Le Politique might be Austin’s most Instagrammable restaurant, which, depending on your priorities may not be a good thing. It’s hopelessly cute — Pinterest perfection actually — with its tiled walls, white marble counters, and miniature milk jugs for coffee cream.
One trend we’ve noticed in our travels is the phenomenon of new restaurants that are more style than substance. For example, The Infatuation praises Le Politique as “a place to see and be seen.” But it there anything under the surface? We headed to Le Politique for brunch to find out.
The restaurant has two sides, a sit-down establishment serving traditional French brasserie food like oysters, mussels, seafood towers, and steak frites (and of course brunch), as well as a patisserie next door selling pastries and coffee mostly to go.
Any time we’re at a restaurant we’re unsure of, we start small, so we ordered a Kouign Amman and coffee to start. It was fine, but being from San Francisco, we’ll probably never find a Kouign Amman that tops B. Patisserie (at least outside of Brittany). For a savory bite, we ordered a Croque Madame, which was also satisfying, but not impressive. To finish, we ordered a basket of mini Madeleines, which are remarkably tiny (read: Instagrammable).
For all the attention to detail and effort put into the interior design, we wish the same could be said for the service. It was virtually impossible to find our server, and one of our napkins had a large hole in it, which we would consider to be a faux pas at any level of establishment. But you’ll definitely find treasure trove of Instagrammable moments. For our Austin restaurant recommendations, check out some of the best Austin restaurants and bars in downtown Austin here.
Thank you to Alaska Airlines for sponsoring this story.
