Mandola's Italian Market & Trattoria Lisina Review

Incredible dining experience. Great food. Great service. Great staff. Great environment. Perfect getaway from the bustling activities of Austin.

We were driving from "Hamilton Pool" and found from an app that this is one of the closest one. When we entered we thought it's somebody's farm house. Then we were surprised to see the ambiance. We entered and checked if they have anything 'vegeterian'. To my surprise they had quite a few options.

The red wine, starters, pizza were amazing :) One of the best we have ever eaten.
The asparagus salad was so very well made. It was slightly fried in oil and decorated with cheese. Oh man !! It was just out of the world.

All together ''Marvelous" :)

We drove here not really sure what to expect. We bought a voucher on Travelzoo and wanted to check it out.

Wow, was the first word I said when I saw the entry gate to this Paradise. The view is spectacular, the landscape is gorgeous and ambiance; both inside and outside is phenomenal.

The appetizers were delicious, the entrees were very tasty and yummy. The dessert was simply heavenly.

The service was awesome by everyone. If you live anywhere around here please do yourself a favor and visit. Your companion will thank you and so will your taste buds.

We have already scheduled a return trip to Driftwood at the end of August.

Great place, outstanding service, higher end place.

Truly an outstanding restaurant on every level - food, service and atmosphere.

A great place with great food and a great staff. Made my daughter's birthday dinner something special, thanks so much for that.

Wonderful atmosphere, with extremely good Italian food. This is a great date night.

My family has been coming to this restaurant on Christmas Eve for the past 4 years and it never disappoints. It's officially part of our tradition for the holidays to have dinner here. Great Italian food, great wine selection and delicious desserts. Plus great customer service.

We loved it and will go back for special occasions. It was like a mini vacation

It makes me sad to write a bad review for this restaurant, as my family has been coming here regularly for 2 years now. My husband and I have 3 little kids, and 2 years ago when we discovered Trattoria Lisina and The Duchman Winery we felt like we found a gem - A beautiful restaurant next to a fantastic winery with a playground! We became members at the winery, and have come several times with our kids, friends and family. We always enjoy our wine from the winery, walk the grounds, and head to the playground with the kids where we enjoy pizza, bread & apps from the restaurant. It is wonderful as a parent to be at a place where you can feel like an adult AND your kids can have fun.

Anyway, we went to the winery today to pick up our wine, and headed to the playground to enjoy a glass of wine and order pizza. We were scolded SIX times by restaurant staff for drinking Duchman wine on Trattorias property! Until today we had NO idea this was an issue!! We have traveled all over the world and have been to many wineries... never have we ever been to a winery/restaurant that wasn t all on combined property! There were no signs anywhere detailing this new rule, and no clear line between the two properties. We were so frustrated and embarrassed! It baffles me why the winery and restaurant are suddenly making it awkward for customers trying to enjoy both places. The food at Trattoria is good (not great), and the wine at Duchman is good, but together they are great! It makes me sad that we won t be returning to Duchman or Trattoria due to our experience today.

Just a great place overall. Food is fabulous - atmosphere is warm and inviting - staff is more than willing to go the extra mile to make sure your pleased. One of our most special places ever!! Thanks, Damian, and all the folks at Lisina!!

Best place ever!! I really love the food, people, ambience and don't get me started about the garden:)

A great last stop after a visit to Vista Brewery or Duchman winery. Amazing food and great wines. The staff goes out of their way to make sure their customers are happy.

Amazing food, wonderful staff, incredible atmosphere.

Take your partner here for an amazing dinner. Very romantic and the food is out of this world.

If you want Italian, here is perfect. Food, bread and wine.

My husband and I visited for our 10yr anniversary. We are from Houston and when we found out the Mandola s Had a restaurant in wimberly we cancelled our original dinner plans to go there instead. The hostess was great, the bar tender was great, the restaurant was beautiful. I wanted to love the food but I was incredibly disappointed. The meat and cheese appetizer was good. We ordered Oso Bucco to share with a side of Brussel sprouts. The meat was over cooked, and had a weird after taste, the mashed potatoes tasted instant, and the brussel sprouts had so much red pepper in them, it made them inedible. Our server was great, however we ordered dessert to-go. The chocolate layered cake with the sea salt Carmel was inedible as well. It looked like someone had taken a salt shaker and dumped it on an other wise good chocolate cake. I really wanted to like this restaurant. Everything was so close to being good but missed the mark each time. maybe we should have ordered the pasta instead.

Even though I'm not a huge fan of the Mandola's Italian restaurants, not that they're bad at all, but Trattoria hits the mark where Mandola's comes up a bit short.
The service and wait staff is well run and the dishes are truly delightful. Tasting more authentic and less contrived than other local Italian restaurants.
Only Italian comparable to this in Austin in my opinion is Botticelli's.

