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I enjoy myself some Hula hut. They got themselves some good seafood/texmex. Now let me say I don't like Chuy's but Hula Hut wins me over. I always get the Shrimp Pipe Line Enchilada. It has awesome shrimp and even more awesome queso and we all know how much we white people love our cheese.
I will say the drinks are a bit pricy, the wait is always really long and the service is not amazing. Thats why I say only 4 but the food and the location are amazing. You are right their on the lake drinking up some drinks, gorging yourself with texmex with seafood and watching the sunset on the water. Its a great experience and a perfect place to take people from out of town who are staying at a hotel downtown.
Like
I don't
get it.
This place is positively boring with horrid stoner music, scary decor that I guess you have to be drunk to enjoy and mediocre food. The view isn't even that great since the dock is constantly filled with drunk people.
Nothing like a pretty sunset by the water filled with people wobbling all over the place while eating some just ok food and listening to nerve splitting music.
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The service was delightful though and that is 1 1/2 of the 3 stars, man.
Hula Hut is great - mainly for the atmosphere & the view (views of Lake Austin). I do like that they have daily Happy Hour specials. If you're adventursome & possibly want to get tanked (yes, pun intended) - then you might want to try their Fish Bowl drink.
The food is better than The Oasis, but it still wasn't good enough to write home about. It is a Tex-Mex/Hawaiian fusion type food. The prices are OK (not outlandish, but not cheap). The parking is valet or you park across the street & try to catch a golf-cart attendant, or hike it yourself. There is normally a wait, particularly on the weekends...but if you aren't terribly picky about where you want to be seated, it is normally a short wait.
I do tend to take my out-of-town guests here - or if I'm in the mood for a happy hour margarita & a nice view.
Amazing location - great views of the lake and a fun atmosphere. It's a perfect place to take out-of-town guests for a taste of Austin.
However, there is always a LONG wait, and the food, while perfectly fine, is certainly not the best I've had. You're really just there for the atmosphere. If you enjoy killer food, go somewhere else.
Not a big fan of love / hate relationships but Chuys Hula Hut got me!
love it in the summer, hate it in the winter.
I'm a huge fan. I LOVE their salsa. They have the very best salsa in my opinion. It is made fresh, always the same and not too hot just perfect for me. I'm a wimp when it comes to really spicy hot and I really don't understand when it's so spicy it burns your mouth and are searching for water.
So besides their salsa you cannot beat the atmosphere here. You are in the middle of Texas on a lake but somehow you feel as though you are in some tropical location enjoying the best that region has to offer.
Be prepared to wait pretty much anytime. Not only is the food great. It is an enjoyable experience all around.
cool spot... good food. They ran out of cups when we were there, but not a big deal. lol
Looooooooove Hula Hut!!!! :)
I went for the first time over the weekend while I was in town for a wedding and had so much fun here!
The weather was PERFECT to sit outside and the service and food was great too.
This is the perfect place to go on a nice day, and sit out on the dock/patio.
The menu is a mix of Mexican, Tex-Mex, Seafood and American.
They have a yummy looking drink menu but we stuck with water....
The restaurant is right on Lake Austin and it is beautiful...so make sure to wait for a table outside!
Any time I visit Austin, I will be stopping by here!
You know, I really don't know why i like this place as much as I do. I guess I'm generally disinclined because I don't like Chuy's much, and I never got the big deal about it, and Chuy's owns this place.
But really, Hula Hut is GREAT. The food is really quite good, it's enormous, and it's low priced. You can sit outside on the pier that's actually over the Lake Austin (though there's usually a bit of a wait for it, especially on nice days), and generally the service is pretty good, if not the most attentive. They really could do with adding one more waiter to the pier.
I just have to love this place - great food, tasty drinks, and that Austin outdoors feel.
PS - Try the salmon. ZOMG SO GOOD.
I've been here a few times now and can conclude that the food is worth it. They have a Tex-Mex selection with Hawaiian flair. The tubular tacos are delish and definitely large enough portions to fill you up! I do enjoy the complimentary salsa as well. Don't get the Baja Shrimp Tacos, though. They're similar to tacos you can get at one of the Austin-y taco trailers but more expensive and less flavorful.
If you go on a day with nice weather, try to sit outside on the patio or next to a window so you can enjoy the view of Lake Austin.
