Taco-bout Tasty Tacos in Austin

Most foodies know of Austin as the barbecue and Tex-Mex heartland, but food in this Texas town certainly spans beyond that. Foodies love their local craft beers, live music venues and global cuisines with a Texan twist. All these enticing elements complement one of Austin's most beloved foods – tacos! The city even claims the breakfast taco as its own culinary icon. So where do the most experienced eaters go when they want the best tacos in Austin? Welcome to the Tastemaker 20. We pulled data covering thousands of restaurants to uncover the best of them all according to OpenTable's savviest diners. The following 20 hot spots all feature tacos, whether authentic Mexican versions or fusion creations. Book a table today and discover the best tacos in Austin.

The OpenTable Team

14 Restaurants

Updated February 06, 2020

Restaurants:	Joann's Fine Foods, Ciclo, ATX Cocina…
Price Range:	$$ - $$$$
Cuisines:	Tex-Mex, Contemporary Latin, Contemporary Mexican…
Neighborhoods:	Downtown…

Joann's Fine Foods

Price: Moderate

Tex-Mex

Downtown

4.7

390 reviews

Joann’s Fine Foods, open daily for breakfast, lunch, happy hour and dinner, comprises a restaurant, patio, a courtyard bar with its own menu and a seasonal pool bar. The casual South Congress neighborhood spot is inspired by a classic American diner and serves excellent Tex-Mex and California-inspired cuisine. Among the restaurant’s specialties are some of the best tacos in Austin. Five versions are available: grilled redfish, chicken tinga, beef picadillo, barbacoa and vegetarian avocado tacos, all loaded with toppings. All come with a choice of fresh flour or corn tortillas, and the option to add rice and veggie or refried black beans.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Ciclo

Price: Expensive

Contemporary Latin

Downtown

4.7

626 reviews

Ciclo, an upscale restaurant inside the Four Seasons hotel, presents acclaimed chef Richard Sandoval’s contemporary take on fine Latin cuisine. Austin locals or visitors looking for a fancy take on tacos should dine at Ciclo for lunch or dinner and check out the shareables section of the menu. At lunchtime there’s a tuna tartare taco on a jicama tortilla, accented with cucumber, ginger, cilantro and serrano. Dinner features lobster tacos, which come on flour tortillas with a black bean puree, chile de arbol salsa, avocado and cilantro. Further, fish tacos a la talla are a signature item on the lunch menu. These feature adobo-grilled fish, avocado and aji tartar sauce.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

ATX Cocina

Price: Very Expensive

Contemporary Mexican

Downtown

4.8

2257 reviews

Shareable, modern Mexican fare starring often unexpected ingredients is the specialty of ATX Cocina, which also boasts the largest tequila and mezcal collection in Austin. The restaurant’s signature cocktails make a fine accompaniment to some of the best tacos in Austin. All feature exceptional tortillas made using heirloom corn from Oaxaca, ground and cooked in-house. One of the most unusual taco options on the dinner menu is the tacos de flor with hibiscus falafel, sunflower butter, pickled carrot and candied hibiscus. There’s also a starter of tacos arabes with lamb, recado rojo, rajas and garbanzo puree. True taco lovers should head to ATX Cocnia for its Friday-only lunch service, when seven options include a mole poblano duck, quail with wild mushrooms and Veracruz-style fish.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Grizzelda's

Price: Expensive

Mexican

East Austin

4.6

946 reviews

In a stylish, boho-chic space filled with light and greenery, Grizzelda’s presents coastal and central Mexican cuisine for dinner, Sunday brunch and happy hour. Taco plates, which come with rice, refried black beans and homemade tortillas, make up a significant section of the dinner menu. Stand-out options include the picadillo with dry-aged beef, papas and charred rajas, and the camarones fritas with fried gulf shrimp, cilantro-lime red cabbage, cilantro aioli and mayonesa roja. There’s also a beer battered fish taco on the happy hour apps selection, offered alongside great deals on wines by the glass, palomas and other cocktails.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

La Condesa

Price: Moderate

Mexican

Central Austin

4.6

2007 reviews

For its creative cuisine designed for sharing, La Condesa takes equal inspiration from Austin and Mexico City. Chef Rick Lopez presents innovative creations for weekday lunches, weekend brunches and nightly dinner, with some of the best tacos in Austin featuring on every menu. The lunch menu dedicates a whole section to tacos, with roasted chicken, achiote-marinated shrimp and barbacoa with black bean mole among the options. There’s also an intriguing vegetarian taco, the camote with roasted sweet potato, crushed avocado and pineapple salpicon. Brunch presents the same camote and pollo tacos as the lunch menu, adding a lengua taco with beef tongue and salsa chipotle. The dinner menu stars braised short rib tacos with manchego on corn tortillas as well as a lamb barbacoa, harissa and preserved lemon yogurt on bacon fat-flour tortillas.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Cafe Blue - Hill Country Galleria

Price: Moderate

Seafood

Bee Caves / Lakeway / Lake Travis

4.4

1666 reviews

Café Blue at the Hill Country Galleria specializes in classic seafood dishes, showcasing the freshest local catch of the day on its dinner, lunch and weekend brunch menus. The restaurant offers an oyster bar, and diners might start a meal with snow crab claws, ceviche, a daily selection of oysters on the half-shell or a lavish seafood tower. Café Blue’s dinner and lunch menus include two excellent seafood taco options, both on corn tortillas with a side of mixed greens in a ginger-lime vinaigrette. Choose from blackened mahi-mahi tacos with fresh spinach and a tropical fruit salsa, and the gulf coast fried shrimp tacos with zesty coleslaw and a chipotle-lime sauce. These options share the lengthy menu with sandwiches, po’boys, burgers, steaks, entrée salads and more than a dozen seafood specialties.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Ranch 616

