ATXGuide
The Best Steakhouses In Austin
photo credit: Richard Casteel
When non-Texans try to imagine a true Texas steakhouse, they might picture a big barnyard dining room with wooden floors and tables that are all covered in peanut shells. And while you can probably still get that experience at your local Texas Roadhouse or out in the country, the Austin reality is something a little different. It’s upscale French-American restaurants with 1200°F broilers, and it’s 50-day dry-aged steaks priced by the ounce and served in a dining room that looks like a scene out of Goodfellas. We’ve got casual chophouses as well as butcher shops that moonlight as restaurants. The next time you find yourself with a craving that only a textbook-sized slab of meat can satisfy, head to one of these spots.
Want something even more Texan? We’ve got a barbecue guide, too. And after all that meat, maybe you could try out one of our favorite vegan spots for balance.
THE SPOTS
The quintessential upscale steakhouse experience in Austin, Jeffrey’s has been around Austin in some form since the mid-’70s and has gained a reputation as the de-facto spot for big celebrations and anniversaries. This feels like a restaurant that went to boarding school in Switzerland and studied fine dining at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris before eventually deciding to settle down on a quiet street corner in Clarksville. Dishes tend to fall somewhere between fancy French and classic American, pulling both off equally well in a world where beef bourguignon and crispy gulf oysters share a playing field. And a small menu of dry-aged steaks get cooked over live oak and finished under a 1200°F broiler, resulting in some of the most beautifully charred cuts you’ll find in town.
Austin Land & Cattle (or ALC) feels like a classic steakhouse you’d expect to find in small-town Texas, complete with guitars hanging from the walls and carved wooden cowboys and horses scattered about the dining room. But instead of needing boots and a hat to enter, all you need to do is head to a quiet strip mall near 12th and Lamar. It’s old-school and relaxed, with a pretty standard menu of steaks and chops that arrive with picture-perfect grill marks that look like they were drawn on with a ruler and a Sharpie. And when you want to add a little fun to an otherwise traditional experience, grab a starter of buffalo grilled lamb chops and be happy you’re not at a place that will look at you funny for going at it with your hands.
photo credit: Nicolai McCrary
Somewhere along the intersection of casual-cool and moderately fine dining, Bartlett’s on West Anderson Lane is a great spot for a classic steakhouse experience without an astronomical price tag. There’s a small menu of strips and filets, but there are also a few wildcards, like a ribeye marinated in pineapple, sesame, and ginger for 100 hours resulting in a piece of meat that’s sweet, tender, and every bit worth the four days it took to get there. Head here the next time you’re planning a special date night and don’t want to deal with Downtown parking or the foresight to make a reservation weeks in advance (maybe just a few days instead).
At first glance, Maie Day’s menu has all the typical trappings of a steakhouse—think shrimp cocktails, beef tartare, and caesar salads. But look a little closer and you’ll see dishes like country ham plates and funeral potatoes that make the whole place feel like a chophouse that spent its formative years living in the suburbs of the Midwest and the South instead of the base of a hotel on South Congress Avenue. This is a semi-casual place, where you’ll enjoy high-quality, local beef off of small tin plates like you’d find at summer camp. When you want a good steak (or pork chop or prime rib) in a lively space that’s not too stuffy, just head to Maie Day.
J. Carver’s is anything but modest. This is a Downtown steakhouse where opulence and decadence are on full display in a dimly lit dining room filled with small tables and booths covered in white tablecloths. Most of the steaks are dry-aged, pre-sliced, and priced by the ounce—these are meant to be shared. They’re cooked on a wood-burning grill and arrive with the distinctly charred crust to prove it. And instead of choosing from your standard sides, you get to have a little fun with “baked potato” gnocchi and blue crab fried rice that just might end up stealing the spotlight from the entrees. The biggest difference between here and sister restaurant, Red Ash, is that this dinner doesn’t also come with a five-month wait to get into.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
Equal parts butcher shop and restaurant, Salt & Time on East 7th is just as great of an option for picking up a few chops to grill at home as it is for dinner out. Probably the most casual spot on this list, it’s the type of place you can easily walk into on a weeknight or gather a small group of friends on a Friday evening for a few steaks and local draft beers. And because this is a butcher shop, you’ll also have access to some less common cuts (if you’re feeling adventurous) in addition to the standard menu of ribeyes, strips, and filets.
photo credit: Richard Casteel
With a daily changing menu made entirely from local ingredients, Dai Due in Cherrywood just might be the most Texan restaurant in Austin. Part steakhouse and part wild game restaurant, it’s where you go when you want to feel like a real cowboy/rancher living off the land without doing any of the hard work yourself. On the menu, expect to find antelope filets right next to wagyu strip steaks and wild boar sausages. And once you finally settle on one, you’ll be able to watch as it moves it from a tray to a live, post oak fire—where it sizzles and smokes for a few minutes—before eventually making its way to your table, like an in-person version of the Domino’s pizza tracker.
