Joe’s Italian Cuisine

The quality seems to have gone downhill over the last 6 months. The rolls lost the flavor. Sauces have been more greasy. The last time we had pizza it seemed flavor less.
And, as I mentioned in my Pasta Prima review, this place, PP, and Baris all seem to be the same. The only difference I can find is that Baris has a wine list. I don’t know if the same family runs all three, employees of Baris moved on and opened their own places, etc.

I just got a meatball parm at Joe’s and I am rather pleased with it. Tasty, home made meatballs, good sauce, crunch bread. Yeah, it was alright! (He says beaming to himself) Would I drive over 20 minutes for it? Probably not. 15 minutes? Maybe. 10 min? Yes.
I hope this helps.

Joe’s Italian has the potential of being a great hole in the wall restaurant, unfortunately it’s just not.
So, first off I walked in the door and was hit with the scent that could only be described as a mix of cleaning agents, and what ever they were trying to clean up. Not the best way to start a meal.
Overall the meal was ok. It wasn’t worth the $ 15 I spent on it however. I got the Chicken Piccata. The description said chicken and tortellini with a lemon caper sauce. What came out was flat tasteless chicken over a bed of linguini, with a thin (with lots of butter) lemon caper sauce. Overall the taste was ok. Kinda «frozen dinner,» ok. Nothing to write home about.
The waitress was nice. The hostess was a little flighty (I had to make an effort to hold on to my ice tea at the end, because she wanted to clear it away). The guy cooking (Joe?) was taking cell phone calls that were loud enough to allow the entire place to hear them.
When the waitress brought the check, it wasn’t totaled. I had to take it up to the cook, with the register to get my total, and pay the bill. In a place where I was one of two tables, this was underwhelming. It might sound like a small item to quibble over, but in a whole-​in-​the-​wall market, it’s the small items that make or break a place.
Overall, this place needs to invest in some better food quality, and/​or cut back on their menu. It would be better for them to make a dozen things very good, than four dozen things mediocrely bad.
As it stands, I don’t see me going back any time soon, and I live right across the street.

Service is fast, food is tasty but nothing fancy. I like the seafood marinara, but I order with white wine sauce, and coming with red wine sauce.
On weekday dinner time, there is 20% full. It is kind of low compared to other restaurants nearby. While the good point is the quiet environment.
When I prepared to leave, I noticed the desert fridge, cheese cake, chocolate mousse cake, carrot cake, etc. The price is $ 4.99 a piece, a bit expensive.

Lunch specials on the weekends? #booyah! Lunch specials come with a salad and their vinaigrette dressing is fabulous. And, as a ~vegan, I was able to sub the meat sauce for the mushroom one with no hassle at all.
Huge portions and great prices. Excellent bread to start the meal.
The owner accidentally overcooked my date’s pizza… by whopping ~minute, maybe and repeatedly insisted on replacing the slices. My date is a «well done» kinda guy so he didn’t care one bit… but the owner’s insistence meant two slices to go and supper the next day.
This is the most authentic-​to-​a-​Texan Italian food I’ve had in Austin.
We received excellent, top-​notch service, too.
BYOB.
Free WiFi (+1 *) no login required
Coke products (+1 *)
And, they are on every social media system, so checkin and see what coupon you might get.

Amazing! And really well priced! I haven’t had New York style Italian food that good since I left new York! It was instant flashback! I cannot wait to go back for the pizza!
Get the stuffed mushrooms and the lobster ravioli! and you will need extra bread to dip in the mushroom sauce…

I’m kind of mixed on this place. It has no atmosphere, the salad was generic romaine garden blend, although the Italian dressing wasn’t bad. I’m pretty sure the dessert cakes are from Costco. The pizza garlic is a «garlic & soy» blend. Soy? WTF? Are you fucking kidding me?
The bread was awesome, and the lasagna tasted great. I can’t wait to try the pizza. The service was pretty good too.

Forgot to do my update on the pasta… Dad and I tried the place and each had a parmesan dish (chicken for me and veal for him).
Pretty average Italian food. Not bad by any means, but there are other options out there every bit as good. And maybe I’ve gotten used to the chain places, but the portion of chicken seemed a tad skimpy. The soft Italian bread is still phenomenal though.
I think I’ll stick with their sandwiches or try the pizza next.

