Woodland

Great for modern American food. Steaks never miss. Shrimp and grits standout. Good sides. Worth a trip for peanut butter pie! Awesome decor. more

This place has lost it's appeal. The last two times I went to have dinner (Wed. 4pm) and (Sat. 5pm) they were out of multiple things on the menu. The waitress and waiter both times admitted that it happens all the time. I complained to the manager the first time and he gave my friend a gift card to come back and also took 20% off the bill that night. The next time I ask for the owners email address and just got the run around. Later, I went on the website only to find the event managers email address. I contacted him and he said he was not able to give me this information. I ask him if anyone at the Woodland's really cares what their customers think or should I just blog on the internet? Surprisingly he told me to blog! What is going on with this place? I predict that if this continues they will be out of business with in 6months. Pros: Great Food Cons: Always out of multiple items on the menu more

My partner and I order in at least five nights a week. We generally patronize Threadgill's, Magnolia, Kerbey, etc. on ""comfort food night."" On occasion, we like to splurge on something better. Last night, we decided to get a couple of sandwiches from The Woodland. (We have had their burgers and a few of their entrees in the past and have been pleased at times.) When we phoned, we were asked to hold. Understandable for a Friday night, and I'm glad local businesses do well. But after five minutes, we were still on hold. Still...not a big deal. I just went and ordered in person. My biggest problem this time was with the BLT. At first it looked great. Big sandwich; the bread was good. But for ten dollars, I would expect more than four super-thin slices of bacon. This paltry amount did not even cover the surface area of the sandwich. Not. Even. Close. I would not even be writing this review if this weren't the latest of several disappointing experiences. We have seen a steady decline of both service and food quality at The Woodland. The staff sometimes seems either startled by or displeased with the fact that there are people in their restaurant. I happen to think that a ""cool detachment"" from one's clientele is anything but. We are not in Paris and this is not haute cuisine. A little warmth goes a long way toward making up for an underwhelming experience. I'm afraid it's a trend that does not bode well for what has at times been -- and could be -- a good restaurant. Pros: Good Atmosphere Cons: Food Quality, Service more

how is this place open? is Austin's tourism really keeping this place open? or is it the over priced EVERYTHING..is it buying produce and ingredients from Wal-Mart and selling them as if they are organic? Im a cook at a place with a very similar menu but its ALL ORGANIC and high quality and 1/4 of the price, so its not like they have to charge that much.....this place was so horrible after eating there my girlfriend and i broke up...... Pros: Service i GUESS Cons: price and quality more

The Woodland does not offer a large variety of choices on the menu. My assumption was that with the limited menu, everything would be exceptional. The kitchen would focus on only a few things and excel at each dish. Breakfast: You can order two eggs any style and have 4 items with the eggs. The eggs do not have any seasoning when they are served. Yes, the Woodlands is known for down home food, but I thought they would at least reach for some seasoning. I mean you are paying $11 for eggs and 4 items. The bacon and sausage are above average. If you are looking for plain, the Woodland should be your destination. Service was not bad. We were served another party's food first, then had to ask for service at each stage (to order, for check,). The service was responsive after we asked. My recommendation is for the kitchen to take some sage advice. Take more thyme in the development of the recipes. Maybe even consider turning over a new leaf (of almost any kind) and add the leaf to a dish to accentuate flavor. Pros: Simple Food Prepared Fairly Well Cons: Staff Seems Distracted more

We had lunch at Wooland today. Can't say I'll be going back anytime soon. We were sat facing the open part of the kitchen and the cooks were full of attitude and bad comments to wait staff like 'ask for something off menu again and I'll take you outside and sort you out' Not enjoyable background to our lunch. Our food took an hour to arrive and when it did, it wasn't really worth the wait. The turkey sandwich had clearly been sitting there for a while and the Mac & Cheese was really just penne pasta in a cheese sauce. Our waitress didn't appear to know what she was doing and seemed in a daze and our water wasn't replenished the entire time we were there. We had to chase up our meals twice - both times being assured that the food would arrive in under 5 minutes...10 minutes later, we were STILL waiting. When it finally arrived, the waitress simply exclaimed that they were a little rushed today, no apology nothing. Funny as I could spot at least five/six empty tables and a lot of seemingly unhappy, hungry faces.. I really wanted to like this place but the long wait, bad service and pretty average food means that I'll take my money elsewhere. Cons: Slow service & staff with attitude. more

