Café No Sé | South Congress Hotel
This South Congress Hotel eatery has been on my list for a long time to check out. The beautiful, minimal, neon sign draws my attention every time I’m in SoCo after dark.
Credit: Café No Sé Facebook
My fiancé’s parents are in town and my birthday is near, they wanted to take me out. So, since it was still Austin Restaurant Weeks and Cafe No Se is on their list and on my personal list, we decided to have dinner there on Saturday night. I booked a reservation and included that we were celebrating my birthday, to see if maybe they have any different accommodations for birthday dinners.
Walking into Café No Sé, you’re met with a beautiful, bright, modern ambiance that is lined with birchwood planks on the walls and ceiling.
The staff in the front was very nice, recognized that it was my birthday dinner and sat us down right next to the window in front of Congress Avenue, which I really appreciated.
The gentleman who took our order, was soft spoken and was lacking in emotion or caring… it really seemed like he was having a bad day but after talking to him a bit, he warmed up.
Libations
So, we ordered some drinks, I tried the Sangria that was made with white wine, mathilde pear liqueur, and sage. [$10] It wasn’t a classic sangria, it was a little off, with a very acidic aftertaste.
Food
We started the meal with The Grilled Laffa Bread with dukkah, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, lemon [$4] which tasted very similar to grilled pita bread and was very, very good.
Seafood “Paella”
I did not order the Austin Restaurant Weeks fixe prix, instead I ordered the Seafood “Paella” which included crab, crawfish, shrimp, crisped carnaroli rice, fennel, grapefruit, orange [$27]. It wasn’t typical paella, which I really enjoy, but it was definitely delicious.
English Pea Mezzelune
My fiancé ordered the English Pea Mezzelune that included house made pasta, whipped goat cheese, tomatoes, arugula [$18] which was incredible, but know that there weren’t any peas in the dish like we expected.
Additionally, my fiance’s parents ordered the Crisp Cauliflower, charred eggplant, tahini, spinach, mini sweet peppers, pine nuts, golden raisins [$17] and the Grilled Hanger Steak which accompanies ponzu labneh, wild mushrooms, fresno, and asparagus [$17]. They were both pleased with their meals and I got to try the Crisp Cauliflower and was thoroughly impressed.
Grilled Hanger Steak
Crisp Cauliflower
For my birthday, a waitress brought over two adorable macarons with a candle lit on the plate, they were birthday cake and very, very tasty!! They tasted like they had some sort of a raspberry jam of some sort.
I loved the ambiance of the restaurant and I’ll definitely be back to try other dishes because the food was amazing.
Café No Sé also has a brunch you can try any day between 7AM and 3PM with delicious options like Avocado Toast with soft boiled egg, crème fraîche, arugula, and aleppo carrots [$13], Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, house made breakfast sausage, aged cheddar, buttermilk biscuit, potato, and arugula salad [$12], Sweet Potato Hash - two sunny eggs, crispy pork belly, kimchi, mustard greens, jalapeño [$15], and Cowboy Breakfast - two eggs any style, bacon, confit pork, borracho beans, tomato, roasted jalapeño, cilantro butter, and lavain [$16].
Lastly, this is very random but leaving the restaurant, there was an incredible convertible Cadillac Eldorado out front. What a beautiful sled!
Hope you get a chance to check out this delicious SoCo eatery!
Cheers!
Café No Sé
603 S Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78704
Hours
Sunday 7AM–10PM
Monday 7AM–10PM
Tuesday 7AM–10PM
Wednesday 7AM–10PM
Thursday 7AM–10PM
Friday 7AM–10PM
Saturday 7AM–10PM