Foreign & Domestic

Quick summary: well executed, intimate, good service. But overpriced. I’m not a value driven eater nor do I like large potions. However my $ 24 fish dinner which was ~2−3 oz redfish (cooked nicely) with a sliver of onion and half a rutabaga left me quite dissatisfied. I feel there’s so many other places that will deliver more for the money with the same attention to detail and quality and service. Everything tasted fine and the bottle of wine was not too overpriced but I feel it’s just a tad too marked up for what you get. Our table was also awkwardly in the middle of the restaurant right in front of the main entrance door. The dessert we shared (hazelnut coffee cake) was tasty but very dry. I don’t think we’ll be back but glad I went.

My boyfriend and I dined here this past Saturday and we can’t wait to go back!
I highly recommend the Pig Ear & Brussels Sprout appetizer to start. I had the Texas Redfish as my entrée and my boyfriend had the New York strip, both were so good! The presentation of the food and the ingredients used were so tasty!!! The quality of the food is so amazing and the service was fantastic!
I highly recommend people making reservations because we did not and decided to take our chances. It was a 45 minute wait for two people which was fine because there’s a cute little bar within walking distance called, Drink Well, that was nice for a cocktail while we waited for them to text us. All in all great food, atmosphere and price!

This was our third time to F&D in the last three years. Each time we’ve brought different friends and have all enjoyed it. Tonight was a little different.
Food was great, however selections went down down from last time we were here. That made it a challenge for our friends to find something they liked. The beef tongue, Kobe burger and chicken options of the past were gone.
Negatives for this visit — popovers were over cooked, almost burnt. Biscuit for meal was hard and over baked. Almost like the bakery portion has gone down since our last visit. Beer selection was down to one Oregon option. What happened to the Austin Beer work selection of the past? That’s where I tried my first black thunder.
Positives — Fish and desserts were amazing. Coffee great as well as our waiter who was very attentive.
Our friends didn’t like the visit and we hope to convince them to return with us in the near future. As one of our favorite restaurants in Austin where we take our closest friends, would like the menu selection and baked goods to return to their splendor days.

Why only one beer on the menu and it’s not even local?
Austin has so many incredible local beers to choose from — don’t understand the reasoning.

Finally got to revisit F&D since our first encounter 2 years ago. This time, I didn’t have my daughter, but my wife was in tow along with some of her work colleagues. This proved to work out great because we ate family style and got to try a little bit of everything. It was fun because we had people who had more conservative eating habits, but they enjoyed the pig ears, snails and quail. Best of all, some people had never had shaved black truffles, only crappy truffle oil. The cacio e pepe was easily the favorite dish of the night at the table.
Our service was perfect like the first time. The server was attentive, but we wanted a casual pace to our food coming out of the kitchen. The prices here are reasonable for what you get and they have a nice wine list with some unique varietals.
I really find it hard to understand the reviews less than 4 stars. Unless you had really crappy service or a bug on your plate, F&D is pumping out good stuff. This place can hold its own against Blue Hill Farms in NY, North Pond in Chicago and Beast or Le Pigeon in Portland.

Great food. Listen to suggestions of the wait-​staff. Had the redfish — very flaky and tender. Served very well. All Delish! Also tried the baby carrots and squash. Wonderful flavors — a bit sweet, a bit tangy, crème fraîche — oh my! Yes please!
But the best part — as a diner of one… the host seated me with my back to the wall! Fantastic! And you get to see the chef/​sous chef work — great entertainment!!!

The food was tasty, but the atmosphere was a little weird, and the food a little overpriced.
I would honestly not come back, largely because there a many alternative restaurants at this price point with better atmospheres and comparable (or better) food.

We discovered Foreign & Domestic via
. They rated F&D as Austin’s second best restaurant on their list of 25 essential restaurants. And they did not disappoint.
We showed up on Monday which is fried chicken night. We have a gluten free restriction in our diets but the waitress immediately offered to substitute gf alternatives.
In addition to the friendly and über accommodating service, the actual food was terrific. We loved the oysters, which were only a $ 1 a piece. And the recommended wine, a sparkling rosé, was fantastic. We also had a number of entrees and sides a la carte, which we loved.
Overall we gave this place a whole hearted five stars. Coming from New York, we are consistently amazed at the high quality of food we can get in Austin for about ¹⁄₃^rd of the price we are accustomed to paying in New York. Highly recommend Foreign & Domestic for any night of the week!