Essentially, this is one of those touristy, Austin hot-spots that everyone should try at least once and is a great place to take guests. You're not going to find spectacular food, but you will get what you pay for. Also, the atmosphere is great! The only set back for this restaurant is the RIDICULOUS wait time. Most nights and all-day on weekends, you'll encounter a 1+ hr wait... If you've got the time to stick it out, try something off of their drink menu while you wait!
Well, if you are looking for a unique location to have dinner in Austin, go ahead and put your name on the waiting list, and get ready to enjoy a wonderful evening. Austin's Hula Hut is a delicious mixture of cultures, as it will remind you of a small surf shop meeting a mexican taco stand. The Pipeline Burrito looks like a surfer's delight, and tastes like a great mexican burrito. The salsa has some mango mixed into it for a tropical taste, but overall you go to the Hula Hut for the view. When I say view, I mean Lake Austin and the boat-bunnies and suntanned guys coming in from a long day at the lake.
Favorite Dish: Pipeline Burrito, chicken and guacamole.
Really dig this place, but its always so crowded!
If you can get a table and get a great view of the water, your hour and a half wait was worth this.
Nothing peeves me more than walking into a restaurant and having a stressed out hostess continue with her freakdance-in-progress rather than acknowledge my presence. Not the stuff of great first-impressions.
While waiting for a table, we thought we'd hang out at the bar. Which was so barren it felt like getting stuck at the kids' table at Thanksgiving. I thought, no way is this the bar...even on a Sunday night I'd expect more than these two lonely broads. A quick check back at the hostess station and we discovered the "real" bar is outside. Yes, it was worth her snide expression to ask.
A few minutes into our drinks and our table was ready, so we went back into the restaurant and to the hostess station. Where we were told to go outside and tell some dude we were "number 15." Which, (A) I was just out there, why do I have to come in to go back out, and (B) telling me to ID myself by some arbitrary number does not give me that warm and fuzzy feeling you restauranteers might want to cultivate.
But tha's cool, I don't mind walking off my food before I get it.
It might sound like I'm annoyed at this point (I am). Why would I give such a place 4 stars? The food.
I ordered the Hawaiian fajitas and my meal was to die for. I am sitting here this very minute thinking about the plum sauce and how tender the steak was. The fresh corn tortillas were awesome too.
I'm wishing it was 6:41pm instead of 6:41am so I could have that again.
So parking is a cluster and there seems like there is a wait at all times, but if you can get past those two items, you will probably love Hula Hut. It is laid back. Basically, Chuy's with a good view. Right on the water, it is really nice. I ate chips, chips, and more chips, had one of their margaritas which wasn't amazing but was good, and then had their BBQ chicken tacos which I thought were very good.
I would definitely recommend Hula Hut, if for no other reason then the patio even though the food is pretty tasty.
If you're looking for the nexus of really bland food, bloated prices, and yuppie baby boomers, this is your destination. Deck on the lake is simply not worth it.
Dined here last night at a friend's recommendation since the outdoor seating overlooks the lake. We had about a 20 minute wait when we arrived and weren't greeted too kindly by the hostess. Once we'd made our way to our seats, we were brought chips and some delicious pico de gallo -- very fresh and just the right amount of spice.
They have unsweetened tea which is a plus and the chicken quesadilla app as entree was fantastic. Flour tortilla filled with shredded chicken and the creamiest, yummiest queso. On the side was a scoop of sour cream, a scoop of guac and shredded lettuce and tomato -- mixed all up and spread over the quesadilla triangles was a winning combo.
My dining companions had the fish tacos (raved about them), the chopped salad (said it's small but delicious) and the veggie tubular tacos (very, very good). All was very reasonably priced and they were super sweet about us all paying on separate cards. Would absolutely dine there again.
What a beautiful setting!
The drinks are fun and huge and the salsa is yummy. The food is a-ok but nothing really stood out. I'm not sure the Hawaiian themed Tex-Mex was a complete success and it made choosing what to eat difficult, but you can't help but think the idea is neat. Ended up sharing a couple different appetizer combo things. Service was good and everyone had a great time! Support local businesses!!!
Come to Hula Hut on a beautiful day with some friends and you are guaranteed to have fun.
I've been going to Hula Hut for many years, and over time, the food's quality seems to have declined in quality. A mediocre restaurant, but fun lakeside atmosphere and wide array of decent appitizers make it a good location for groups, get togethers, and parties.
I was here years ago and couldn't really recall WHAT I thought of this joint. When friends suggested Hula Hut last night I jumped on the opportunity to re-visit.
