Messhall Cafe

I have been eating at Messhall Café since I discovered them last year. They are not out to redefine your dining experience, give you free range anything, or make you overpay. The space itself is very basic, as is the food, but that’s the charm of coming here. I typically get a burger and fries, which comes in at very affordable $ 6. The staff there is very friendly, remembers regulars, and they all have a good sense of humor.
A quick aside and word of warning, it’s really easy to miss the restaurant! They’re located in a basement-​esque part of the building at 1019 Brazos Street. Just look for the flashing open sign and stairs leading down.

homemade Jalapeño Biscuit with butter, put me some of that Strawberry Jelly, definitly fresh made, so so good! Couldn’t have asked for anything better for a Friday-​Eve.

It’s basically a bodega-​meets-​office-​lunchroom. A small restaurant inside a State office building that serves mostly public employees with blue-​plate style cheap but full lunches. The food isn’t gourmet or trendy by any means, and the nice thing is that it isn’t trying to be. Think a few notches above the school cafeteria, with plenty of grill options and convenience store snacks available to purchase.

Awesome place and the staff are super friendly. I’ve been coming here for about 7 months and the food is great and they have even better prices:-) Nothing fancy about the décor however the food makes up for it all.

Real down-​home country cooking. Easy to eat. Reasonable prices. But don’t expect anything fancy.

Interesting.
Took me back to high school, cafeteria style. Small, rectangle room with a dingy appearance. Well stocked with junk food! I guess that’s a perk if you can eat like a teenager.
The food is for sure frozen, but affordable, as you would expect. The people behind the sneeze guard aren’t friendly and barely acknowledge they are serving food to actual humans on the other side.
I imagine this is what prison smells like at lunch time. Harsh, maybe, but there is a lot of improvement that could be had here.

This is what you want from a hole in the wall place. No frills, cheap comfort food. I’m a fan and I’ll be going back.

Affordable but Skip the enchiladas for sure on Wednesdays and get a large taco salad instead. The taco meat is great and its more like a big nacho plate instead of a salad and overall one of the top items at this hidden eatery for govt workers. The Salisbury steak was good as a special and is a repeat. The sausage on bbq day is very good. Got the burger and fries today and was really disappointed but others seem to be satisfied so it seems to be a hit or miss item. Best deal here is the chicken finger basket at 4.99 and comes w fries, toast and gravy although gravy is mix with boiling water type and not quite that good especially if it has too much water. It’s run by very nice characters and worth a look or two or three before you kind of find a niche of items you can depend on and save money as well.

I am on a quest to find inexpensive places to eat breakfast and lunch near work. This place is a win!
This is a cafeteria style place locate in the bottom of a state building. This is a business run by an individual who is blind started via the Business Enterprises of Texas Program.
They server sausage biscuits, tacos, and other breakfast options. For lunch they typically offer a special and also have recurring options such as chicken tenders.
Nothing fancy. Nothing Funny. Downtown food that saves my money.

Taco salad on Wednesdays are always good just wish that they would give me more chips! Lol! Nice cafeteria style comfort food are available everyday at this place with a decent price for lunch!

A sight for sore eyes to be sure. Especially when you work downtown, it’s hard to find an affordable place for lunch that tastes good, but man Messhall delivers.
They have one daily special that ranges from fried chicken to meatloaf to fish with some veggie sides. Even if that’s not your thing they have burgers, chicken tenders and fries, etc for very very good prices. A little greasy but can’t complain especially with the full belly afterwards.
Best hidden gem in downtown: D

We were visiting from NY and went to this location based on reviews. Dinerish eating area, but Very quaint. Felt lie we were back home. Good food and pleasant people. Fits in any budget.

The Messhall has reopened. Glad to see them serving great comfort food again.

It was voted by the Austin Chronicle 2010 Best Lunch Refuge for the Downtown Masses. It’s true because you can’t find the place since it is in the basement. Don’t need to worry though. You can access it from the outside. Where is this located? In case you miss it, you go down north of Lavaca Street and when you hit the end of the road, it is on your right. There’s a neon sign says Open and the address itself is the Office of the Secretary of State.
It is small but there are tables outside and a couple of tables inside. It is open only from 7am — 2pm. But the cooking is so good. The people are very nice. Now if you are on a diet this place is not for you. It’s comfort food. I recommend calling in advance so you don’t have to wait a long line. I would say this place is the best kept secret. Well that is until I blew I secret wide open. But seriously try it out. Your wallet won’t hurt you.

