Guides
Our curated, evergreen guides to Austin.
Best Things to Do in Austin With Visitors
What to do when someone flies in and wants "the real Austin" — not the airport-gift-shop version.
What to Order, Not Where to Go
The where-to-go answer is often obvious in Austin — the what-to-order answer is where locals and tourists actually diverge. Fourteen dishes, one per venue, that separate someone who's lived here from someone who just googled "best tacos austin."
Old Austin Still Standing
A handful of Austin restaurants have been serving the same neighborhoods since before the city became a tech boomtown — Matt's El Rancho since 1952, Dirty Martin's since 1926. Not all of them made it: Threadgill's, the venue that gave Janis Joplin her first stage, closed for good in recent years.
Every Great Austin Restaurant Started as a Food Trailer
Austin's most-loved restaurants routinely start as a single food trailer and graduate to a permanent building years later — Veracruz, Franklin, and Micklethwait all made that jump. It's less a fluke than the way food actually gets vetted here.
Austin Is the #1 Coffee City in America Now
Food & Wine's 2026 Global Tastemakers named Austin the best coffee city in America, ahead of Seattle and New York — the city also placed #7 best foodie city overall. It's a real ranking shift, not a marketing line, and most of the shops behind it aren't downtown.
Austin Has 7 Michelin Stars. Here's Which Ones Locals Actually Go To.
Austin holds 7 Michelin one-stars and roughly 16 Bib Gourmands as of the 2024/2025 Texas guide — more one-stars than any other Texas city. Three of the stars went to barbecue, a first anywhere in the world. Here's which ones locals actually go to.
33,000 Austinites Voted. Here's What Won.
In the Austin Chronicle's 2026 Best of Austin Readers Poll, Veracruz All Natural swept three food categories — Taco, Breakfast Taco, and Food Truck. LeRoy and Lewis beat Franklin Barbecue for Best Barbecue. Home Slice won both Pizza and Sandwich, at a pizza restaurant. The 2025 edition drew 33,055 voters casting 423,142 votes.
Austin's Best Restaurants Are in Strip Malls
Austin's strip malls — particularly along North Lamar, 183, Parmer, Spicewood Springs, and Anderson Mill — contain the city's best Sichuan, Vietnamese, South Indian, and Thai food. The correlation runs the wrong way on purpose: rent is cheaper, so the cooking gets more ambitious.
Where Austin Actually Eats at 2am
Austin's late-night food is trailer food, concentrated in two places: the parking lots at Lamar and Rundberg in North Austin, and the East Sixth/Cesar Chavez corridor. Kerbey Lane Cafe won Best Late-Night Dining in the 2026 Chronicle Readers Poll, but the trailers are where the good food actually is.
The Breakfast Taco Order That Marks You as a Local
Veracruz All Natural won Best Breakfast Taco, Best Taco, and Best Food Truck in the 2026 Austin Chronicle Readers Poll — a clean sweep. Sisters Reyna and Maritza Vazquez started as a single trailer in 2008; their brick-and-mortar earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2024. The migas is the correct order.
Austin's Best Food Isn't Downtown — It's on North Lamar
The stretch of North Lamar between roughly US-183 and Rundberg — plus the surrounding blocks along Ohlen, Parmer, and Spicewood Springs — is Austin's densest concentration of Vietnamese, Chinese, Guatemalan, and Mexican restaurants. Almost none of it is downtown, almost none of it is on Instagram, and it's often better than what tourists eat.
Best Things to Do in Hyde Park
Two independent bookstores and an upscale sushi spot — the best of 12 rated venues.
Best Things to Do in the Domain & North Austin
Upscale chains and a genuine museum — the best of 12 rated venues.
Best Things to Do in Mueller
A planned neighborhood with a real park at its center — the best of 20 rated venues.
Best Things to Do on South Lamar
A brewery corridor with real food to match — the best of 21 rated venues.
Best Things to Do on South Congress
Gelato, donuts, and one of Austin's most-reviewed restaurants — the best of 32 rated venues.
Best Things to Do in Zilker & Barton Hills
Austin's outdoor living room, plus what's around it — the best of 42 rated venues.
Best Things to Do in East Austin
BBQ trailers, a comedy club, and a record shop — the best of 66 rated venues in our database.
Best Things to Do in Downtown Austin
168 real, rated venues in our database call Downtown home — this is the best of them across food, drinks, and activities.
Best Vintage & Thrift Stores in Austin
Ranked by real Google rating.
Best Record Stores in Austin
A city with a live-music identity has a real record-store scene to match — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Bookstores in Austin
Indie shops, a comics institution, and a Japan-based import retailer — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Spas in Austin
Head spas, med spas, and day spas — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Disc Golf Courses in Austin
Free, public, and scattered across the city's parks — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Golf Courses in Austin
From a course founded by a Masters champion to a 9-hole municipal course dating to 1899 — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Mini Golf in Austin
Including a course operating since 1948 — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Escape Rooms in Austin
One spot has nearly 18,000 reviews — an unusually large number for this category anywhere.