Beautiful restaurant and grounds. The food and service were outstanding. Perfect place for a romantic dinner. Be sure to make reservations.

Such a beautiful spot with amazing food. Definitely pricey, but worth it on a special occasion. Lots of pretty spots to take photos. :)

Excellent food and an even better location! Even the drive there adds to the experience. Occasionally a wait, but is well worth it!

Immediately off a main road, but tucked back among a vineyard, you will find Trattoria Lisina. Associated with Mandola's in Austin, this quaint restaurant transports you to Little Italy. Scenic, romantic, and delicious. The selection of wines is fantastic with some rare fines that you won't get anywhere else. The food was exceptional, with everything precisely made. The servers were very knowledgeable and friendly, and happy to assist with questions. I will be back again and again because this restaurant lives up to the hype and more. Can't wait to see which seasonal specials they have next. While you're here, be sure to try the desserts as well.

Beautiful restroom, great ambiance and wonderful food. Amazing mashed potatoes and vanilla gelato!

We recently held our small wedding reception here. My guests are still talking about how amazing the food was. I was a little nervous due to Covid, however the restaurant took every possible precaution and we never felt unsafe. They also honored all requests I made regarding extra distancing between tables. In regard to service, our server (I wish I could remember her name!) was beyond amazing and Michaela also did a wonderful job managing the event aspect of the evening. We would definitely not change a thing. You made a very tired, stressed Covid bride beyond happy and I cannot thank you all enough for that!

Amazing ambience, Awesome service and scrumptious food..was not very big on crispy calamari though..

If you want to take someone special out and treat them with High class !! This is the place.

Carl and Carlo were absolutely amazing servers. Food was outstanding. Damien Mandola came and greeted us personally. Highy recommended.

Beautiful location with vineyard views. Amazing pasta!

Dirty dishes and misunderstandings with server. But food was amazing. Overall a 2 star

Haven't found anything bad on the menu yet. We usually get great service in spite of the the place being packed!

Hard to get in but wit worth the wait. Yummy stuff.

The food is amazing and the people who work there are so nice!

Always get a fantastic meal and service here. Gorgeous gardens and views. Where else can you get Oso Buco in Austin! Brussel Sprouts are delicious. This is real Italian food.

First time going to this restaurant after reading the good reviews and I have to agree with all of them.

Service was impeccable, the menu selection is not wide but it shows the quality of each dish.

We started with the antipasti, which I highly recommend : fresh, good quality charcuterie and amazing cheese.
I had the lasagna which was enormous : you could tell the ragu sauce has been cooked for hours to have that much flavor bursting in your mouth at each bite.
My husband tried the Prosciutto and arugula pizza : the crust is light and crispy, the ingredients on the topping are very good too.

If you still have some room for dessert, I would recommend the tiramisu. Our friends had the affogato and it was just as good!

We will be back very soon, we loved our evening there!

Wonderful experience. The food was very good. The service was graceful and smooth. The mostly Italian wine list is not only appropriate, it's interesting and a good value. To top it off the setting is beautiful as well.

Love this place! Food,service, and ambience are superb!!

Amazing food! Waitress was professional and precise! Best wine I've ever had.

Made reservation on line, great service, large wine list and food was wonderful, lasagne was my favorite. Beautiful inside and out! Will definitely be back!

You feel like you are heading towards a vineyard in Napa but in the beautiful Hill country of Texas. The setting is delightful. It was great to be able to try several different appetizers and dishes as we had a party of 8, the wine was , and the desserts were wonderful...

Great food. I went here for my brother in laws rehearsal dinner. All the food was great. Seafood pasta, lasagna, fish, chicken. The service was also outstanding.

Service and food were excellent. Unfortunately not all the patrons know how to behave in civil society.

Great staff, but the menu wasn't very diverse for veg/vegan diners. My waitstaff politely had something arranged off-menu, though

Delicious Italian food (and good portions too), on the pricier side but not bad

We loved Trattoria Lisina. The venue is thoughtfully planned out with a lovely old-world theme. The grounds are spectacular - SO lovely! Vineyards, fountains, and lovely cafe-style outdoor seating. Since we have two small children, I notice whether a restaurant is family-friendly or not. This one is, but without going over the top. There were families with small children, but the tables have enough space that we weren't distracted on our without-kids date. There's a playscape on the grounds as well, which is a HUGE score for us!

Good prices. Excellent food. Our waiter was stellar, as well as the wine steward. We stayed a full three hours and weren't rushed. We'll definitely stop by again.

