10 New Austin Venues for 2019 Summer Entertaining and Events

For conferences that require golf or spa services, Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin's Hill Country reopened in May following a $150 million transformation. The luxury resort has been expanded and now includes 493 updated guest rooms and 76,000 square feet of meeting and event space—much with natural light—including two ballrooms, a pavilion with retractable windows, and two event lawns. Other amenities include the new Mokara Spa with an adults-only pool, four championship-level golf courses, and seven new restaurants and bars including Bob’s Steak and Chop House and the poolside Nopales with a Latin American menu. Throughout the resort, design details pay tribute to foliage and wildlife of the Hill Country including an art piece of a bird's eye view of Barton Creek carved into cedar wood.

The rooftop of Austin festival South by Southwest’s new 13-story headquarters in the downtown area, which opened in June, is available for private events. The rooftop garden will feature a private kitchen space available for pop-up events. At the ground level is a public café, SouthBites, serving hot and cold grab-and-go dishes like sandwiches, tacos, salads, and more. To come next year is a street-level restaurant and bar.

East Austin welcomed a new Korean restaurant with the opening of Oseyo in May. Using owner Lynn Miller’s mother’s recipes, chef Mike Diaz dishes up Korean dishes, from banchan to noodles to bo ssam. The 62-seat restaurant, designed by Miller and interior designer Mark Cravotta, includes warm reclaimed wood details, concrete floors, Korean textiles, and a full-service bar. There’s an outdoor courtyard as well filled with plants.

Local group La Corsha Hospitality Group opened East Austin Hotel, a new property on East 6th Street, in May. Throughout the mid-century modern and Scandinavian space are three restaurants and bars (Sixth and Waller, the Upside, Pool Bar), a courtyard pool, 75 rooms, and more. The hotel’s dedicated meeting space, called the Den, holds 40 people and features audiovisual and sound system capabilities. The main restaurant, Sixth and Waller, focuses on a global all-day dinner menu with items like latkes, pastrami and eggs, and chicken fried steaks. There is a section that can be closed off for private events as well. The rooftop Upside bar includes a wrap-around patio and holds about 125 guests, and the Pool Bar includes two television screens.

Downtown Austin welcomed its first brewery with the opening of Central District Brewing in March, right next to the Austin Convention Center. The brewery features two main rooms. First there’s the post-industrial modern Tasting Room with 16 beers that can fit more than 100 seated guests. Then there’s the smaller Green Room, the brewery’s take on a conference room, which seats 20 guests. The space includes audiovisual capabilities and a high-resolution projector.

New South Austin cocktail bar Velouria, which opened in April, is available for full or partial buyouts. During regular hours, mornings are all about breakfast service, from coffee to pastries, and it transitions into more of a dining spot during the daytime and evening hours with cheese boards from local shop Antonelli’s and pizza. There’s full cocktail service (don't miss out on the frozen espresso martini), plus turntables for DJs too. It holds about 90 people.

Downtown Austin food hall Fareground opened its final space, the street-level cocktail bar and outdoor lounge called Ellis, in June. The angled building houses a standing-room bar, as well as an outdoor counter bar, raised deck serving as a lounge, and back patio that can be rented as a private event space for 28 seated guests or more for a reception. There are cocktails, wines, and select dishes from the below-ground food hall as well, like wild boar al pastor tacos, meatball banh mi sandwiches, and hummus. Overall, the venue can hold 136 guests.

The Riveter, a “female-forward” co-working space, took over the downtown co-working space the Refinery in March. The updated facility is available for general events, meetings, or workshops, with a stage, audiovisual capabilities, and a kitchen. There are three individual conference rooms that seat as many as 16 people; the largest event space spans 1,200 square feet and holds 75 seated or 100 standing guests.

The Dallas-based co-working space and coffee shop Craftwork Coffee Co. is expanding to Austin later this summer. Expect communal work areas, a kitchen, call booths, and a bookable conference room for members and non-members. The coffee shop component, which will seat about 60 guests, will feature espresso drinks, beer, and wine, as well as grab-and-go food.

Beloved Austin taco chain Tacodeli opened a downtown flagship restaurant in June. After normal daytime hours serving new-school tacos, queso, and guacamole, the 3,068-square-foot restaurant is available for buyouts, with access to its kitchen and food. The space, which holds 65 guests, features tables, a booth, and bench seating amidst a colorful mural by local artist Mila Sketch.