Trudy’s

I love Trudys! I don’t think I have had a dish there that I didn’t like and the Mexican martinis are the best in town!
The outside area is great, love the heat lamps but we have been sitting inside recently because we found out you get their avocado salsa for free inside, not outside for some reason which stinks cuz that stuff is delicious!
Their only downfall is the service. I have had several terrible servers there that aren’t friendly, super slow and just not pleasant, but their bartenders are always awesome! We usually end up sitting at the bar because of this.
Other wise, we always enjoy ourselves there!

Unilocal says: You’ve checked in 7 times here. What keeps you coming back? Answer: Mexican Martinis!

this was a disgusting «tex-​mex» wannabe restaurant. food was extremely bland and cold! waitstaff is extremely immature and kept making inappropriate vulgar remarks loud enough that i actually found it offensive and i don’t offend easily. you are better off going to taco cabana for «tex-​mex «! if you are hungry and in the area turn around don’t drown… get better chips and salsa from chili’s!!! i wish Unilocal would let me put a negative star but it’s forcing me to at least rate it with one and this place definitely is not worth one star!

The Mexican Martinis are a little too sweet… but a little sugar never hurt. Ahahaha! Unless you have diabeetus.

Love the back patio. Come for brunch and ask for Matthew, hes an awesome server. My sister says the mexican martini tastes like GOD. Lol

I give them 3 solid stars, since 3.5 isn’t an option. The food was great, I loved their salsa. Portions werent crazy large but we still managed to take some food home. Server was nice in a fake way, but I can deal with that. I think one thing that really rubbed me the wrong way was how dark it got in there! I’m definitely not old but my goodness, there were times when I really struggled to see what I was putting in my mouth. Trudys is NOT a sexy lounge. It’s a Tex Mex restaurant where many families come with small children. Stop confusing yourself and your patrons and turn on the damn lights. Por favor, I beg of you.

Maybe the day we went there they were out of meat cause 3 out of 4 orders had only couple bits of meat in it. Debating if we should go back or go somewhere else… Great drinks tho…

This was the first restaurant I’ve visited while here in Austin. The wait staff is friendly, the atmosphere is casual, and the food was pretty damn good. I was a huge fan of my tacos pastor but the tortillas (flour) in which they were served in were a little stale and hard to eat. Other than that, the chorizo/​pineapple spiciness was brilliant! I would’ve never have thought of that combination. The rice was exceptionally good too, I could taste that delicious tomato-​y goodness. The avocado salsa is quite incredible as well.
I will definitely be back :)

Everything was fresh and delicious! Our waitress Rachel D. was basically a bad ass and made sure we were well taken care of. She was very helpful and informative and made our night outstanding. Ask for her if you’re heading here for supper and/​or drinks. :) Thanks Rachel!!!

I would actually give this place four stars but for how dark it is… we could barely read our menus and were there at like 6:15 on a Monday. Also the beer selection isnt stellar but fine for a chain restaurant. We were seated quickly and our waitress was nice and pretty efficient. We had a variety of drinks and dishes and everything was good and the order was correct.

I have tried this place three times now and am not impressed in the least.
The service sucks. Every single time. Mixed up orders, takes forever for someone to take orders or come back to your table. They forget things.
And the food is mediocre. There are only three things to get here: stuffed avocado, queso especial and the Mexican martini. So pretty much go for happy hour, get an app and a drink… then leave. There are so many better places in the area where the food is hotter (temp), fresher and you will get it without having to deal with bad service.

3.4 STARS! Better than Chuys when comparing food the Cholula Honey Chicken is worth ordering. The large menu is overwhelming so consider trying something you’ve never had before.
This Cholula Honey Chicken is pretty damn good. Yes it is fried but the sauce and pickled peppers and onions make this entrée a must try. The chicken came out slightly over fried leaving the chicken missing some juice and needed a fork to cut. The overall flavor is sweet with a slight hint of spice. The dipping Cholula honey sauce is worth dropping a straw in a drinking. Its something in taste that resembles an orange chicken sauce with a little more Mexican heat. The kitchen did leave my entrée dying and came out only warm and the cheese mashed potatoes where damn near cold. The corn on the cob had parmasean cheese sprinkeled on top which ruined this veggie. Mexican food and parmasean don’t go together. They need to spend time whipping up a true butter cream sauce with some spice mixed in.
Overall this dinner entrée was one of a kind and I enjoyed the flavors but execution obviously was a three star result. Enjoy!

This place has some really weird rules. It has an AMAZING outdoor patio. Super tropical and just gorgeous. However, if its breakfast, you cant sit out there. Nope. They said no. Breakfast people have to eat inside, lunch can sit outside. They said the kitchen couldn’t handle breakfast outside. but that makes no sense because the kitchen can handle lunch outside while breakfast is going on. so dumb. I ordered Crème Brulee French Toast. Now im not a Texan, and i dont know how they like french toast, but i would assume it involved bread. But this was pound cake. It was dessert like. I couldn’t even make it through a piece due to the richness and the whole mind job of eating cake in lu of bread. such a weird place.

