About a week ago we visited a new restaurant called Johnny Fins. (Well, the restaurant itself isn’t new. It was just new to us.) A soon-to-expire twenty-five dollar off coupon drove us there.
If you’re not familiar with the area around Lake Travis in Austin, to get to anywhere around the lake (by car) you have to drive long, winding backroads—sometimes for what feels like an hour just to get a few miles.
The winding trip to Johnny Fins ended in a parking lot and no restaurant. “Hmmm… I think we came the right way. Oh wait, there it is.” The restaurant floats right out on the water and all we had to do to get there was walk down a four mile, thirty degree incline which convinced me no matter what I ate at the end of this, I needn’t worry since I’d easily work it off on the return trip.
We got there a little late and it wasn’t crowded. We sat at our table right by the parked boats. (Is that the right nautical term? “Parked?”) A guitar duo was playing. Loudly. But fortunately they went on break soon. Our server came up shortly after, wearing a dark turquoise tank top with “Hey, Up Here” written in bold, white lettering. We ordered soft drinks and asked for the obligatory “few more minutes” as we pondered our culinary choices.
The menu said, “Best Burgers in Austin.” Of course, every menu (what serves the burgers) in Austin says that. However, I was at the end of a pretty good week, weight-wise, and decided that even with the long climb back to the car, I would still “be good.” I ordered the chicken caesar salad. (Otherwise, you’d be reading the “Austin Burger Tour #5” post today instead.)
And I was good. I didn’t sneak fries or chicken fingers off others’ plates. (And by that I don’t mean my daughters’ plates, but the couple two tables over.) And the caesar salad was actually pretty darn good.
About the only thing I could complain about was the return of the music. The music itself was okay but didn’t need to be that loud. (Did I just say that? Geez, maybe I am getting old. I’ll be kicking those kids off my lawn any day now.)
But I’d recommend it anyway. Especially if you love sharing your dinner with real, live ducks. Check them out here.
on May 15, 2009 at 10:20 am
I thought for sure you were going to say you were getting a burger!
I hate when the music is so loud you can’t have a conversation – especially when you don’t sign up for a concert!
Yeah to you for going out to eat!!
on May 15, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Sounds like fun – I love restaurants on the water. I’ll have to check it out…
on May 15, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Wow, I LOVE the water and boats, I LOVE eating and I LOVE long walks. That place sounds like heaven on earth!!!
on May 17, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Sounds lovely. I wish they had such things around here, though it would be a tough setup being landlocked and all.