This place is awesome! Salsa bar in the middle with varying authentic Mexican sauces. The food is made from scratch and rich with flavor. Our favorite part was the homemade tortillas. In the corner of the restaurant there are 2 ladies making homemade corn and flour tortillas, and you can just help yourself! read more

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Some of the best Mexican food I've ever had. The salsa bar is a nice touch. We had a short weight and really good service. The salsa was just ok but liked that it was self serve. The beans and chili relleno were to die for. Rice was good and I like the low ceilings and lights. Wish they would have had more soda options. Lots of choices on the menu. Will be back. read more

Best Tortilla Soup! Loved the salas bar! Great twist on authentic Mexican food! I highly recommend the queso flameado as an appetizer. read more

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The food was amazing! The tortillas we're actually authentic. Someone was actually rolling them out and cooking them! Outstanding! BUT, Our waiter was not as attentive as he should have been. We had to wait on chips and our coke was flat (can drink) and we had to wait for another. I feel like for this particular restaurant the food was way over priced. AND they charged for extra tortillas! They only gave you two for your fajitas. I am not sure if we will be back. read more

I was very disappointed to the cold brake fast and awful taste of the beans and chicharron. I had also machacado and barbacoa i was not impressed with it The waiter will take forever to come and check with me there was no desserts Tue 3 starts is because i have had good dinners experience. I had 3 tacos and coffe it was 15 dollar i would expect some decent hot meal. read more

In all fairness, I used to love this place. The margs are still great, however, service has fallen very, very hard. Both our hostess and waiter treated us like they would rather be doing anything else, and for that, we will ensure that we don't inconvenience them any longer with our business. read more

We have lived in the neighborhood for years and have been eating here even longer. We will never send another dollar in the restaurant again. First of all for the last year and a half the quality of the service has steadily gone downhill. We went to have dinner tonight, the place is half empty and the hostess tells us we can't wait for a table inside since we were only a 2 top. There were open tables everywhere. In addition the manager who we have seen on many occasions for at least the last 5 years if not longer, sat on his butt and watched the whole episode transpire and did nothing to intervene or help resolve the situation even as we left the resturant in frustration , trying to gesture to him that there was a problem. Hence the reason why we will ever spend another penny in this establishment. read more

The food: mid. The price: high. The amount of tortillas they give you: 2 total. We split one meal and they overcharged us and they ended up doubling the price. I am just a poor little boy with no coins in my coin purse. read more

This review comes after a second visit after a number of years. The first was pretty much forgotten. It wasn't until I saw the well of salsas that I remember being there at all. The second time was for a reunion with an old friend. He always ranted and raved about this place when he checked in on Facebook. Ceviche this and margaritas that. After wading through a pool of waiting hipsters (in the parking lot) and writing our name down on a list, we decided to get some margaritas. After finishing one and a half of them, we were finally were seated. I was anxious and could only hope it was worth the hour long wait. Pros: The salsas at the salsa podium were great. A little too watery (in texture), but the flavors were really spot on. Spot on, you say? My mother makes salsas similar to the ones they offered and for a few moments I was brought back to her kitchen. Nice. Given how hectic and busy the place was, the service was surprisingly attentive and polite. Meh: We ordered a large ceviche as an appetizer. The flavors were okay, but it smelled a bit too fishy for a civiche. The fish was also just a plain white fish. I'd guess a tilapia or a mojarra. It was nothing to write home about. Cons: I ordered the chile relleno with beef fajita. I normally opt for chicken or cheese, but I wanted to see how they prepared their fajitas and also their chiles. The sauce on the relleno was ok. The relleno itself was also ok. The beef fajita on the other hand... its seasoning wasn't so great. I tasted like it had maggi on it (a soy sauce substitute). Final Thoughts: In the end, I only finished about a third of my relleno. I was not really excited or inspired by the food. They have menudo and other traditional soups on the menu and that is usually a good sign when advertising authentic "Interior Mexican Cuisine." Maybe I came on an off day? Maybe I actually don't have any idea what interior Mexican cuisine really is? I'm afraid I'll never know as I'm unlikely to return for another visit. read more

