11 Best Restaurants in Downtown with Sixth Street and Rainey Street, Austin

Start your day at this timeless, Victorian-style café in the historic Driskill Hotel. Admire the classic architecture and expertly appointed interiors as you wait to place your order at the counter, whether it's a Texas-shaped pecan waffle or a cup of their famed cheese soup. The expanded breakfast menu features contemporary additions like the Hippie Hollow Omelet and brunch cocktails like the "Breakfast in a Cup," made with Jameson, orange juice, butterscotch syrup, and spicy maple bacon.

This stylish pizzeria, another hit from chef/restaurateur Shawn Cirkiel, is one of Austin’s best bets for classic Neapolitan pizza and authentic Italian antipasti. Tables are hard to come by in this intimate (read: tiny) downtown space, but the service and menu are approachable and laid-back. Antipasto selections, like baked ricotta and eggplant caponata, rival the main attraction: thin-crust, wood-fired pizzas, from margherita to the popular fennel sausage.

A longtime favorite of local burger lovers, Casino El Camino is the best place on the notorious “Dirty Sixth" strip to chow down. Locals arrive in hungover droves for the weekend lunch rushes, when wait times for signatures like the Amarillo and Buffalo burgers can stretch upward of an hour. But this dive bar and juke joint is worth the wait as you'll find out once your thirst is quenched by their Bloody Marys, stacked with bacon, pickled okra, taquitos, even meatballs. Their hearty Angus-beef burgers deliver a classic, artery-clogging ecstasy, especially when paired with a greasy basket of verde chili fries.

The standard for Rainey District fine dining since 2015, eating at Emmer & Rye is an immersive experience that's best enjoyed when the expert servers take the reins. Prix-fixe dinner menus of their signature rustic American cuisine, with savory standouts like Texas Wagyu steaks and Berkshire pork are available, but this exclusive dining delight comes with the option to partake in creative dim sum offerings from a circulating fleet of carts that crisscross the lavish interiors.

This downtown food hall—open daily, 11 am to 9 pm—is a wonderfully located one-stop shop for hungry, on-the-go travelers. There are five eateries, including Four Brothers Venezuelan Kitchen and the popular Austin Rotisserie, plus two full-service bars, a self-service water bottle refill station, and plenty of seating in this accommodating (and air-conditioned) space. Outside, the thoughtfully designed Ellis Oak Deck patio hosts free live music and yoga classes most weekends, and it is an unbeatable meeting point during SXSW.

Pronounced “oh-la-may,” this upscale twist on traditional Southern cuisine has been turning heads and receiving critical acclaim since 2014. Occupying a renovated cottage on downtown's northern edge, Olamaie offers a blend of classic dishes that evoke a sense of tradition—like creamed broccoli greens and skillet cornbread—and innovative options including blue crab topped with corn pudding mousse and popped sorghum grains. Seasonal offerings change frequently, but a beloved mainstay is the house-made biscuits, a signature accoutrement made even sweeter with honey butter and pimento cheese spreads.

A gem in the midst of Dirty Sixth, Parkside’s austere interior features exposed brick walls, a shotgun bar, and bare light bulbs suspended by black cables. Celebrated chef Shawn Cirkiel has created an equally simple menu, but delivers on taste with fresh oysters and ceviche-style offerings from the raw bar, in addition to a meat-centric array of bone marrow appetizers, savory grilled lamb, and shareable portions of steak and (perfectly crisped) fries. Floor-to-ceiling windows look onto 6th Street for ideal people-watching while lingering over desserts like homemade doughnuts, served warm and sugar-dusted in paper sacks. Dinner can be pricey, but the daily happy hour (5:30–7 pm) is one of the best bargains in the city.

This Red River staple is known as much for its live music as its food. The casual venue, an old stone building with wooden floors and tables, suits the fare, which many local barbecue aficionados rate as average; the hickory-smoked choices—beef brisket, pork ribs, sausage, chicken, turkey breast—are very tasty, but sides, like spicy serrano creamed spinach, are crowd-pleasers. Plus, their popular line of barbecue sauces and rubs make for great souvenirs. Live music on the indoor and outdoor stages host both local bands and huge touring headlining acts throughout the year, and the Sunday gospel brunch is always packed.

Don't miss out on the state dish of Texas at this celebrated downtown dive. Just a stroll away from the Capitol, the Chili Parlor has been a favorite of legislators, lobbyists, and local hell-raisers alike for a midday meal (or late-night beer) since 1976. Get a gut-sticking bowl of bean-less chili (marked X, XX, and XXX for spice), an ice-cold Lone Star beer, or a fully loaded Bloody Mary, and soak up some Old Austin history in a classic setting.

This downtown Veracruz location, tucked on the ground floor of The LINE, services the bustling hotel crowd with early morning to late night operating hours. There is also a walk-up window, just steps off the hike-and-bike trail, that's perfect for a grab-and-go taco and coffee before you start a day of sightseeing.

The soul of Detroit is alive in Austin "via" this delicious purveyor of deep-dish pies, offering the best authentic Detroit-style pizza in the capital city. Pizza is slung for hordes of hungry late-night crowds at this popular Rainey Street location, along with its original trailer parked on East Sixth. Devotees can also find their pizzas at more suitable daytime hours at their brick-and-mortar location just north of downtown.