Bad food and possibly the worst service I have ever experienced in a long time. The food is overly seasoned and the ingredients and flavors almost fight with one another, the service was poor and discourtenous. I found the hostess, waitstaff, bar staff and cooks to be dismissive and too interested in themselves rather than their clients I mention the cooks as I sat at a cramped chair at the bar and they cooked in front of me. The evening was all about them.
The noise level too was unacceptable. I couldn’t think let alone talk and had to nearly shout any question I had for them, which was with blank stares, dismissive glances and eye rolls. I am not kidding, this is what things have come to in this sad little town. We really need to train service industry personnel and remind them that hospitality is a big part of their work.
I left most of the murky broth thing with under cooked black eyed beans and rubbery fatty piece of meat, furthermore the popover thing that they said I «had to try» was too salty and bitter, I paid and left. This was over a year ago. I was going to just not say anything, but an unpleasant experience this morning with yet another «hipster» reminded me of this unwelcoming, snobby neighborhood joint. I really wanted to like this place as it is close to home and we don’t have many decent eateries in the Hyde Park area.
My advice to them would be the following:
1. Be nice to your customers
2. Simplify your food, you don’t need to have everything and the kitchen sink on each plate.
Be careful with your seasoning.
3. Try to make sure that everyone on the team wants and does their best for your clients to
have a pleasant experience. Greet them, smile, speak calmly and clearly to them. When finished wish them a good evening and ask them to come back.
You may think you are being «urban» and «edgy» really my perception was that you were simply rude.
Austin continues to underwhelm and disappoint from a culinary stand point. Never again.

F&D was ok. And when something is ok, I don’t really want to pay as much as they are asking. The popovers were over cooked, as other reviewers have noted. How can something you’re known for doing be allowed to come out burnt?
I had the fried chicken biscuit and husband had the beef shoulder. Both were ok, but not magical.
The highlight of the evening was the coffee ice cream with espresso powder and candied hazelnuts that came with the chocolate cake. Really delicious. Side note: the chocolate cake was (you guessed it) just ok.

We’ve been to Qui, Odd Duck, and Lenoir multiple times, but we had never been here until recently. Call it complacency: call it the hot trend tour — we just never made it out here until recently. When we got here, I was expecting a good meal. I got an incredible meal for a great price. I had the chicken fried sandwich and my husband got the shoulder. We both shared the popovers with the Burrata & Melon appetizer. The appetizer was fantastic; it had spice, fat, and salt (Mmm!).
The chicken in the chicken biscuit was moist and the coating was extremely flavor-​able. The biscuit itself was huge, but fluffy.
The décor of the restaurant was fantastic and the service was also exceptional. It loses a star because the cocktail selection was not great.

Foreign and domestic was a misnomer.
Id rename it — Lame and Overpriced.
The random building with minimal décor has a reputation for being foodie forward and of being one of the better restaurants in Austin.
This is why my buddy and I, who share the same birthday, chose it for our birthday dinner.
The menu looked small uncreative and unappealing. The appetizer choices consisted of a burrata, some salads, cold corn soup and a few other non interesting sounding things. The 8 entrees were around $ 25 each and to dismay did not feature proteins, as I had assumed. The vegetarian offerings, gnocchi and risotto, seemed as unprovocative as the proteins of quail, sea bass and boar.
I even promptly suggested we just get appetizers and drink the bottle of wine we ordered and go elsewhere.
My birthday bro is kind. «I’m always up for trying new things.»
Popovers $ 9 were somewhat overcooked and came 2 to an order. I’ve made myself at home and had better at cafes for half the price. «Pig ears», $ 11, another misnomer, were really a pigs ear, that came with about 8 succulent small strips accompanied with what tasting like sriracha sauce and came with ordinary sweet sandwich pickles.
The garnishes and sauces were bland and plentiful. The entrees had the same unseasoned amateurish quality to them. My friends quail, $ 24 was larger in portion than my braised boar, $ 29, which was inedibly dry and about 3 – 4 ounces after being cooked.
The boar came with diced cold tomatoes, a little warm sweet Apple onion compote
and other random kitchen cupboard ingredients, which had the failed finesse of an aspiring amateur diner cook who had never been to culinary school.
The quail was meatier and tasted okay but oddly came not whole but in three pieces which felt more of a mistake than creative.
It was laughable, outrageous and ridiculous.
After a special discount of 25% off the wine our meal was $ 120. I paid for everything, chiefly because I was embarrassed I took my friend here.
No we didn’t want dessert.
On the credit card receipt I wrote
«we were very disappointed in the food.»
After I handed her the copy, she, knowingly, didn’t say a word.
Food — 1 star
Value — 0
This hipster diner might aspire to have culinary intentions, but instead produces what I can only describe as a frustrating rip off.
Note
An email request for a full refund had
unsurprisingly no response as of 12÷14÷15.

