The Best Bars for a First Date in Austin

Most tables at Small Victory, a Downtown cocktail bar for first dates, are two-seaters set side by side. The narrow room has plush blue banquettes and baroque wallpaper, and the staircase to it sits inside a parking garage.

Classic cocktails are the specialty, with a large spirits list plus sherries and wines by the glass. The bar is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 1am.

For a first date with a night-on-the-town feel, head to Here Nor There, a hidden Downtown cocktail bar below an alley beside The Driskill. A secret code gets you in, and the bar's app reveals it.

Old-school hip-hop plays inside.

Cocktails, sushi, and art come together at Papercut, an East Austin bar for date nights. A rotating art show inspires the drinks, and the sleek, dimly lit room has tiny tables facing a long metal bar.

Papercut opens at 5pm daily and is closed Tuesdays.

Cozy up on a couch at Equipment Room, a vinyl listening bar in the basement of Hotel Magdalena on South Congress. It is modeled on Japanese listening bars and feels like an audiophile's living room, and cocktails with a light bite round out a date night.

The cocktail menu splits into classics, called A-Sides, and new creations, called B-Sides.

Foams, infusions, and clarified drinks are the draw at Modern Bar, a contemporary cocktail bar on Rainey Street for date nights. We'd start with the house paloma.

The menu at The Roosevelt Room runs by cocktail era, from pre-1880s to modern, in a dark, open industrial room Downtown.

Happy hour runs daily from 3pm to 6pm. The doors open at 3pm every day, and the bar stays open until midnight Sunday through Wednesday and until 2am Thursday through Saturday.

Look for the red light beside an unmarked door on Dirty Sixth to find Midnight Cowboy, a Downtown speakeasy in a former brothel. Inside, the room is done in a Prohibition style.

Browse the spirits library at Kinfolk Lounge & Library, a Downtown cocktail lounge in the historic cellar at Moonshine Grill. Every bottle has a story behind it, and the cocktail menu is laid out as a family tree.

The lounge is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5pm.

Two full bars and a rooftop mezcaleria fill an old warehouse in East Austin at Whisler's, a cocktail bar. The menu changes with the seasons, four times a year, and each version comes with its own story and look.

Friday and Saturday nights get busy. Whisler's is open Monday through Friday from 4pm and weekends from 2pm, closing at 2am.

Upstairs is a beach house and downstairs is a cave at Tiki Tatsu-Ya, an immersive tiki bar in Zilker. Come for a late night out.