Just when you thought things were as good as they could get, in comes new management! The name is still the same, but «the times they are a changing.» Management did what great management does; they kept the best of what was going on, brought back the best that had slipped away and brought in some of the best, hand-​picked by him! Come by and meet Mark and his crew. Service is, better than ever before, provided with efficiency, quality and certainly a smile. New items are being added, oldies are being improved upon with higher quality ingredients (try those onion rings) and feedback is always welcome because they let their customers know that they are in it for the customer satisfaction. Call ahead get your order in, they will have it in the warmer for you. The last thing you want is for them to run out of that thing on the menu that made your mouth water!
512.322.9625

Great homestyle, southern food at a very affordable price. They update their menu each week online with their daily specials. I’ve gone here for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast, you can order up your own huge, personalized omelet or pick from their cafeteria style breakfast. For lunch, the catfish and the wings are some favorites in our office which are usually served on Fridays. If you’re looking for some good homecooking downtown, definitely come here!

This joint is a real hidden gem and literally a hole in the wall. The address given is actually the Office of the Secretary of State! Messhall Café is located on the underground level, and all you can see from the street level is a small red «Open» sign.
If you do make your way around, this may be the biggest steal of a meal in all of downtown. Yes, parking around the Capitol area is extremely annoying, and all that construction does nothing to help, but find your way over to MC and you will be rewarded with free (almost free) stick-​to-​your-​ribs grub. Most people get take out, but there is a nice 20 person communal table smack dab in the middle of the joint.
Breakfast food may be my least favorite, though breakfast – eating in the morning – is certainly my favorite time to eat a meal. Moreover, the offerings here are simple and straightforward. You just really cannot complain about a $ 2 quality breakfast, though.
Heck, I saw some ridiculous orders. One woman had a single fried egg in a small to go box. One guy was carrying his 2 breakfast tacos and 2 strips of bacon outside of the wrapped up goodies! Another got a 5-​item breakfast taco. Clearly, you go downtown to go to town (on their grub).
I went for some items that can turn out badly without a touch of finesse in the heated kitchen. Some woman in the back was even preparing some sort of dough dish by hand with butter being spread in between the layers. My personalized breakfast of champions: 1 biscuit smothered in cream gravy, refried beans, and hash browns. The damage? $ 2.53. Boom.
The super tender biscuit was moist, and the cream gravy was so smooth; not the least bit lumpy! The refried beans were very savory and slightly chunky. I will admit that the hash browns were mediocre. They were cubed potatoes, but they were not crisp or super tender. They fell into that odd «stale-​fast food» sort of texture. Oh well, all is well with a $.80 order of tubers.
As you can tell, I really enjoy cheap, filling food. If lunch time around the Capitol was not super hectic and I could make my way around that area, you can guarantee that I will write another review over their «ever-​changing menu.» Yes, «ever-​changing» sounds classy, but it really does. Today’s lunch item is meatloaf with collards and black-​eyed peas. Darn you, inconvenient geographic location. For now, breakfast has left a good taste in my mouth and a load in my stomach.

I like the prices, but if you decide to get something extra off of the menu… like say, extra bacon, it will have a crazy high price. The food isn’t top of the line, but a lot of it is good. Get there early to get hot food and get in and out. Lines start up early.

Um… best Biscuits I have EVER had. I think they are 50 cents too. This place is the bomb digidty bomb! There food is awesome and most C-​H-​E-​A-​P without tasting so. You can literally buy breakfast for 5 people for $ 10.00 if that. They have daily specials too like catfish on Friday and. It’s cafeteria style so don’t expect table cloth service or anything but you will get great food from great people. It’s in the Basement of the Secretary of State Building downtown and they are only open Mon — Fri (7a.m. to 1:30) for breakfast and lunch so get walkin’ brother before all those homemade biscuits are GONE!

If you are looking for a whole in the wall café where you can get great food, good service and get in and out quick then stop by and check out my friends here.
The cook there makes great enchiladas on Wednesdays, I just kept eating even after I was full… yummmm
They are open for breakfast and lunch, go check them out.