This place is one of my all time favorites. The location is perfect, right by the lake. The cocktails are decent. What I really like is their stuffed avocado. This shredded chicken wrapped in a avocado and deep fried. Just like how they do it in Hawaii, Texas :) We also got the coconut shrimp and cocktails, but the star of the show was stuffed avocado. Great date spot! read more

Hula Hut - Kawaikini Stuffed Avocado - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Came here on November 13th for a drink with a friend for my 22nd birthday & bartender working denied my ID? I told him it was a valid ID because it wasssss Do better Hula Hut and make sure your employees are educated because that was sooo embarrassing :( read more

If I could give Hula Hut a 10-star review, I would. This is easily our new favorite spot in Austin. It overlooks Lake Austin and the view is gorgeous. I especially loved the Hawaiian island vibe aesthetic. My husband, 10-year-old son and I enjoyed the atmosphere, food and service. Our server, Ian, was phenomenal and incredibly friendly. Try their Hawaiian fajita or chicken chile relleno. We'll definitely be back! read more

Hula Hut - Hula Hut - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

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For years, Hula Hut was a staple of Austin dining for us to recommend to out of town visitors. But everything has gone downhill fast. From sneaking a credit card fee on to the bill (really, pushing for cash again?), changing their chips to hard and stale ones, changing the jalepeno ranch, beans, and rice recipes, not cleaning the restaurant, hiring those who only seem to have attitude, this place is well past living on its laurels. There are too many good choices (heck, Chuy's and Maudie's are just around the corner in minutes) to eat subpar, overpriced food. To the new owner, whatever you are trying to do isn't working. You are going to drive this restaurant to the same fate as Lucy's Boatyard - the views won't change the fact your food and service suck. read more

Beautiful spot on the lake for casual, reasonably priced food and drinks. I had the chicken chile rellenos and especially enjoyed the queso blanco sauce. Beans and rice were typical, no frills yet still delicious. My friend had the salmon dinner w/chopped salad and rice and for the price it looked really nice. Both hostess and server were friendly, engaged and prompt with seating and our order. Our served checked on us often and overall it was a really nice experience dining here. read more

Terrible service from the get go... Food was horrible... Nothing like seeing an employee blow snot rockets in the sink while you're in the bathroom. Yeah, I won't be back read more

What an astonishing place! The food was absolutely phenomenal--every bite was a delightful experience! The waiter was absolutely fantastic, and the view? Oh my gosh, it was simply breathtaking! read more

This is one of the most classic Austin restaurants to take visitors to! It has a great view of Lake Austin a great coffee house next door! The food is delicious for being Tex mex, but it isn't my first pick. They do give good portion sizes for the price you pay! Our server, Ashley, was so great! She was extremely patient with us as it took over half an hour to make a decision on what we wanted to order, and she was easy to talk to! I'm always down to go to Hula Hut mainly for the experience, atmosphere, vibe. I got the chicken and guacamole tubular tacos because my server recommended it and I would definitely get it again! read more

Hula Hut - Chicken and Guacamole Tubular Taco - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Hawaiian food. Nope none at all. majority of the menu is Mexican food. Not even a fusion. The only thing about this place that's "Hawaiian" are the names of some dishes and decor. The average party city Luau decorations. This should be called the Taco Hut instead. I had the grilled Hawaiian chicken chicken breast with poblano, bacon, grilled pineapple & monterey jack with pico de gallo & plum sauce, served with rice & chopped salad They gave me Mexican rice instead of white rice... WTF . It should be specified in the menu on what kind of rice they served and should be offered an options to have Mexican rice or White rice. The chicken, bland even with everything on it. The only good part of the dish was the salad. If I could give it 0 stars I would. read more

Service was good but food is horrible. It seems rushed and thrown together. The drinks were decent but it's safe to say I don't think I will be back. read more

Hula Hut - Chicken Quesadilla - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Food is not good. I tell people this all the time. Don't go for the food, go for the views. The views are beautiful especially during a good weather day. I got the chicken quesadilla. I thought you couldn't mess up a quesadilla but they proved me wrong. The flour tortilla tasted like a tasteless cracker. It was not good. The drinks are good though. I would return again for the drinks. Most likely during happy hour. read more

Overcharged and the bartender was irate We parked our boat at the bar, went in and my friends ordered frozen margs for use (3). They got the big sampler platter, I got bean and cheese nachos which was $10 on the menu if I remember correctly. When I got my bill I paid without looking it was $28 I looked at my bill and I was charged 1 marg and 1/2 of the sampler platter, which was $19 and my frozen marg was $12. When I asked the bartender why he flipped out on my say "dude I've been here all day". He told me to talk to his manager, she came by, looked at the screen, didn't give and explanation and left. I just wanted an explanation of my bill, I'm good at math I'm an accountant, I thought it should have been $22. He then proceeds to empty his tip jar to give me money back like I'm too broke to eat at his establishment. I never took his money, I tipped him $20 because I figured he needed the money if he's stressing this much about an error in his math. Long story short I paid $48 for some microwaved nachos and a decent frozen marg. The marg was good. read more

