Review of Austin, Texas


Austin is so overrated.
Star Rating - 3/2/2008
It is a overgrown college town. The place gets boring really quick. The top attraction is a bridge with bats under it, whoope!!! No theme parks, no real entertainmet spots other than a over abundance of clubs. The city is still relatively small, a urbanized area of less than 900,000 no comparsion too other major Texas cities. No sports teams other than a college team. This isn't big time sports in my opinion. The traffic is horrific, due to a one interstate freeway network with a couple of state highways. The terrain is beautiful, the Texas Hill country encompasses both Austin -San Antonio area. Dining options are great, but shopping isn't on par with the other big three Texas cities, Houston,San Antonio and Dallas. Great parks, but most cities have great parks. If you are not into clubs and a overated music scene, Austin isn't for you. I love really big cities, Houston and Dallas, San Antonio as well have more to offer overall. The more mature cities. Austin will get there eventually.
paul | San Antonio, TX
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I agree. It's overrated, people there are not friendly, it's boring (and gets boring quickly), it's a Hollywood wanna be with wanna be "actors" who compete feircly for small roles whenever a film comes to town, "actors" who won't move to NYC or LA. I could never live there again. I graduated from UT and although I loved the school, it's an arrogant school with goals that are simply unatainable (like wanting to be the #1 public university in the nation).
Ricky | Newark, NJ | Report Abuse

I agree with you totally. Austin is way overrated. I just moved graduated from college. Now I'm moving to Colorado. Thank god. Austin sucks! The people there are rude as hell! Yes they say Austin is a friendly city. They forgot to say that it's superficially friendly. The people here are deceitful, conniving, arrogant, ill-mannered, temperamental, inconsiderate, boisterous, uberfriendly, overbearing, and volatile. I worked in customer service here and I absolutely despised it. You can learn a lot about people just by working in retail. Often times that's when their true colors show. The weather is hotter than hell all the time, too. They still haven't expanded IH-35, and there is nothing to do. The music there sucks. The clubs there suck. The women there are really shallow and conceited. The cost of living there sucks. The wages there suck because they're not inflation adjusted, and there is no culture there. First of all Austin is not as liberal as everyone says it is. I hate to rain on everyone's parade who thinks it is but it's not. Yes, it's liberal compared to Amarillo, Waco, Lubbock, and Killeen, and every other redneck cowtown around Texas. That goes without saying. Is everyone forgetting that Austin is the capital of Texas, one of the most ultra-conservative States in the union? Trust me! I know what liberalism is. I lived in San Francisco for 2 years. That's liberal! If Austin is so liberal, then why hasn't that light rail been built? Why is the black population there shrinking? Austin still very much has that exact same "cowboy/redneck" mentality as the rest of Texas does. I thought Austin was cool when I first moved here back in '96, but I regret moving back here in '04. The only reason why I did was to finish school. A lot of the hippies have moved on because they got smart. They've been replaced by more beer-drinking, pick-up driving, obnoxious kickers and good-old boys. You know? All those "Proud Texans." The stereotypical ones that the rest of the country thinks are a bunch of idiots. People here should really listen to what other people around the country say. They're not just doing it for there health. The people there also have no class or manners. Every time I go into a restaurant, they're always wearing cutoffs, shorts, flipflops, or tanktops. They're white trash. In San Francisco people would dress up nice. That's only reasonable when you go to a high-class restaurant. There is no culture whatsoever there either. Why doesn't the "Live Music Capital of the World" have an opera or a live theater? Where's the zoo? Where's the theme park? Where are the professional sports? Where's the planetarium? Where are the art museums? Even the radio stations here suck. Not everybody wants to go down to Sixth Street and rub elbows with a bunch of drunken frat boys and watch a bunch of 40-year-old adolescents play rock-a-billy. So what if San Antonio is down the road? Gas isn't getting any cheaper. Baltimore is right down the road from Washington, DC. They've got all those things there. San Diego is right down the road from L.A. They've got all those things there. San Jose is right down the road from San Francisco. They've got all those things there. Yes, Austin has some nice parks. Big deal! Every city has nice parks. Houston has nice parks. That's where I grew up. To put it bluntly, Austin is now basically a bi-product of Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. In other words, The Greeks sacked Troy a long time ago. This little blue ship had it's hull breached and sank. Most of the Austinites just don't know it yet.
Dustin | San Marcos, TX | Report Abuse

I couldn't agree more. I was born in a small town in Texas, spent most of my summers in Austin because that was much more exciting than staying in the small town. I lived in the Bay Area for a year (Oakland), and had a run of bad luck which has forced me to return and I am already miserable. I used to think that Austin had a lot to offer, but I'm realizing that's when we're talking about Texas cities. Having lived somewhere where there's actually GENUINE diversity and decent public transportation, all I can say is that the sooner I can find a way to leave Austin again, the better off I'll be. Unfortunately, I won't be able to afford to return to the Bay Area as the cost of living is so astronomical. But I sure do miss the beauty of it all. The food, culture, vistas--Austin has nothing on any of it.
Tiffany | Austin, TX | Report Abuse

My biggest problem with this place is the locals. There aren't alot of attractive people around. Most of my neighbors are hillbillies. All the desirables end up leaving or don't live here at all. The food sucks. It's over priced finger food to satisfy the drunk weekend crowds. Anyone whose eaten good food on the west and east coast know what I'm talking about. Tex Mex is bland white people food. I get better pre prepped meals from Costco. Everyone drives super slow and blocks the left lane. Cars won't move over to let you pass. Or they'll jump or cut lanes in front you in slow motion. And if you get upset they act clueless. Ugly women. Bland food. Dumb drivers. And they blame transients who move here for trying to make it better and get angry because we have something to compare it to. Austin was never anything great. Its always been an over glorified red neck town and still is.
Muzic | Leander, TX | Report Abuse

I agree with Austin being overrated. I just moved here 4 months ago and I'm already bored. The art museum is one floor and took 15 min. to walk through, the zoo is a joke, there are no good museums and the heat & humidity in the summer are hard to bear. Not to mention that everyone drives a gas-gusling truck, yet Austin is supposedly so "green". Yeah, nice try. On a more positive side, the hiking trails are pretty good and I like that there's a good amount of various cultures.
Carol | Albuquerque, NM | Report Abuse
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