El Alma

"Service - terrible. Inattentive. Bad! Margaritas - supposed to have most famous margaritas in Austin. What a joke. Maybe mid at best. 3 out of 5. Salsas. Bad! Weak. What’s a Mexican place with average margaritas and terrible salsas. A place that charges you $1.50 every time you ask for that tiny tiny thing of salsa. Al pastor - decent. Enchiladas and tacos - flavor profile is weak. Bland. Dry steak in the tacos. Dry eggs in the huevos rancheros. I don’t get some of these places. Bad service. Weak salsas. Average margaritas. Highly avoidable."

"Hits and misses here. The queso fundido was insanely good. We all agreed that was the biggest hit of the evening. In fact, it was so good I did not get a photo before it was gone and it is served with warm fresh tortillas. Do not miss that. Excellent bar service and cocktails. The menu really needs to be done in my opinion. Lacks information needed and leaves the consumer to be the chef in some instances which is hit or miss. It's organized all over the place, and where normally the dish is in dark bold, it's the lightest, it offers few descriptions as well. For example, under tacos you may or may not guess it's just one taco and comes with one side. But the worst part is with the lack of descriptions, you are made to guess putting your meal together. I decided on the shrimp enchiladas but have to pick my own sauce, rather than have suggestions of what pairs best. Because the sauces lack very little description I chose "chipotle + crema" picturing this to be the creamiest sauce on the menu which would go well with the shrimp enchiladas. But there was very little description under any of the sauces so it was a crapshoot. I chose wrong. It was strong chipotle, not creamy at all, and had a crema DRIZZLE over the top but everything was drowned out by the chipotle flavor and it simply was not good. My tablemate had it with the chicken but had the same reaction. That said, her enchilada was still better than the shrimp one. The tortilla chips served with the salsas were stale. Salsas were good though. We loved the atmosphere. Very pretty and unique stone wall. The service started out fabulous but then we were ignored and couldn't get our bill to save our life but we knew who the manager was because we had already watched him and noted he was a really good one. He was an impeccably dressed black man who was really on top of things and we felt that impressive...he moved about the entire restaurant, even checking the air vents and temperature, and front of the restaurant for cleanliness. As soon as we told him we could not get our bill, he was ON it and we had it in seconds. So I do not fault him for this in any way. He had no way to know that. And he was very helpful. We pulled him aside to get it because it was quite obvious he was the manager. I would go back for cocktails and the queso alone. I would probably try something other than figure-out-your-own enchilada dishes and even with them being a miss, the refried beans and rice were perfect. The tacos served to my other tablemate were kind of sad. Just two small tacos on a plate, no sides."

"Definitely recommend this place! We stopped in for brunch on New Years Day, just before they filled up with patrons. Service was impeccable, we had to sit on the patio. Because we had a group of 10 people, they did everything necessary to help us stay warm and checked on us often, thank you Samual! Everyone was very impressed with their food, and RAVED about the Jalapeno Crab Queso!! This is the BEST QUESO, rich and creamy with a slight kick if you eat the cooked peppers. Our group ordered breakfast tacos, enchiladas and queso. The chips with 2 salsas were very good too!"

"I went to this place looking for some tacos that were gluten-free; what I found was a super cozy, relaxed restaurant with really delicious food! You MUST try the crab queso, it is mind-blowing. The waiters were so friendly and attentive, and the vibe was so relaxed. I loves to see how the manager kept order but treated his staff like family; you can really see it in how happy everyone is to be there. It’s a very cute, clean spot and I highly recommend it!"

"The dining experience at this establishment was undeniably delicious and satisfying! I rated it 4 out of 5 stars solely due to the somewhat limited vegetarian choices. The mole verde enchiladas truly stood out as a remarkable culinary delight, followed closely by the scrumptious taco. In addition to the delectable food, the staff's friendliness added to the overall positive experience, and the interior decor was visually pleasing. Despite the limited vegetarian options, I wholeheartedly enjoyed my visit here."