You know I love me some pizza, but I figured that I’d go for one of the lunch specials (they have 3 different menus, a $ 7, $ 8, and $ 9). I ended up with the lasagna based on the suggestion of the waitress. It was very, very average. Lots of sauce, not much flavor, and not much in the way of ricotta cheese.
The pizza is definitely the better move. It has thin crust, but wasn’t really greasy enough. The other item I tasted was their cream sauce. Very rich, but rich w/​cream, not cheese (what the?) I will say that their calzones looked pretty tasty, but I can only eat so much.
The service was poor — I had to get up and get myself a water refill. It also took her quite a while to get over to our table. It was busy (during lunch) but not so busy that it warranted her taking that long to come over.
The bread that they put on the table is quite tasty, but bread does not a meal make.

I am starting to think I am the biggest food critic out there. This place has 4 stars yet both dishes were absolutely boring. The baked ziti with meat sauce tasted Exactly like what would be served in a school cafeteria line. The sauce was 80 percent grease and you could see it clearly. Gross. We ordered cheesy garlic bread first and was given the complimentary bread afterwards. Seriously? You could have mentioned the free bread or been on time with it before serving us two orders. And to laugh about all the bread we had at the table (half of which we paid for)? You are not a kind restaurant. I will not return.

I’ve been craving me some lowbrow Albanian-​made Italian food, and Joe’s satisfied that jones, fo’ sure. I became a fan in southeast Texas, where an improbable number of cheap-​but-​good Italian restaurants popped up, all run by Albanians.
Far from griping about any ethnic incongruity, I find it fascinating to see the proliferation of these restaurants, consistently good and consistently cheap. All across Texas you’ll find them, offering an almost identical menu, and all supplied by Lisanti foods — the apparent Sysco of this culinary ecosystem. If it’s a pizza mafia, I’m none the wiser, and hardly want to topple this scheme of low-​priced deliciousness.
Step into Joe’s and your first impression is cheese — unfortunately, the cheese that comes to mind is Velveeta rather than Parmesan Reggiano. You’ll notice lattice work with plastic grape vines intertwined, which makes you want to run to the Olive Garden across the street. Don’t.
Everything about these places is formulaic and lowbrow, but in a tried-​and-​true way. I’m glad that a food town like Austin has little room for the cheap garlic powder and Parmesan shaker vibe, but Austin is short on Italian food in general, and cheap Italian food, specifically. Joe’s fills this niche in spades.
Service on my takeout order was patronizingly good. They brought me a complimentary soda, bread and oil dip while I waited. When I got home, the food was everything it promised to be. My linguine with white clam sauce was as expected, and a custom-​order chicken-​linguine-​spinach-​artichoke-​cream sauce-​with sherry was worth every hyphen.
Good. Cheap. Win. Yesh!

This is a no-​frills Italian-​American joint. Complete with lattice and faux grape vines on the walls.
In fact, there were so many things about this place that reminded me eerily of Bella Sera, I was nervous about what we were about to experience.
The bread is almost exactly the same. I kid you not, I thought i’d look back in the back and see a bunch more Albanians pretending to be Italian back there. But none were to be seen. That’s not a knock on the bread, btw, this bread is outstanding.
The salads were also tasty, if simple. Their house tomato vinaigrette had flavors reminiscent of cocktail sauce. Again, not a bad thing, just an observation.
The Chicken Parmesan over Spaghetti was tasty. Not thrilling, but it’s not really a thrilling dish. It’s just a staple that one compares to all other Italian joints. I added a lot of parmesan, red pepper and granulated garlic, as I like a whole lotta flavor in my sauce. The chicken had great flavor, but lacked the crispiness that I’ve had in many other great chick parms. If you can get that crispiness to stay even after having covered it in sauce and cheese and putting in back in the oven to melt, that’s what I’m looking for.
My cohort had the Manicotti, which looked lovely, and said it was pretty decent.
So, we didn’t get blown away. We had great service, the food was decent, and the guy behind the counter was very entertaining. Btw, if you say «New York Italian» to him, he’ll correct you and say it’s «New Jersey Italian.» «because it’s just better in Jersey.»
I can’t wait to try their pizzas and seafood stuff. I’ll definitely be back.

