Rankfile

Best restaurants in Austin, eaten and ranked

One week, three kitchens, every headline dish ordered twice on different days. Prices are what we paid at the table, from our own receipts, with no press discounts and no announcements.

Last updated · 3 options compared

Ember & Oak

Editor's Choice

Our top pick

9.3/10

An east-side smokehouse running post oak overnight, with a covered yard and a counter you can watch. Every dish we ordered twice arrived the same twice, which is rarer than it sounds.

Pros

  • Post-oak smoke, and you can taste it
  • Brisket sliced to order at the counter
  • Covered yard seating off the street

Cons

  • Card minimum at the counter
  • Lunch line from about eleven thirty

Features

  • Overnight-smoked brisket
  • House sausage, hot and mild
  • Sunday-only beef ribs
Price
$14–28
Country
United States
Founded
1987
Service pace
8.6
Food quality
9.6
Booking ease
7.8
Atmosphere
9.4
Menu breadth
8.2
Local character
9.7
Value
9.4
Overall
9.3
Reserve a table

  1. Green Arbor

    A garden that happens to serve dinner

    Best Value
    8.7/10

    The city's serious vegetarian kitchen, in a shaded yard ten minutes from downtown. The menu changes with the market and the kitchen says so on the board rather than pretending otherwise.

    Features

    • Meat-free throughout
    • Texas wines by the glass
    • Covered seating for bad weather
    Price
    $18–34
    Book a table

  2. Pit Row

    The benchmark the others are measured against

    8.2/10

    An institution that does one thing, has done it for decades, and sees no reason to add a second thing. You line up, you eat, you understand.

    Features

    • Brisket by the half pound
    • White bread, pickles, onion — nothing else needed
    Price
    $12–22
    See the menu

    No reservations — the line starts at nine, the brisket runs out early

Common questions

Do I need to book ahead?
For dinner at the sit-down places, yes — a few days ahead for a weekend. The barbecue joints do not take reservations at all; you line up, and the line is part of the meal.
What do these places actually cost?
The prices shown are per person for a main and a drink, from our own receipts. Barbecue is sold by the pound, which makes it easy to spend either twelve dollars or forty — our numbers are what a normal appetite actually ordered.
Is there anything for vegetarians?
The smokehouses will feed you sides, and Texas sides are better than most mains — but Green Arbor is the honest answer, with a menu that is meat-free from top to bottom.