When I lived in Austin we’d always take out of town guests to “The Oasis” on Lake Travis. This is one of those restaurants that has mediocre food but a fantastic view! I think it’s one of the prettiest areas of Austin and would recommend hitting it at least once. Be sure to go at sunset, the view is spectacular. Here’s a link to several still pictures taken from there : Google Maps
The deck of the Oasis burned down five or six years ago. They’ve replaced it with a new metal deck, but it’s just not the same.
Bummer. I had a lengthy post written that ‘timed out’ on me last night mentioning to be careful walking those stairs after having a few 'ritas. I had a girlfriend that had a few too many and went down hard on her ass there. She did not spill a drop of her drink, though. Pretty funny in hindsight (no injury, but pride was gone). At least visitors do not have to worry about driving across the top of Mansfield Dam’s narrow road nowadays. I had many a close-calls of head-on wrecks on that little path from large trucks, etc.
I’ve been saying for years now that they should install a water slide on that thing. It’d pay for itself in a week or two.
That one’s a keeper 
That’s a shame - I knew the original decks had burned and that they’d rebuilt, but I had assumed they’d try to keep the same look and feel. I’m planning on visiting Austin within the next couple of months and thought about the Oasis (hence the post) - now I’m bummed if it’s going to be a completely different place.
Food in Austin?
Have to do Taco Deli. The Otto. No. Don’t eat anything else.
Taste of Ethiopia in Pflugerville. Don’t bother with Esther’s. Say hi to Winnie for me.
Kaprow. The appetizers and not really anything else. The Avocano and cheese sticks.
Bombai Express. Best. Indian. Here. And in a Walmart parking lot no less. Most people with an opinion here will say Clay Pit but chances are they are trendy dbags from SoCo who don’t know any better.
Well, it is Austin so you have to do the trailer food thing. I guess Chi’Lantro is a good place to start. Korean and Mexican fusion. It’s better than it sounds.
Oh, and Razzoo’s near Ikea. Best/strongest drinks in town. Well, Round Rock but close enough. It’s a chain so you’d expect the drinks to be weak but you’d be wrong.
Kirby Lane, of course. Sweet potato fries. Or pancakes at midnight after you leave Razzoo’s.
Daily Juice. Good avocado sandwich. Throw in Mr Natural if you’re into the whole herbivore thing.
There’s nothing really of interest south of the river. Except maybe the Salt Lick. All you can eat BBQ near a couple of decent wineries. Good way to waste a day if you don’t like your arteries. On the way home stop at Nutty Brown’s and kiss the bird. Food there is horrible and the drinks are pathetic but nice atmosphere and music.
That should get through the first week or so.
Nope. Just Home Slice Pizza. Cabo Bob’s. Torchy’s Tacos. Sugar Mama’s bakery. Jack Allen’s Steakhouse. Red’s Porch. Tarka. P. Terry’s. Mighty Cone. South Congress Cafe. Countless Tex Mex places on S 1st. Chuy’s. Shady Grove. and that’s just some of the food of interest.
Slow down and roll your windows down next time you go south of the 183/MoPac interchange.
I go to P. Terry’s on Lamar so I don’t count that as south of the river. Or used to. Dan’s has been filling the burger cravings this year.
Can’t disagree too strongly with any on that list except Chuy’s. Elvis what? Kidding me? Heard nothing but praise for it but was possibly the worst TexMex I’ve had.
I relocated to Austin a while ago from DC, and I love it. Great food, relaxed vibe, open spaces. And the cost of living, with no state sales tax and (relatively) low housing costs, is cheap compared to the East Coast.
One thing I have noticed is a definite undercurrent of resentment among some natives against newcomers. For instance, based on previous threads I’ve searched on this topic, I fully expected UncleRojelio to wade in and advise all newcomers to take the bullet train back to Yankeeland. I can see why – there’s been a lot of growth over the last several years, with all the resource problems (traffic, water restrictions) that entails. And much of this growth is pretty generic American box-store-ranch-house-suburb, with some surface shout outs to local identity. Austin culture may not be under threat of extermination, but it’s certainly being diluted.
However, Texans are just too fundamentally decent to really hold a grudge against you for long if you’re gracious and dedicated to learning about your new home. Learn the pronunciations, get yourself out to the unique local spots mentioned in this thread, be friendly to people and you’ll do fine.
I like Chuy’s, but mostly for the atmosphere. If I want good Tex-mex, I go to La Margarita, up in Round Rock along I-35. It’s the best I’ve ever found.
