24 Diner

24 Diner - initial impressions

600 N Lamar, Austin, TX 78703

512-472-5400

I made it over to the new 24 Diner this morning with my husband for brunch. 24 opened a little over a month ago in the old Waterloo Ice House location (it is a joint venture between the owners of Waterloo and Paggi House). It has been styled as a "modern, urban diner serving classic chef-inspired comfort food."

It is a modern/urban setting, but on first blush, the comfort food and the service need a little work.

When you walk in, you immediately notice the large speaker-esque lights (that's right speaker - like old loud-speakers) hanging over the bar and a table in the corner. They contribute to the interesting atmosphere - it's one-half space age and one-half construction zone. The decor is effective, but it falls prey to being more form than function (the banquette seats are not that comfy).

When ordering, we opted for breakfast, which is served all day. We both got hot jasmine tea - they offer Mighty Leaf, an excellent choice! I got the vegetable frittata along with a side order of the home-made sausage. My husband ordered the waffle breakfast with bacon. The frittata was well done, though it was more a slightly thick omelet, than the classic italian version. It had a nice combination of goat cheese, onions, tomatoes and arugula. In addition, it came with a fresh fruit cup. The sausage was nicely done and much more spicy than you generally encounter in the breakfast variety. I would definitely order the frittata again - it was a good, filling but light breakfast option. My husband enjoyed the waffle breakfast, but wasn't blown away. Eggs and bacon were decent, however, how hard is it to mess up eggs? The real determinants were the waffles - they were intriguing, with a nice maple compound butter, but not earth-shattering. Overall, the food was nice, but not that memorable. I want to go back and try some of the lunch and dinner options - the farm to table board had some tasty suggestions this morning and the charred-bitters salad sounds unusual enough to definitely warrant a sampling.

Generally, I would say the food and atmosphere were the pluses. The negatives were the service and the wait. We had a nice enough waiter, but he was hamstringed by a severely backed up kitchen. We sat down at 10 AM, ordered pretty quickly, but didn't get our food until 10:45. It wasn't just the slowness of our meal - the general vibe of the place was one verging on chaos. It might be due to it's recent opening, but if not, it's a definite detractor.

Finally, this place is definitely "in". There was no wait when we arrived, but one soon formed outside. A long one. While the people waiting in line probably weren't that happy, we were - it at least gave us some good people watching while we waited for our food.