I can't remember the last time I waited so long for food to come out after ordered... We waited about 20 minutes to be seated and then about an hour more after we ordered. We were also told that they didn't have any chips... Super strange experience. The food was decent but service is pretty important so I will not be returning here. read more

Polvos South - Mexican Near Me - Austin, Texas

The food is consistently good here and I love the included salsa bar! My new favorite dish is the Chili Relleno al Nogal, not too heavy on the batter and the pecan cream sauce on top make it delicious. Their margaritas and horchata are a nice compliment to any meal. read more

Polvos South - Chili Relleno al Nogal - Mexican Near Me - Austin, Texas

Super disappointed. Menu looks great but the margaritas taste like watered down margarita mix. This is the first time in my 50+ years of eating Mexican food multiple times per WEEK, that I have ever been to a Mexican restaurant and they CHARGE FOR SALSA. They serve you warm chips WITHOUT salsa! They say you can go to salsa bar for $3.50. I'm so shocked, never in my life ALL over the world, has any restaurant ever charged for salsa when they serve chips. There are one million Mexican restaurants in Austin. Go somewhere else. read more

Hands down some of the best breakfast tacos I've ever had. Great atmosphere but sometimes the music is way to loud. Servers could learn how to consolidate a little better but over all, great experience!! read more

not even a star, expensive, dry food, and gross, $18 for tacos? Go for it.... Oh and $16 for a margarita BTW...

We came to Polvo's as a recommendation from a Hyatt Regency front desk clerk. We came on a Sunday night in between Christmas & New year's. We had to wait for 20 minutes & it was chilly outside (hi 40's), so we waited inside. There was not much room to wait inside. We sat in the first available seating which happened to be in the outside heated area. The area had plastic hanging walls. I was visiting from Chicago with my 2 teenage daughters. They give you a basket of chips & you can go inside to get your choice of salsa at the salsa bar. We got all of the salsas (3 of them). They were all pretty good. I ordered a magarita on the rocks (it was ok) & the girls got lemonade (which they like alot). We order the enchilada plate where you create your own. We order the chicken enchilada w/mole and picadillo with tomatillo salsa. The mole was really good. We always like to try the mole where ever we go, because we love mole sauce!! This rated high on our list of great mole. The inside filings were really good. I wanted to try the vege enchilada, but would like to do it another time when we visit again! We would definitely recommend this restaurant and come back here next time we are in town. We left with a very good feeling about this place! read more

Disappointing experience. We are three elderly couples, in our 70s and 80s. First, we found out it had to be one check, and realized later that there was a 20% gratuity for groups of 5 or more, which was printed in the menu. I knew what I wanted, was paying the bill, and never looked at the menu. We have been having lunch together for years and this was a first. Things went downhill from there. We loved Abuelo's when they occupied the space. We certainly will never return. read more

Tortillas are made in house and so delicious. The tortilla soup is BOMB. I was very impressed with their Spanish rice. A lot of places rice is bland but Polvos has great flavor! read more

I usually don't do this but I went out to go buy a Karen wig just for this. My daughter and I went to try this place today and the food was extremely bland. We were charged a dollar more for our drinks than what the price was for the menu. They charge for the salsa bar, which our terrible server, conveniently forgot to mention. She never refilled drinks. Also, paper menus don't have prices you have to scan a stupid QR code for that. Sorry, I'm with the Boomers on this one, I'm not doing it. I figured due to the ambiance it wouldn't be expensive so I didn't scan the QR code. Big mistake! A tea, a soda, queso, a salsa bar charge, a fajita plate and a flauta plate came to $72.26. I can get better food with flavor way cheaper somewhere else. Never again. read more