I was excited about this place after seeing it on Diners, Drive-​Ins and Dives. We came a little close to closing time; about 45 minutes until they closed, so I wasn’t sure how much that influenced the experience. Our waiter took forever to refill our water and bring us our check. You’d think they’d want us to get out of there if they are closing, but the waiter took his time chatting up his colleagues while we sat and waited and waited.
The food was not as good as I had expected. The popovers were one of the main dishes that Guy raved about on the show, but ours were overdone. Much of it was too crunchy and had that burnt taste. Our table ordered the chicken and biscuits: we were worried the chicken was underdone, and the biscuit was also over cooked (almost burnt). We also got the corn and mushroom risotto which was alright except they drowned it in parsley which took over the flavor. The boar shoulder was the only dish I might order again but I wouldn’t rave about it.
Overall, the service played a big part in my disappointment, but the food didn’t bring up their rating much. I would not recommend this place — there are lots of other cool food options in Austin to try.

From the moment we arrived we were well taken care of. The hostess sat us at our reserved table immediately and our waiter was by to see us only moments later. As it was our first visit, he explained the menu to us and made several suggestions.
Our food came out quickly and everyone at the table enjoyed the unique combination of flavor and texture the food offered.
We of course tried the «famous» black pepper popovers, as seen in the Diners, Drive Ins & Dives TV Show. They were good, but they looked much better fresh out of the oven. Because they take so long to make it seems they have a stock of them and reheat them when you order them. Not terrible, but I had hoped for something… better.
I can’t say I’ll be back but if someone said they wanted to go, I wouldn’t protest either. I definitely suggest trying this place once. You may or may not fall in love, but I think you’ll be pleased with whatever you order.
Our party left full and happy.

Saw this restaurant on the show triple D’s. They featured the popovers which made them look super delicious. So when I was in town, I wanted to try them.
The place was a little hard to find and we passed the restaurant twice because the area was dark. Once inside we got seated immediately. We felt a Little underdressed since we had gone just came back from hiking and seeing the sunset. The place was really small and intimate. The place looked like a really nice version of a diner.
We only came here to try the popovers because we heard and saw that it was really delicious. While waiting for the waiter we happen to look over the menu, They had an interesting menu a little over priced for my taste.
The waiter was a little rude to us maybe because we were underdressed on a saturday night or maybe because all we ordered was the popovers and water. He actually took our order and never came back. Someone else brought the popovers and we had to ask another person to bring our check. At first I thought the waiter had left for the day, but no he was still there serving and helping the table in front of us. I’m not really sure why he never came back.
When the popovers came I really didn’t know what to expect, on tv they looked different. What we got was two huge oversized muffin looking burned bread. The outside was a little burned, the inside was over cooked and a little hard to eat. I really wanted to ask for a side of butter or jam to make it atleast taste better, but once again the waiter never came. I have never had bread like this. It was not worth my drive or the money I spent (9) for two burned popovers.
Sometimes tv hypes things up more than they should.

The restaurant is 2 $‘s but the bill can definitely add up! The restaurant is small and dim. A fitting location for a date! Our waiter (Erin) was very attentive and nice! Great service! My girlfriend and I started the dinner off with their famous popover. They were definitely bigger than I thought. Unfortunately the outside of the bread was burnt and the inside was undercooked. It was mushy and a little cold. We informed Erin and she was able to get us a new one!
My girlfriend ordered their quail (24 $) and I ordered the whole branzino (32 $). The quail was delicious! Great flavor in each bite and it was cooked very well. I’m not a fan of raw veggies but it adds a crunch to each bite. The branzino presentation was gorgeous! The pickled peppers were good. The fish skin was too salty for me but the meat was very tinder and delicious.
Overall the food was good, the service was great, and we will be back to try the different seasonal menus!

