I have to second JanB. For the college crowd bar scene, there's none better. If you're a little older and work at one of the tech companies, Austin's good for that, too.
But for someone craving a *real* city, and a real urban experience...nah. It's just not there yet. Pound for pound, our traffic is some of the worst in the nation. Cap Metro doesn't really give a shit about providing quality public transportation, and any plans that do come out always get voted down. Aside from the State Capitol and UT campus, there's no intriguing architecture. Not really much history to speak of. Not walkable almost at all. Downtown is very not family friendly on weekend nights. There's a few nice natural spots, but other than that, the Hill Country is just kinda blah. A kind of pretentious atmosphere pervades the city, and I can back up that claim: The companies and the local government do their damndest to find the best marketing for the city. They hype up the quality of life and its status as an up-and-coming big city. They bring in events like Formula 1 and X Games and SXSW and ACL, which are kinda fun, but get more and more rowdy and expensive every year. At the same time, they do nothing to educate the public on projects that would actually help the day-to-day lives of the common Austinite. They don't put in good infrastructure (only widening roads, which is a very short-term bandaid), nor affordable housing for the service workers who work downtown or in the urban core, but can't afford to live there, and so have to rely on shoddy bus service or have to buy cars, which often eats up much of their earnings.
Not to mention the summers are ridiculous.
Anyway, sorry to ramble, but seriously...this city's not that bad, it's just *highly* overrated.