Best Bowling Alleys in Austin
Old-school lanes and a modern pin-bar hybrid — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Museums in Austin
From presidential history to a toy arcade — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Parks & Hiking Trails in Austin
One guide, not two — Austin's best trails run through its best parks, so splitting them would just mean listing the Greenbelt twice.
Best Speakeasies in Austin
Hidden entrances and invite-only booking — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Dance Clubs in Austin
From a nearly-40-year music legend's stage to a goth-industrial sunken dance floor — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Karaoke Bars in Austin
Private rooms and open-mic dive bars — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Sports Bars in Austin
TVs, wings, and a chain famous for its waitresses — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Cocktail Bars in Austin
Including one bar that takes reservations by app only — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Dive Bars in Austin
Jukeboxes, pool tables, and no pretense — ranked by real Google rating. Several of these double as neighborhood diners: skip the fancy cocktails, the kitchen is the actual reason to stay.
Best Breakfast & Brunch in Austin
One guide, not two — the same restaurants dominate both searches, so splitting them would mean two nearly-identical lists.
Best Sandwich Shops in Austin
Delis, subs, and a converted-home cafe with yard seating — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Donut Shops in Austin
From a giant-donut Austin institution to no-frills counter-serve spots — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Italian Restaurants in Austin
Sit-down trattorias, distinct from our separate pizza guide — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Mediterranean Restaurants in Austin
Lebanese, Greek, and halal spots — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Korean Restaurants & Korean BBQ in Austin
All-you-can-eat tabletop grills and Korean fried chicken — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Thai Restaurants in Austin
Ranked by real Google rating, review-count floor applied.
Best Chinese Restaurants in Austin
Sichuan, dim sum, and a hipster spot with craft drinks — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Seafood Restaurants in Austin
Landlocked but not lacking — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Steakhouses in Austin
From a 1899 municipal course clubhouse-adjacent chophouse to a Lake Travis view — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Rooftop Bars in Austin
Pools, fire pits, and skyline views — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Vietnamese Restaurants in Austin
Pho, banh mi, and vermicelli bowls — ranked by real Google rating. Austin's Vietnamese scene is concentrated in North Austin along North Lamar, 183, and Ohlen, not downtown — the pretty, expensive, French-Vietnamese spot everybody photographs isn't where the food actually is.
Best Fried Chicken in Austin
Nashville hot, Korean fried chicken, and Southern classics — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Burgers in Austin
From a 1926 Austin mainstay to a Mexican-Jewish mash-up food trailer — ranked by real Google rating. P. Terry's won the popular vote in the 2026 Chronicle Readers Poll; The Infatuation's critics pick Patty Palace's smashburger instead. Both are on this list.
Best Indian Restaurants in Austin
Including the single most-reviewed Indian restaurant in the city, at nearly 20,000 reviews.
Best Sushi & Japanese Restaurants in Austin
Austin's upscale sushi scene, ranked by real Google rating — this is one guide, not two, because the same restaurants dominate both categories.
Best Pizza in Austin
From Neapolitan wood-fired to NY-style slices with a beer garden attached — ranked by real Google rating. By Google's numbers the field is tight at the top; by The Infatuation's separate critic scale, Bufalina's 9.4 is the highest-rated pizza in Austin, well clear of everything else here.
Best Bakeries in Austin
Fresh bread, pastries, and lunch fare — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Ice Cream & Dessert Spots in Austin
Gelato, soft-serve, and local ice creameries — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Mexican Restaurants in Austin
Interior Mexican cuisine, distinct from the Tex-Mex list — ranked by real Google rating.
Best Bars in Austin
Rooftop lounges, dive bars, and a Johnny Cash-themed patio — ten real bars ranked by Google rating, not a downtown-only list.
Best Breweries in Austin
Real taprooms and beer gardens, ranked by Google rating — from a farmhouse-ale outfit outside city limits to an East 6th taproom you can walk to.
Best Coffee Shops in Austin
From a 15,000-review downtown institution to five-star neighborhood roasters most visitors never hear about.
Best Tex-Mex Restaurants in Austin
Seven real, currently-open Tex-Mex spots ranked by Google rating — not the same five chains every list recycles.
Best BBQ in Austin
Three Austin BBQ joints have Michelin stars — Franklin isn't one of them. Below: the starred three, the Bib Gourmand tier, then the full field of ten, ranked by actual Google ratings and review volume.
Free Things to Do in Zilker & Barton Hills
Austin's outdoor living room doesn't cost a thing — here's how to spend a free afternoon in Zilker.
A Local's Guide to Live Music on Red River
Six clubs, one street — the beating heart of Austin's live music scene, block by block.
The Best Dog-Friendly Patios in East Austin
Where to bring your dog for a beer and a sunset in East Austin — sprawling lawns, water bowls, and zero side-eye.