4.5 stars, need to try regular menu items. 5 stars for the oysters. Mainly came for the oysters:) Came for the Monday menu, amazing east coast oysters for only a buck. $ 18 for fried chicken and a ton of sides was definitely worth it. Fried chicken was cooked to perfection, but was under seasoned. Biscuit was heaven. Pesto potato was great, and I could careless about the rest of the veggies, but my friend really enjoyed them. Must go on Mondays! Also place is small and limited seats so reserve online

The food was delicious and beautifully presented. The service was very nice. When i didnt know what a certain drink was she offered me a new drink if I didnt like the one I tried. the drink was delicious but it was kind that she offered. The interior of the place is nicely designed, even if the exterior is a bit on the plain side. Portions were healthy, the price was a bit on the high side.

Just had dinner at F&D and it was fabulous. First of all apparently you can now make reservations which is awesome. That was new and made life easier. We usually get there at opening to beat the wait anyways but at least with reservations we could have come later.
Service was really great tonight. Our waiter John was really nice and helpful. It isn’t our first time there but things had changed on the menu so he highlighted that for us.
We ordered the popovers, an FD standard. As usual, great. A little light burn on them but still fantastic. We also had the braised boar and the chicken biscuit. Super tasty. The boat was delicious and my wife commented on how amazing it was that they turned a tomatoe so sweet in the relish. My chicken and biscuits was great. The gravy on there has a bit of heat and the fried egg on top sealed the deal. Chicken was perfectly cooked too. Ended with the pound cake dessert which was divine. Really amazing. There was a balsamic jelly in there that was crazy good and tied the whole thing together.
We love this place. It’s a standard go to restaurant for us. Never had a disappointing meal here in 2 years. Keep it up F&D!
Only reason it isn’t a 5 star review is because my wife wanted a larger portion of boar. But take it with a grain of salt, she is eating for 3! Twins on the way!

While watching TV last night, I was surprised to see a familiar name from my bookmarks list appear on the show Triple D. Quickly I pulled up their webpage and was pleased to find that they are now open for breakfast. Like the true food nerd I am, I told my husband this was happening and set my alarm to get their bright and early first thing this morning.
We were one of the first customers and had the place almost entirely to ourselves. It’s small, but don’t let that fool you because you are in for quite a treat my friends!
You can choose to sit at a table or be brave and sit facing the kitchen. It’s open concept so you can talk with the chefs and watch as they make your meal. Like I would pass that up to sit at a boring table, please! We had so much fun and the guys behind the counter were welcoming and easy to talk to.
The main chef whose name I can’t remember (I’m kicking myself) was awesome and extremely knowledgeable. Everything here is scratch made and he was pointing out some of the ingredients and sauces and listing their contents to us and how they came up with the ideas. On the tv show they showcase their gruyère and black pepper popovers, and a fried chicken biscuit sandwich with red eye gravy. He said they get a notice when the show airs to make extra of those since people will usually come and ask for them shortly after. He said he loves both of those items but wish people would come in anyway to try other things as well. Their menu is ever changing and always delicious so take a chance, because you just might find something even better!
Always a walking cliché, I of course had to try a popover. Don’t judge, I only spent the better part of last night drooling over them. They were everything I thought they would be and more. Warm, cheesy, savory goodness. I also got a waffle with cinnamon butter and smoked syrup and my husband got a fried egg sandwich. He asked what the hint of sweetness was that he was picking up and the chef told us it was their homemade tomato jam. He scooped a giant spoonful of it onto a plate and told us to try it. If you don’t think you like tomatoes, I bet you would like this. It was divine!
We got to talking about the popovers and the chef told us he likes to make muffins and is working on a donut muffin recipe a lot like a cronut. My husband asked what the muffin today was and he said cinnamon sugar. He heated one up and slathered on cinnamon butter and just handed it over on the house. I LOVE THIS PLACE! I could barely take another bite at that point but I tried the muffin and it was insane. The inside was the texture of a cupcake and the outside was crunchy from being rolled in the cinnamon sugar. I’m in love.
We simply cannot wait to come back here and have since been spreading the word about how great it is. Please, please come give them your business! They so deserve it and you will leave overly happy that you did. 10 stars!!!