Iron Cactus, no iron stomach needed
Written: Dec 26 '00 (Updated Dec 26 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: spinach and artichoke dip
Cons: it ain't in Colorado
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| stract's Full Review: Austin Restaurants |
Well, it's nice to be home for the holidays, and I just got back from a nice night of dinner and the movies (hey, what else do you do when the weather's bad?). We went with a few hundred of our closest friends and saw Cast Away (pretty good movie if I do say so myself, and I do).
Anyway, back to the restaurant. It was 5 in the afternoon, and having nothing better to do, my mom and I decided to go to Best Buy and use the gift cards we'd gotten a scant day before. The movie started at 7, so that left us until about 5:45 to squander away our new-found Christmas fortunes before dinner and the movie.
Location
At 5:50, we got in the car, and drove around the corner to the Iron Cactus in north Austin on Loop 360 (where the Gateway shopping center, and incidentally the Gateway 16 movie theater, is located). According to the back of the menu, which has a brief history of Iron Cactus, the original is located down on 6th Street somewhere (my guess is near the Z Tejas down there, but I'm not sure).
This location, the only other location in Austin, works very nicely being near the Arboretum and other huge shopping centers located where Loop 360 hits Hwy 183 hits MoPac. You know where I'm talking about (on a side note, NEVER even attempt to shop at the Arboretum 3 days before Christmas. That place was a charlie foxtrot to the extreme if I ever saw one).
Atmosphere
Being typical Austin, Iron Cactus has live music on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, at least at the north location. They claim to attract cool, hip, non-boring bands (aka no piano players or muzak), but as this was neither a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, I couldn't tell you about that.
Not just a restaurant, Iron Cactus' other claim to fame is a margarita/tequila bar. The back of the menu claims Iron Cactus is Austin's biggest importer of tequila, offering the biggest variety of tequila. I took a peek at the drink menu, and the list of tequilas they offer took up a whole page, 2 columns worth. Over 100 different types.
The bar is on the left of the building, and the restaurant is off to the right, so the atmosphere of one does not ruin the atmosphere of the other. The bar was dark, blue lights shining, music playing (sounded like a good time in there), whereas the restaurant seemed elegant, quiet, and modernish. Keep in mind that elegant in Austin usually means jeans and a t-shirt are ok. Have to please the Dell crowd, yanno, with the casual yet elegant atmosphere for lunch and dinner. I would almost go out on a limb here and call the place chic...
Food
This is a good place to go if you've been to Z Tejas and didn't like it, and most definitely if you've been to Z Tejas and did. The food starts out ordinary and goes through some sort of transformation in the kitchen before it hits your table. They take typical dishes and do weird, wonderful things to them.
We started off with the spinach and artichoke dip, which was absopositively wondermous. Best spinach and artichoke dip I've ever had, and I love that stuff. Better than Friday's hands down, and better than Houston's (and they make pretty damn good dip if you've ever had it). Creamy, melt in your mouth, heaven.
We followed that with some cups of tortilla soup. Not the best tortilla soup in Austin, but it held its own. Had a good flavor and the typical ingredients, to include tortilla strips, a chuck of alvocado, chicken, and cheese. Other stuff, like some peppers and tomatoes I think, were also present. It was served not as hot as I would have liked, but it was warm when it got to the table.
A scant 5 minutes after the soup arrived, the main order showed up at our table in the hands of our waitress. We'd ordered something off the menu that included shrimp wrapped in bacon and grilled, with onions and bell peppers on the side, and 2 sauces to dip in. One sauce was just melted butter, and the other was a mildly spicy bbq sauce tasting something with what looked like sunflower seeds in it. Nothing earth-shattering there. The shrimp had been butterflied, basted in some strange tasting sauce I didn't really cared for, had a green chile placed in them, and wrapped closed by some bacon, then grilled...
Lets just say my mom thought they were absolutely wonderful, while I thought the shrimp were just ok. We shared a serving, since we'd already eaten the dip and the soup, and that was plenty of food for the both of us. The shrimp meal came with 6 big shrimp (Iron Cactus definitely didn't skimp on the shrimp; the were huge). If you are the "I like to eat a lot" type, then the meal is perfect for one (if you get an appetizer/soup to start). The entree was also served with a cup of black beans and spanish rice. Both were very good, and a nice compliment to the shrimp, in my opinion.
Service
We were seated right away, given the choice of booth or table (we chose a booth), and given menus. Within about 1 minute, our waitress approached asking for our drink orders (I got tea and my mom got water). A few minutes later she returned with the drinks, was very nice, and we gave her our appetizer order. She returned several times to check on us, fill our drinks, and bring out or food. We did not feel the least bit ignored or forgotten, and our glasses were never empty.
When she took our order for the entree, she asked if we wanted our soup to come out early (we said yes), and when the entree came out, she brought extra plates to make it easy for us to share, and we didn't even have to ask. Wait staff is definitely on top of things there, though the place wasn't super-busy when we went.
We were in and out in less than an hour. The appetizer came 5 minutes after we ordered it, the soup 5 minutes after we ordered that and the entree, and the entree came out 5 minutes after the soup. Speedy service indeed.
Price
The appetizer was $5.99, the soup was $2.95 a cup ($3 something for a bowl), and the entree was $13.39. Most of the other entrees offered on the menu were that price and up. If you don't be careful, it could get expensive fast. I thought the price for the appetizer was a dollar too steep, and the same for the soup. The price on the shrimp was about right. The most expensive things on the menu were some steaks (upwards of $20, I think), so I'd classify Iron Cactus as low to moderately expensive.
To End...
The food was pretty good, the variety on the menu was somewhat extensive, (to include steaks, pastas, salads, and specialty entrees), we had no qualms about the service, the atmosphere was pleasant, the list of tequilas looked imposing, the margaritas sounded good, and prices weren't bad, and the spinach and artichoke dip is the best I've ever had.
Iron Cactus has the same strange food concept as Z Tejas, but they do it much better. So if you've ever had a mediocre to bad experience at Z Tejas, Iron Cactus is nearby for a refreshing twist for the tastebuds.
I'll miss all these eclectic eateries when I head back up to Colorado (and I do every time). There's no place like Austin in the world that offers such wonderful varieties in food within a 30 minute drive from home (for the most part. The german food in Walberg is 45 min away north of Georgetown but worth the drive). So think of me next time you eat at a Guero's, a Stubb's, a Hula Hut, or an Iron Cactus.
Recommended:
Yes
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Location: Valdosta, GA
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 56 members
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Austin, TX is God's gift to humanity
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