Austin Eats Food Truck Tour Review: Is It Worth $99?

The Setup

The tour runs around $99 and gets you on a bus, which is actually a bigger deal than it sounds. Austin's food truck scene is spread out, and navigating between spots on your own — especially if you don't know the city — takes more time and effort than people expect. Having someone else handle the logistics while you just show up and eat is genuinely useful. The group format ended up being less awkward than I anticipated. You're mostly just focused on the food anyway.

What We Actually Ate

The stops hit a solid range of Austin food. We went to Kerlaches, La Barbecue, Zilker Brewing Company, Spicy Boys, Industry, and Dolce Neve — which is a pretty good cross-section of what Austin does well.

La Barbecue was the highlight for me. Austin takes its barbecue seriously, and La Barbecue has a real reputation — it's one of those spots that locals will argue about in the best possible way. Getting to stop there as part of the tour instead of waiting in a standalone line was a nice perk. The barbecue lived up to what I'd heard.

Kerlaches was the breakfast taco stop, and breakfast tacos in Austin are not something to sleep on. It's one of those things the city genuinely does better than almost anywhere else, and Kerlaches delivered. Simple, but the kind of simple that takes some skill to pull off.

Spicy Boys handled the chicken sandwich portion of the tour, and it was legitimately good — crispy, well-seasoned, not trying too hard to be anything other than a solid fried chicken sandwich. Sometimes that's exactly what you want.

Zilker Brewing Company gave us a chance to try local beer, which made sense as a mid-tour stop. Austin has a decent craft beer scene, and Zilker is one of the more well-known names in it. It was a good pace-setter — somewhere to slow down for a few minutes between food stops.

Industry was the roti stop, which surprised me in the best way. I wasn't expecting roti to show up on an Austin food tour, but it fit. The food truck scene in Austin pulls from a lot of different cuisines, and that's part of what makes it interesting. Worth paying attention to if you go.

Dolce Neve closed things out with gelato, which was a smart way to end. After barbecue, chicken, tacos, and beer, something cold and lighter was the right call. The gelato was good — not an afterthought.

What Worked and What Didn't

The volume of food across all the stops made the $99 feel reasonable. You're not just getting small samples — there's actual food involved at each stop. The bus situation also genuinely helps with the experience, since Austin traffic can be a lot and parking near popular food trucks isn't always easy.

The one thing worth knowing going in is that this is a group experience. If you're traveling solo or with a partner, you'll be sharing the tour with other people you don't know. That didn't bother me, but it's worth setting expectations if you prefer doing things at your own pace. Some stops felt a little quick, and I could have spent more time at La Barbecue specifically.

My Take

If you're visiting Austin and want an efficient way to hit a bunch of solid spots without spending your whole trip figuring out logistics, this tour does that job well. I walked away having eaten at places I might not have found on my own, and the barbecue and breakfast tacos alone made it worth showing up. For a first-time Austin trip especially, it's a pretty reasonable way to spend an afternoon.