They have a great atmosphere being right next to the water, lots of bright colors with their indoor and outdoor seating and the food was plenteous. The food was alright, just regular mexican food that you could get anywhere. The drinks were kind of expensive but I should have seen that coming. Parking is a pain in the butt but I think I would come back if I wanted a change of scenery that wasn't like the other downtown areas. read more

Hula Hut - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Since Chuy's sold this concept, the quality of the food had dropped immensely! The chips were cold, low quality. We ordered two different types of salad - Caesar, Cobb. They were identical and horrible. The fajitas were "dead on arrival". Sloppy, limp veggies. The skillet was barely warm. It was edible, but so far from the delicious fajitas we remember. The Mexican martinis were 98% sweet and sour mix, 2% tequila. Awful, sweet and nasty. We love coming here to sit on the pier over the water, but next time, it will be AFTER we eat somewhere else. And we'll only order bottled beer only. Can't mess that up. ;) read more

Perfect date night spot. Nice views outside on the patio and bartenders were very friendly and had good recommendations on what food to order read more

Food 5 stars. Service and ambiance 4 stars. Very busy slammed after a Texas football game. Chicken Chili Rellano was wonderful as was the rolled chicken taco (which is really a burrito). Beans and rice were good. Good sized portions. Could tell food sat for a bit with a beans and sauce skinned over. Tea was good as well as chips and salsa were good. Unusual sauntering about seeking a table due to long wait. Bar was so busy got no service. Self served chips were nice once aware. Water self serve as well whether intended or not I'm not sure. Server was nice and attended sufficiently even though way too busy. read more

Hula Hut - Single Chicken Chile rellano - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

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This is my go-to place in Central Austin. Tex-Mex with a twist. The margaritas are always yummy and my favorite dish is chile rellenos. The backside of the restaurant is built out over lake Austin so it is a very unique feature. The breeze gently flows across as it comes up from Lady Bird Lake. This is a great spot for a date night or a TGIF happy hour! read more

Hula Hut - You can also get it to go! - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Had a bad experience last time I went, but this time it was amazing. Food was great. Service was fantastic. Very punctual! Turned into a nice date night for me and my girlfriend. Had an awesome server even though he was cut during our dinner time. read more

Hula Hut was the place you brought your visiting relatives to back in my college days, circa 1999-2003. You see, we weren't the foodie town we are today and so I could take my Mexican-born parents to see the water, experience the Austin my bartender money could afford and not be ashamed of the enchiladas on the menu. A lot has changed for many of us in Austin over the years but it seems not much has with Hula Hut. The location is still prime, the staff still really nice and attentive, doing the best they can, as we all are. But I just can't get over the fact that, in a town with so much kitchen talent and all the culinary creativity, this is what they trot out. The food wasn't bad, it was...ok, at best. It was weird that I got black beans when I asked for charro beans (and was told that was an option) but, I digress. I wasn't disappointed because, oddly enough, this is what I expected. I still recommend this place because there's a cool experience to be had, eating on the water, seeing the lights of the houses none of us will ever be able to afford. The margaritas were always good and, with the right friends, you can still have a fun time. I just wish they'd up their food game. Bring in a young chef with fresh ideas and let them go wild. We're all pulling for you, Hula Hut! read more

My family stopped by Hula Hut for a drink. It's a great location on the water with nice views across the lake. I gave the restaurant 2 stars because our waiter was friendly and I liked the location. For the ladies bathroom, I would have to give it negative stars. The smell was so bad, I tried to hold my breath. Imagine the smell of a busy concert porta potty, at the end of a very hot day, then multiply that times two. It was soooo bad I ran out without washing my hands, and I'm a person that takes pride in washing my hands. Before leaving this, I did a quick search of Hula Hut's reviews and found the word "bathroom" came up 25 times. Most of what I read was about the lack of cleanliness and the smell. I agree with other reviewers--ya'll can do better. You've got a great location--please listen to what your patrons are saying. read more

We decided to eat here before grabbing a coffee from next door. The place has a very laid back feel, which made for a care free lunch. You also have a great view. We didn't know what to order so I ordered the stuffed avocado as suggested by our waitress. It was very good with lots of flavor. It is listed on the snack side of the menu, but is large enough to make a meal of it. The hatch green chili sauce tasted amazing with the avocado. My hubby ordered the nachos with beef. They also tasted good, but be warned they charge extra for sour cream and guacamole. I understand that the charge is on the menu, but wished the waitress would of pointed it out when we ordered, I feel like most places include it with the charge of the nachos. The waitress was very friendly and attentive. If you are in the area on a nice sunny day, check this place out. read more