The salsa is very nice! Lots of tomatoes. Very fresh and flavorful. Entree, not so great. The steak fajitas were very chewy and grisly. They were in my enchilada and in the salsa. Same story with both items.
I liked the small flour tortillas (why can't restaurants just automatically bring those out when I order queso, especially queso with all the extras!) but whatever the large tube enchilada was wrapped in was just too thick and doughy. IF I went again, I would try something in a corn tortilla or a burger.
The wife had a noodle salad with shrimp. She liked it fine. For this reason and the salsa they aren't getting 2 stars from me.
Service was acceptable and fairly quick. Waters refilled often.
Mark this place down on a future list: "Places that are really only worth visiting if you are drinking!"
One of my favorite things about Austin Texas is that no matter what kind of restaurant you goto, they all give you chips and salsa. This is smart. Other than a beautiful woman, there is nothing that puts me in a better mood than chips and salsa. Unless its chips and salsa on the lake with a margarita. Both of which you can have at Hula Hut.
The food here is seafood meets tex-mex. No matter what you get, it's hard to go wrong. They even have options for vegetarians.
The server told me if you arrive on jet-ski dressed as James Bond they give you free drinks. I plan on trying that next time. Who's with me?
Be prepared for the best beef enchiladas you'll have in your whole damn life! Hands down one of my favorite Tex Mex places. The enchilada meat and cheese is so flavorful and savory. You get actual fajita meat instead of ground beef.
The long-ass wait is the big Debbie Downer of this joint. Like around an hour plus. My friends and I went to the bar area to get some drinks while we waited. The waiter, who was clearly overloaded with work, took an unacceptably long time to clean the only available table for us which was dirty. On top of that he was short with us when we had to ask him more than once to clean the table and order our drinks.
I'd go here more often if it weren't crowded all the time, but take that as an indication of how good it is that so many people still want to go here.
Heard rave reviews about this place, but it really didn't live up to it's billing. Slightly sub par food, par service, only nice thing is the view on the lake.
I ate at the Hula Hut a year ago while at a conference in Austin. It was by far the best meal that I had on the trip. I still think about how cool the atmosphere was and how much fun I had there.
The food was good but not great. The atmosphere was great!
Nobody goes to Hula Hut any more. It's too crowded.
Be careful if you want to eat at Hula Hut during a peak dinner time. I've seen people develop scurvy due to malnutrition and vitamin C deficiency while wating for a table, so you might want to grab some limes at the bar.
if you do survive through the wait and finally secure a table, then you will find some pretty good food in a festive waterfront setting. If you are allergic to enhanced 'beautiful people', frat types, and other assorted d-bags who are all half crazed with starvation and alcohol, then you may not want to come here.
Chips and salsa and the chicken tubular taco stand out as excellent. Weaksauce overpriced drinks disappoint. I like this place for off-peak time dining or when I have the cojones to bribe a hostess to jump the line.
Very popular and there is a reason why. Decent food right on the lake with the very cute beach decor.
plus - good tex mex with a hawaiian twist, great eye candy, good lake views.
minus - hour long wait and terible parking situation. The drinks out by the outside bar are expensive and from my experience, weak.
I've never taken someone here who didn't enjoy it. Perfect for a casual group meal.
Great place to take people that are from out of town! Great queso and fish dishes.
Try the pu pu platters. Enough food for many. The combo of the platter sound strange but lighten up and give it a go.
Just don't throw chips into the water or you will be greeted by tons of wildlife.
Not the best place for vegetarians.
Me likey tacos! Me likey tacos! Went to Austin for the 4th of July weekend and had to get my Hula Hut fix. This place has some amazing tacos. The Steak Tubular Taco is my favorite. I like coming here for Sunday lunch even though it's a busy time and there's a possibility of sitting out on the outdoor covered seating with 100s of fan blowers. Since I don't come to Austin often, I like to get the Austin experience, and eating on the lake while downing a few margaritas, completes my trip. I love Hula Hut and hopefully one day they'll bring one down to H-Town. Aloha.
-Neal
Yeah, that one thing that they used to do really well? Not so much anymore.
Last night, our waitron was slower and denser than molasses. The atmosphere is fun when the weather is good, and the creamy jalapeno is tops in my book but past that? No thanks, I'll just have a frozen Patio Burrito thanks.
Sometimes I think of Hula Hut like a guy I used to date: I like the idea of Hula Hut a whole lot… Read more »
This place has a nice atmosphere and is perfect for dining after a day on the lake. However, the wait is not pleasant at busy times and getting in and out of the parking lot is hell, even with valet. It just gets too busy.