Arrived at 12:15 on a Sunday and seated ourselves on the patio. Left at 2:00 pm with an $80 check for 2 bowls of tortilla soup, floutas and chicken enchiladas. No apps. No subs. We drank water. 2 hours. $80. In the blazing sun. The service was pathetic. We sat for 20 minutes before they took our order. We had to ask for utensils. They came back with 2 forks, for a party of 5. We ate our chips, they offered more, but never brought them. We waited another 45 min for food. Now the food. The soup looked like prison food. Greasy, thin. The chicken was grey. The knife cuts looked like they were done by a paraplegic orangutan of below average IQ. My wife wouldn't eat hers and sent it back. Well, tried to. She had to track down the waitress, who, after ignoring us for 20 mins, gave a song and dance about not being able to find the manager to take it off the bill. I told her I would be happy to find him for her. They never actually took the soup away, but did remove it from the bill (after another 20 min wait to pay) or else we'd have been over $100 for lunch. They also added a 20% tip to the bill and didn't say anything, thankfully I can math. Enchiladas and floutas were fine and well presented, but certainly not worth 20 bucks a pop and more than an hour wait. Bottom line: the prices are outrageous. The food ranged from pretty good (enchiladas) to pathetic (tortilla soup). Service was abysmal. Restaurant was dirty and bathrooms were criminal. Only good part was they didn't jack us for the "salsa bar", tortillas were good for Austin (although we didn't get tortillas until after we were done eating.) Frankly, this was one of the top 3 worst restaurant experiences in my life. Did I mention the soup gave me indigestion? I ate mine because I was starving and didn't want to waste $15 SOUP! It tasted better than it looked and least I didn't get food poisoning. Want really good Mexican? Come down to San Antonio. But if you can't do that, whatever you do, don't eat here. read more

This was my first visit to Polvo's and after reading some reviews, I was reluctant. Glad I gave it a try because I sure enjoyed the lunch! I tried the "Combo Plate" and it was a generous amount of food with about half of the lunch home with me for another meal! I tried the Combo Plate with one cheese enchilada and a very generous beef peccadillo taco wrapped in a fresh corn tortilla. (I was a little surprised, because I expected a typical fried corn tortilla, but the fresh-made corn tortilla taco was so much better!) I went early on a weekday and Polvo's was not too crowded. They offer a small salsa bar to help yourself. They had two types of salsa (I think it was a roja salsa and a roasted chili salsa.) and they were both full of flavor but not too much spice. [They also offered some pickled onions and jalapenos, but I did not try.] Service was prompt and attentive and refilled my iced tea a number of times. When I'm eating a spicy lunch, a tea refill is important! There are many great Tex Mex places in this area of Austin, but I hope I can try Polvo's again before too long! read more

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The migas breakfast/ brunch special was a meal to return for again & again! It was especially good with our drinks!!

10000% DO NOT RECOMMEND!! Honestly, it's the worst place I've ever been too. Worst place!! We waited over an hour for a table, because it looked like a cool place. After waiting over an hour, we got seated and waited another 30 mins for anyone to come to our table. We finally caught the attention of the hostess, who apologized and took our drink order. Quickly got us a pitcher of margs on the rock and then we still waited another 20 mins for a server to come to our table. We came for drinks and ordered some Queso and chicken fajitas to nibble on for the 4 of us, plus a 2nd round of margaritas. Queso came out cold, and was 100% Velveeta cheese Rotel tasting dip. Fajitas were decent, but they brought out extra plates of sides that we didn't order and we told them we didn't order it and they said no problem and still left it on our table AND charged us for it. They never brought us any side plates, we had to wait 15 mins to even ask for side plates. It took a while for our server to bring us the 2nd pitcher. When we tasted the 2nd round, we asked our server what kind of tequlia they used in their margaritas, he said he didn't know. We were like it tastes like water and sour mix. He proceeded to tell us that we were the 3rd table to say that about the margaritas and told us "I think they're making them wrong". We asked him if he could make it right cause we weren't going to drink a 2nd pitcher of sour mix. He brought us our check and refused to make it right on the margaritas EVEN AFTER TELLING US THAT HE DIDN'T THINK THEY WERE MAKING THEM RIGHT and THAT OTHER TABLES COMPLAINED TOO. We were charged $122 on crap queso, sour mix pitchers, mediocre fajitas, and side items we didn't order. I will never go back and PLEASE DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY AT THIS PLACE. read more