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What happened to the hula hut that I grew up with? Extremely rude staff, bartender in particular, cold food and slow servers that don't show up. EVER. Will not return. read more

Idk it's really giving Carribean/Tex-mex Red Robin. Everything was kind of dirty and rundown, food wasn't great, but it did have good view if you sat outside. read more

Hula Hut - Outside patio - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Never been treated so badly. The "manager" was awful and so rude. Wish this place was better. I can't believe this guy is trusted to run a restaurant. Disputable. read more

I have been going to Hula Hut for 20+ years. It has always been one of my favorite places in Austin. But after my latest experience, I'm not sure if I'll ever go back. My party of 5 got there at around 5:00 on a UT home game weekend. We were told that the wait would be 30 minutes even thought the inside was completely empty and the outside was half empty. We tried to get a drink, but the inside bar was closed and there was only one bartender at the outdoor bar. After almost an hour wait, we finally got seated....right after a party of 10. Our poor waiter. By the time our food got to us, it was not good. It tasted like it had been sitting under a heat lamp all day. When I told our waiter (who was great, by the way) that we were disappointed with everything, he told us there was new management. I told him to pass on our displeasure to them. I hope they heard and see my post!! read more

Great place to enjoy a (partly) sunny afternoon with friends beside Lake Austin. Plan on using the walkup bars on rear deck and standing while you chat. I'd really lucky, you might snatch an open seating table near the bars or on side patio. Not sure if the 1+ hour wait for an indoor waiter-served table is worth the trouble since we didn't. Chips and salsa available from the bar. read more

Overall a solid tourist spot with a great view. No Hula's but a few Huts. Sat at one of the 4 bars and would go back to try the others. On the way to the bathroom you get a nice view of some employees with great homemade tortilla making skills. Can get pretty crowded but recommend a drive through Terrytown afterwards. Emma Stone lives there! read more

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Food and service were AMAZING. The Shrimp Flautas were my favorite, they are a must try for appetizers! Only thing i wish was they removed the plastic covers on the dock because we really wanted to watch the sunset, and they weren't seating outside without the plastic covers. I will definitely come back again! read more

Hula Hut - Mexoniesian Shrimp Flautas - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

This was a terrible experience from start to finish! I had originally made plans with the manager for this location for a group. This is important. When we arrived I had several employees including a guy claiming to be the manager tell me I was LYING about this! Like ARGUING with me. I even showed them texts from a reservation app where they said their system doesn't do a reservation app. THEN when they put us on a waitlist live and in person that sent a text, I showed them that, and they STILL SAID I WAS LYING because there is no way their system sent that. Finally, the person I was with called the manager (they had business cards there) who quickly called the people we were dealing with, told them all of this was legit, and where to sit us. Do you think the so called "manager" who called me a liar apologized, nope. He disappeared and let his staff handle it never to be seen again. As for the food, mid at best. Service we had once seated was fine. The wait staff was fine. But the initial interactions... I would NEVEE recommend or visit this place. Honestly the "manager" who calls a customer a liar instead of trying to figure out what we are talking about should be fired. I can't recommend this place after how I was treated. Which is unfortunate because the manager I spoke to on the phone was incredible. read more

When people talk about outdoor oasis in Austin, its the Oasis, BUT, this is truly the gem of the area as all around winner for outdoor patio! Enter the Hula Hut, which on any given night is JAMMIN! Worry not, the place is huge and has so much room to accommodate, your wait will never be that long, and nothing a drink at the bar cant fix! Make sure to stop inside and put your name in, then head to one of the outside bars. We liked our view and bartender so much we decided to just stay at the bar and were more than welcome to eat there as well. We started out with drinks, and boy that menu was huge. The bartender gave suggestions and they were on point. We sampled several different drinks each and they were all great. There is self serve chips and salsa on the deck, and we started with the stuffed avocado appetizer. Can I say that again, STUFFED AVOCADO, take note of this, as this might be my favorite food ever. The outside was lightly breaded and deep fried however the avocado was still cool and refreshing. It was stuffed with the perfect tender chicken along with cheese. It was so good we considered ordering 2 more as the meal too. Curiosity got the best of me thought and I wanted to sample other things. My meal was the chicken chile rellenos which was amazing. My friend had the burrito which she enjoyed too. Great service, great drinks, great view of the lake, what more could you ask for???!!! Also, not overpriced! read more

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Beautiful location. Friendly staff. Cold beer. Unfortunately, when I walked inside I first asked them if they had Wi-Fi. Needed to work while I ate. "Yes". Went outside, ordered, got the chips, salsa, and cold beer. Asked for the Wi-Fi password, "we don't have Wi-Fi". Luckily the apologetic bartender was able to stop my order. Salsa had a good fresh flavor. Bartender service was spot on. Will come back with friends to try the food. Looked great. read more

