Husband and wife debut upscale restaurant Taste on Main in downtown Buda

Avid foodies Tamra and Travis Tindol have spent years visiting steak and seafood restaurants throughout the Central Texas region and the country. Following the success of their first venture, Hays City Store & Ice House, they said it was only logical that they set out to create another food destination they are always on the hunt for with Taste on Main in Buda.

“This gives us an opportunity to create something special, something that we envision as what we want to go to when we go out to a new city,” Tamra said. “We love so many places in Austin, and selfishly, this is just a little closer to home.”

Taste on Main, a steak and seafood restaurant, debuted Feb. 15 after more than two years of renovations on the century-old building.

“The ambiance of the building reminded us of different places we’ve eaten at in either San Francisco or Chicago or New York,” Travis said. “It just had that ‘it’ to the building.”

Hays City Store and Taste on Main differ in both ambiance and cuisine with the former featuring Texas comfort food and being a more casual dining experience; the latter has a more upscale look, feel and taste in cuisine, the Tindols said.

Taste on Main’s menu features an array of dishes from a 16-ounce ribeye to lobster tails, potato gnocchi, soups, salads and desserts, such as chocolate cake. There is also a variety of liquor, wine and mocktails to suit all tastes.

Next to the restaurant lies an outdoor lounge where customers can wait and a dining area under lights. Behind the restaurant will be a bar that is still under construction around a central tree.

“I know it sounds cliche, but just like Hays City Store, we are proud of everything that we are serving,” Travis said. “If we are not proud of it, we are not putting it on the menu.”

Click here to see the original story from the March 2023 print edition.