Polvos South - Don't waste your time or money at this place. - Mexican Near Me - Austin, Texas

While the food was expensive the plates that my family and I got were large. Service was a bit slow but the sangria margarita was strong and the food was good, so I can't complain. Since I've been willing to come here more than once and the food wasn't disappointing, it gets 5 stars. read more

Everything about here is good. Good service, good food, good drinks. The salsa bar and guac are really good, but service was slow and a little cold. We ate inside on a slower day, and it took over 45 minutes for us to get our meal. Honestly if I were to come back it would be just for the salsa/guac and drinks. read more

I really like this place a lot. Great frozen margaritas with lots of flavor options. We always get the papas Coahuila appetizer to start with. This is my go to Mexican restaurant in south Austin! read more

Everything I've had here is excellent. Favorites are the fajitas - both the chicken & cerveza ones are on point! They also have my favorite frozen margaritas ever!! read more

Was surprised the reviews were this low. Came here on a Sunday night, took about 20 minutes to get seated with a party of 2. They have a help yourself salsa bar with spicy pickled veggies. I appreciate the veggies and the red salsa was pretty good. Chips were warm and made in house. Ordered the queso, it was solid, tasted exactly like you would want. Nothing extraordinary. The sides don't come mixed into the cheese which seemed odd. (Meat, tomatoes and onions were all on a side plate) I ordered the Al Pastor enchiladas. They were served with beans and rice with fresh avocado on top. The beans and rice were good, better than average. I'm not a fan of pineapple (which I forgot come in Pastor) but the flavor of the pork was very good. Was in almost a chipotle sauce that I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a full bar to which I had 2 house margaritas. They were good, not too sweet. My last comment will be on the decor. Very funky and cool on the inside, but loud so not ideal for a family. But great for a night out with friends. read more

Margaritas are so good but so dangerous!!! You've been warned!! Food is very yummy. Love the fajitas for 2 but a little expensive. Big portions as well read more

This place is unreal. Everything was so good. We got the queso which was amazing. It was fun to add everything in ourselves. We also got enchiladas with shredded chicken and a bean tamale. The enchiladas are *a lot* of food so it was perfect to share. All of it was super tasty and fresh. Great dog friendly patio too! read more

I started my meal majorly annoyed and in a foul mood. I ended my meal impressed. I guess a one star beginning and a five star ending averages out to three stars. * The annoyance came from the first thing you see when you walk into the restaurant - "SALSA $1.99" - right on the Salsa Bar. Charging for salsa?????? What next??? Charging for forks? Charging for a chair? Sure, every Mexican restauranteur can say objectively "Hey It costs Me Money To Make Chips and to Make Salsa". That claim is reasonable enough. but in Austin chips and salsa are free. Period. Stop. Fundamental Law. * Basic Fact of Texas History: Davy Crockett sacrificed his life at the Alamo so that Texas Salsa Could Be Free. It says so right in the Alamo. So You Charge for Salsa - You Insult the Spirit of the Lone Star State. * So irritated within ten seconds of arrival at the restaurant I made up my mind to spend the least amount of money possible in Polvo's. I skipped the drink and ordered one of the cheapest items on the menu - nachos. I expected to be in a sour mood when I finished the review - but the excellent nachos melted my heart. These nachos are on large homemade well flavored macro-chips. They are piled high with good stuff. They have cabbage rather than iceberg lettuce - a plus. They have fine marinated carrots - and these are excellent enough to make me wish the platter had a whole lot more of those babies. Instead of canned pickled jalapeno slices, they have a large mound of fresh cut jalapeno chunks. And these aren't de-fanged "girl"' jalapenos. These are the real deal. So even with mountains of sour cream and mountains of guacamole, these nachos blow the top of your head off. And the fire is based on real pepper taste and not empty fire. It was the first Mexican meal I have had in years that counted as legitimately hellishly hot. And all the ingredients were novel and high quality. * Polvo's clearly is a "people's choice" restaurant for Bouldin and Travis Heights. Even at four in the afternoon on a Saturday, the place was jam packed and jammed with the type of people whom you would expect to find in a $1,200,000 cutting edge designer home. I suspect these folks barely noticed the fee for salsa - especially if they were on their third or fourth top-of-the-line margarita. Frankly as the carrots and cabbage and jalapenos played rock and roll in my mouth - I started seeing things their way too. The place is beautifully decorated. It is a nice place to hang out. So I guess I won't argue in the future if I were to ever see a $7 napkin charge. read more

