I, like many of my fellow South Austinites, see the original location of Radio Coffee & Beer as a beacon of my neighborhood. The huge lawn, the top-tier food trucks, the live music and performance program – this is a space that connects the community and brightens up the little corner of Menchaca that straddles the 78704 and 78745 ZIP codes.
Due to my strong attachment to this location, I felt an even mix of excitement and apprehension when the team announced its intent to open a second Radio in the Montopolis area. My pettiness notwithstanding, Radio/East keeps the long-established vibes of its predecessor mostly intact with an expansive outdoor space and smaller indoor space, a food truck fleet, a similar coffee, beer, and cocktail menu, and plenty of music. Radio/East actually improves upon Radio South in that latter respect; their dedicated stage has welcomed major acts like Santigold, Shakey Graves, and the Damned.
But while Radio South and Radio/East feel like close-in-age siblings, the brand’s newly opened third location – Radio Rosewood – feels more like a distant cousin. As its name suggests, the shop is located in the Rosewood neighborhood in Central East Austin, in the building that once housed beloved local coffee shop Try Hard Coffee Roasters. While East 11th isn’t quite as cosmopolitan as Downtown Austin or even East Sixth, there’s much more of a city vibe here than you’ll find on Menchaca Road, near Radio South, or the warehouse district that Radio/East calls home. Those venues are unique because of their ability to define their neighborhoods; Radio South’s closest neighbors are a tire shop and an impersonal and corporate-looking Dutch Bros Coffee drive-through, while Radio/East shares its immediate area with industrial spaces.
Radio Rosewood is a cozier building flanked by a vintage shop and a high-end hotel, with a few tables scattered on a sunny front patio. The interior has a warm charm with wood and leather booths, framed photos on the walls, and serene lighting that doesn’t fight the natural light coming through the front windows. The back patio and lawn take cues from the other Radio locations with metal chairs and tables and arched canopies to block out the sunlight. Sizewise, it can’t compare to Radio South or Radio/East, but the visual nods to the other locations are clear.
Radio Rosewood does a skillful job of adapting Radio’s easy-breezy and community-focused appeal to a city-street environment.
Upon walking inside and approaching the ordering counter, I noticed the beverage menu at Radio Rosewood bears many similarities to the menus at its predecessors. If you like the reliable medium roast house brew or the multilayered cold brew at the other Radios, you’ll be happy to enjoy those drinks at Rosewood too. Seasonal specialties – like the very popular Vietnamese iced coffee made with oat milk – also show up. The beer menu follows the typical Radio pattern of focusing heavily on local drafts, and the cocktail menu includes sections for classics, seasonal cocktails, mocktails, THC cocktails, and frozens. But a new category offered at Radio Rosewood is coffee cocktails, which includes two espresso martinis, an Irish coffee, and a couple of carajillo twists. I appreciated this melding of Radio Rosewood’s coffee program and cocktail program, and the Sprotini – Radio Rosewood’s signature espresso martini with fresh espresso, vodka, hazelnut liqueur, and black walnut liqueur – is an expertly balanced blend of flavors. These components may seem too powerful to mix appropriately, but the bar team’s steady hands and ratio comprehension defy expectations. This is an espresso martini for people who think they hate espresso martinis, and my glass was empty before I knew it.
On the frozen cocktail side, Radio Rosewood currently offers the tiki-ish Frozen Saturn with gin and passion fruit and the Frozen Elote Outlaw, a curiously named drink that earned my Favorite Cocktail of the Day designation. It’s a fun and vivid slushy that leads with pineapple flavor, but the nuances of smoky mezcal and nutty corn weave their way through each sip. Another top beverage is the Drug Mule, which appears on the THC Cocktail menu. If you’re a fizz fiend who wishes that even Topo Chico could pack in more bubbles, then you’ll love this citrusy and gingery drink that’s both sparkly in terms of texture and in terms of aesthetics (the top comes dusted with a luminous powder). The Drug Mule includes a THC-infused nonalcoholic spirit, but the overall effect is, at most, a slight mood mellowing. You won’t leave Radio Rosewood feeling stoned.
Unlike Radio South and Radio/East, Radio Rosewood trades in a group of food trucks for a centralized kitchen program. If you’ve visited the other Radios, you may be familiar with Shortwave Diner. While the other trucks are operated by third parties, Shortwave is helmed by the Radio team, and it focuses on smashburgers, chicken sandwiches, and other casual eats. If I’m being honest, Shortwave is never my first choice at Radio South or Radio/East; when compared with Veracruz All Natural tacos, Dee Dee Thai’s impeccable larb, Briscuits’ now-Michelin-recognized smoked beef sandwiches, and Tommy Want Wingy’s zesty wings, Shortwave’s food comes across as decent but unremarkable.
Even now that they’re in charge of the food at Radio Rosewood, those same standards apply. Their smashburger is fine; it’s reasonably juicy with crispy edges and a slice of American cheese that could be better melted. The kale and arugula salad features a pleasantly zingy vinaigrette and welcome chunks of funky blue cheese, but the elements never quite come together cohesively – although adding Shortwave’s well-grilled and tender chicken helps make the salad feel more like a meal. They also offer an all-day breakfast menu with a sandwich that’s easily the restaurant’s best dish: a sturdy English muffin, a perfect over-easy egg, salty American cheese, and peppery arugula. I highly recommend adding the smooth, guacamole-like avocado spread and the salty and crisp bacon; taken altogether, these ingredients turn the McMuffin-ish sandwich into a polished and satisfying start to your day.
Radio Rosewood does a skillful job of adapting Radio’s easy-breezy and community-focused appeal to a city-street environment. Although I desperately miss the food trucks and feel that Shortwave needs to push much harder to compete with the better diner-inspired fare located just down the street at Nickel City, I’ve already stopped by several times to grab a cold brew or a quick cocktail to break up a busy day of East 11th shopping, and I intend to continue this tradition moving forward.
Radio Rosewood
1115 E. 11th
This article appears in May 30 • 2025.