaics. Wooden pieces were pre-​cut, and they got to choose how to arrange the shiny (plastic?) pieces. They glued the pieces in store and were given a packet of grout mix to use to complete their masterpieces at home.
I have to admit that I had a good amount of fun. I thought it was going to be pretty corny, but it was much less so than I’d expected. A little background: I was lucky enough to go to a high school with amazing art classes despite a focus on advanced AP sorts of classes. Among other things, we got to dye silk, print using etched metal plates, carve stone… and use pottery wheels, glaze pieces and use several kilns. I was spoiled by the amazing resources at our disposal. And almost a decade out, I still miss it. So even a little taste of that, with mass produced unfinished clay pieces, was a nice change of pace.
Anyway, several of our party didn’t finish, but they were given their pieces to take home and bring back whenever to finish. If they come back on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, they get to finish for free. (There’s no studio, paint, etc costs for the first time you come in. You only pay based on the piece you chose to paint.) There’s a small ($ 5?) fee on other days.
They seem to have a few «usability» issues. (Sorry, that term is probably the web dev speaking…) You know, not having pens to fill out forms that we were given. Only having one register to ring people up when there are dozens of seats in the place. Having very small paint holding containers when two or three coats are necessary and some of the pieces can be large-​ish.
All in all, fun. I’d definitely come back.