The food is pretty good. Nothing that impressive, but what do you expect when you have a great view. The service has been mediorcre at best during my visits. The drinks are good and strong, and this is probably a better place to drink and hang at the bar.
This place kinda surprised me. I have never been to Chuy's before and didn't really understand the big deal. This place is great!!!
I was a little taken back by the food choices, island dishes served Tex-Mex style. After finally deciding what I was going to try it was all great. I have absolutely nothing to complain about with the food. My only complaints would be the long wait, because while I had never heard of this place, EVERYONE else has and it was packed.
Being right on the lake it would've been nice to have a nice view of the lake, but outside the restaurant window is a bar, I guess there are 3 bars here, and all were packed.
I had a wonderful time and will definitely be coming back again.
This was a fun place to go and meet friends given that I was in the process of moving to Austin. However, the wait staff was less than friendly....and they have me dirty looks when I realized I had forgotten my id at home (stupid I know but when you are 32 and not driving anywhere you aren't super concerned about not having your id on you).
The food was just o.k. However, the atmosphere was really fun. We had a good time and grabbed a nice spot in the shade by the water. We were here until pretty late, and the ritas were mighty tasty.
This ain't Chuy's but it's a nice place to bring out of towners that want something other than regular Tex-Mex. I brought my sister and friend here for dinner a week ago and endured about a 45 minute wait in the 100 heat at the outside bar. Luckily, we were able to grab a couple of bar stools and had a nice tropical drink to help cool us down.
Pros
-cool atmosphere
-decent food
-nice valets
Cons
-better bar service for 21 year olds in skimpy clothing
-inaccurate orders
I can't help it.
I don't even particularly like most of the items on the menu, but I love it here. (Exception. Fish tacos. I genuinely like the fish tacos.)
The men who hit on me are young enough to carry college IDs or old enough to carry AARP cards and never in between, making them completely useless to me. And still, I love it here.
The drinks are wildly inconsistent in preparation and the service ranges from horrid to excellent, but somehow it adds to the charm.
It's been triple digits all summer, and the reflection from the water intensifies the heat, but I am not deterred.
I know it defies logic, but a lazy Sunday afternoon + an outside bar at the Hula Hut + chips and salsa + a Mexican beer with lime wedges = more than the sum of its parts.
Ahhhhh....never change, Hula Hut. I love you just the way you are.
Years ago part of my yearly circadian rhythm involved an annual visit from a gaggle of sportswriters from West Texas who would come in to cover state meets. After a long day at the track or whereever, they would be ready for dinner and a night on the town. And when I say that these guys drug me to every cruddy bar in Austin (or tried to), I'm not exaggerating.
What does that have to do with anything? Not much, until you consider that one place they always wanted to go that I actually enjoyed was the Hula Hut. Now I get the myriad reasons that people are fussy about this place: you wouldn't mistake it for a chef's nirvana (it's relatively quick-flip TexMex and some somewhat pseudo-Hawaiian fare), but the mash-up that it is seems to by and large work out okay. Mostly we just like that as the weather tends toward the heart of spring and the advent of summer, we can sit out on the deck here, let the breeze blow through our hair, and tilt a couple of cold ones.
Today I tried the BBQ ribs, which came with a tiny kick and a fair sized amount of meat on the bone, paired with some potato wedges. Was it the height of all I've ever had? Of course not, but some days you just need decent service and a breeze that reminds you that you live in Austin. And all the time in the world to savor it.
I have mixed feelings about this place. The food is OK -- it's like Tex-Mex meets Polynesia -- but it's far from great. Basic stuff, not worth calling out a lot of specifics, but they do have a Pu-Pu platter type thing that's good to split among the table. Unfortunately, some of the Pu will taste like poo (not really, but I wanted to do the pun; suffice to say that not everything on it is equally yummy). However, I recall the ribs being delicious. There's a little something on it for everyone.
The do have one of the best Tres Leches in town. You should check it out.
I agree with other reviewers that the waitstaff isn't exactly a bunch of polished professionals. Luck of the draw on whether you'll get transparently good service or a memorable story.
The deck is quite nice when it's not a million degrees out, and they have a drinks-only deck for when food is not on the menu. Boaters can, um, boat right up and walk right in. People who rave about the view are clearly not facing the decidedly un-lovely Tom Miller dam, but it is nice to be on the water, especially at night. And hey, there's always a chance that you'll get to see a dramatic rescue unfold before your eyes as some doofus gets their skiff too close to the floodgates.
