Bartlett's - Austin, TX

I've been wanting to eat at Bartlett's for about 14 years (it used to be Houston's).  Within the past five or six years I had read (probably on austin.food) that they have the best prime rib in Austin.  Having never had prime rib, but always wanting to try it Bartlett's was a logical choice for my wishlist.  We happened to go, without even thinking about it, the Saturday before Valentine's Day.  The restaurant was very crowded and despite a reservation I made online we weren't seated until about 20 minutes after our scheduled time.  The one plus to our timing was that we were able to order from the prix-fixe menu.  We both ordered the prime rib.

The meal started with a salad.  This may in fact be the best restaurant salad I've eaten.  It had lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, bacon, eggs, and a very tasty house dressing.  The lettuce and carrots were fresh and crisp, and the tomatoes were flavorful and juicy.  I would go back to just eat this salad as a meal.  I ordered the prime rib medium rare, and once again I fell victim to my hunger and began eating before I took a picture.

The plate came with a baked potato, with butter, bacon, sour cream, and chives (loaded) as well as a cup of au jus for dipping.  I'll be honest, I didn't really know what to expect when I ordered prime rib, but what arrived was excellent.  It was fattier than I expected it to be, but of course that only made it taste better.  Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, it didn't need anything else.  The prime rib was a welcome change from regular steaks and I look forward to ordering it again.

We don't eat a lot of desserts.  Firstly I don't really like sweets and secondly, desserts aren't very healthy.  Because we ordered from the prix-fixe menu we had dessert.

As desserts go I'm sure this was good, but  just can't get excited about sweet stuff.  This was a brownie with nuts and caramel with ice cream on top.  I would have rather had another cut of prime rib.

Bartlett's was a great choice and had terrific food.  On a non-food note, our waiter did a good job of making sure other servers were taking care of us when he was dealing with another table of his that was difficult.  I'm looking forward to trying more of their menu.