I am a total sucker for pizza, pastas & BYOB. With that being said, the fact that they had all 3 makes me a mega-​fan. I liked that they were able to steal some parking spots from that crap place named Trudy’s. They had a parking attendant with cones in parking spots saving these spots for their potential clientele. We took advantage of this and parked right in front. For those who aren’t familiar, this strip mall is notorious for lack of parking.
Their menu had many options that I still need to go back and try, but since the evening began with us all intending on eating pizza before we arrived here, I think most of us stuck to this plan. Our tables were packed to breaking point with pizzas, rolls & stuffed pizzas. Oh and our bottles of wine we brought! I liked that they gave us wine glasses to go with our wine, considering I was drinking wine out of a plastic cup prior to arriving here. I particularly liked that they served marinara/​meat sauce with our rolls & with our monstrous pepperoni & cheese stuffed pizza. One slice of the stuffed pizza and I along with others were completely stuffed and done with food for the night, with plenty of leftovers.
The staff were very accomodating for our large party, and I had no issues with our service whatsoever. This is a great place to eat on the cheap, with no wait, and as always… when you get to bring your own wine, you’re always WINNING.

Better late than never, right?
This applies to; a.) the fact that 3 Unilocalers have now submitted reviews of this place before I have b.) This place is already showing up on ‘Hot on Unilocal’. I am tickled to finally being an early adopter — Thanks to my Unilocal peeps.
Joe’s has a problem. If we are being real, he’s got 3 problems — but the food is NOT one of them. The bread was devine (hot, garlicy loaves were hard to put down), their regular thin crust pizza (and Joe’s special — which is heaped with goodies) was great — but the stuffed pizza may just steal the show. Since service was good and prices were very good — we will be back!
OK, back to the 3 problems — one they have solved — one they CAN solve, and the third… well, we’ll all have to wait and see how that one turns out.
First, they have a parking issue. Sandwiched btw the chain heavyweights Chili’s, Trudy’s, Plucker’s and Benihana (could there BE a worse location for a newbie in N. Austin)?? They remedied this by chaining a large (but friendly) giant out front and asking him to manage the parking spaces.
As Kelly S. mentioned, the 2^nd issue is one of décor. If they can replicate the ambiance of, say, a ‘Romeo’s’ (the former Barton Springs I-​talian & Allandale heavyweight) or a Mikado (cool, clean, sleek) — then I can forsee this place getting consideration as a ‘date nights’ destination or a ‘client lunch/​dinner’ venue. Not trying to tell Joe what to do, but Lord knows at this address — you need all the help you can get!
On the 3^rd problem; Nuff said on location, but my sense if that if Joes takes care of #2, then there will be more clients to take care of them.
If you want good Italian at good prices — and want them to stay around –drop in on Joe — and remember to BYOB or BYOW!

The takeout menu I got says the name of this place is:
The Original New York Joe’s Pizza and Pasta however it was found under Joe’s Italian Cuisine so just be advised of this :)
(I basically have no idea what the official name of this place is… I just know where it is.)
An Italian place where you BYOB. That’s pretty cool!
Mariah was our wonderful waitress for our first visit. This store used to be Mooyah’s and ghosts of other restaurants past. I am hoping this place sticks around like done noodles to a wall.
Time will tell.
We got bread with our meal. I could live on that bread! I give that bread alone a hundred stars… mmmmm. They brought us a nice plate of oil to dip the dough in… Winning!
The reason I take the star off is because the environment was a bit stiff.
The décor was mildly unsettling.
The cooks did not smile. That’s okay though. It’s so hot outside, it’s not always a super smiley sunshine day.
I got the chicken fettuccine alfredo per Mariah’s suggestion. It was nice but loaded with butter. Not too sure if that was what I was expecting. It was good though.
My husband got the spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce was GREAT. The meatballs tasted as if they had been boiled. We are not into boiled mushy meatballs. We like when they are cooked differently.
It was a good experience.
The pizza, calzone, and stromboli looked great and we will go back sometime to try alternate menu items.
There are so many items, some highlights are: stuffed shells, canaloni, manicotti, lasagna, ravioli, and baked ziti.
We liked sitting by the TV, too, even though there was extensive bloody coverage of the unfortunate Norway terror bombings…
The prices can be very low whether it’s a pizza slice for a few dollars or going up to the highest which looks like near 30 dollars for the stuffed pizza.
The dough is DE-​Lish! While this place is BYOB, there is an economical kids meal offered as well as affordable, quality daily lunch specials.
They also offer Veal in the forms of Picatta, Cacciatore, Francaise, Forest, Murphy, Marsala and Romano. Don’t forget they have Veal Parmigana.
They also have seafood entrees and many Italian classics.
They offer cheesecakes, tiramisu, cannoli, and even Italian cream cake.
I hope this place does very well, dough! Really dough…:)