Price: Expensive

Southwest

Downtown

4.7

1333 reviews

Eclectic southwestern cuisine, live music and hunting lodge-inspired décor characterize Ranch 616. Chef-owner Kevin Williamson takes inspiration for his bold cuisine from South Texas spices and the freshest gulf seafood. Southern Living Magazine called Ranch 616’s fried oysters the best in the south for three consecutive years. Try the famous oysters as an appetizer but be sure to follow up with some of the best tacos in Austin. Lunch and dinner menus both feature crispy fish tacos and crispy shrimp tacos with a side of tobacco jalapeno onion rings. The lunch menu adds Tony’s beef vacio tacos stuffed with Negra Modelo lime and scallion marinated beef steak, caramelized onions, spepper, guacamole and sides of borracho beans and Spanish rice.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Bar Peached

Price: Moderate

Asian

Downtown

4.7

1310 reviews

Asian-Southern fusion comfort foods and creative cocktails are the signature of Bar Peached, a hip Clarksville eatery from the same team behind Peached Tortilla. Regulars and critics alike rave about the tacos, which dominate the dinner menu. They come as trios, with a choice of BBQ brisket, spiced cauliflower or pork belly banh mi, and large-format plates with braised pork shoulder or fried fish. There are also the confit duck foldies, a “taco cousin” dressed with tamarind hoisin sauce. Don’t miss the signature margarita de peached, a draft cocktail starring a habanero and Thai basil infused tequila that pairs perfectly with any taco choice.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Roaring Fork - Downtown, Congress

Price: Expensive

Contemporary American

Downtown

4.6

3160 reviews

Roaring Fork, an upscale-casual restaurant specializing in wood-fired cuisine, started in Scottsdale, Ariz. and since expanded to two locations in Austin. The downtown venue is in the heart of the city, inside the InterContinental Stephen F. Austin Hotel on Congress Avenue. It’s an ideal setting for visitors and locals alike to dine on grilled, blackened, slow-roasted and spit-roasted meats, seafood and other specialties. The grilled fish tacos, which come in portions of two or three, come with corn tortillas, guacamole, corn pico, remoulade, salsa verde and black beans. They are a highlight of both the lunch and dinner menus.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Caroline

Price: Moderate

American

Downtown

4.5

947 reviews

In an airy, sophisticated space on Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, Caroline Restaurant presents globally inspired new American fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Among lunch and dinner snacks like spicy deviled eggs, grilled shishito peppers and roasted sweet corn dip with cotija are ahi tuna poke tacos. They’re topped with jicama and avocado and drizzled with a ponzu vinaigrette for an enticing fusion take on a classic. Also on the lunch menu is an entrée-size serving of cauliflower “chorizo” tacos with a kale and apple slaw. For a more casual experience, diners 21 and older might go to Upstairs at Caroline, a rooftop bar with tacos on its bar bites menu. It’s open on Thursday to Saturday evenings only.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

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Fulton

Price: Moderate

American

Austin

4.3

205 reviews

Taking inspiration from the finest local seafood and the cuisines of Italy and Asia, Revue presents an eclectic array of pizzas, ramens, pasta dishes, salads and tacos, among other original creations. Diners craving tacos need to come during lunch time, when there are a couple of options to consider. These comprise the Korean BBQ tacos with short rib, spicy mayo and kimchi salsa inside flour tortillas, and the vegetarian fried avocado tacos with green papaya, cabbage, Thai herbs and sesame mayo, also on flour tortillas. Other menu highlights at Revue include pork belly fried rice, a Korean tofu bowl, a pork and ‘nduja Bolognese over hand-cut pappardelle, and the meatball and burrata pizza.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Eddie V's - Arboretum

Price: Very Expensive

Seafood

Arboretum

4.9

3678 reviews

Eddie V’s, an upscale national chain specializing in seafood and steaks, has its Austin venue a stone’s throw from the Arboretum shopping center. Locals and visitors alike stop by for a fine sit-down meal or a lighter bite after shopping. The Maine lobster tacos, which come on house-made fresh tortillas with grilled sweet corn pico, are a major highlight of the appetizers section of the dinner menu. Enjoy a portion before continuing to a main course of fish or prime steak with decadent sides like au gratin cheddar potatoes, truffled macaroni and cheese or crab fried rice. Alternatively, share the tacos along with other smaller plates such as the burrata and beet salad, jumbo lump crab cake and kung pao calamari.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Geraldine’s

Price: Moderate

Unspecified

Downtown

4.6

2101 reviews

For live music, Austin-inspired cocktails and contemporary southern cuisine, head up to the fourth floor of the Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt and grab a table at Geraldine’s. The restaurant is open all day, seven days a week and boasts some of the best tacos in Austin among its eclectic, produce-forward creations. Check out the snack menu, offered daily from 2 to 5:30 p.m., for crispy fish tacos with roasted salsa verde and pork carnitas tacos with chipotle aioli, onions and jalapenos. The fish tacos feature on the lunch menu as well.

At the moment, there's no online availability within 2.5 hours of your request. Do you have another time in mind?

Corner

Price: Moderate

Unspecified

Downtown

4.5

816 reviews

With its eye-catching industrial-chic space and prime location at the corner of 2nd and Congress, downtown’s Corner Restaurant always draws a crowd. Adding immeasurably to the eatery’s appeal is its inventive, Texas-inspired cuisine, offered daily for dinner and late-night dining, for breakfast and lunch on weekdays and brunch on weekends. Tacos are a signature item, featuring in three versions – crispy fish, pork carnitas and beef barbacoa – for lunch, dinner and late-night. The brunch menu features the carnitas and crispy fish tacos and adds the Americano with eggs, cheddar, hickory-cured bacon,sausage and salsa roja.

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