While we're on the topic of drinks, I've always enjoyed mine here. As expected they do well with the sweet tropical drink, as well as margaritas.
Going when it's busy is a masochist's dream. The parking situation at Oyster Landing is a horror story at all but the slowest of times; when it's peak eatin' hours, the slog from the distant North Austin spot you barely snagged will remind you of airport or theme park lots. To their great credit, they have a free shuttle (just like Six Flags) that cruises the parking lot, but that thing can't be everywhere at once, so you might have to hoof it. Then, if the Hut's busy, you've got a long wait in store. I recommend only hitting up at well-off-peak times.
For a place that everyone seems to love and recommend, I was expecting something a bit better than what I got.
I went with friends when we visited their parents in Austin. Their parents were newly transplanted from California and they raved about Hula Hut. So we went out Saturday night and suffered of boredom through an hour and fifteen minute wait for this "amazing place". None of us were drinkers and we were there with PARENTS so it's not like we could just wait in the bar happily. Maybe in a different situation but not this one.
We took ourselves back to the patio eating area, which is was full of happily drinking patrons. Very very loud. Very drunk. The waiter brought us chips that were spot on. Oh so delicious, then some queso after a bit that made me almost inhale these chips. I was starting to be okay with the long wait/ noisy patrons, thinking the food would be as delicious as the chips. To my sorrow, my Tubular Tacos wasn't anything really super special( also why did they have to make my Tacos look like enchiladas [in tubes] without the sauce? If I wanted enchiladas I'd order enchiladas T_T). I mean, it was definitely high quality Tex Mex, but it wasn't worth justifying the noise and clatter of the dining experience. It was Not Desperado's, let's say.
So I suggest coming on an Off Day as a previous reviewer did, at 3pm and enjoying your delicious Tex Mex on the lake when you'll be able to hear your own thoughts as well as your dinner mates.
Meh. This place was much better back in the day.. or maybe I was just younger and didn't notice the average-ness. The food this time around was pretty bland and tasteless.. not much there of substance.
I felt sorry for the poor cocktail waiters at one of the deck bars who were dodging a swarm of bees each time they went to pick up a drink.. eek. Not exactly an expected work hazard at a bar.
Certainly don't plan on any return trips anytime soon.
So it might fall on the "touristy" or "cheesey" side, but I love Hula Hut. We don't go there for the food, which is perfectly fine by the way, but we go for the outdoorsy/lake ambiance.
After being out of town for a couple of days, I came home with the urge to do something that felt like "Austin", especially since we are hitting the 90 temperatures. So we put on our flip flips and headed over to Hula Hut. I was perfectly ok with the hour long wait, because we just pulled ourselves up to the bar that sits over the water, served ourselves some chips and salsa and ordered some type of pineapple rum drink. I could spend hours sitting out there and we did.
For dinner I branched out and got the grilled Hawaiian chicken instead of the standard enchiladas or fajitas that I normally order. I was impressed and have decided I should branch out more often. Sitting outside by the lake, eating Mexican food at dusk, wearing flip flops and drinking a cold one is one of the reasons I first fell in love with Austin. Thanks for the reminder, Hula Hut!
This is no longer associated with Chuy's, who sold it a little while back. It's simply called Hula Hut now. I came here towards the end of a week-long vacation to Austin, where I'd eaten so much Tex-Mex that I had to order the Shrimp Po Boy to change things up. It was pretty good. Not awesome, but good for a place called the Hula Hut. The margarita they served me was warm due to lack of ice, but I added some and it hit the spot. It's not gourmet, but overall Hula Hut seems like a fun place to party because of its lakeside location, which I'm sure is pretty gorgeous at night.
I echo an earlier review - if you're from a coastal place and are missing water views, this is a shot in the arm! Beautiful views, fun atmosphere, casual attire and friendly service.
We ordered the Thai chicken nachos, which were a bit too blazingly spicy to be enjoyable. But the virgin pina colada hit the spot. And my sis enjoyed her "real" margarita.
Austin, TX
Category: Barbeque
Neighborhood: 78704 (South Austin)
Category: Couriers & Delivery Services
Austin, TX
Category: Hair Salons
Neighborhood: 78704 (South Austin)
Category: Tex-Mex
Austin, TX
Category: Sushi Bars
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