Everything from starters to dessert was delicious. Service was great too. Ben made us feel at home and Alex brought us a candle for our anniversary dinner. So thoughtful. Best meal I have had in a while, maybe ever!

I wanted to like Lisina. Our first visit was wonderful. Our second... out of lasagna (at just 7pm!); did not have the bottle of wine we wanted; could not make a Kir Royale. ... but it was our third visit that *so* disappointed me, and has angered me every time I think about it, and driven me to write this review. ... I ordered the carbonara for dinner. One of my fav pasta preparations. What I got? A small portion of spaghetti in some kind of light butter sauce? No idea. Wasn't the creamy, egg-sticky sauce anybody in their right mind would expect from a carbonara. Nope. I'd kinda call it a butter sauce. No bacon/lardons to speak of. Loaded with green onion (WHAT?). And SMALL. ... Now, I can understand maybe they intended this to be the "pasta course" as a precursor to a "primi". But that was not made clear, and the server did not clarify. So my dinner was a small portion of pasta. ... So, so disappointing. It is a beautiful setting, but too many mistakes (no lasagna?! not-carbonara spaghetti?!) ... Sorry, Lisina: we will stay away for a few years, then maybe try again.

After years on our list of restaurants to visit, finally made it for Valentine's.
Very nice, open, spacious interior. Our waitress was very patient with my wife and I as we took our time looking over the menu. Started with bread & olive oil and the 3 meatball appetizers. Both very delicious. Entrees, my wife had the homemade pasta with shrimp and scallops. I had the veal shank over mashed potatoes. Delicious! We were so full but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to try a dessert. We brought home the chocolate cake with salted caramel. Heaven!
It was a nice touch that Trina Mandola came by our table to introduce herself and gave us menu suggestions. We will definitely return soon!

Don't know about the restaurant. Went to the winery next door called the Dutchman. Supposed to be family owned. Have the winery passport. Its stated they would serve us a wine tasting on Sunday according to the book. Drove a long way and when we arrived there was a sign on the door that it would not serve people with the passport on weekends. Ask the guy in there since we had driven a long way. His response was call ahead. Won't be going there are buying any of their wine with that attitude.

Ciara was great - I'll definitely return for the duck

My food was absolutely awesome, waiters were very polite but a little forgetful.

We were out with friends and the evening began with a table by a really noisy kitchen then we had a waiter that must ve been still new to the business.
Generally the food was great except the Osso Bucco. It tastes like they boiled it and then forgot the sauce with flavor. It was so bad we sent it back.
It s a beautiful restaurant in a wonderful setting and I would still recommend it.

Absolutely stunning as you drive in. Restaurant was beautiful and the staff was super nice and attentive. The food was amazing and the portions were great. My wife and I shared and appetizer, a salad, the filet and dessert and that was the perfect amount of food for the both of us.

My family and I ate there and the food was wonderful. The only problem was that my streak was highly marbled, but shout out to (jennifer) who was an amazing waitress! She went out of her way to speak to a manager about the situation and comped my steak and proceeded to amaze. Thank y'all so much for a wonderful dinner and outstanding service

Exceptional service with amazing cuisine. We had an early NYE dinner here and it did not disappoint. I even asked for a table by the fireplace when reserving on opentable and was surprised they listened and sat us directly in front of it. The staff went above and beyond and the food speaks for itself. You must try it!

Very disappointed to say the least. Service was horrible. Took some friends there to celebrate their 20 year wedding anniversary and a birthday. Let the hostess know that we were celebrating a special occasion and wanted a desert with candle brought to our table at the conclusion of our meal. She said she would "definitely let your waiter know". Our food arrived and one of our friends ordered a steak WELL DONE. The steak was MEDIUM RARE. When the waiter finally came back, we informed him of the problem and he immediately gave an attitude like it was our problem. There was no apology and no willingness to correct the mistake. He literally just stood there. My friend finally said he would like the steak to be cooked longer. The waiter grabbed the plate and walked away without saying a word. The steak came back approximately 3 minutes later and was still VERY pink in the middle. My friend once again called the waiter over and pointed out that the steak was not well done. And again, no apology and no words at all, the waiter grabbed the plate and walked off. My friend decided to speak with the manager who finally took care of the issue. We finished our meal and waited 20 minutes for our cake to arrive. Surprise surprise, it never arrived. Our waiter never arrived again either. We asked a neighboring waiter for our check which he brought over immediately. As we were leaving, an elderly couple was walking out even more disappointed than us. The manager was trying to get them to stay and finish their meal but they refused due to the lack of courtesy from their waiter. Unfortunately, we won't be back.

Beautiful landscapes, very Tuscan feel. Great food and wine. Always try to come when in town.

Wine and food were simply amazing and Logan was the best server.