Went in after a movie Sat, May 16 for pie. With a $13.53 tab, they brought back $6. To add insult, they threw the chocolate cream pie in a go-box UPSIDE DOWN. Pros: Greta Bartenders Cons: Lousy Service more

The quality of service and food have slipped drastically.... while the Quality of vintage wear and tattoos have markedly improved.\r \r I'm the last person to judge people on their appearance... but Woodland has simply gone past the point of no return in the hipster department. The staff must feel as though they are occupying Beauty Bar or manning the door at Emo's... and serving up American Apparel with a side of fixed gear instead of food.\r \r Most of the people there are really nice, and yes.. there's some really outstanding, beautiful tattoos. But come on already.... people want good food and good service. That's really all that matters. Pros: great location, great interior more

The place has a really nice vibe, it does have a full bar and the side with the bar on it is extremely loud, which is where we got seated. When we left we saw there was seating on the other side of the restaurant which was probably much quieter. The menu isn't too extensive, it's your classic American with a modern twist kind of food. They served warm rolls with butter before out food came. I ordered the Woodland salad with chicken added (for $6). It was small for a dinner salad. It had cooked beets, ricotta salata, mixed greens, sunflower sprouts and seeds. All over it was nothing special. The chicken was just plain grilled with no flavor of it's own. I wouldn't go back there for the food, maybe for the bar and atmosphere. Amy had the reuben, it was better than the one from 34th Street Cafe and even gave the one from New World Deli a run for its money but I didn't like the bread, had a licorice flavor to it which I think is due to... fennel seed? Not 100% sure but if it weren't for the bread it would've been amazing. Amy loved it. It came with a side of really delicious potato salad. She also ordered a drink call the Eudora. It tasted very strongly of bourbon which I don't like so just the smell of it made me cringe. The cocktail menu is very different with flavors like cucumber, elderflower and grapefruit. But like I said they have a full bar so I'm sure they can make any drink upon request. Pros: Location, full bar Cons: Noisy, parking, price more

We had dinner here with friends yesterday evening. Two of us ordered the chicken with mashers and spinach. The spinach was so salty we could not eat it. The potatoes were overcooked and dry. The chicken was bland, but juicy and OK to eat. Another had the duck. Very small portion of meat, certainly not worth the price. We ordered pie for desert. The coconut cream pie tasted entirely like whipped cream with a little coconut mixed in. The wait person apologized because they had RUN OUT OF DECAF COFFEE by 8:30 PM. We were shocked at how disorganized the place seemed to be. Two people recomended the pork chop, so one of us ordered it. Said it was nothing special. Very disappointing overall. We would not return to give this place a second chance. Pros: Nice decor Cons: Much too loud - had to shout to be heard across the table more

I would like this place to be good. I live a few blocks away and I like the interior. I've given the Woodland 3 tries and I have to say with the exception of the mac and cheese (not hard, see Kraft) the food that I have had there is not very good. Tonight my wife and ordered a salad and some mac and cheese to start. Both were edible but we were only half finished when they brought our our entrees. Annoying. Her fish and chips had all of the ugliness of the real English thing but none of the flavor or crunch. Wet fish with a massive doughy shell. Blaghk! I had the special, a white bean soup with sausage. Canned and bland. The sausage had less flavor than the vienna variety. My advice, sell the ceramic tree and hire a cook. Pros: kitschy Cons: gross more

