Best Italian Restaurants in Central Austin

Great service by Eva during a busy valentines weekend dinner. Each course was better than the last and our wine service was amazing.

Dean’s lived up to the hype and is the perfect spot to celebrate a special occasion or have a date night if you want upscale but classic Italian steakhouse cuisine with fantastic service! I made reservations for 2 at 9:15 pm on Valentine’s Day (Friday night). We arrived early at 8:50 pm and were seated about 5 minutes ahead of our reserved time. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, they were giving each couple a rose which was such a nice touch! SERVICE - Our server, Hannah, was so attentive, personable, and took great care of us! Despite it being Valentine’s Day, we received great service from start to finish… our water glasses were constantly refilled, food came out quickly, and both the manager and chef checked on us toward the end of the meal to ensure everything was to our liking. We were highly impressed! WAGYU MEATBALLS (8/10) - These were juicy, flavorful, and seasoned really well! You get 5 meatballs with plenty of San Marzano sauce and Grana Padano on top and it comes with a piece of crispy bread. DEAN’S ONION SOUP (10/10) - If you love French onion soup, this is a MUST order! The broth is incredibly flavorful, the cheese is plentiful and perfectly melted, and the volume of onions was ideal. SPICY SHRIMP STROZZAPRETI (9/10) - The strozzapreti was cooked to the perfect al dente and the sauce had a nice balance of cheesiness, creaminess, garlic, and chile oil. 8 OZ PETITE FILET (10/10) - Fantastic steak! It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and had a nice crust around the edges while still being juicy and tender inside. BILLIONAIRE’S POTATO (10/10) - One of the best twice baked potatoes I've had! I LOVE truffle so the freshly shaved truffles on top were a great addition and the actual flavor of the potato was fantastic… you could taste the cheeses but could also still taste the potato so it wasn’t overbearing. This was my first time at Dean’s but I would definitely go back and will recommend it to others in the downtown Austin area!

This is one of our favorite spots. Food and service is amazing every time!

The service was friendly, attentive and helpful. Food was creative and delicious. Only complaint was our table. Circular booth directly to the right when entering the dining area. We sat very close to one another on one edge of the semicircle. If we sat in the middle of the table we were staring directly at the couple next to us. Very uncomfortable. If you sat one on each end of the semicircle you were too far apart to have a conversation. Would definitely request a different table next time.

We had not been back to Red Ash since before the Pandemic. Shame on us! Now we certainly will make a new reservation as soon as possible, which will probably be a few months from now. Red Ash is so popular that it is that difficult to get a table. But the wait is certainly worth it. This evening we tried the Octopus a la Plancha at our server, Emma's suggestion. Octopus for our first time. It was wonderfully delicious and tender. For dinner we split Frutti di Mare, a wonderful selection of seafood laid on a bed of the best black and white sphagettini. Cooked perfectly! Emma was the perfect hostess and we were able to reconnect with Brand Favata, our favorite server from six years ago. It seems that very few few employees leave Red Ash. It is such a wonderful restaurant!! We'll be back very soon.