Date Night Gems in Austin

From candlelit to casual, here are our favorite tables for two.

Listings

Eden Cocktail Room

Rating: 4.4 (630 reviews)
Cuisine: Cocktail Bar
Price Range: $
Location: Downtown Austin
Description: This small-scale speakeasy-style cocktail lounge (unmarked door, chiaroscuro lighting) from Christopher Crow, who ran the bar at Here Nor There, offers a tranquil getaway from busy 6th Street, fueled by Biblical-themed libations like the Fruit of the Forbidden (Plymouth gin, Grey Goose vodka, St. Germain, and pomegranate syrup).

The Dead Rabbit Austin

Rating: 4.5 (632 reviews)
Cuisine: Irish
Price Range: $
Location: Downtown Austin
Description: The Manhattan original of this quintessential modern Irish pub has been named “the world’s best bar” more than once, but this Austin location might give it some competition for its impeccable cocktails, displays of first-rate Irish art, and of course (this being Austin) abundant live music.

Bill's Oyster

Rating: 4.7 (1.3K reviews)
Cuisine: Seafood
Price Range: $$
Location: Downtown
Description: Here’s one for seafood lovers — a comfortable restaurant with a New Orleans feel where oysters are the star, but everything from tuna tartare to lobster roll is sea-fresh and perfect. Chef and co-owner Daniel Berg worked at Le Bernardin in Manhattan, so you know he knows his fish and shellfish.

VanHorn's

Rating: 4.5 (1.1K reviews)
Cuisine: Steakhouse
Price Range: $$
Location: Downtown
Description:

Restaurant François

Rating: 4.8 (1.2K reviews)
Cuisine: French
Price Range: $
Location: Downtown Austin
Description: This hot spot from Guy + Larry restaurant group focuses on French fare with a moody, upscale dining room — a special-occasion kind of spot meant for drinking an ice cold Vesper or trying a French bottle of wine from a region you’ve never even heard of.

Sushi | Bar - ATX

Rating: 4.8 (139 reviews)
Cuisine: Sushi
Price Range: $$$$
Location: 2nd St District
Description: You could call this Austin original a sushi speakeasy: The front door is unmarked, the lighting is intimate, and when you sit down at one of the two 10-seat sushi counters for a 17-course feast, featuring imaginative riffs on traditional nigiri (with well-chosen wine and sake pairings), you’ll feel like you’ve discovered a wonderful secret you can’t wait to share.

The Guest House

Rating: 4.2 (192 reviews)
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $$
Location: Market District
Description: Elegant but unpretentious, with an American-international menu ranging from BBQ bacon sliders to hamachi crudo to 40-day dry-aged bone-in ribeye, this downtown essential from the New Waterloo group (La Condesa, Sway, etc.) is a perfect date-night choice — but you can also come here just to enjoy the first-rate food and the easy-going setting.

Uchiba Austin

Rating: 4.7 (305 reviews)
Cuisine: Japanese
Price Range: $$$
Location: Downtown
Description:

Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum

Rating: 4.8 (11K reviews)
Cuisine: Asian
Price Range: $$
Location: Clarksville
Description: There’s magic in chef Ling’s dim sum: Her inventive creations (think a jumbo seafood soup dumpling and a basil and chicken variety) could rival dim sum parlors on either coast.

Uchi Austin

Rating: 4.8 (129 reviews)
Cuisine: Japanese
Price Range: $$$
Location: South Lamar
Description:

Space Cowboy

Rating: 4.6 (1.3K reviews)
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $$
Location: East Austin
Description:

Odd Duck

Rating: 4.8 (26K reviews)
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $$
Location: South Lamar
Description: Seasonal Texas cuisine wasn’t much of anything until Bryce Gilmore came along. For those longing for the days of Gilmore’s Odd Duck “farm-to-trailer” cuisine — and for those who never got to try it — head to South Lamar Boulevard to hit the jackpot.

Launderette

Rating: 4.7 (12K reviews)
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $$
Location: East Austin
Description: It's a James Beard-nominated converted laundromat with a dessert program that takes the cake.

Dai Due

Rating: 4.8 (2.5K reviews)
Cuisine: Local
Price Range: $$$
Location: East Austin-Cherrywood
Description: Lots of places tout their locavore credentials, but few deliver like this one does. A rustic-chic restaurant with an in-house butcher shop, Dai Due is seriously regional and seasonal in sourcing its ingredients, even specializing in Texas wines and beers.

Uchiko Austin

Rating: 4.7 (238 reviews)
Cuisine: Japanese
Price Range: $$
Location: Rosedale
Description:

Fig Italian

Rating: 4.4 (203 reviews)
Cuisine: Italian
Price Range: $
Location: South Lamar
Description: Located on South Lamar, this upscale Italian spot serves handmade pastas with ingredients from local farms.

Kinfolk

Rating: 4.9 (1K reviews)
Cuisine: Cocktail Bar
Price Range: $$$
Location: Downtown Austin
Description: Add this to your list of romantic hideaways — a suave cocktail lounge and “spirits library” in the 19th-century cellar of downtown’s popular Moonshine Grill, serving cocktails both classic and creative.

LENOIR

Rating: 4.7 (7.4K reviews)
Cuisine: American
Price Range: $$$
Location: Bouldin Creek
Description: Lenoir’s Hot Weather Food — acidic, citrusy, brothy, spicy, and light on butter, cream, and gluten — is uniquely tailored to Austin’s climate, and it’s exceptionally tasty.

Mattie's

Rating: 4.7 (6.1K reviews)
Cuisine: Southern
Price Range: $$
Location: Bouldin Creek
Description: It’s easy to forget you’re in modern-day Austin when you’re out on the porch with a 1965 milk punch in hand, and Mattie’s famed peacocks wander the historic grounds.

Fonda San Miguel

Rating: 4.8 (7.2K reviews)
Cuisine: Mexican
Price Range: $$$
Location: North Austin
Description: This fiesta-bright upscale classic has long defined “interior Mexican” (as opposed to Tex-Mex) cuisine in Austin since it opened in 1975.