èpicerie cafe & grocery

We enjoy breakfast/​brunch here about 3 times a month as it is right by our house. We are from Louisiana and miss beignets! The ones here come very close to Café du Monde and really inexpensive. I love the quaint restaurant setting and when the weather is nice, sit outside!

They brought the tri tip steak dish back and it’s even better! Yeaaaaaay!

My husband had a job interview in Austin today and we decided to look for a nice place to go afterwards. I found this place recommended on a website and so we went. We ate the French onion soup, fried green tomatoes, and salmon toast. With tip, these three cost $ 40. All three were perfect in taste and presentation. The actual piece of toast was like nothing I have ever tasted. It had all the comforting notes of a buttery and flakey croissant. The environment was dainty, fresh, and inviting. If I have the chance I will return. If I were a local I would go regularly, but the prices are a bit high.

I love the look of this place and the concept is nice, but I’ve been twice now and something is just off. We ordered a cheese plate and a charcuterie plate and it wasn’t fresh. The cheese and the meat tasted like they had been in the fridge too long. And they didn’t serve it with the accompaniments stated in the menu. They accommodated after we pointed it out. I’m sure it’s hard to keep that type of food if not many people order it. But they need to buy smaller quantities or take it off the menu. The other items seem like a nice try in the menu descriptions but they miss the mark. Small quantity and not as elevated as they make it sound. Disappointing and expensive for stale and uninspired food. They need to step up their game.

I find myself wanting to love this place but I just can’t get there. The food is fine, and actually in most cases it is very good.
It is the environment and service that make the experience less enjoyable.
The outside patio has tremendous potential, but with a lack of any sort of greenery, dirty tables, no candles… it just sort of lacks charm.
The service is also kind of ho hum. Dirty menus, had to find the one wine menu, dirty glassware. The servers are all very nice, but not very organized. You find yourself staring at a server hoping and praying they will stop by to help. I had to ask for salt 3 times. It interrupts that time you are spending with your dining partner.
The prices seem to skew a little high as well for the offerings, atmosphere and service level.
Overall the combined experience is a little disappointing. There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL though.
Go there. You might not feel the same way that I do. I would love for this to make it because the neighborhood could desperately use a couple of good spots.

This is a nice and a great place to get brunch, lunch and everything… I definitely going to comeback.

Went today for the second time to Epicerie! Lattes are delicious, beignets are the best in town, mugs and plates are Instagram-​worthy. But today I was not pleased with the service. We felt the feeling of being cheap and rushed from the waitstaff because we had beignets and no other food. Ended up leaving cash at the table because we felt like we were intruding just waiting for the credit card to be picked up to pay our bill. Not pleased, hopefully it was just a bad day. Will try again.

Super tasty food, the terrace is excellent for having a brunch with friends with a couple of mimosas. The brunch menu is kind of gourmet, the price/​quality is good.

Chicken Terrine. A friend of a friend told me about it, that it was better than her mom’s. I had to return to try this. Epicure is somewhere you come and just feel happy about. I love the clean feel. Always have a good impression at this place. Delicious chicken terrine, flavor bursts in all corners of the bowl. Give it a try. Wasn’t too crowded on a weekday lunch.

Staff super nice. Location and atmosphere are very nice. Grocery store inside was nice, good cheese/​beer selection, a jar of what I think was jelly was $ 19, which seems a little insane. Maybe it was something else, but I don’t think so.
Boudin was good and different from what I’ve had here and in LA.
Friend green tomatoes were dripping grease. Flavor was good but just so much grease, a couple small pools of it on the serving tray. Batter was like overly-​greasy tempura.
Burger had a good flavor, also a little greasy, but not too bad. Too small and nothing special for $ 13. For that price it needs to knock my socks off, be some special concoction or at the least come with the bacon that they ask $ 2 for (I think it was 2). Did come with fries, thank goodness. I asked for it rare and it was at least medium: (
Skinny fries were ok but pretty greasy.

Best burger I’ve ever had, better than HopDoddy. And my man actually agreed and he’s a diehard HD fan. Love the atmosphere and the patio, we can’t wait to visit again!

