Austin Restaurants – 3 Popular Tex-Mex Restaurants in Austin Texas

Researching a vacation to Austin Texas? Don’t forget to add Austin restaurants to your Austin Things To Do List. The city has a wealth of dining choices, and you’re going to need plenty of fuel to see everything Austin has to offer.

In the Tex-Mex category, you have a number of 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 plenty of choices and both the salsa and the food are above average. Popular items include the tortilla soup (known as the Famous Baby A’s Soup) as well as the shrimp fajitas. There are also a wide assortment of margaritas, most notably the Purple Margarita. The Purple Margarita is powerful – customers are limited to just two (and please don’t drive if you’ve had ANY).

El Arroyo – El Arroyo (or “The Ditch” in Spanish – the original restaurant near downtown Austin sits over a drainage ravine) is another long time 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 that laid back Austin environment. Be sure to check out the letterboard sign out front – the humorous, topical, and sometimes controversial messages are updated daily.

Chuy’s – Arguably the most popular of all of 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 statewide. An Austin Texas tradition since 1982, the original Chuy’s is located right next to Austin’s popular and premiere public park, Zilker Park. Chuy’s is both quirky and kitschy – if you like an ironic and tacky dining experience that involves lots of Elvis, lots of hubcaps, and lots of little hand carved wooden fish 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 does have its share of national chain establishments, there are more than enough individual and family owned and operated Austin restaurants to provide visitors and locals alike all the authentic dining experiences they could ever ask for.