I’m in big trouble. A delectable pizza shop opening right near my house? EEK! Doubling up workouts now! Joe’s had popped up on my radar some weeks ago. But for various and sundry reasons, I hadn’t stopped in this neighborhood joint. It lives where others have failed — in this little spot with some restaurant juju between chilis and pars and trudys. We decided to rejoin here after an ROTDC got shutdown by electrical issues.
Right from the start I was skeptical. The servers couldn’t seem to figure out how to seat our group. It’s just 12 people, people. Not that difficult. Then i eyed the pizza by the slice sitting under warming lamps. «Uh oh» — Sbarros here I come. And the décor. Someone… please… strip mall… help… faux ivy… lattice… it’s painful. But despite misgivings, we over ordered away.
Hot doughy, maybe cheesy?, bread arrived with olive oil. You know how people love Olive Garden breadsticks? Move on over sister. These rolls were burning hot from the oven and indescribably tasty. And our pizzas arrived. We dove into those like ravenous dogs, stopping only to gulp water or wine, mumble something around cheese, and take another bite. They were good. Like, really good. And they were great the next day too. The stuffed pizza was fat and gorgeous, the house style pizza had the perfect amount of crisp-​to-​give and if you get the Joe’s Special (topped with everything,” it’s still only 16.99.
Conclusion: It’s not a feast for the eyes. But it’s BYOB, inexpensive, great pizza that’s a better option than Trudys, Chilis or Pluckers. If they can figure out how to up the confidence of their servers and decrease the strip mall feel of the restaurant, this might bump a star. I suppose I’ll have to go try one of their homemade pastas just to be sure. Oh, the sacrifices I have to make.

This is one of those reviews where I couldn’t decide which opening to use, so pick one and disregard the other:
(Opening #1)
So, when a group of Unilocalers show up for a UYE with coolers full of booze and the restaurant has a power outage and has to shut down, what do they do? Why, they whip out the trusty Unilocal app on their iPhones of course, and search for «hip and cool BYOB places nearby.» And that’s how we wound up at Joe’s Italian Cuisine on 183 and Burnet. In the end, it’s all good.
(Opening #2)
So, how many Unilocalers does it take to change a light bulb? I really don’t know, but a dozen of us couldn’t figure out how to rearrange two tables to accommodate all of us sitting together, so we just split up into two separate groups. The good news is I’m sitting next to the lovely Amy D, but the bad news is I’m looking at too much of Mickey A, who is sitting directly across from me. I can barely see the delightful Ashley S at the other table. But in the end, it’s all good.
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I don’t mind pizza, but it’s a carb and calorie thing for me, so I pretty much indulge in them only with other Unilocalers. And this place has some pretty good pizza. Their eighteen-​inch stuffed work of art really is a marvel to behold, an inch thick mound of piping hot golden brown crust oozing cheesy goodness and accompanied by a bowl of marinara. Our three thin-​crust pizzas with assorted toppings were also tantalizingly hot, crisp and chewy as well. I started seriously wondering how good their pasta and chicken entrees would be, and I’ll find out on my next visit here. On this occasion, I didn’t see any of the itemized checks, but my portion of the tab seemed ridiculously cheap.
Finally, Joe’s homemade garlic loaves with their olive oil dip are simply superb, although their policy of charging for additional loaves if you’re ordering pizza instead of entrees seems a little silly to me. We’re not going to quibble over forty-​cents a loaf, so just keep on bringing them until we say smettere. Our server Mariah was sweet and efficient, and apparently Joe the man himself came out to meet and greet all of us. For whatever reasons, previous restaurant tenants at this one particular location have never fared well — I hope Joe will be the one to turn that tide with his hearty Italian fare.