My wife and like this place– but often there are little hiccups is execution that give us second thoughts.
We always have to get, or rather, I have to get the beignets. Never fails delicious!
The coffee is some gourmet pour over stuff that is perhaps at the moment too sophisticated for my dumb palate. But I don’t doubt that it is high quality and for the right customer would be perfect. Give me my toasty American breakfast brew any time.
Today for brunch we ordered the eggs Benedict and the croque madame. The benny was good, ever so slightly over cooked egg yolks were not an issue for me. The sausage was sort of lost– not very punchy in flavor, the biscuit under it all was good. For me the hollandaise was well seasoned but too runny, I prefer a fluffier rendition. Balloon whisk!
The croque Madame was tasty. To be critical we thought that again, the mornay sauce was a bit thin, and the brioche too dry, with a crunchy crust. The fries were soggy i.e. greasy, stuck together in clumps, and about half of them were small broken pieces. I know house-​made fries are difficult as potatoes can change throughout the year, but these were sub par.
All that sounds a little critical of a place that I have been to more than a few times, would return to again, and would recommend to friends and family. Definitely worth a try!

We can to Austin for the weekend with friends and it was my task to find eclectic places to go! I’m super happy I chose here for brunch! We came and we got two orders of the Beighnets and some coffees! For the main brunch course we got Eggs Benedict! Which was delish! I would definitely recommend coming here with your special someone of your girlfriends it’s really beautiful inside!

Yayo, yayo
Moo-​la-​lah
Yayo
B!tch better have my beignets!
Y’all should know me well enough

I literally come here for the beignets! $ 5 all day for orders of 3. SO GOOD. Friendly staff and a cute spot for brunch with a friend.

I’ve had both good and bad experiences here.
I’ve been here 3x for Sunday brunch. ²⁄₃ of the visits went fine– the food was delicious, and the service was good, although the portions of the shrimps and grits varied a lot between the 2 visits.
On my third visit, I had a terrible experience with the service. I came with a group of 7 and was told 25 – 30 mins. It took 50 mins which could have been understandable except there were open tables next to each other that could have pushed together to accommodate us. The hostesses never updated us on the wait or apologized or even checked on us! She was also rude when we tried to check in or ask about pushing tables together.
Since the bad service wasn’t on my first visit, I’ll probably be back (although I can’t say the same for the others in my group).

We came here after reading an e-​mail from Austin Monthly that stated they had really good beignets. We’ve joked for years about ordering everything on their menu, but tonight we did exactly that. All of their desserts sounded awesome so we ordered one of each. First of all, the beignets were the best we have ever had. The texture was perfect and every bite was an orgasm in my mouth. The short bread was buttery and delicious, and was my second favorite dessert of the evening. The salted chocolate chip cookie was fabulous! I like my cookies tall and dense, and this place delivered! The cookie was chock full of good quality chocolate, and the hint of salt was a wonderful addition. The duck egg crème brûlée was so incredibly creamy and rich! It was truly one of the best we have ever had. The espresso chocolate mousse was good, but the coffee flavor was a little too strong for me and overpowered the chocolate.
Service was quick and friendly, and we loved the atmosphere. We definitely plan on returning to try their regular menu. And we want more of those awesome beignets!

Must try the Madame sandwich ! Superb! Full of flavor and comes with a side of fries. Also, order the hibiscus mint tea.
The only things that I will complain about, is our waitress not being very attentive.

4 stars for the atmosphere and interior
3 stars for the food
Epicerie is my go to place when a girlfriend comes into town. In my opinion, the food isn’t worth the price but I love the design of this place.
Get the beignets! My friends and i tried epicerie’s beignets a month after we tried the ones at Café du Monde and we were very impressed.
The fries are amazing and I also loved the chicken terrine.
Overall, it’s a very nice place. I just don’t think it’s worth the price.

