Austin BBQ Tour: 6 Tastings, Michelin Stops & Skip the Line
- 3 hours
- Free cancellation up to 24h before
- Guided in English
- Instant confirmation
Highlights
Six barbecue stops in East Austin — including a MICHELIN One Star joint and two Bib Gourmand smokehouses — with skip-the-line access at every one and an air-conditioned ride between them. No walking in Texas heat, no three-hour queue, and enough food that most guests tap out before the last plate. la Barbecue holds a MICHELIN One Star and a line that wraps the building. Micklethwait Craft Meats is a Bib Gourmand honoree and one of Food Network's 25 Best Food Trucks. KG BBQ is chef Kareem El-Ghayesh, a James Beard semifinalist, smoking lamb with Middle Eastern spice. Mum Foods makes the pastrami Texas Monthly's barbecue editor calls the best in the state. Parish Barbecue brings Louisiana heat from a pitmaster who cooked at Franklin. Then a sixth stop we don't announce. It's sweet. You'll think you're finished eating. You aren't. Between plates, your guide tells you how East Austin was built and why these blocks became America's most argued-about barbecue. Come hungry.
Inclusions
What's included
- Luxury SUV for groups of 8 or fewer; minibus for larger groups
- Skip-the-line access at participating barbecue stops
- Air-conditioned vehicle
- Local guide with East Austin food and neighborhood history
- All restaurant gratuities and taxes at tour stops
- Six food stops with generous tastings
What's not
- Gratuity for your guide
- Alcoholic beverages (optional $35 drink package available at booking)
- Pick up and Drop Off
Itinerary
Smoked lamb with Middle Eastern spice from chef Kareem El-Ghayesh, who took his Cairo upbringing into Central Texas barbecue. A MICHELIN Bib Gourmand honoree and a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Texas.
Texas pastrami on house-made rye — called the best pastrami in the state by Texas Monthly barbecue editor Daniel Vaughn, at a deli USA Today named to its Restaurants of the Year list. Queens deli technique, Central Texas smoke.
The MICHELIN One Star stop, and the reason the line wraps the building. You walk past it. Sausage ground and stuffed in-house, plus brisket from a joint that has held a place on Texas Monthly's Top 50 Barbecue Joints in Texas.
Start with brisket-stuffed kolaches and house-made sides at a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand smokehouse that Southern Living named a Top 50 barbecue joint and Food Network ranked among America's 25 Best Food Trucks. Owner Tom Micklethwait makes nearly everything by hand, down to the pickles.
Louisiana flavor meets Texas tradition. Pitmaster Holden Fulco cooked at InterStellar Barbecue and Franklin Barbecue before opening his own truck, and the menu shows both lineages.
A secret sweet stop: We don't announce this one. You'll think you're finished eating. You are not finished eating.
Cancellation
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the experience starts, for a full refund.
Reviews
4.9
- 533
- 42
- 30
- 20
- 10
Ratings come from 35 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.
Know before you go
- Meeting point
- You will receive a text the day of the tour with specifics on the address, where to park, and how to find your guide. Meeting address is also included in conformation email.
- Pickup
- Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
- Ticket type
- Mobile or paper ticket accepted
- Group size
- Up to 14 travellers
- Operated by
- Locals Know Barbecue Tour
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Guests using a wheelchair are welcome. All tour stops have wheelchair- and stroller-accessible surfaces, but our vehicle is not lift-equipped, so wheelchair users will need to follow the route in their own accessible transportation. Contact us before booking and we'll share the full stop list and timing.
- Children who require a car seat are welcome, but families will need to provide their own car seat and transportation between stops.
- Every guest who will be eating requires a ticket.
- Some dietary needs can be accommodated with advance notice. Because our stops share kitchens and prep surfaces, we cannot safely guarantee accommodation for severe allergies. Please contact us before booking.
How it compares in Austin
- Its from-price is 133% above the median of the 274 experiences we list in Austin.
- It is longer than most of them.
- By number of reviews it ranks 68 of 274.
- The operator lists free cancellation on it.
About Austin
Austin is the capital of Texas on the Colorado River, a hill-country city known for live music, a spring-fed pool, bats at dusk and Texas barbecue.
Austin lies on the Colorado River where the Texas Hill Country begins, with the long Lady Bird Lake running through the centre. The State Capitol, built of pink granite in 1888, is taller than the national Capitol in Washington, and Congress Avenue runs from it down to the river. Austin calls itself the Live Music Capital of the World, and Sixth Street and many small venues keep up the claim.
Top-ranked sights in Austin: 6th Street , Congress Avenue Bridge (South Congress Bridge), Texas Capitol.
Special offers in Austin
Was/now prices come from the operator, never from us.
