About Birdie's
Birdie's is an award-winning, forward thinking concept we like to call "fine-casual," which means you can expect that we take the same care in sourcing and preparing your food and curating our wine as a fancy joint, but in a no frills, counter service setting. Our family-owned and operated restaurant model is deeply rooted in the idea that restaurants ought to be a place where people can pursue long and meaningful careers. We advance this philosophy by paying our team fair wages and offering them benefits including paid family leave, subsidized therapy, health insurance, and four weeks of planned and paid vacation every year.
We are also a restaurant that deeply appreciates the contributions of the farmers, artisans, and winemakers that allow us to do our work in a meaningful way.
Food and Drink
Birdie’s is a little, counter service neighborhood restaurant and wine bar on the corner of 12th and Harvey that serves a menu that changes daily. You can expect simple, seasonal, American food inspired by the cooking of France and Italy.
Our wine list is a thoughtful mix of classic and new producers with an emphasis on mindful farming and minimal intervention in the cellar. The list evolves with what Tracy’s cooking and the weather outside.
Birdie's does not accept reservations and is first come, first served.
First Time Dining With Us?
1. Birdie's is counter service only (you line up to order), Prix-Fixe restaurant. No ala carte.
2. Dinner is $68 per person. We can always accommodate vegetarians and pescatarians. Other allergies depend on individual menus
3. We are happy to have children and have a kid's menu! Dogs are also welcome on the back patio.
4. We cannot accommodate groups bigger than 8 without a large party reservation
Frequently Asked Questions
QUESTION: Why is Birdie’s counter service?
Birdie’s is a counter service restaurant very much as an attempt to “reset” the restaurant model. The traditional restaurant model is a broken one where most restaurateurs (especially us small ones) operate on razor thin margins (on average 3-5%) and most operators don’t have the resources to provide benefits and equitable pay to their teams. Counter service was an opportunity to have a lean labor model, which allows all hourly team members on our team to participate in a flat tip pool regardless of whether they work in the kitchen, the dish station, or in the dining room. If someone deserves a raise, the business gives it to them, rather than allocating a larger proportion of the tip pool to them as is standard in most restaurants with “point” systems.
QUESTION: What is the 3.5 % health and wellness fee? How do you use it?
The pandemic taught us all that restaurant workers, are indeed essential workers, and play a critical role in supporting our local economies and nourishing our souls. We highly value the health and well-being of our team so we add a 3.5% health and wellness fee to all checks to support the cost of health insurance, subsidized mental health care and therapy, four weeks of paid vacation a year (2 weeks in the summer, 2 weeks in the winter), and paid parental leave.
QUESTION: Explain how you price your food?
We source the best ingredients we can find. We buy almost all our meat, milk, eggs, and produce locally from incredible farmers and with that comes a responsibility to make sure we can sustain the foodways that are truly important to us. The finishing olive oils we use cost $30-$50 a bottle; our vanilla costs a $100 for a tiny jar. Operating a restaurant is expensive, especially when you care about the people and the community who are growing and raising your food in a way that is sustainable. That cost is reflected in our prices as is the cost of paying our team a fair and livable wage.
QUESTION: What's the deal with Aiello's and some of the other pop ups you do?
When we opened Birdie's we really wanted it to be a restaurant that was alive and that could change. It was important to us, to keep the whole team's creativity alive, and from time to time challenge all of us professionally. So a few times a year, we change everything at Birdie's for a week or two. The menu, the wine, the music, the decor--all in keeping with that spirit, so we can discover something new about ourselves as a team, and as a restaurant. As an added bonus, it's a whole lot of fun!
QUESTION: Why don’t you have a phone number?
As a small restaurant, providing our full attention to guests is our top priority which is why we don’t have a phone number. If you’d like to get in touch with us you can do so at hi@birdiesaustin.com, use the contact form available on the website, or DM us on Instagram @birdiesaustin
QUESTION: I was disappointed to see that you were sold out. Why?
We know it can feel like a major bummer when we sell out of an item, but as discussed above, we have an incredibly small kitchen and have a limit to how much food we can produce on a given day. On incredibly busy nights, we may run out of some dishes but we do our best to update the menu at the front door so that you’re aware of what we do and don’t have available before you walk through the door or hop in line.