Love this spot! Came here for Sunday brunch and got in with no wait. The inside is cozy and intimate and has a very French feel. The beignets are a must, definitely up there with café du monde. I resisted at first and then proceeded to eat them all. Both of our dishes were delicious. My salmon toast dish was a beautiful arrangement, perfect combination of flavors and the portion size was just right. New favorite! The croque Madame was also tasty, classic French dish. Took some salted chocolate chip cookies to go and they were to die for. Overall a great experience– we will definitely be back again!

Have their mussels and raclette! They have wonderful wine options and a nice patio! Oh! And they are dog friendly!

Seating is limited and we had to wait under 10 mins for our table. It took over 5 for our drink order to be taken.
Yes, the beignets are that good. I would have eaten ALL three had I not had to share with the other ladies I was with! I had the cheeseburger with bacon. The cheese really made the burger and it was cooked perfectly. Fries were warm at best.
I took the salted chocolate chip cookies and shortbread home with me. You won’t be disappointed!

I feel compelled to write this because of the current star rating! This place is the CUTEST little spot for brunch in North Loop! I got the shrimp and grits and hubby got the croque madame. Both were delish! I can’t express how much I love this place! Why is there only 3.5 stars… Well, you see people complain about the prices (which are reasonable), the fact that they had no place to put their shrimp tails, and that there aren’t real European groceries? Are you kidding me? Give this place a shot! Its quant and amazing! It reminds me of Josephine house (another fav) but a little more low key. I LOVE IT and will be returning for dinner very soon!

It’s so cute. I come here for the beignets because I can’t get enough powdered sugar in my diet. Soft, fluffy, with a gentle crisp on the outer skin. It’s reminiscent of a doughnut, and it tries hard to be the the NOLA kind, but I like the faint distinction that Epicerie’s beignet is like the shop itself– classy, unassuming, and a great place to share a simple delight, in a nice airy atmosphere. Servers range from attentive to moderately attentive. Have had nothing but beignets here, but I heard the cookies were good.

Big disappointment. Where exactly are the European groceries? You shouldn’t call yourself an epicerie if you are not a French/​Euro grocery store. I looked for them, they are mostly non-​existent. The much-​hyped salted choc chip cookie was no better than a grocery store cookie and not fresh.
Not sure what the big deal is about this place.

I truly hate to give a review less than 3 stars. I feel this is fair. The mixed reviews for Epicerie exist for a reason. Not a single thing we ordered was worth the price we paid in both dollars and time. We were sat right away, ordered quickly, and proceeded to wait 55 minutes for the first item to come out— a cold dish of salmon tartar. Yes, the salmon tartar came with fried yucca chips, however, they were cold as can be… so, the wait for a 95% cold dish was not due to frying the yucca chips. Diners who arrived and ordered after us received their food and paid before we had received our entrees. For a full breakdown of service, food, and beverage, read on below:
The Service: Poor. The staff were in no way rude, but were in no way approachable, welcoming, or personable. It wasn’t until our food was clearly very, very delayed that our waitress seemed at all positive toward us. If we were gruff, standoffish, and demanding, I could understand the staff responding to us in the way they did (hostess, waitress). However, we’re quite the opposite. It was strange. I wonder if Epicerie falls short in caring for their staff… maybe that could explain the strange service experience.
The Food: Underwhelming and sloppily made. We ordered one of the daily specials as an appetizer, the salmon tartar. For our entrees we ordered the shaved beef sandwich ($ 16) and the gnocchi ($ 15). The shaved beef sandwich had been cut in half, each of us receiving a half. The people of Epicierie are not sandwich artists— my partner had a representative sample of what the sandwich was to be including arugula, horseradish sauce, and shaved beef on a cibatta. My side, well, it managed to have a wee bit of shaved beef and no horseradish sauce The sandwich is intended to come with a side of onion rings. They are the thin, stringy kind of onion rings that really lend themselves to being a topping (not a standalone), so I added it to my poorly made sandwich half which improved it. Clearly, the sandwich maker threw it together haphazardly, thought they were helping us out by cutting it in half, but neglected to check the orientation of the cut because only half the sandwich had the full ingredients and I got the short end of the stick. Gnocchi is always great. This stuff was fine, salt really improved it and I don’t feel like salt is a sign of a poor dish (we all like different levels of salt). It was just a fine dish. Best thing we ate there, but it wasn’t worth coming for or returning for. Just a small plate of gnocchi that had been crisped up (maybe pan fried) and included cauliflower, wild mushrooms, and chervi. Basil shouldn’t be listed as an ingredient on the menu. There were two piece of basil that may have once been one entire basil leaf. Could have brought my own from the garden had I known Epicerie was too short to incorporate it into dishes that require it.
The Booze: Decent selection, awful glasses. Thankfully, we had a nice bottle of wine to keep us company while we waited obscenely long for our food. Unfortunately, the stuff tasted like alcohol— yes, wine is an alcoholic beverage, but it didn’t taste like the rich, bold wine we purchased. Epicerie clearly isn’t owned or managed by someone who loves and appreciates wine. Epicerie doesn’t use wine glasses— they use thick rimmed juice glasses (short glass, small diameter, thick rim). While it used to be an opinion that wine taste is optimized by the glass it’s in, recent research has made that a fact. The flavors of what we drink and eat are a combination of taste and smell. With wine, the shape of the glass, in part, determines how much ethanol you smell when taking a drink. If you’re smelling ethanol, your not getting optimal flavor from the wine. The glasses here absolutely contribute to a stronger ethanol smell than if we had been drinking from, oh, you know… a wine glass.
I hear the brunch here is good. I feel like a dummy having an inkling of desire to return and give Epicerie another try. Maybe they’re a brunch place. I so rarely have the opportunity to sit at a real restaurant and enjoy some new chef crafted food. It stunk for my dinner-​out night to have been spent with poor service, a looooonng wait for food, and poor food.