Menus don't have prices, wait staff never followed up to check our table, food was OK at best.

Enjoyed the place immensely. It was super noisy though so if you want to talk you might as well forget about it. I didn't think the food was anything special, pretty much standard Tex mex fare but we did enjoy the meal nonetheless. The guacamole was delicious and a huge portion and we split a beef fajita plate. The entrees are huge. I liked it but felt it could use more flavor other just meat and roasted onions. I did think it a bit tacky that you have to pay to get salsa and tomatillo sauce. That kind of did it for me as far as going back. It's just not what you do. Other than that and the noise, it was a fun evening with decent food. read more

We were seated immediately for a party of 6 on a Sunday night, and was surprised because we were still waiting for 4 people. When they arrived, we ordered drinks, and got a few different salsas at the salsa bar. That's a cool thing that they have. I had the Chile relleno stuffed with fajita beef. It was HUGE! I enjoyed the rice and beans as well. I couldn't finish the relleno, and because I wasn't going home, I couldn't save it or I would've taken it home for leftovers. I wouldn't recommend for a place to have a conversation with someone, it was a fun atmosphere and super busy, but go somewhere quieter if you are on a date or want to have a serious conversation with someone. My friends visiting from Denver really enjoyed their fajitas as well. We also had a queso appetizer which was very good, and queso is a big thing in Austin. You have to have a good queso to compete! read more

Damn good Mexican food. Fajitas and the Margs are A1. Servers and food selection is great! This spot is a great place to go out with friends and have a good time! read more

Great stop for a quick bite, this place gets very busy. I started off on the patio but there were a lot of flies so I moved inside where they accommodated me. I ordered a shrimp tostada item and it was tasty. The service (waiter, young guy) was veryyyy nice. read more

