Dustin C.'s Profile

This place is very sketchy and just generally gave me a bad feeling.  Like others have said, there's broken glass all along the floor and it's pretty crowded.

In six words: Stay away, stay away, stay away.

I know that it's not the barbecue that is consistently rated "the best" in Austin, but I love Iron Works.  In fact, it's probably my first choice for barbecue in (or around) Austin.  Their sausage is excellent and their brisket is not bad at all.  Definitely a great place to get some barbecue.

In six words: Barbecue is good, sausage is excellent.

I've gotten both good and bad at this place.  The Mini Chimi's they are serving now are good, the chicken tacos are bad.  The service is sometimes quick but other times you will get service where they forget your order, get mad at you for not having exact change, and not have your first three choices.

Some of the food is actually pretty good for fast food Tex-Mex and it's great late at night when other places have closed.

In six words: Hit or miss--tortillas are tasty.

IKEA is great.  If you're looking for the highest quality furniture you should definitely go elsewhere: you aren't going to get it here.  On the other hand, I've never been disappointed with something I've bought at IKEA.

The secret at IKEA is to go and skip the furniture and head straight for the food.  The meatballs are amazing and very well priced.  When I lived closer I'd go probably once a week to eat.

In six words: Meatballs are grand.  Furniture is cheap.

Star Seeds used to be good, before they cleaned up.  Let me explain.

It used to be a sort of badge to go to Star Seeds.  The place was dirty and the service was atrocious (I think being on the verge of a nervous breakdown because you broke some limited edition LP was a pre-requisite for working there), but you dealt with it because the food was above average and prices were low.

Then they cleaned up the place, service improved (slightly), and prices were raised.  You went in there and there was nothing really unique about it and you asked yourself, "What am I doing here?"

In six words: Was good.  Now, not so much.

I really hate to only give this place two stars, but for overall experience, that's what it gets.  

Food:  The pizza is good.  Not amazing and not best in Austin, but above average.

Experience: The first time I went there I really liked the location.  It was a nice, laidback atmosphere.  Same for the second time.  Third time, however, was a completely different story.  We had been at our table for about ten minutes when water starts leaking furiously from the ceiling.  We can't find our server anywhere so it's up to us to put glasses out underneath the leaks.  We finally found our server, but it sort of soured me on the place.

In six words: Food is good.  Location is leaky.

After a recent trip taking someone to the Seton ER at 3am, I told everyone I knew, "I don't care if I'm right outside of St. David's, take me to Seton."

We first went to St. David's because we were right there.  Big mistake.  We were waiting for 75 minutes before we were even called back.  When we were called back, we were then told they didn't have any beds, so it'd be another hour before we saw anything.  No thanks.

We drove straight over to Seton and didn't have to so much as sit down before we went back.  The staff was extremely friendly and I'm pretty sure they have their own sitcom on NBC--they were definitely making me laugh and made me forget that it was less than five hours before I had to be up again.

I liked this place so much, I'm thinking of falling from a tree just so I have an excuse to go back.

Where else can I get my hair cut in the evening, plus play Galaga if I have to wait?

The woman who cut my hair at this location was very nice and gave me a good cut.  Plus, there was just the right amount of conversation.  Getting your hair cut can be awkward if the person cutting your hair isn't a good conversationalist (twice I've had a guy at the Lamar location not say a single word to me the entire time), so this was definitely welcome.

Plus, the price is excellent.  I'm getting a good cut for about half the price I was paying.  

This is definitely the Bird's location to go to.

The flooring and the furniture are both out of my price range (though probably not unreasonable) , but getting cards that aren't Hallmark has become increasingly difficult since the shuttering of Paper+Ink a couple years back, so I've come into IF+D a couple times to see what they have.  

Every time I've been in there, the owner has been extremely nice.  I don't know the owners like another reviewer, but they make me feel like I do.  In fact, last time I was in there, one of the owners asked me who the card was for.  When I told her she said, "Here!  Let me give you this notebook.  You two can write notes to each other."  I love that personal touch.

And if I ever get out of the ramen and mac-and-cheese income bracket, I'll be sure to come back here and look at flooring.

After my very first experience with JC Automotive, I knew that I wasn't going to take my car anywhere else.  While sitting in their waiting area (with free wi-fi!), I saw two separate people come in and be told, "There's nothing wrong with your car.  It looks to be working just fine."  That would have been all I needed to hear to know that JC was my place, but there's so much more to them than that.

Yes, JC is in Round Rock, but don't fret.  They'll drive you home and then pick you up when your car's ready--at no extra charge.

They'll explain things to you in ways that you'll understand, even if you don't know cars.  I trust them enough to ask straight out, "Do I need to get this done now, or can I put it off?"

And, yes, getting your car fixed is expensive.  JC makes it ridiculously easy, however.  They have a 90-days-same-as-cash program, so you can spread out that expense.  When I was there I was even told, "If you have trouble making a payment on the expected date, give us a call and we'll see what we can do."

I think it's really important to find a good mechanic and stick with them, especially if you don't know cars, and I'll be sticking with JC.