Vegetarian?
Well, they’re accommodating
at the very least.
3.5 star brunch:
Good enough to return — but
perhaps for dinner?

Epicerie Café & Grocery is a fantastic choice for your next Saturday or Sunday brunch with friends or family. The food, juices, and beers are all fresh, local, and most important tasty. They also have a cute little grocery to add to the mix so you can take home your favorite gourmet products.
Tip: Get the beignets for your table and you will make everyones morning. Additionally, do a little shopping after your meal.

Aside from the visual appearance of the cute and quaint atmosphere, the food is fabulous. The menu is fairly small, but unlike any menu I have seen, but that is what makes this place awesome.
I ordered the bouillabaisse, which was equally as good as it is hard to pronounce. One word I would use the describe it is: flavorful. If you like seafood, I highly recommend. Aside from great food they have a wide variety of wine and cheese, which is their special on Tuesday. A great experience indeed and will definitely be paying another visit.

Visually, this is still one of my favorite spots in town. The deep blue façade, the neatly trimmed vines, the huge picture windows. It’s a gorgeous restaurant. But what started as a casual spot, where you could casually peruse the shelves, order something at the counter, and lazily sit and snack, as slowly becomes something more… strained.
The waiter service for a menu that doesn’t deserve the pomp of waiters makes no sense to me. For one, the place was clearly designed for a more casual experience, as is indicated by the total lack of waiting space. Second, the food here has never been good enough to warrant the higher prices and more turgid approach. Always good, but never great.
And while I’ve had some memorable experiences with desserts — I’m looking at you cookies — I must comment on the mediocrity of the beignets. They look delicious, puffy and sugary, but they taste a bit too much like the oil they are cooked in. And textually, they aren’t quite as crisp on the outside, or light on the inside. It’s like the beignets are a metaphor for this entire place — visually stunning, but ultimately ordinary.

