Russell's Bistro: A Classy Brunch

Russell's is no Kerbey or Magnolia in the fact that the setting is just so much nicer and it seems so much cleaner. And the prices are still pretty much the same, although the menu options are more limited.

The only thing I'm really going to complain about was the service, which itself wasn't really that bad ... it was just the fact that they seem heavily understaffed or just incapable of handling the brunch rush in a timely fashion. Our waitress did bring us out 2 free snickerdoodles which was really nice and I completely understood that it was the kitchen's fault, not hers. But literally, we got there before noon and didn't leave until after 2 pm. I think that's a little ridiculous.


This is the outside with their fairly large patio. I wish we had the other waiter who kept bringing his tables mimosas to help them forget about the fact that they had been waiting an hour for their food, haha.

They have an amazing bakery that you can shop from and you can also sit down and eat. You can also find some of their baked goods at local coffee shops, such as Bennu.


Not to mention, they have packs of day-old baked goods. All 4 of these muffins cost $3. Well, actually for me they were free due to the circumstances, haha. But in a normal scenario, that is really a steal seeing how the fresh muffins cost more than double the price of 1 day-old muffin ($0.75)!

Bistro Omelet

And finally, my brunch came out, although I was already full from snacking on my snickerdoodle and a little bitter. Nevertheless, the presentation of everything was excellent. The omelet itself was very tasty... I loved the mushrooms. The avocado was good, but could have been more fresh. I liked the potatoes, but in the end I was too stuffed to eat them. The croissant came with strawberry butter which reminded me of Quack's pink vanilla bean buttercream frosting but much much much lighter. It was good! Very interesting idea. And then some fresh fruit on the side that also was not very fresh. I always suggest never using cantaloupe because it never looks fresh. It just looks like mushy goop and it makes all the other fruit taste like cantaloupe.

Yeah, okay so if my experience had occurred in a more timely fashion I think this would have been a much more positive entree. I think Russell's definitely has the potential to be an A+ brunch place, if you don't think it is already. They just need to get in the swing of things during the brunch rush and not let the stress cause them to make mediocre food.

Russell's is located at:
1601 W. 38th St.
Austin, TX 78731
www.russellsbakery.com


x,

Franny