This year saw the opening of many significant event and meeting venues in Austin. Here's a look at the best restaurants, party rooms, hotels, corporate event venues, conference centers, and private rooms to open in 2013. These new and renovated Austin venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, business dinners, cocktail parties, conferences, weddings, and more.
Opened in May, Searsucker is the third outpost of the concept from Top Chef finalist Brian Malarkey. The restaurant, which also has locations in San Diego and Scottsdale, Arizona, is in Austin's warehouse district and serves New American classic cuisine with cocktails, craft beer, and wine. The 7,000-square-foot space seats 293. The entire restaurant is available for buyouts, and a semiprivate space seats 12 to 14 people.
The Contemporary Austin's Jones Center downtown offers two spaces for events, including a 3,300-square-foot roof deck offering views of the Austin skyline and the Texas Capitol. It has a built-in bar and kitchenette, bistro tables, seating, and a movie screen. It holds 220 for receptions, 245 theater-style, or 150 for seated dinners. For smaller events, the Community Room features a 15-foot window overlooking Congress Avenue. It has built-in audiovisual equipment and seats 80 theater-style or 25 in a boardroom setup.
A $6 million renovation completed this spring updated several aspects of the 405-acre Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, which includes 60,000 square feet of indoor meeting space and 230,000 square feet of outdoor function space. Sheller Barrelhouse Bar, a restaurant and live music venue, now has separate zones for dining, dancing, and billiards, and is adjacent to a fire pit. Two new shaded decks provide cover and space for food trucks brought in for events.
Qui, a new restaurant from Top Chef and James Beard award winner Paul Qui, opened in June. The space includes 55 seats and a 10-seat tasting room. Qui said the concept combines an homage to his past—classic culinary training and Japanese cuisine—as well as inspiration from his worldwide travels.
With a beer selection that includes 54 Texas-only craft brews on tap, Craft Pride celebrates its home state. The design includes a cutout of the state of Texas suspended from the ceiling with pinholes denoting each brewery in the state and a star for Austin. Opened in March, the concept is available for buyouts and accommodates 150 on an outdoor space and 50 inside. The venue also includes a retail area and a two-story walk-in cooler. Detroit-style pizza food trailer Via 313 opened in the backyard space in August as the resident food truck.
Hotel Ella, which opened in September, is a 48-room luxury hotel built in what was originally the Goodall Wooten Mansion. The grounds feature an interior courtyard with a pool, private cabanas, and a new restaurant and lounge called Goodall's Kitchen & Bar. Meeting facilities include audiovisual equipment and can host events of 300 people.
Sway, a family-style Thai restaurant, opened in December with an emphasis on shared plates served at communal tables. The restaurant is available for buyout and has an inside seated capacity of 92 guests, including counter and bar seats, or 122 including the patio. Receptions can accommodate as many as 125 guests inside or 150 with the patio.
Barlata, a Spanish tapas restaurant, opened this summer on South Lamar. The colorful 3,100-square-foot space offers buyouts and seats 125 at booths, tables, and a bar. The restaurant, from Austin architect Michael Hsu, features long communal tables, an open kitchen, and cartoon-like murals in black and white.
Lone Star Court hotel offers more than 3,500 square feet of Texas Hill Country-style meeting space. In addition to 2,000 square feet of of indoor space like the 30-person Sisterdale School House, a 1,600-square-foot outdoor covered Ladybird Pavilion accommodates 120 for receptions and features an adjacent 18,000-square-foot lawn.
Located in a two-story house on Rainey Street, NO VA Kitchen & Bar opened in August with a curated menu of items such as pear pecan salad, whipped blue cheese, and beer-braised pork shank. The restaurant has several options for hosting private events. Indoors is the main dining room for 50 guests and a 14-seat private dining room with audiovisual equipment. A patio with a dual-sided fireplace seats 50, and a covered balcony seats 25.
