Lake Travis Restaurant Updates 9/11/26

Quiet week for brand-new doors — no new restaurant crossed into our 60-day window in Lakeway, Bee Cave, or Spicewood. We keep this scan tight every week, so the next new spot to open around the lake will show up here first.

Guernica Cafe — Spicewood

The Vibe — A veteran-owned coffee house that opened in 2022 because its founders thought the Hill Country needed a place to recharge, gather, and treat yourself a little. It sits inside the Oribellos food-court building on Highway 71 in Spicewood, opens at 6 a.m. every day of the week, and runs like a neighborhood living room — free Wi-Fi, kids welcome, and room to sit a while.

Must-Order Items — The house lattes are the draw: the ube latte (purple, nutty, a little sweet), the horchata latte, and a proper café de olla with cinnamon and piloncillo. They roast a Colombian light, medium, and dark plus a Brazilian-Colombian house blend, and the kitchen does all-day breakfast along with fresh sandwiches and salads for lunch.

Pro Tip — Hours are 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., seven days a week, so it's the early stop on the way to the lake or the wineries — not the late one. Oat and almond milk are on hand, and they cater if you've got a crowd coming to the house.

📍 Address: 21605 Hwy 71 W, Spicewood, TX 78669
🌐 Website: guernicacoffee.com
📞 Phone: 830-347-1109

📖 Want the full story on Guernica Cafe? Read our complete write-up — the backstory, the latte lineup, and what to order — at LocalEats.News/austin-laketravis.

🆕 What's Up Brew — second location (Spicewood) — The locally owned drive-thru coffee stand on Highway 71 that Spicewood runs on (breves, protein lattes, blended drinks, and the "high-energy" lineup) let the secret out on Instagram: a second location is coming to Spicewood. They're promising more details soon, and we'll pass along the address the minute they post it.
⏰ ETA: October 2026
📍 Address: TBD (Spicewood)
🌐 Website: instagram.com/whatsupbrewatx
📞 Phone: 808-339-6239

One thing to watch this week: the City of Lakeway posted a public notice for a Town Center planned unit development— the kind of zoning step that usually comes before new restaurant pads get drawn. No tenants, no timeline yet. Also in Lakeway: a $1 million finish-out for a new market at 907 Highlands Blvd in Rough Hollow's Highland Village was scheduled to wrap in mid-August — if you've seen the doors open, we'd love to hear what's inside. Otherwise no fresh restaurant filings or permits hit the Bee Cave, Lakeway, or Travis County logs this week, and out in Spicewood, Thomas Ranch is still building homes before it builds its dining district (its first apartment project breaks ground this month). We'll surface the next new permit here the moment it lands.

This week we're craving a patio with a view.

Sundancer Grill (Lakeway) — Tucked into the Sail & Ski marina on Stewart Road, Sundancer has the patio the rest of the lake is jealous of: open-air seating right over the water, fans running, swimsuits welcome, and a courtesy dock so you can arrive by boat (call when you tie up and they'll shuttle you up the hill). Co-owners Ben Nathan and Pete Clark came up together at Cafe Blue in the Galleria and opened here in 2014 with a Caribbean-leaning menu — crab hush puppies, conch fritters, Jamaican-spiced jerk chicken, hand-breaded catfish, and hand-formed burgers.
📍 Address: 16410 Stewart Rd, Lakeway, TX 78734
🌐 Website: sundancergrill.com
📞 Phone: 512-266-2268

Quiet week for new tasting rooms — no fresh brewery or winery filings around the lake. Spicewood's cluster is all open and pouring if you haven't made the loop lately: Stone House Vineyard, Spicewood Vineyards, Highway 71 Brewing Co., and Iron Wolf Ranch & Distillery (Fridays and Saturdays only for Iron Wolf). We scan this hard every week; we'll pop the cork here the moment a new spot surfaces.

No new closings to report around the lake this week — everybody's still standing. We'll pass along any news here if it comes.

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✌️ Until next Friday,

Nolan K.

P.S. Corrections welcome. If I got something wrong, email me at [email protected] — I try to double-check everything, but I’m human.