I'm not one to write reviews good or bad on places I've been, but we had such terrible service at Woodland that I felt this necessary to report. The food is and has always been mediocre, and we ended up there because all of our other favorite haunts on South Congress were a long wait, so everything was fine, until our Rib Eye dinner plate arrived. It was a really bad and fatty cut of meat which my mother and I were sharing, and we basically had to cut around and find tiny little pieces of edible meat on this plate that ended up being more fat and grizzle than steak. So, naturally we called over the waitress, not necessarily to complain, but merely to show that our $20 some dollar entree was hardly edible. Her nonchalant response was that she would take it up with one of the managers who (according to her) on duty that Thursday evening, which I find odd.... but whatever and even more peculiar was that I knew that a manager was on duty, because I know who he is, but she basically lied to our faces, for whatever reason. Maybe she didn't want to bother him? At this point we realized that suggesting taking it off our bill MORE THAN ONCE and quite politely, was getting us nowhere. We kept being met with the ""I'll let our managers know..."". And what good is that going to do anyone once we have left? We didn't cause a huge scene, cause at that point we just wanted to remove ourselves from this place and continue to celebrate my sister's college grad weekend. But, seriously folks, if anyone from Woodland is reading this....SHAME ON YOU GUYS. I guess keeping the $24.00 bucks for a less than edible plate of food is more worth it to your establishment than return customers. Thanks for nothing, oh and by the way, at least we do our part....we are always steering people away from Woodland now thanks to that night. Cons: Poor service, mediocre food, more

I went to have dinner with a friend of mine tonight and just got home. It was very pleasant. We had today's special and it was very tasty. On top of that, the customer service was really great. Our wait person was very attentive and nice. When we got the bill, we noticed that they forgot to charge one of the drinks we ordered earlier. We let out wait person know that and then the restaurant manager came to our table and thanked us for letting them know. He gave us $10.00 gift card for appreciation. That was totally unexpecting. We eat out a lot but we have never experienced something like this before and it was a very nice surprise. We will definitely come back again!!! more

This was our first visit. We went on a Sunday evening and I was surprised at the full-house. Seems to be a good indication that people like it here. I loved the servers in jeans and plaid. I liked the decor. It was a bit loud and it made conversation a little difficult. We had the corn fritters to start (total YUM) and a variety of entrees. The only quibble was the Halibut special that night was served lukewarm. The Peanut Butter Chocolate pie made up for it, though! The grapefruit mojito, Grace & Moxie, is very good and gets better and better. :-)\r \r I love Starlite and am happy that Woodland serves down-home comfort food with an equal attention to detail. We'll be back. Pros: Food, Atmosphere Cons: Loud more

My very first experience at The Woodland, is one that I will never forget. I went with a group of friends about a year ago. We were greeted by a very sweet hostess that seated us at a very large booth to accommodate our group. The staff was very inviting and friendly and made me feel right at home, but they had better food than my house. They offer a great home cooked menu, my friends and I were dying to try everything! I think we might have, starting with: Corn bread muffins (perfectly moist), Arugula & Fennel salad (My favorite...salad), Fried oysters with an amazing sauce on the side (I dream about this one), Steak (tender and juicy), Pork Empanadas (sp?) (wonderful flaky crust and an even better filling)... There was more. Not only was the food amazing the service was to match. The servers were polite and funny, all the people it took to bring us our truck load of food were all smiles. The manager even came by to visit to make sure we were enjoying ourselves and proceeded to be friendly with conversation. At the bar: the drink menu was very unique with a lot of neat twists to plain old drinks. The bartenders are great about helpful suggestions on what would be the best drink for the taste you desire (sweet, sour, etc...) I could really go on and on. The Woodland is my favorite place to take my friends to enjoy great food and relax in a friendly environment. \r \r Remember if you treat the staff like you would like to be treated, you will be treated like gold :) and even if you're a rude person (which A LOT of people are) they are still as kind as can be. Pros: Great food, service etc.... Cons: That their not open 24/7 more

A group of us went here on a wednesday night. No crowds and we were seated quickly. I got the stuffed tomato and pecan pie. The tomato was a little mushy and lacked a lot of pizazz or spice... just kind of bland. The poXpie (the on-line review system won't take the ""T"" after po... because it is ""inappropriate""... lame!!) was good. One friend got the poX pie and found a 1 inch long bone in it- eekk. The other friend got some kind of steak sandwich that looked good. Overall, I thought this place was just sort of average. I'd pay the extra money for a nicer restaurant on Congress. The service was fast and very friendly though. more