An understatement about the growth in last few years. Growth in the latter 80’s was HUGE. I moved to Austin around '79 ('78?), and remember how it was before most of the Tech companies came in (Sematech, TxInst, and others) pulling in masses of ‘workers’. Days when you could park on side of Loop 360 and walk through the ‘woods’ to TwinFalls on Barton Creek (just north of Barton Creek Mall, iirc), or take in the at-least-once-a-week free concerts along Auditorium Shores, or the city-sponsored free ‘concerts’/performances at many of the gazebos/parks (especially the one by Courthouse where Tish Hinojosa often played) began declining. MoPac did not go south of Ben White or north of 183 (?) and it was a two-lane road for the most part, and a person could easily get anywhere with their ‘cruiser’ bicycle (sporty ‘beach bikes’ kinda) and be seen as ‘normal’. What else? No Loop 360 bridge over Lake Austin, and teens drinking beer at Redbud ‘island’ (just below Lake Austin’s dam, iirc) was accepted and expected. There were numerous ‘unmarked’ caves to spelunk in where Circle C Ranch exists now that you had to walk miles to get to - and E. coli bacteria shutting down Barton Creek/Springs swimming was practically unheard of. It’d be awesome to hear that Campbell’s hole is still as it was! You could go to 6th Street and actually park by the bar you wanted, or near enough.
I went down to Austin a few months ago for a quick day-trip, and found that it was even more ‘crowded’ than it was a few years previously. Traffic along S Lamar to N Austin was acceptable, but I saw nowhere near as many bicycles as used to be common on the pavement. It was so easy to take Congress Ave from WmCannon/Manchace Rd area to downtown/UT campus (the Drag, per se) without any traffic pressure - nowadays it seems suicidal, but so goes (true) city life, I guess. I could still see/feel the old Austin attitude somewhat, but nowhere near what I grew up knowing. Diluted ‘attitude’ - hell yes, sad to say. One thing I find neat is that at the first Freedom Fest Austin held, I was front-row, chest to the stage-fence, the whole time, and have my sweaty face showing clearly in the American-Statesman’s front-page pic/article. Kinda nice to know I was there to help kick things off on that hotter-than-hell day, and shared some ‘smoky good times’ with most of the bands that played.
I’m just reminiscing about what many of Austin’s old-timers remember Austin as being like. Oh, be sure to take that little train around Zilker if you visit there 
The Zilker playground is perfect for kids and plenty of area for adults to feel uncrowded. I’ll shut up now…if not, I might just head back down for a few days to cool-off in a lake 
Well, we’re here and loving it. Definitely trying out some of your suggestions. It’s been hot, but we’re from North Central Florida (hot, sticky, no breezes), so we’re not big complainers. Thanks, everybody! See you around town!
If you’ve located south of the river, I invite you to check out the SFC Farmers market in Sunset Valley on Saturday between 9-1. Although the veggie selection is limited right now, the fall planting will start soon and there’s still some good fresh produce available. The market also offers pastured raised chicken, beef and pork as well as fresh baked bread and lots of other goodies.
I won’t mention the name of our booth as I don’t want to get my knuckles rapped for soliciting but if you come to the market, look for the ‘Really Good Chicken’ sign.
Move slowly. Keep your hands in plain sight. Take cover. When questioned, say you are a Southern Baptist and recite the Lord’s Prayer. Be prepared to recite the list of fallen heroes at the Battle of San Jacinto in reverse sequence if ordered to do so. Tell the overweight, 8th grade dropout police officer that God called you to Texas that you might dwell among the righteous; you should be okay after all that.
But, you’re moving to Austin, you say? Have the University of Texas logo branded on your chest and you can do no wrong.
It seemed like there was an amazing number of uncloseted, hardcore Aggies in Austin, though. It’s not as if I’d encounter any OSU shirts on the streets of Ann Arbor, but “out and proud” Aggies where everywhere in Austin.
We will! We’ve already been to one farmer’s market, and it was great. Everybody’s been really nice in town, too. One food truck owner even spotted us on the money we owed for dinner (didn’t realize it was cash only), and we ended up finding him the next day at the aforementioned farmer’s market. And all the food we had there was fantastic.
Also, I’m a musician and was thinking of playing solo acoustic around town for some extra cash. Any recommendations? All the recommendations here for everything else have been great.
Aggies hang out around Longhorns hoping to learn to be sophisticated. As an old Red Raider, I’m bound by my oath to hate both groups.