Joe’s left a very good first impression that lasted throughout the evening. A dozen or so Unilocalers walk into Joe’s during prime dining hours on a Friday night, and without hesitation the staff set up 2 rows of tables to accommodate us.
Bread came out piping hot and was wonderfully doughy. We all ordered pizzas and undoubtedly Joe’s doesn’t know what a small is. Not that I am complaining, nothing like cold pizza for breakfast. I could be a bit biased, as we were all pretty hungry, but the pizzas were perfect. Not to thin nor thick, rich sauce, lots of cheese, and to top it off, pretty cheap. We ordered a pepperoni with jalapenos and tasted a few others, all were delicious. Joe’s also let us pay our individual portions of the check without hassle.
Considering that Joe’s is BYOB and they serve large pizzas at a super reasonable price, this is a great place for an inexpensive date night or a to dine out with a large group.

My boyfriend and I were pretty stoked to find this small Italian place. We love the «home cooking» type Italian that’s hard to find, and Joe’s does a great job.
As much as we hate to do this, we went in 30 minutes before closing. Knowing we took a chance, we were pleasantly surprised with phenomenal service — our waitress was on top of it, refilling our glasses and even offering us dessert.
The food was really good. We both tried their two different versions of Italian samplers. I have to say, the lasagna left a lot to be desired, but everything else was fantastic. My boyfriend and I both agreed that their fettuccine alfredo was some of the BEST we’ve ever had!
All I know is, I hope they stick around… we want to try their diverse menus!

So this place just opened up where Mooya and about 5 other failed businesses have been. I don’t know why joints in this location never survive. Is it because it’s sandwiched between Trudy’s and Plucker’s? Maybe it’s not noticeable over the large signs of Chili’s and Benihana? Well, whatever the reason, this place has an uphill battle being in such a seemingly doomed location. Well, I for one, am hoping this is the place that outlasts all the others.
This place is all about homemade goodness. The girl that took our order said the owner makes «everything» from scratch. That is something that says ‘quality’ right away. No sauces from a can, no frozen meatballs, all hand made dishes. That makes me, and my stomach, happy.
They start by giving you complimentary bread and a saucer with some Olive Oil and Parmesan Cheese. The bread is light and fluffy with a lightly crisp crust and the Olive Oil is great. When it came time to order our meals I had a plethora of choices. The menu is huge! But, I have been searching for a great meatball sub for a pretty long time (since I left Florida — where all the New Yorkers retire, get bored, and open a pizza joint — about 11 years ago), so I thought I would give it a shot. This place doesn’t have the perfect meatball sub, but it is pretty close. The bread is the right size, it’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, there is ample cheese, and the meatballs are juicy and delicious. The only downfall is that the meatballs are not dense enough, but hey… that’s something I can live with for sure. My wife had the stuffed shells and they were quite good as well. Nice amounts of cheese and tasty sauce. Each meal came with a house salad and we also got an order of Garlic Cheese Bread, both of which were good as well. All of this only cost us 20 bucks! That’s damn good value!
Joe’s really sealed the deal for us when they told us they were a BYOB establishment… AND, they plan on staying that way! Sweet! We brought a bottle of red wine and had a good time. They have wine glasses there, but they couldn’t find their opener, so bring your own just in case! They still got our bottle open, but it would have been quicker and easier if we had an opener.
Everything else about this place; ambiance, service, etc… was good as well. But the BYOB, the homemade ingredients, and the price will keep us coming back for sure. This place might not completely blow your mind, but it definitely won’t blow wallet in half either. That makes it a place worth visiting without a doubt.
Pros: Hand Made Italian Food, Great Value For Your Money, Great Meatball Sub, Good Stuffed Shells, BYOB (or Wine!)
Cons: Not much of a con, but… the service and ambiance were the weakest points.
Quick update: We went back and tried the Pizza and it was pretty good. Crispy on the bottom, doughy in the middle and lots of cheese on top. Not the best pizza in town, but a solid pie for sure.