11 of Our Favorite Restaurants For Lunch in Austin

Exploring the Excellent Lunch Menu at Este

Gobernator enchiladas, fish tacos, and so much more.

Este

View Menu

Launderette

You know the deal here: A Beard-nominated converted laundromat with a stellar dessert program. Maybe you’ve done dinner or weekend brunch? But have you been to Launderette for the pleasure that is Friday lunch? Here, the vibes are perfect for chef Rene Ortiz’s wizardry, whether you’re going for a pulled chicken BLT, a Crab Louie, or that plancha burger.

Eldorado Cafe

This all-day, colorful northwest Austin storefront thrives on Mexican and other Latin-styled comfort food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whatever you order, be sure to add a salsa sampler — five housemade salsas from mild avocado to fiery El Scorpio. Margaritas are a natural fit, even for lunch. Correction: Especially for lunch.

Bartlett's

Burgers and steaks get the spotlight here, and rightly so, but during the day, the excellent salads might be the move — or the perfect starter. Don’t pass up the grilled artichokes though.

Qi Austin

Lin Asian Bar chef Ling Qi Wu takes her love of dim sum and puts it on full display at this downtown spot. We love any place you can do a full dim sum lunch with luxe ingredients like caviar and uni. Other signatures include Szechuan-peppercorn alligator and truffle egg fried rice.

Wax Myrtle’s – Austin

Chicago’s Land & Sea Dept. (Longman & Eagle, Parson’s Chicken & Fish) brings the menu to this plant-filled dining room and fourth-floor poolside dining deck shared by the Thompson and tommie hotels, and you definitely won’t want to miss it.

Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give some love to Ling Qi Wu’s original Austin dim sum destination, too. Saturday and Sunday bring the full on dim sum brunch menu, but weekday lunch features farm-fresh produce and salads, an abbreviated dim sum menu, and a range of entrees like Volcano Crispy Shrimp with Honey Pecan and Orange Peel Beef.

Lucky Robot

At Lucky Robot, you can pop in for lunch on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and enjoy a Japanese restaurant like no other in Austin, where sushi is enhanced with Nikkei notes — think ají panca, chimichurri, and salsa huancaina.

Carpenters Hall

Zilker’s best neighborhood spot might just be inside this design-forward boutique hotel, where Carpenters Hall whips up one of the best all-day meals you can get.

Summer House on Music Lane

Hotel Magdalena’s all-day restaurant is exactly the type that invites you to linger, with its lakehouse vibes and a menu hyper focused on local ingredients and wood-fired cooking.

East Austin Hotel – Pool Pass

Bring friends so you can order all the things at chef Gerard Kenny’s East Austin offshoot of the downtown original. One thing you might not want to share is the chuck-and-brisket cheeseburger with Gruyère and confit shallots, hailed as one of the city’s best.

11 venues