The Turtle Restaurant

This is such a great, high-quality restaurant! I ate at the Turtle on 6/22 and had a fantastic experience. I had a sliced prime rib sandwich with au jus and it was tender and the sauce very flavorful. I sampled everyone around me and didn't have a bad bite! And for dessert someone ran next door and brought back several gelatos, including one made from roses. In Brownwood??? So pleasantly surprised.

Food was prepared beautifully. Our server was attentive in a very professional way. Next time we'll get a photo of our pizza and deserts.

Very impressed, definitely worth it!

Ideal restaurant with quiet atmosphere for visiting over a leisurely well appointed meal. Also good to drop by for Gelato. More casual offerings in the separate bar with bar menu. Good cocktails and wine selection.

high end chef created cuisine. I'd go to Brownwood just to eat there. There's an enocoteca room perfect for wine tastings (or you can pair with a meal) this Chef Mary has won various awards in Austin competitions for gelato! did I mention an independent but connected gelateria to rival any I've had in Rome (Italy) not Rhome. this place is an oasis in a land of heart challenging fried and chicken fried. The atmosphere is light bright and friendly. I can imagine that in summer months dining on the patio would rival my favorite family restaurant in the parioli section of rome... tre sorelle (3 sisters). everything is fresh made and absolutely delicious and well worth the trip or stop enroute or returning from Austin. don't miss it. remember to thank me for the tip!

Wouldn't recommend this restaurant. 'Out' of our first four selections of beer & the meal was marginal, at best. The "service" however, was as advertised; S-L-O-W. Nice folks, but it's a NO GO. Sorry.

Funny how my 1 star reviews keep getting removed over time... hrm, perhaps the owner hates online critiques as much as in person. When we tried this place, it was WAYYYYY over priced, NOTHING we wanted on the menu was available, and I've only seen a staff so rude and useless once before (in Dallas fwiw). Pretentious, and highly over priced for what little was available, esp considering only one other couple was there at the time (they didn't seem happy either). If I'm going to drop a C note on a meal for 2, it had better be AMAZING with atleast a complimentary reach-around. Honestly, Underwood's is a much better meal at about 1/4 the price. Now to see how long it takes the owner to have my review deleted, again. To the owner: no need to try and validate your attitude, prices and "food" to me. Your food just isn't worth Gordon Ramsey prices in a less than Hooterville environment. Austin or DFW would have been a better fit for you. (People are used to being robbed in bigger cities)

After reading in Zagat that this restaurant was worth a road trip from Austin, we took a detour to Brownwood on our way to Dallas. The drive was pleasant, windy country roads with wide open spaces. When we arrived, admittedly early 5:30P on a Thursday evening, we were their only customers.
We were seated and told the Lasagna was not available. We ordered 2 glasses of wine, one of which was not in stock. The server gushed about the beet salad and convinced us it was a must order, which we did. A few minutes later she told us it wasn’t available either, they didn’t have any beets. So we ordered the wedge, which was really the only other option.
Unfortunately, even though this should be an easy home run item, the iceberg was a hard lump of yellowish bitter lettuce. There was nothing about this salad that elevated the meal in any way.
We then focused our attention to the appetizers & ordered the Pimento Cheese fritters with the tomato jam. They did not disappoint, they were creamy with a little spice and the jam was a perfect accompaniment.
As for the entrees, we typically split because neither of us likes to be stuffed. However noticing an $8.00 charge for split entrees we decide to each order a meal. My husband had the veal flank steak & with a glowing review from the server about the crab cakes (& my husbands prodding) I ordered them. The flank steak was seasoned nicely but what should have been a melt in your mouth piece of meat seemed to have an excessive amount of chew.
The crab cakes, hmm where to start. They were screaming hot in temperature as if they’d been dropped in the deep-fat fryer versus a gentle pan sauté. The maque choux corn was tasty but plated in such a way that it looked very unappetizing. Like a corn/tomato soup thrown up on a flat plate with 2 crab cakes sitting on top of it. It would have been much more appealing in a flat bowl. Loving dessert we decided we’d try the Entremet Cake listed on the menu. Surprise, it wasn’t available either. We opted for an affogato. It was well made and the homemade vanilla gelato was quite good. To sum it up, the appetizer was worthy as well as the gelato, everything else about the meal was marginal at best. With tax & tip this meal set us back just North of $150.
Needless to say, we won’t be taking Zagat’s detour advice again. We’ll drive into Dallas & enjoy a truly good meal somewhere like Neighborhood Services, Houston’s or Paul Martin’s... where you won’t feel taken if you drop $150 and all the items listed on the menu will be available. Oh and when we left, we were still the only patrons......

Thank you for hosting our graduation dinner! The food was as amazing as always!

Worth the drive.. Amazing!! I will remember my meal here forever. Try the torte , it's delightful. The Italian sodas are a nice compliment to the menu. Beer selection was in excellent taste.