There’s a quote frequently credited to Coco Chanel that aspiring fashionistas are encouraged to take to heart: “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.” This philosophy helps prevent style chaos by gently guiding maximalists away from their own worst instincts. After a few visits to Citizens All Day, a months-old cafe on Burnet Road, I found myself wishing that someone had passed this keen sartorial tip along to the Citizens kitchen.
Citizens All Day isn’t an Austin-specific concept. Instead, it’s the fourth location of a mini-chain with two spaces in New York City and one in Houston’s trendy Montrose neighborhood. The Austin Citizens benefits from a prime location; it’s on the same busy stretch as local faves like Pinthouse Pizza and Billy’s on Burnet, and thanks to its close proximity to the UT campus and popular residential neighborhoods like Hyde Park and Allandale, Citizens All Day tends to stay busy … well, all day. One of my visits lined up with a Saturday UT game, and the crowd of orange-shirted brunchers packed inside the cafe’s relatively small dining room was impressive.
It also meant a bit of a wait for a table, but the friendly host proved communicative and efficient, and I was able to take a seat more quickly than expected. The dining room decor will feel immediately familiar to anyone who follows hip restaurants on Instagram: lots of live plants, natural wood, and terracotta tiles, along with quaint, vintage-inspired photos and art pieces. All pretty and pleasant, if a bit impersonal.
The original founders of Citizens All Day hail from Australia, and the restaurant’s menu takes a few cues from Australian cafe culture. You can order a reliable flat white (a double espresso covered with frothy steamed milk) either at your table or to-go at the deli counter. The espresso is fairly light and doesn’t bring distinctive flavor, but the milk is well-frothed and the latte art is definitely social media-ready. Citizens calls its sandwiches “sangas” after a typical Australian slang term, and said sangas count among the best items available here. The restaurant uses hearty sourdough and rye to build its sandwiches, and the freshly sliced deli meats and cheeses are well-bolstered by the bread’s textural integrity. I especially enjoyed the toasted Reuben, which swaps in house-made rainbow slaw for the typical sauerkraut. The smoked pastrami is both tender and flavorful, the Russian dressing and provolone emphasize the meat and vegetables rather than eclipsing them, and the toasted rye keeps the sandwich sturdy enough to eat with one hand.
In another fun Aussie move, the Citizens team offers the polarizing spread known as Vegemite, and their choice to pair it with their plush cheddar biscuits helps this very savory and malty ingredient shine brightly but approachably.
Australians also have a slang term for breakfast – “brekkie” – and that’s what Citizens calls its largest morning plate. The Big Brekkie eats like a version of the classic British “fry up”; it includes eggs (instead of the traditional British fried eggs, Citizens serves them nicely poached), serviceable (but could-be-crispier) bacon, bland chicken sausage, an indistinct and bizarrely watery ramekin of chorizo baked beans, two excellent slabs of hash browns, and a slice of multigrain bread with a beautifully green swipe of avocado. The avo spread is delicately seasoned with just a hint of citrus and sea salt and topped with a sprinkle of feta.
But circling back to the Coco Chanel quote I mentioned earlier: This plate did not need the sausage, which had all the character of a boiled hot dog. Nor did it need the wet and personality-free baked beans. Nor did it need the giant tangle of parsley plunked on top of the poached eggs, the strong flavor of which threatened to overtake everything else.
Speaking of “more is more,” we come to the dish that Citizens touts as one of its highlights: the Citizens Famous Smashed Avo. The lovely avocado spread that I mentioned in the Big Brekkie description comes back for this dish, but in addition to the lime, salt, and feta, it now adds pickled onion, cilantro, and radish, and pumpkin seeds. I so enjoyed the subtle but clear elements of the simpler avocado toast, especially because they allowed the very fresh avocado to show off its natural flavor. But in the context of the Famous Smashed Avo, the avocado gets completely conquered by the stronger onion flavor and the very crunchy texture of the radish and pumpkin seeds. This tendency to pile too many items onto a dish that doesn’t need them is a common thread at Citizens, and it’s a habit that obscures the areas where its team’s culinary skill shines through.
In terms of its dinner menu, Citizens wanders all over the world, letting fresh pasta share space with Korean chicken wings, Middle Eastern-inspired harissa chicken, Mexican street corn, English fish and chips, and French steak frites. A bit of focus would go a long way, especially when so many of the flavors are successfully executed. The Korean wings are massive and perfectly textured, and while the soy-and-vinegar glaze could use a hit of heat or a more assertive seasoning profile, they make for a wonderful nosh – particularly during the daily 3-6pm happy hour, when they’re only $9.
Another happy hour hit comes in the form of the shrimp toast. Citizens calls it spicy, and while I’d describe the flavor profile as more aromatic, the peppery remoulade is zippy and engaging. The mini-shrimps get a bit lost in the remoulade (and another very heavy-handed parsley dump; of all of the choices that Citizens makes with its plating, covering its food with giant piles of parsley has to be the most mystifying), but the seeded bread holds up well underneath the toppings. Both the toast and the wings partner well with Citizens’ cocktails, like a well-sized, albeit too sweet, Aperol Spritz and a froth-heavy espresso martini. With a few adjustments to achieve better balance, the cocktail menu would be a highlight of the Citizens experience for sure.
Citizens All Day is a crowd-pleaser in every sense of the word. From its very TikTok-friendly design to its overloaded menu, this restaurant wants to make everyone happy … but that desire may be preventing it from achieving its true potential. Some hard-nosed menu editing could elevate Citizens from a decent local option to a destination-worthy venue, and I hope that they’ll have the nerve to take that chance.
Citizens All Day
4818 Burnet Rd.
This article appears in September 26 • 2025.