Ski Shores Cafe

Please tell the public you’re closed until February – might cut down on families taking an hour round trip with a hungry kid in the car. Looking forward to changing this review after February…

What a glorious last minute decision we made…“Let’s try Ski Shores”…it was a Friday night in October, couldn’t be nicer weather, could not be a better family friendly place on Lake Austin!!! Play scape, fire pit with s’mores, movie on a screen (Lego Movie our visit) and a sandy area for toys and toes. The staff were friendly and attentive, food was what you would expect but the location made it taste that much better. My ONLY complaint was some parents could not have cared less what their little darlings were up to… so kids were throwing rocks, and getting what I would consider «unfriendly» on the play scape. But that is to be found anywhere. We felt we found a real treasure and cannot wait to return!

This is one of those spots that totally trades on location. As you might imagine. You can pull up in your boat with your bathing suit and your pup and have some lakeside food. They’ve got TVs and arcade games and regular old bar food.
The food is hiked up about $ 2 from what it should be and the service is… well… not great. But when you’re by the water and hanging with buddies, all of that seems a little less important. It’s one of the few spots on the water to get sustenance. I had the shrimp tacos and they registered a ⁵⁄₁₀ on the proverbial food richter scale but they weren’t bad and the beer was cold.

I like stopping by here after walking the Turkey Creek trail with my pup. They have dog friendly seating next to the water, with a nice view. Staff is always friendly. :)

Good place to hang out on the water and enjoy the day. Food is decent and beer cold. Wait staff is always friendly.

I felt like I was on vacation. Beautiful views, great casual American food, and right on the lake. Too bad we didn’t come for happy hour, but after a day on the water, this is a great place to grab a casual bite or drink. Service is friendly also.
Fish tacos: generous portions of fish in the tacos, tasty, and not too saucy. A great light meal!
I recommend coming here for a nice escape. What a fun Friday in Austin’s hill country.

Location, location, location. Ski Shores is right on the water, and boaters on Lake Austin can dock amongst the milling swans and carp and grab a drink or a bite while taking a ski break. The rest of us have to drive there.
It’s a casual lakefront restaurant, emphasis on casual, so you can show up in shorts and flip flops and hang out on the covered deck. They have music nights with some good local artists playing, so check their online calendar.
The food is what we call «lake food,» which means burgers and fried stuff. They do offer local beers but as we found, they’re served in cans. Defeated the purpose for me, because usually they’re on tap. My margarita showed up in a tiny clear solo cup that the salt wasn’t sticking to. I’m not on a boat, either. No real glass?
Prices are a bit higher than you might expect, but again, considering the rent on that prime location and the fact that they don’t charge a cover for music, they’re about right.
The service is very slow and our particular server didn’t know anything about the drink menu, so maybe they have a lot of new folks working there. It’s the lake, so you can’t be in a hurry.
I’d go for the music again just to hang out and listen in a casual atmosphere next to our beautiful lake. And if you’re on a boat, hey, why not?

Awesome seafood and good drinks next to thw water. The view of the lake, the boats, millionaire houses and hills make this a hidden gem. Staff was eager to please and very attentive. Fried catfish basket was huge but I had to finish it all :-)
There are arcade machines, that air hockey puck game (cant remember the name) and a patio with swings for kids.
The tables site next ti the water where you can see (and feed) turtles, swans and fish while you hang out. You can also rent boats to take a stroll down the Lake. We will try that next time.

If I could give this place more stars I would. After reading the bad reviews I was hesitant to go here. We decided to go early because the reviews said crowded and poor service. I am not sure if we went at the perfect time but this place was amazing!
Our waitress was amazing! So friendly and attentive even though she was busy.
We went for the view and live music which did not disappoint. I did not expect much from the food and boy was I wrong. It was delicious! Our group had chips and queso, burgers and fish tacos. Everything was perfect. One of the best burgers and fries I have ever had.
Not sure if we just went at the perfect time but I will definitely be back! Thank you Ski Shores for a perfect evening.

One of my favorite places to hang! We can bring our puppy and they have a badass Vegan burger :-)

Wish I could review the food. Waited 15 minutes to meet a waiter. Ordered a drink and lunch. Waited ten minutes when I was told they were out of the beer I had selected. Finally got a beer. Never got lunch. So I left after 45 minutes.
Pros: location
Cons: service. Can’t comment on the the food
This review like do many, reviews the service. What a drag! Consider this if you go on Saturday afternoon.

Service has improved. Ski Shores is a fine place to get your greasy food fix. The deck in right on the water so you feel like you are on a barge in the water. I like to daydream about having one of those fancy houses. Fun to watch the teens and young adults have fun on their boats.
Drinks are sweet and most of the food is meh, except for the onion rings, which are perfection! FYI, the black and blue burger is not really black and blue. You can’t order a rare burger here, which completely disappointed my caveman son.