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Polvos was one of the worst experiences that I have had in the 9 years that I have lived in Austin. I was with 2 other people- one, Grace, who is allergic to shellfish. She ordered an appetizer, I ordered a Chile Relleno stuffed with veggies and cheese, and our other friend, Sarah, ordered a shrimp dish. Everything seemed fine, our waiter was ok, our chips & salsa was ok. Then we got our food. Sarah said her shrimp dish was tasty, and Grace's food was ok. I love Chile Rellenos so I jumped right in. It was crispy on the outside, and tender and cheesy on the inside- perfect! At least until I got 1/3 of the way through and bit into a shrimp shell. Like just the part you pull off the tail. I know restaurants are busy, and like, one shell in the wrong place isn't a huge deal, so I thought I was being gracious when I assumed it was just one, set it aside and kept eating. Then I found another one. Covered in cheese and enmeshed in my food. While I was waiting for the waiter to arrive, I dug around found a third and fourth. Just the tails mind you. The trash parts that you are supposed to throw away. At this time I am still (I guess naively) giving the cooks the benefit of the doubt. I know restaurant staff are underpaid, and overworked and I will Stan for them every time, so I was still irritated, but assumed they would take the plate, apologize and replace it with a new one. This was not to be the case. When the waiter finally arrived and I told him the issue, he said that he would have to check with the kitchen staff to see if it was the right dish. I asked him which dish came with shrimp shells? He said that maybe I ordered the shrimp. I said it was veggies and cheese only. I don't remember what else was said, but there was entirely too much back and forth. The waiter left with my plate to 'check with the kitchen'. Meanwhile Grace is freaked out because she had been moments from trying my food when she declined and this would have been a real health issue for her since she is allergic to shellfish. Waiter comes back with my plate just how it was when I left and insists that they made the right thing for me, and that I will not be getting a discount. I reiterated that there was literal trash in my food, and that I did not order trash, and he pointed to Sarah's mostly consumed plate of shrimp and said that those were her shrimp tails. I was stunned. After their waitstaff put TRASH in my food, they accused me of trying to cheat my way out of paying for the meal. I asked to speak with the manager. The waiter refused to get him for me and said if I wanted to speak with him, I'd have to go get him at the bar. So I go to the bar and wait for the manager. At this point I am hopping mad, but I can't lose my cool since I'm black in this establishment and its clear they are happy to use any excuse to treat me like garbage. So the manager finally comes up and I tell him what happened and HE starts arguing with me. Telling me that the shrimp they use in their Chile Rellenos 'don't have tails because they are the small ones' and other factoids that are dismissive and completely irrelevant to THE FACT THAT THEY PUT TRASH IN MY FOOD. Eventually he comes back to the table to see my plate, and my Puerto Rican friend Sarah dresses him down and tells him that he should be ashamed of himself for treating someone like this and that he needs to fix it and make it right. The manager begrudgingly says that he will comp my meal and send the waiter over with the bills. The waiter comes back very smarmy and hands us our checks. He has added an 18% gratuity to them. We demand the manager come back and fix the checks to take off the gratuity which he reluctantly does. The waiter returns to us with the 'correct' checks and whines about how he is just trying to make ends meet and why won't we pay him. I have never been to a restaurant and been treated this poorly. I cannot imagine any other restaurant in Austin where I could show them a major public health issue that their staff made and then be accused of cheating my bill and not even listened to. They wanted us to know that we were dirt and the message came through loud an clear. They were willing to commit health violations to insult us and let us know that we were not wanted. I wish there was a negative rating. I will warn everyone I know not to dine in this establishment. read more

Came here after swimming at barton springs all day and it was a pleasant surprise because pretty much nothing was available on a Saturday night. I didn't come here prior because the reviews only gave it 3.5 stars but the food here is insanely good. It took a little less than 30 minutes to be seated but we weren't tripping since it was the only place without an hour long wait. Location is beautiful inside and i loved the decor. We paid for the chips and salsa bar which was like $3.50 which didn't make any sense to me since most mexican restaurants give complimentary salsa obviously. But their salsa was super good and SPICY , it tasted like authentic mexican salsa which is probably why they charge extra for all the extra ingredients that go into it , but still lowkey kinda expensive for something that should be complimentary. Anyways, food was super good and fresh. Service was super mid we barely got asked anything but oh well read more

Polvos South - tacos and enchiladas - Mexican Near Me - Austin, Texas

Coming from Mexico City, visiting Austin my friends toke Me to have dinner here. U can imagine how doubting I was as a good Mexican I am very picky when I eat Mexican in USA. I have to say I am very very impressed with the food and the service ! Best best food I had outside of Mexico since I've lived in USA hands down. Brick was amazing taking care of us, very friendly and with a knowledge of his menu, he is truly what a server suppose to be, not just a robot taking orders. I will for sure come back for more and if you come to Austin; make sure you visit this place read more

Ate at the Barton Creek location. No prices on their menu. Had to look up prices on their web site. Food was ok. Rice & beans hardly had much flavor. Prices are higher than most Mexican restaurants. Will not give a return visit. read more

I LOVE their salsa bar and the fact that it has pickled veggies and such a variety of salsas. People might complain that they have to pay for it but for 5 different salsas that are all so good, they should shut their traps. I also love the margs and how strong they are. AND the breakfast tacos. But aside from those things, I was very disappointed by the camarones a la Diablo and nothing else on the menu really appeals to me sadly. So I'll stick to the simple things :) read more