21 Best Date Night Restaurants In Austin

By Kelsey Kennedy | April 19, 2024

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Wondering where you should plan your next date night? Good news: I’m sharing my favorite date night restaurants in Austin with you! (Be sure to use the map below to find one near you.)

After more than a decade of going out on dates in Austin, my husband and I have ventured to pretty much every single high-end restaurant in this city. We're constantly scoping out the newest Austin restaurants, romantic date spots, as well as fun Austin wine bars, craft breweries, and casual spots to just grab a bite together.

My husband and I love trying new restaurants for date night whenever a special occasion justifies it! We love going out on date night to celebrate birthdays, job promotions, anniversaries (it used to be our “dating” anniversary, and now we celebrate our wedding anniversary), guests being in town…or just no reason at all. Austin just has a bunch of great date night restaurants!

21 Best Date Night Restaurants in Austin

1. Lenoir

Lenoir is a tiny, beautiful restaurant in south Austin that only seats about 30 people. The concept of “hot-weather foods” means that the food grows and tastes best in a hot-weather area, like Austin Texas.

The intimate dining space lends itself perfectly to a romantic date night in Austin, and the beautiful outdoor garden is a lovely place to split a bottle of wine under the Texas sky.

WEBSITE | 1807 S 1st St, Austin, TX 78704

2. Fonda San Miguel

21 Best Date Night Restaurants In Austin

Experience one of Austin’s oldest fine-dining establishments for date night at this beautiful interior Mexican restaurant. The food and drinks here are exceptional. They’ve mastered the restaurant trifecta (food, service, and decor) as only a decades-old restaurant can.

WEBSITE | 2330 W N Loop Blvd, Austin, TX 78756

3. Emmer & Rye

Grains are the star of the show at Emmer & Rye’s Rainey Street restaurant. I chose to share a photo of my favorite dish (the cacio e pepe…be still my soul, it is perfection), but rest assured that the interior of the restaurant is absolutely stunning.

Chef Kevin Fink has developed a program that actually mills heritage grain; while many restaurants can pride themselves on making bread and pasta from scratch, Emmer & Rye goes one step further by milling their own grain. That’s why the bread and past are so good here.

The menu follows the seasons, using whatever is local and available. Be sure to order the Cacio e Pepe, which is one of the only menu items that doesn’t rotate…it’s that good!

WEBSITE | SkyHouse, 51 Rainey St UNIT 110, Austin

4. Launderette

Launderette is about as cute and quirky as they come! It’s a renovated laundromat in east Austin that’s casual enough for a lazy happy hour, and trendy enough for date night! Bonus: this place was a finalist for a James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2016.

WEBSITE | 2115 Holly St, Austin, TX 78702

5. Aba

I’m not kidding when I say that this is THE most beautiful patio I’ve seen in Austin! Aba went all out with pants, white/beige mixed textiles, and hundreds of twinkle lights swaying underneath the century-old live oak tree that the patio is built around. Aba is a mediterranean restaurant that started in Chicago. Austin freaked out when they announced they were opening a location on South Congress in 2020, and reservations have been hard to get ever since!

I’ll say that while the ambiance and cocktail program are absolutely stellar, the food is just “good.” (I need to go back and try more dishes, though.) Definitely worth visiting, and a very memorable experience, I just think that the food doesn’t quite live up to the hype of the ambiance. But I’m still listing it as one of my favorite date night spots in Austin because it’s just so dang beautiful!

WEBSITE | 1011 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

6. Dai Due

I’ve yet to find another place like Dai Due Butcher Shop and Supper Club. The concept here is so much fun: it’s hyper-local Texas fare, so you’ll see game on the menu that you wouldn’t typically find at an average farm-to-table restaurant. Expect things like wild hog, rabbit, and quail.

The bakery in the front of the restaurant is bustling with activity, and the smoky smell in the air is from an open-flame grill that’s used to heat up the biscuits.

WEBSITE | 2406 Manor Rd, Austin, TX 78722

7. Odd Duck

This popular Austin restaurant started as a food truck and grew into a successful brick-and-mortar on South Lamar. Chef Bryce Gilmore was at the forefront of the farm-to-table movement, and Odd Duck is still one of the best places to experience seasonal food that has been beautifully prepared. It’s a great place to bring out-of-town guests!

(PS: brunch here is phenomenal as well. One of my favorite brunch spots in Austin!)

WEBSITE | 1201 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704

8. Olamaie

“Elevated southern food” means you’ll get to try creative twists on things like boiled peanuts, cornbread, and chicken. But the real star of the show here? Biscuits! Be sure to order this off-menu item. Another reason to visit: Chef Michael Fojtasek snagged a James Beard Award nomination for the Best Chef Southwest category. Congrats, chef!

WEBSITE | 1610 San Antonio St, Austin, TX 78701

9. Justine's

Justine's French Restaurant in East Austin

Justines Brasserie is absolutely one of the sexiest date night restaurants in Austin. It’s currently my favorite French restaurant! It’s a moody, sultry place to order steak frites, mussels in butter sauce, and a bottle of champagne.

This is the perfect spot in Austin to go out on a date with someone you want to impress! I always think of Justine’s as the best third date spot, because you’ve already had the first date introduction, the second date to solidify that you like each other, and now it’s the third date and you’re ready to pull out all the stops with a beautiful restaurant, great food, and an lovely bottle of champagne.