We come for: The View — The kids play area — The bar. Maybe the fish tacos. The food fried and too salty. The service is just ok. It seems like a great bar ambiance. Our toddlers love the sandbox and playground area which are great because it means we can sit and relax and watch them play.
The view feels tropical. It’s a great place to take out of town guests. The drive from the East is gorgeous as well.
I hope they change management and add better food and better service. We’ll still come here but never for date night or to take foodie friends.

Nice view. Pleasant environment. Could’ve used some ambiance music if not a live musician. Otherwise the place was clean.
The service was good but I’m pretty sure that’s because our server was also one of the business partners or co-​owners. Regardless, he did a great job. Really patient while our ladies tried to decide between the cole slaw or the potato salad then changed their minds after finding out us guys had already told him we wanted french fries. Go figure! ;-)
Beer selection from the local microbreweries was good but could definitely be expanded what with all the new ones opening up around Austin. I think he said they were working on that.
The fried catfish was good but some pieces were a bit undercooked. I liked the corn meal they used for batter. The fried shrimp had a bad smell/​taste but once we brought it to our server’s attention he immediately replaced them (we got the ⁴⁄₄ platter, 4 fish fillets, 4 fried shrimp) with a basket full of hot, freshly-​fried shrimp from a different batch. Very tasty!
The french fries tasted like they were cooked in leftover fish grease and the fried okra was hot and tasty but a little squishy for my taste. Nothing wrong with it, I just like my fried okra (and bacon) a little crispier.
Like the other reviewers on here, we had to wait over an hour to get our food. Really? The place was half empty on a Tuesday night. Did you have to catch the fish from the river before you dipped it in the fryer? Do you have a garden out back where you pick your okra by hand? C’mon, guys, get it together!
I think there’s hope for this place if the fellow who served us can train his kitchen staff to prepare the food quicker. I’ve worked in commercial kitchens before and it doesn’t take an engineering degree. If not, this place should just stick to beer and appetizers.

This place has so much potential; I wanted to love it. Amazing atmosphere, but the service. is. horrendous.
Waited an hour and a half for food before we finally told them we just wanted to leave. Our server took forever to even get orders, drinks, etc. and barely gave us a shrug (multiple times) like «don’t know what to tell ya, it’s not ready.»
When we finally expressed that we’d just like to pay for drinks and leave, we got attitude from both the server and manager. We said we’d been waiting for an hour and a half for food and the server’s response «it was actually an hour so that’s still pretty good.» By who’s standards is an hour wait for food, «pretty good»?
The manager’s response was not much better: «no one told you it was going to be a long wait?»
To give the server credit, he did tell us he understood our frustration, but he still made sure he wasn’t to blame.
They tried to get us to get the food to go (I’m sure they would’ve had us pay for it, too), but we weren’t interested.
No apologies from management, no offer to comp drinks (not that we even asked), no shits given.
From the looks of other similar reviews, seems like this place needs to give up on being a full-​service restaurant. Maybe just focus on (and improve on) serving drinks so people can enjoy the atmosphere and not wonder if they’re ever going to get fed.

Pretty decent burger, but slow slow service. Can’t beat the views though!
Good place to bring out of town friends or come here on your boat.
Dog friendly which is great!!!

Been here many times and surely love the food but charging me $ 1.58 for adding a piece of lettuce and tomato to a kid’s burger is pretty ridiculous. Seriously!!!
I have never heard of such thing at any other restaurant i have been to.

The ambience here was great, you look out over the lake which was beautiful. You sit at picnic tables. There’s a playground for the kiddos. However… The food was not good. No one was happy with what they got, and they got one girls order wrong twice. We were all done by then, so she just passed on it. The waitress was super nice and helpful, the manager was a total snit and pissed that that girl sent her order back and gave us major attitude. I had a salad. It was ok, but the tomatoes were mealy, the salad dressing was straight out of a bottle… just not appetizing. I think it’s probably better as a place to hang and have beer/​sangria (which the table enjoyed) and queso. Also, it was super expensive for the (less than) chili’s quality of food.

Look. This is a destination stop. It’s on the water. Cool vibe. It’s hot and cold depending on lake activities. Having said that… Place makes a rocking burger. Order the one in the pic. I took advantage of the add a patty for $ 2.00. Best $ 2.00 investment I’ve ever made.
Now. If your under 200 lbs stick w single patty. Ain’t for you smaller fellas. Burger was damn good. Good size. Good cheese w grilled onions mixed in. I’d suggest upgrading to the O rings. Fries looked too coated for me.
Nice still cocktail too I might add.

Fun to sit by the water and watch the turtles and boats go by. The waiter was very helpful and competent. The chef salad was average, with some slimy greens. The shrimp tacos were tasty with possibility of gluten free tortillas.