How did we pick these?
The premise of this list is a claim about queues, so that is what we tested first. We did not try to measure wait times, because a wait measured on one Tuesday tells you nothing about the next Saturday and reporting one would be inventing a number. We looked at the thing that actually causes the two-hour line, which is the sales model.
The pits that produce famous Austin queues cook a set amount, open at eleven, and sell until it runs out. That design concentrates every customer into the first hour, and the only defence is arriving before the door opens. The seven places above all work the other way. Meat sits on a counter or a cafeteria line, it is sold by weight across a long day, and more is coming off the pit while you are being served. Kreuz is open nine and a half hours a day. Black's opens at ten, seven days a week. The Salt Lick serves until nine. None of those schedules survives contact with a two-hour queue.
Every address, phone number and opening time above was read off the business's own website, with two exceptions we have flagged in the entries. Smitty's site would not load for us, so its hours are described as a pattern from Texas Monthly and AAA rather than asserted. City Market in Luling appears to have no website at all, and the domain that once carried its name now redirects to an unrelated restaurant in Iowa, so its details come from Texas Highways and the Luling chamber.
We also cut a well-regarded name. Brotherton's Black Iron Barbecue in Pflugerville would have been the closest entry on this page, but it announced its closure and served its last meal on 30 August. Opie's in Spicewood is still operating by every recent account, but its domain no longer resolves and reviewers report it selling out by early afternoon, which is the opposite of what this list is for.
No business here paid for a place and none is a Hello Web Designs client. The scaffolding script matched no partners for Austin barbecue.
What should you know before you go?
The practical difference between these is time of day, not quality. Four of the seven are done by late afternoon.
| Place | Town | Drive from Austin | Latest close | Cash only? |
| Louie Mueller | Taylor | 35 miles NE | 7.30 p.m. Wed to Fri | No |
| Kreuz Market | Lockhart | 33 miles S | 8 p.m. Mon to Sat | No |
| Black's | Lockhart | 33 miles S | 8.30 p.m. Fri and Sat | No |
| Smitty's | Lockhart | 33 miles S | Mid afternoon | Reported yes |
| Southside Market | Elgin | 25 miles E | Evening, varies | No |
| The Salt Lick | Driftwood | 25 miles SW | 10 p.m. Fri and Sat | Reported yes |
| City Market | Luling | 55 miles S | Late afternoon | Reported yes |
Three things worth planning around. Louie Mueller is closed Monday and Tuesday and lists no Sunday service, so it is a Wednesday-to-Saturday proposition and the Saturday close is 4 p.m. Smitty's is the earliest to close and the most likely to be out of the cut you wanted. And the three cash-only reports are from guides rather than the businesses themselves, so carry notes for all three and treat a working card reader as a bonus.
If you want the great Austin pits and you are willing to pay in time rather than fuel, go on a weekday. Multiple Austin guides report that the same joint that runs two hours deep on a Saturday moves in a fraction of that on a Tuesday. That is a real option and it is cheaper than a tank of petrol. It is just not the option this page is about.
Which town should you drive to?
Lockhart is the default and it is the right default. Three serious pits inside a mile, a courthouse square to walk off lunch on, and a drive short enough that you are home by three. The Texas House adopted a resolution naming it the Barbecue Capital of Texas in 1999, and the Senate followed in 2003. The reason the title sticks is density rather than any single pit.
Taylor is the pick if you only care about the food. Louie Mueller is the best eating on this list and it is not particularly close. Elgin is the pick if you have ninety minutes and want sausage. Driftwood is the pick if it is already evening.
For the wider map, our guide to the best barbecue towns in Texas ranks these places against the East Texas and Hill Country pits. For the rest of what to eat in the city itself, start with the Austin city guide or the best breakfast tacos in East Austin, which solves the morning before one of these drives. The barbecue section covers the same question town by town across the state.
What should you do next?
Pick Kreuz if you are going this week and you want certainty. It has the longest hours, it is open six days, and the counter model means your wait is measured in minutes whatever time you turn up.
If you can move your plans to a Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, drive to Taylor instead and order the beef rib at Louie Mueller. It is a better meal than anything you will queue two hours for in Austin, and you will be eating twenty minutes after you park.