The restaurant and grounds are beautiful, very romantic. The food was superb! The meatballs are the best I've had, and the porkchop my wife had was so rich and complex. Everyylthing we had was wonderful, and the service was exceptional. Highly recommend!

Just... Don't eat alone and only take people you care about there. Set a budget of 50$ a person and lose yourself in the atmosphere authentic delicious dishes. You won't regret the experience unless you end up short on rent.

The grounds were LOVELY, the atmosphere ROMANTIC, the food EXCELLENT and the service was PHENOMENAL. Shelby was, by far, the best server we've run across in a very long time. You should give that gal a raise - we did!

The black bass was incredibly good!

I feel like this place used to be better a year ago. They tend to change the menu often enough but they sometimes take the best stuff off their menu to make room for less attractive dishes in my opinion. They need to have
a better pizza menu as they have a great wood fired pizza oven. If you have it why don't you flaunt that and get more ingredients to put on them. When we went there the last time the fried calamari was overcooked by about 30 seconds to 1 minute and was not as good as we usually have seen. When the calamari is cooked correctly it is great as they have a great batter on them which is very light. The pizza was mundane the last time I went there by myself as there was not enough flavor on the margarita pizza. Also last time my wife and I went there we were watching them cook the food at the kitchen bar and the cook did not allow the duck breast to rest before cutting into it. he took it off the skillet and cut right into it letting all that flavor pour out of it. Cooking 101, let it rest when you take it right off the pan. I actually felt bad for the person who was going to get that meal. The scenery around Trattoria is amazing they have a winery next door they have a playground for the kids to play and they have like a little Garden area that you can roam around. Seating is amazing as well they have a sunroom type seating area that will give you views of all of this. In a nutshell I will possibly return and see if they have made improvements but right now I am not feeling it. I much rather go to Gennaro's on the other side of Canyon Lake which has better prices and amazing food. If Trattoria shapes up I would consider going there more often but the price / performance is not there right now. Service is usually exceptional whenever we go which is a plus.

Over priced. Food is not consistently good. It is like they are trying to be elegant but are not.

This was absolutely one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Everyone in our party of four were blown away by the exemplary service and wonderful food. We will definitely be returning when we are back in the area.

What an experience, leisurely dining in Texas. A real take your time meal. Good wine selections. Delicious foods, fantastic desserts. The rosemary focaccia bread and olive oil dipping was great. The handmade pasta cooked to perfection, the butter sauce browned but not burnt. Lasagna had great flavor and many layers like a true Italian lasagna. Dessert was heaven.

The best Italian restaurant is in Driftwood, Texas.

Great food and dining experience all around! Beautiful property as well.

Atmosphere is incredible, the food, wine and service is outstanding.

Authentic Italian atmosphere and food combined with excellent service. Make a reservation online because this place is popular and can get busy. Awesome place to see the stars close to the big city.

This is one of my favorite restaurants! Great ambiance and wonderful food!

Love this restaurant. We stop here every time we are within a hours drive. Food is great! Good place to hang out and have some wine while the kids play before your reservations!

This is our second time eating here and we love this place for many reasons:
1. The food is excellent
2. The service is out of par- not only your server but everyone else is always vigilant to your needs and extremely helpful.
3. The atmosphere is beautiful. Lovely place for special occasions

The food was excellent, as always, but the service was lacking. We waited five minutes just to get a fork. Fortunately this visit was not typical.

We have been here many times and have never been disappointed. The service, the surroundings, and the atmosphere are all top quality but the food is some of the BEST I've had outside of Italy. That's no small statement as I've been traveling to Italy since 1975. Molto, MOLTO bene.

Pasta tastes great, though a little heavy. Berry gelato is using frozen berries, just so so.

My wife and I have been going here on special occasions. The lamb is the best lamb I ve ever had. Mama s meatballs are a great appetizer.

2/2/19: The menu has changed and the lamb no longer has sides. It s lamb on a salad. The asparagus is $9 and mashed potatoes are $8. It s $17 more to add the sides to get the same meal. Very disappointing. I still enjoy eating here but reduced a star for the menu change (that I discovered when my order was brought to the table).

We hosted my son's wedding rehearsal dinner here. What a fantastic job they did making it a perfect evening. The meal was delicious, service exceptional and the ambiance second to none. I'll give extra credit to them on the unseen stuff. They made special meal and dessert options for all kiddos and gluten free entrees for those who wanted/ needed it. *no hidden or unexpected charges . We left happy about the dinner and focused on the wedding day. Couldn't be happier with our choice to celebrate here!

Good Italian apps, entrees, food overall was very good. Wine we had was a mix of Italian and other European sources. I do not think they produce any wine of their own
Bring a mask or $2 for a mask.