Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide

I gave this as a gift to my dissertation supervisor at the Texas Department of State Health Services. She loved it, and now keeps it in the front near the administrative assistant's desk so everyone on the team can refer to it when choosing restaurants.

Neat little book. Very honest opinions and we have found that the authors views pretty much mirror our own. Not in all cases though, we have restaurants that we love that they rated poorly and vice-versa. That said, it's a very useful book and has brought several restaurants to our attention that we didn't know about or didn't know enough about. Obviously, you have to live in one of the cities that they publish but if you live in one of the target rich environments like Austin, it's a handy guide. I'd also reccommend their other book, "The Wine Trials". These same authors did blind taste tests with 507 testers in a variety of cities, testing wines that ranged in price from under $10 to over $200. They then tabulated the results and published a list of cheap wines that beat the big boys. VERY INFORMATIVE. Fool your wine snob friends by decanting some of the top ranked cheap wines and telling them you paid a wad for them.

Have lived in Austin almost 20 years - picked this book up to keep for out-of-town guests to use, ended up reading it like a novel and tabbing many, many pages of new places I want to eat. Better than a Zagat's-style guide, it's witty, intelligent, and dead-on accurate (so far). Have now given it as a gift to numerous people - here's a great gift idea: buy this book and insert a gift card to a highly-rated restaurant on the page where it's reviewed.

Austin has a huge problem with all the food critics pandering to the "Austin Institutions". Because of this it's REALLY hard to get a good idea about a place before you eat. I've already found a new place I like to eat from this book, and all the reviews are pretty spot on (they agree with my opinion that Casino El Camino has the best burgers in town.) So if you like food and plan on ever being in austin, this book is worth it's weight in gold. Willis Approved!

this is something austin has needed for a long time. these writers don't just list restaurants -- they review them really seriously. some of the reviews are absolutely scathing ... and pretty funny. and in terms of food, they're spot on. why has everybody else been afraid to come out and say it: guero's isn't that good! also the review for mansion at judges hill is hilarious -- it's written as a long limerick.