This place is weird.
The patio is nice but inside feels dingy and outdated.
They’re apparently known for their Mexican Martinis, which was just a plain old margarita with olives. Did not live up to the hype. They didn’t even have the glasses to serve them in so half of our party drank out of SHAKER TINS.
Food took so long to order that we never ordered it.
Chips needed salt yet none of the tables had salt, or silverware and napkins at that.
Our server was a little sketchy because he had initially asked if we were doing separate checks (12 people), and once we said yes, said there was a policy of 8 people or more have to be all together. I scanned both sides of the menu and did not see this printed anywhere. We just found it strange and it didn’t give me a good impression.

It pains me to leave a bad review for Trudy’s, which until now was one of our family go-​to local spots.
I echo the comments below wondering what has happened to this place, and why!
The look of the place and the menus have been revamped in a way that seems to be a caricature of Austin culture. The graphics were in a similar style as Torchy’s so I’m thinking maybe they bought out Trudy’s?
Some of our favorites are now off the menu, and the ordering options are confusing. When we asked to order the old item of chile rellenos with shrimp, they allowed us to, but it was not made properly.
The portion sizes in general were smaller than I’m used to from this establishment.
Overall the changes were disappointing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Sad to see more evidence of popular culture stamping out remnants of old Austin.

I tell you what, I must of been very hungry, and tired from all of the partying I had done in the great city of Austin that I failed to see all of the bad that was stated in the prior comments. This is a cool restaurant! It must of been the AWESOME customer service, and attention to detail that our waiter Tyler provided that makes me write a positive review. Tyler took his time with us, and answered every question that my kids had regarding the food and most importantly, he answered my questions regarding my vegetarian options. All of the food that he recommended us was good! I couldn’t ask anything better!!!
As long as Tyler, (or anyone of his caliber too), works at this place providing his awesome customer service… I’ll make sure that I come to this restaurant every time I come to visit Austin, Texas. I was very satisfied with his service, and great tasting food.
Tyler, you did an AWESOME job!!! :)

Our waiter, Alec, was quite possibly the slowest ever. Took about 5 minutes to come to our table just to take our drink order and greet us. On top of that, two other managers/​staff came by to get us refills on our drinks and chips. Then the food came. It tasted good, but my boyfriends order wasn’t right. The manager, Nachelle «nacho» who helped us was excellent. She corrected my boyfriends order and comped part of it which was very kind. If only she was our waitress that would have been perfect. Overall, waiter wasn’t great but the food was good!

First, today was a horrid day. Normally this isn’t relevant to a review, but this time, it is. Its also my birthday. I’m not 8 anymore, birthdays aren’t a huge deal… But this one was horrible. Went to my fave family restaurant, closed early, well crap! It just keeps piling on! Couldn’t decide on a place, chose Trudy’s bc I desperately wanted a Margarita. Instead, Nachelle treated me to my first ever Mexican martini. Oh my, she’s my hero. Turned my bday around. Minus the olive its amazing! The beef fajitas are worth the $ 14. And I don’t say that often. Skip the refried beans, maybe it was an off night, but they were a bit sour and just odd. Oooh and I got sopapillas for dessert. Nom Nom Nom! Don’t hurt me, but the Amy’s Mexican Vanilla almost ruined them. I’m a huge fan of Amy’s but they changed the recipe, it’s too strongly flavored now. Boo.
Nachelle was really busy but kept our drinks full and food hot. Chips never emptied completely, which is a bonus.
Best part? Made friend with the family behind us and they bought me a gift card to Trudy’s for my birthday!
If I lived closer, I would be a regular for the Mexican Martinis. Yum Yum!
Gave 4 stars because the beans sucked, queso was cold & gooky & the restaurant is always soooooooooo loud… can’t hear my kids talk from across my table loud… wait maybe that’s not such a bad thing? ;)
Thank you Trudy’s for turning my day around & starting 33 off better!

I hadn’t visited my neighborhood Trudy’s in quite some time, and well, it just wasn’t what it used to be.
The drinks are still good, I can get behind them.
The food? Well, I think my food would have been good, if it came out in a timely manner. But it didn’t. We got the botana sampler, and then about 20 minutes or so later got the mini stuffed avocados.
The mini stuffed avocados came out nice and warm… and then the botana sampler came out afterwards? And it was cold. Like, offensively cold.
And by that time we had already had a ton of chips and a mini stuffed avocado each… sigh. It was just disappointing. Cold queso? Old, cold looking nachos? Gross. In retrospect, I should have taken a photo.
In a perfect world I would have probably sent it back, but our bartender was in la la land half the time and we were already past appetizer-​time since we had been there for quite some time. The girls that were working when we first got there were on top of it, but this guy was not. Sigh.
It’s sad Trudy’s. There isn’t much good food on Stassney, and I would probably come back more often, but you’re just proving yourself to be undependable.

How did I just discover that Trudy’s is open till 2am! Yes please and thank you! This is good to know and fits my schedule well. I am sure I will see after midnight soon again my friend!
I do love Trudy’s. Mexican Martinis = make you go wooohooo! Queso = yummy in my tummy! Stuffed charizo chicken = party in my mouth! Stuffed Avocado with chicken = more party in my mouth! Cholula Honey Chicken = OMG yum! OK — so you get the point. I have never had anything bad here — ever!
The service here also has always been exceptional. The staff is super friendly and at times have provided great recommendations as well. I have sat inside and outside multiple times and have enjoyed both. I think the patio is nice. It gets a good breeze and is covered well.
If you are looking for a place to take your out of town guests Trudy’s is a crowd pleaser and everyone always loves the Mexican martinis!