Looking for a vacation in Austin Texas? Don’t forget to add Austin restaurants to your Austin Things to Do List. The city has a plethora of dining options, and you’ll need plenty of fuel to see all that Austin has to offer.
In the Tex-Mex category, you have several options. Here are 3 popular and established Austin Tex-Mex restaurants:
baby acapulco – also known as Baby A’s. There are five separate Baby Acapulco locations scattered throughout Austin, three of which are known for their bright, neon-painted exteriors. The menu here offers many options and both the sauce and the food are above average. Popular items include the tortilla soup (known as the famous Baby A soup), as well as the shrimp fajitas. There is also a wide variety of daisies, among which the Purple Margarita stands out. The Purple Margarita is powerful – customers are limited to just two (and don’t drive if you’ve had ANY).
The stream – El Arroyo (or “The Ditch” in Spanish – the original restaurant near downtown Austin sits atop a drainage gully) is another longtime local Tex-Mex favorite. There is a second location located in West Austin, but if you only have time for one meal at El Arroyo, be sure to eat at the original location on W. 5th Street. The food here is almost always well above average and it’s a great place to experience Austin’s laid-back vibe. Be sure to check out the sign board out front – humorous, topical, and sometimes controversial messages are updated daily.
of chuy – Possibly the most popular of all Austin’s Tex-Mex restaurants, Chuy’s is another establishment with multiple locations. In this case, there are four separate locations in Austin and a few others across the state. An Austin Texas tradition since 1982, the original Chuy’s is located right next to Austin’s popular and premier public park, Zilker Park. Chuy’s is both quirky and kitsch: If you like a tacky, tongue-in-cheek dining experience that involves lots of Elvis, lots of hubcaps, and lots of hand-carved wooden goldfish from Mexico, you’ll love Chuy’s. The menu here won’t win any awards (at least it shouldn’t), and there’s usually a wait, but if you want an authentic Austin experience, Chuy’s is a good place to start.
While Austin Texas has its share of national chain establishments, there are more than enough family and individually owned and operated Austin restaurants to provide visitors and locals alike with all the authentic dining experiences they could want.