Austin or Dallas for those who like big cities? (Houston: restaurant, shop)

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

No it is not when compared to Dallas and Houston.

So true. A couple friends here in Houston who have visited Austin over the decades went again recently and told me, "When did it become so white?"

[Peter5457]

Yeah, there's great variety in texas too, but the quality is not the same. I mean if you go into an italian rest and noone in the kitchen speaks italian you think you're gonna get authentic italian?? Would you prefer a japanese rest where the sushi chefs are actually Japanese? Or, a korean rest where most of chefs speak more korean than chinese or spanish?

[mkwensky]

Originally Posted by placidnotes

I’ve only lived in New York so love big cities, restaurants, indoor things like shopping. Not much of an outdoors person so that’s not as big of a deal for me.

I do have an engineering background so I heard Austin’s really great with the tech companies and younger crowd but also heard that there’s not really much to do besides outdoor activities.

I’m in my 20s and prefer hanging out with friends, movies, shopping, food

Also Which one has better transportation? Obviously nothing compares to NYC but

Has anyone been to both Dallas and Austin or ideally lived in either of these places? Looking to move to Dallas or Austin but not sure which one would fit my interests more.

Transportation sucks in Austin, only slightly better in Dallas. If you don't want to drive you won't make it.
You can find shopping, food etc in pretty much all cities, but how good are you at making new friends?
If you're geeky and into pop culture then I think Austin would be slightly better socially. Dallas is too spread out and many locals are somewhat parochial, while Austin has a higher concentration of transplants in some parts.
Why aren't you considering Houston or San Antonio?

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Peter5457

Yeah, there's great variety in texas too, but the quality is not the same. I mean if you go into an italian rest and noone in the kitchen speaks italian you think you're gonna get authentic italian?? Would you prefer a japanese rest where the sushi chefs are actually Japanese? Or, a korean rest where most of chefs speak more korean than chinese or spanish?

You didnt answer. Where are you living in Texas? Based on this response you dont live or eat much in Houston. I can name restaurants in Houston where the chefs do speak Italian, Japanese, and Korean.

[Foamposite]

Originally Posted by Peter5457

Yeah, there's great variety in texas too, but the quality is not the same. I mean if you go into an italian rest and noone in the kitchen speaks italian you think you're gonna get authentic italian?? Would you prefer a japanese rest where the sushi chefs are actually Japanese? Or, a korean rest where most of chefs speak more korean than chinese or spanish?

Lol it's not 1950 anymore, nobody in those New York "red sauce" joints speaks Italian and it's been like that for a while

[Foamposite]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

So true. A couple friends here in Houston who have visited Austin over the decades went again recently and told me, "When did it become so white?"

It's barely over 50% white
Does a city need to be like McAllen or Brownsville demographically to not be too white?

Granted I understand that the black population has gone down due to gentrification, but Austin is not very white for American standards.

[Treasurevalley92]

Of those two, Dallas is really your better option...and even then....idk man.

Absolutely visit first. I don't think you really know what you are getting into.

DFW is car centric in a way someone from NYC really just can't understand without experiencing it for themselves. Austin is the same way, but transit is even worse.

Austin does have better Tech Jobs than Dallas, but the main appeal of Austin is it is the only major Texas city besides San Antonio in a pretty area. It's considered outdoorsy for Texas (though not compared to western states)

Honestly I would check out Chicago if I were you. It has better shopping, transit, restaurants, museums than Dallas or Austin. Generally speaking, the Pay ceiling in Chicago is higher for Tech Jobs as well.

[Treasurevalley92]

Originally Posted by mkwensky

Transportation sucks in Austin, only slightly better in Dallas. If you don't want to drive you won't make it.
You can find shopping, food etc in pretty much all cities, but how good are you at making new friends?
If you're geeky and into pop culture then I think Austin would be slightly better socially. Dallas is too spread out and many locals are somewhat parochial, while Austin has a higher concentration of transplants in some parts.
Why aren't you considering Houston or San Antonio?

Slightly Better? Its absolutely worse. lol Dallas has pretty bad public transit, but Austin is terrible lol.

However Austin is a better city to cycle in. Nationally its so so, maybe slightly above, but for Texas it is very good.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by Treasurevalley92

Of those two, Dallas is really your better option...and even then....idk man.

Absolutely visit first. I don't think you really know what you are getting into.

DFW is car centric in a way someone from NYC really just can't understand without experiencing it for themselves. Austin is the same way, but transit is even worse.

Austin doeshas better Tech Jobs than Dallas, but the main appeal of Austin is it is the only major Texas city besides San Antonio in a pretty area. It's considered outdoorsy for Texas (though not compared to western states)

Honestly I would check out Chicago if I were you. It has better shopping, transit, restaurants, museums than Dallas or Austin. Generally speaking, the Pay ceiling in Chicago is higher for Tech Jobs as well.

This.

Originally Posted by Treasurevalley92

Slightly Better? Its absolutely worse. lol Dallas has pretty bad public transit, but Austin is terrible lol.

However Austin is a better city to cycle in. Nationally its so so, maybe slightly above, but for Texas it is very good.

I think he was saying transit in Dallas is slightly better than Austin.

[Peter5457]

Originally Posted by Foamposite

Lol it's not 1950 anymore, nobody in those New York "red sauce" joints speaks Italian and it's been like that for a while

Yeah, you can also find Albanian italian rest up north too, and maybe the younger generation don't speak a lot of italian but you're not gonna find many italian families going to an Italian restaurant not run by italians. There's still plenty of them in NJ and CT too.

And Japanese and korean families have much more real authentic options up there. Just like Texans got more authentic tex mex and bbq here.