WEBSITE | 4710 E 5th St., Austin, TX 78702

10. Suerte

One of Bon Appetit’s “50 Best New Restuarants In America” of 2018, Suerte is from Odd Duck partner Sam Hellman-Mass and focuses on corn. The masa is ground in-house to make tortillas from scratch, and much of the decor is imported from Mexico. Plates are small and made to be shared.

WEBSITE | 1800 E 6th St, Austin, TX 78702

11. Perla's

This is, by far, my favorite seafood restaurant in Austin for a special occasion. The sprawling patio overlooking SoCo is shaded by massive Live Oak trees, so I love enjoying raw oysters out there when the weather is nice.

WEBSITE | 1400 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

12. June's All day

June’s All Day is cute, friendly, lively, and pink! It’s named after June Rodil, head of the wine program for the MMH restaurants (Elizabeth Street, Clark’s, June’s, Perla’s, etc.) and one of the few female master sommoliers in the country. This a wonderful place to enjoy breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It’s a small place, so make a reservation or plan to sit at the bar if you don’t want to have to wait. PS: the happy hour here is one of the best in the city with 1/2 off all food items!

WEBSITE | 1722 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704

Related: Best New Restaurants in Austin

13. Fixe

Fixe is a beautiful southern restaurant with modern takes on old southern classics. Just like with Olamaie, this is another place where you must order the biscuits, no matter what time of day you visit.

This restaurant has a special place in my heart because it’s where we were eating when Nate and I found out the the offer we placed on our house had been accepted! Since the restaurant is partway underground, we weren’t getting good cell service so we each had to keep leaving the table to go outside and sign forms on our phones.

WEBSITE | 500 W 5th St, Austin, TX 78701

14. Lin Asian Bar + Dim Sum

Dim Sum is such a fun date night idea because you get to order lots of small plates and share everything! Lin Dim Sum is a beautiful, extremely busy restaurant. While I was eating there, Mayor Adler walked in for a dinner meeting. I mean…if the Mayor is eating there, it must be good, right?!

They specialize in Asian home cooking, and they’re striving to offer traditional Asian dishes made with better ingredients. They use local ingredients, and the skilled chefs prepare a lot of the food (like the dumplings!) in the open kitchen. It’s a fun place to get a counter seat, and be sure to get an order of the Shanghai Soup Dumplings.

WEBSITE | 1203 W 6th St, Austin, TX 78703

15. Hestia

Hestia is a live-fire restaurant from the team behind Emmer and Rye. Everything here is cooked with live fire (no gas or electric grills) which absolutely blows my mind. The entrance to the restaurant is Basque-style wine bar Kalimotxo, which is fun to tack on to the beginning of your date night.

WEBSITE | 607 W 3rd St Suite 105, Austin, TX 78701

16. Comedor

Texas Monthly called this modern Mexican restaurant one of the best new restaurants in the country. The architecture of the downtown building is enough to wow you (it’s dark on the outside but flooded with light inside…it has a speakeasy feel to it!) but the bone marrow tacos, polished cocktails, and impeccable service will make this one of your favorite restaurants in Austin.

WEBSITE | 501 Colorado St, Austin, TX 78701

17. Uchiko

Both Uchi and Uchiko are great date night spots, but I’m including Uchiko because it seems to be just slightly less expensive. It’s an iconic Austin restaurant that you must experience at some point, and it’s undoubtedly one of the best date night restaurants in Austin.

WEBSITE | 4200 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78756

18. Holiday Bar

Holiday bar is all good times, fancy cocktails, delicious food, and a gorgeous gravel patio. It's not a "fancy" place, but it feels classy and relaxed and definitely like you're on a vacation.

The hospitality studs who teamed up to open this restaurant know how to ensure each guest is treated well, every plate is prepared perfectly, and the martinis are super cold.

Holiday is a walk-in only (no reservations) seat-yourself bar with a full food menu, so it makes for a great casual date night experience in Austin.

WEBSITE | 5020 E 7th St, Austin, TX 78702

19. Birdie's

Birdie's neighborhood restaurant in east Austin is small, charming, family-owned, and absolutely lovely for a date night in Austin.

You might have to stand in line in the east Austin neighborhood while you wait to order at the counter (share a bottle of wine on the sidewalk while you wait!), but the queue is always worth it.

Plates rotate based on what's seasonal and available. The counter seats next to the teeny and efficient kitchen are my favorite place to sit, but the back patio is also lovely in the summer months.

WEBSITE | 2944 E 12th St Unit A, Austin, TX 78702

20. ABGB

This is for all of you casual Austinintes who are looking for date night restaurants in Austin that allow you to show up in a t-shirt and jeans. (Not gonna lie – sometimes the idea of throwing on a baseball cap instead of fixing my hair sounds like the BEST date night idea, ha!)

Although it’s not an upscale restaurant with white tablecloths and servers, ABGB is one of my favorite places to meet Nate for dinner on any night of the week! Their award-winning lagers are light and crisp, and the pizza crust is dense and chewy. It’s one of my favorite pies in town.

There’s live music on the weekends, and sometimes folks even get up and dance (especially when it’s a country band!)

WEBSITE | 1305 W Oltorf St, Austin, TX 78704

21. El Naranjo

El Naranjo is an interior Mexican restaurant from Iliana and her husband Ernesto, who brought their culinary expertise from Oaxaca. The fresh, bold menu is constantly changing, so there are always plenty of new flavors to taste here.

WEBSITE | 2717 S Lamar Blvd STE 1085, Austin, TX 78704

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