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University of Texas at Austin.
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The Ultimate College Dining Guide for UT Austin Students

Everything a college student at the University of Texas at Austin needs to know about the city’s vibrant restaurant scene, from campus and beyond

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Erin Russell is associate editor of Eater Austin, a native Austinite, and a big fan of carbs.

It’s a new school year at the University of Texas at Austin, and all of the reading, projects, and tests will soon pile up. Luckily, Eater Austin has done some homework for scholars. For those new-to-Austin freshmen or returning students, this collection of maps and features can teach the most important lesson of all: how to eat and drink well in Austin.

The Essentials

Let’s start with the basics. Here are the sites to bookmark for Austin’s general dining information gathered to solve happy-hour hankerings, sweet-tooth emergencies, and simply to answer the daily question, what’s for dinner tonight?

  • An Eater’s Guide to Austin: From coffee to cocktails and late-night pizza to patios with views, this guide will help everyone navigate it all.
  • The Heatmap: This is a full breakdown of Austin’s hottest restaurants. It gets updated monthly to reflect the city's freshest restaurant options.
  • The Eater 38: Updated every season, this is a roster of the essential restaurants around town, offering a selection of neighborhood standouts, with a range of locations, cuisines, and price points.
  • Eater Cocktail Heatmap: Before grabbing that ID and heading out for the night, check out these must-try drinking spots. Updated monthly. For reliable choices, visit the city’s classic cocktail bars and dive bars.
  • Essential Brunch Map: An antidote to an overindulgent evening, an excuse to meet up with friends, an opportunity to impress parents — brunch can do it all. These are Eater's picks, updated seasonally. For other brunch picks, check out the monthly heatmap with the city’s newest offerings.
  • Essential Food Trucks Map: The Austin food scene is studded with food trucks. Pay heed — some of these could be the humble beginnings of Austin’s next big thing.
  • Campus Dining Guide: Eater's best bets for dining on and around the campus area. There's a lunch version too.
A tray of barbecued meats.
Barbecue from Franklin Barbecue.
Franklin Barbecue

Austin College Standbys

In addition to everyday favorites done well, there are iconic dishes specific to Austin’s culinary scene, like kolaches and migas. Here’s the rundown.

Barbecue

Tacos

  • The best breakfast tacos — This delicacy is basically Central Texas's national treasure and the proper way to start the day. Vaquero Taquero (104 East 31st Street, Hyde Park) and Taco Joint (2807 San Jacinto Boulevard, Central Austin) serve up excellent ones near campus.
  • Must-eat tacos in Austin, like Con Todo’s border-style tacos (10001 Metric Boulevard, North Austin) and Cuantos Tacos’s Mexico City-style ones (1108 East 12th Street, Central East Austin).

Pizza

A bunch of pizza slices with various toppings making up a pie.
Pizza from Allday.
Nadia Chaudhury/Eater Austin

Tex-Mex

Burgers

Queso

Special Diets

Sandwiches

A sandwich with meat and sauce.
A sandwich from Otherside Deli.
Otherside Deli

Caffeine

  • Get coffee here. 24-hour Bennu (2001 East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central East Austin) on the east side fits the bill for coffee and study sessions at any hour.
  • Great coffee shops with Wi-Fi offer a change of scenery from home or the dorm. Flightpath Coffeehouse (5011 Duval Street, North Loop) is worth a visit for no distractions — the coffee shop doesn't allow any live music.

Adult Beverages

  • Craft beer abounds Austin, including the underrated gastropub Hopfields (3110 Guadalupe Street, Central Austin) which is near campus.
  • The city’s best dive bars. Hole in the Wall (2538 Guadalupe Street, West Campus) offers that sweet blend of live music and drinks.
  • Tart or spicy, frozen or on the rocks margaritas. Head down to the iconic Texas Chili Parlor (1409 Lavaca Street, Downtown) for the Mad Dog margaritas that musician Guy Clark sang about.
  • Other essential frozen beverages.
  • Take tours of the Austin area’s great breweries.
  • Eat well at bars with the best snacks.
  • Self-soothe the next morning with hangover cures. The migas plate at Cisco’s (1511 East Sixth Street, East Sixth) has aided many a student.
A dish from Cisco’s
Food at Cisco’s.
Robert J. Lerma/Eater Austin.

Miscellaneous


Affordable Eats

For the budget-conscious, these are our picks.


Tourist Stuff

Watching the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge
Watching the bats at the Congress Avenue Bridge
Kushal Bose/Shutterstock

Here are guides and tips to keep in mind when you’re hosting friends and family. And trust us, everyone’s going to want to visit now that you’re in Austin.


Neighborhoods

Interested in sticking closer to home? Eater Austin’s coverage is organized by neighborhood. Here are a few close to UT, and check out the full directory for more.


Other Austin Colleges

Yes, there are other colleges and universities in Austin, and we’ve got separate maps for those educational institutions


Keeping Up With the News

Eater Austin is updated every weekday with breaking news, maps, features, guides, trend pieces, and more. Here's how to stay connected.

  • Check the Eater Austin homepage for the most up-to-date news and stories.
  • Sign up for Eater Austin's newsletter for the latest news delivered to your inbox daily.
  • Follow Eater Austin on Instagram or even on Facebook or Twitter for updates on new stories and more throughout the day.
  • Also, visit the national site Eater for news and dining guides from across the country, plus international food news.

This guide was originally written by Elizabeth Leader Smith.

The University of Texas at Austin

1 University Station, F3200, Austin, TX 78712 (512) 471-3434 Visit Website
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