I really liked Êpicerie though I hadn’t planned to come here – I was actually trying to go to Sugar Addict Bakery for a beignet fix, but it was closed! So I Unilocaled the closest beignet place, and it just so happened that Êpicerie was right around the corner.
This review is based on two main things: the beignets and the coffee.
If you’re looking to learn more about their other dishes, you probably won’t find it from me – the prices for many of the dishes are on the pricier side of what I’d like to pay.
Êpicerie is literally what it says it is: a café and a grocery store. Translated, it literally means grocery store – so stacked in very aesthetically pleasing ways are chocolates, sauces, coffee, and liqueur, and at the counter is an assortment of cheese. The first time I heard of this place, I thought I would literally be sitting in a dank grocery store, but that wasn’t the case. The restaurant is a cute place with a great atmosphere and is perfect for brunch or dinner.
I don’t have much to say about the service. The waitresses were friendly – nothing more or less. My food and coffee came out pretty quickly, but I didn’t order any of the meals that would take a long time.
If you’re looking for beignets, I definitely think Êpicerie hits the spot. The beignets aren’t written on the menu, but they are printed on the coffee menu near the bar. They serve them all day for $ 5 a plate, which comes with three huge donuts drowned in powdered sugar. They were about four or five inches and pretty dense and fluffly – a really great combination. I’ve had my fair share of beignets (coming from a Vietnamese family who loves Cajun food and used to eat/​make beignets at home all the time), and I thought these were super tasty! Eat them while they’re hot because once they cool down, they lose that perfection.
For the coffee, I thought it was just simply okay. It was on the bitter side, and they only offer sugar/​sweetener as their sweetener so don’t come in expecting any syrups. I think it’s a great drink to have with the beignets, so if (when) I come back, I would order another cup.
The main lesson from that is – don’t come for just a cup of coffee!
My main con: it can get REALLY noisy. The shop is kind of small, and I guess that resonates all the sound. If you’re one who likes at least a little quiet to talk, Êpicerie isn’t it. I didn’t mind the sound too much, but it was pretty noticeable.
Anyway, I loved this place! Will definitely be back but most likely for just beignets and coffee. If you come, I really just recommend trying those two things before you attempt the rest of the menu (simply because it’s great, and I think, the cheapest on the menu).

I really liked Épicerie though I hadn’t planned to come here – I was actually trying to go to Sugar Addict Bakery for a beignet fix, but it was closed! So I Unilocaled the closest beignet place, and it just so happened that Êpicerie was right around the corner.
This review is based on two main things: the beignets and the coffee.
If you’re looking to learn more about their other dishes, you probably won’t find it from me – the prices for many of the dishes are on the pricier side of what I’d like to pay.
Épicerie is literally what it says it is: a café and a grocery store. Translated, it literally means grocery store – so stacked in very aesthetically pleasing ways are chocolates, sauces, coffee, and liqueur, and at the counter is an assortment of cheese. The first time I heard of this place, I thought I would literally be sitting in a dank grocery store, but that wasn’t the case. The restaurant is a cute place with a great atmosphere and is perfect for brunch or dinner.
I don’t have much to say about the service. The waitresses were friendly – nothing more or less. My food and coffee came out pretty quickly, but I didn’t order any of the meals that would take a long time.
If you’re looking for beignets, I definitely think Épicerie hits the spot. The beignets aren’t written on the menu, but they are printed on the coffee menu near the bar. They serve them all day for $ 5 a plate, which comes with three huge donuts drowned in powdered sugar. They were about four or five inches and pretty dense and fluffly – a really great combination. I’ve had my fair share of beignets (coming from a Vietnamese family who loves Cajun food and used to eat/​make beignets at home all the time), and I thought these were super tasty! Eat them while they’re hot because once they cool down, they lose that perfection.
For the coffee, I thought it was just simply okay. It was on the bitter side, and they only offer sugar/​sweetener as their sweetener so don’t come in expecting any syrups. I think it’s a great drink to have with the beignets, so if (when) I come back, I would order another cup.
The main lesson from that is – don’t come for just a cup of coffee!
My main con: it can get REALLY noisy. The shop is kind of small, and I guess that resonates all the sound. If you’re one who likes at least a little quiet to talk, Épicerie isn’t it. I didn’t mind the sound too much, but it was pretty noticeable.
Anyway, I loved this place! Will definitely be back but most likely for just beignets and coffee. If you come, I really just recommend trying those two things before you attempt the rest of the menu (simply because it’s great, and I think, the cheapest on the menu).