Hula Hut - Outside bar view - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Best server ever!!! Was so friendly and happy, and brought us 3 bags of chips to go for free. My friend and I split a tubular taco meal and he had them cut it in half and put on different plates which was nice but we also got pretty much the same amount of beans and rice that the whole portion got, score. Also the tubular tacos are HUGE. Even with splitting the meal neither of us finished. Food came very fast. There's complementary chips and salsa. The salsa is so fresh. We also ordered some jalapeño ranch and ended up dipping our chips in it and putting it on our tacos and fries. So yum. Not to mention the fantastic view and atmosphere! read more

Hula Hut - Back patio view - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

Get an enchilada! Those are the best here and the rest is just ok. I got the shrimp enchiladas and my friend got the chicken. The chicken was a bit dry and the shrimp was cooked ok. Their mango cream cheese quesadillas are pretty good if you like that sort of thing. Like I said the food is just ok and their drinks are just ok, too. What is good here? The view is amazing. You sit right on the water and the outside patio really makes you feel like you're on vacation somewhere! This alone is worth coming here. Make sure you get yourself on the waiting list because most days there will be one - especially on the weekend! There is very little parking available in the front of the building but you can find parking across the street in their huge parking lot. It's a bit of a pain if you have kids, since it's up on a hill, so I would recommend dropping them off first. There is also very little handicap parking so beware. Complimentary chips and salsa. Their salsa is not too spicy and has pineapple in it so it's refreshing and a little sweet! read more

I've been here a couple times before and this is actually my second time enjoying a birthday dinner here, this time with my girlfriends family. We arrived here right before sunset and got a table for 6 pretty quickly. We were seated in a great spot allow allowing us to look our over the lake at the hills. For dinner I had some shrimp enchiladas that were absolutely fantastic and very filling. I really like that the waitress was honest about food portions and helped me in making the right decision. The food came out relatively quickly and everyone was happy with their orders. There was pretty good weather, not too hot, and the mosquitos didn't bother too much. Everything was good, but the birthday dessert wasn't all that good. Pretty great place for some food on the lake and the vibe is really nice. Authentic Austin kind of place. read more

Hula Hut - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Give Dakota, Leslie, Hailey, Scott, and Clint a raise! Best service in all of Austin, TX. My sister was visiting and she said, "this is hands down the best place I've been so far while visiting." All because of their exceptional hospitality and friendliness...10/10!!! Go HULA HUT and their incredible staff!!! read more

Visited Austin while breaking for Thanksgiving. This was a suggested place to try. A great scenic view of the lake, and mountain. The jalapeno sauce was delicious. The mango margarita was tasty. I totally got full of the chips and salsa. The salsa was so good, I could have forgone dinner. If you are near, visit this place. read more

Hula Hut - Mountains - Tex-Mex Near Me - Austin, Texas

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MADDY!! I was visiting a friend in Austin and other friends suggested we visited hula hut. I'm so glad we did! MADDY was our wonderful server and he filled us in on all the happy hour specials. $1 off margs during happy hour. Whoop whoop! This place has such laid back all are welcome vibes and was such a phenomenal way to kick off my visit. The food was good, the margs were even better and the vibes and service were A++ read more

I came for dinner with my family on a Sunday and we had a great time! It was fairly busy but we were only quoted 30 minutes for a wait and were able to pass that by getting a table in the open seating area anyway. Chips and salsa are self-serve in the open seating area, I'm not sure if this applies to the whole restaurant or not, but you can go back as many times as you want which is nice. I ordered the quesadillas and they were solid! The portion sizes are big so I went home with basically an entire meal still but I'm not complaining. Overall, the service was good but not necessarily the quickest. My biggest complaint was the spider family living in the umbrella over our table. We noticed them once it got later in the evening and while they technically didn't do anything, I felt uneasy knowing there were 10+ spiders hanging above my head while I ate. COVID Precautions: Some employees wore masks but they didn't seem to be required. Social distancing was minimal. read more

We LOVE Megan who was our waitress and made sure our group of 7ish people had an awesome time while we were here! This is a really great spot with an awesome patio read more

Come here for the scenery, not the food. The drinks are actually pretty good too. The food is average Mexican food, great for day drinking with friends to share some nachos or quesadillas. Staff was very friendly. Pro Tip: get there around mid day when they open the deck seating (around the bar) and that is first come, first serve. We didn't wait at all. Our food came out very quickly. The queso was fantastic. We got the stuffed avocado appetizer because it looked unique. It was pretty good, worth the try. I ordered plain old chicken quesadillas and they were nothing special but good. Another note: they are currently not serving the fish bowl Hu-La-La drink for 2. I ordered 2 of the halves and the drink was very good and refreshing. read more

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