Went today Jan 6 for brunch around 1:30. Wasn''t busy. Had two little kids with us. Ordered english muffin w peanut butter....10 mins later was told they don''t have pb. Ordered bowl of fruit with two lunches...had to wave down the busboy 15 mins later to have him pull it off the line...it sat for about 20 mins and the cooks didn''t say anything to the waitstaff. Had to walk to the line myself and get spoons for the fruit. Waitstaff couldn''t leave the table fast enough. No one seemed concerned....hugh....so I guess they won''t care when they don''t have jobs...hugh. Bathrooms were filthy..not just from the day...was a couple of days worth of crud. Old saying ...if the bathrooms are dirty...so is the kitchen. Sad that a local place is so poorly cared for...really wanted it to be great!!! Our first time, when the owners were there when they first opened...it was good. Pros: Walking distance from our house. Cons: Waste of money...no energy..food choices are boring more

I attend this establishment on a weekly basis and what I can say is they cater to everyone's needs. Their salads and veggie burgers rock! The bartenders, waitstaff, and hostess are all friendly and truly try and help the best they can given the space (come on folks this is SOCO). This isn't one of those planted post; I truly love this place and will miss it once I move to another coast. Great amazing food, great folks and great management...you couldn't ask for much more! BRAVO GUYS! Pros: You should be there Cons: Why aren't you there? more

My sister and I had been meaning to try this place for a long time. Very optimistic, we entered on a Friday night and were greeted by the hostess who walked us over to a standard, small table. There were many booths open and we asked to sit in one. She said no, because they were about to get busy and needed the booths for larger groups (this was 8 PM). Fair enough, we thought, and sat down waiting several minutes for someone to come over and ask for a drink order. We never did get someone to ask for the drinks. Instead two waters and some stale corn muffins were smacked down without any acknowledgement of either of us. The most insulting part was that every party who walked in after us consisted of two people who were immediately taken by the hostess to the empty booths. However, the small two-person tables we were forced to sit at were available and empty. What happened to the booths being for large groups? It was the same hostess the entire time. Did she suffer a mental block? The remaining staff members were walking around like zombies. The food didn't even make up for it. We speculate that my sister's chicken potpie was the soup of the day (chicken noodle) with some cornstarch stirred in and a slab of pie crust thrown on. Also, make sure to check your receipt as well. They somehow tweaked the dollar amount of our entrees so that the receipt listed the correct dish, but with a mysterious increased price. We had to open a menu and point to the listed price before our waiter corrected the mistake. Just don't go here if you don't want your evening ruined. Save your money. Cons: service more

I went to eat at Woodland tonight with my friend. It was her first time there, and I have been there for a few times. I had good experience for past few times, but it was completely different experience tonight. I ordered meatloaf , and it was hard around the edge. I told the server that I had meatloaf before here, and it wasn't hard like this around the edge before. He took it back to the kitchen and brought me another plate. It was better than before, but meatloaf still had hard edge. The server explained to me that because it was cooked in the oven, the edge is hard like that. I understand how meatloaf is prepared, but it was not hard around the edge when I ate there before (nice and moist). The server told me if I do not like the food, he would take it off the check. When my new meatloaf arrived, this guy came by the table and asked us how the food was. I replied, ""Better than before."" It turned out that the guy stopped by briefly was manager. I would have appreciated if he identified who he was and took a time to speak to me. Then we ordered coffee and desserts. We felt that coffee tasted weak, and my friend asked the server if he could make coffee stronger. He replied, ""It is just a coffee, not like espresso or anything."" We told the server to take our coffee back and cancel the desserts. Yes, I did pay for my meal I did not enjoy very much. My friend and I felt that the customer service was not that great at Woodland. I do retail management and will never treat my unhappy customer the way I was treated tonight. As for our server... He was not customer friendly (not outgoing, energetic, attentive). A little smile on his face will go a long way. Needless to say, tonight's experience completely ruined my previous experience at Woodland. more