I've had a number of requests from fellow Austinites to share what I think are the best pickup spots in Austin, so here goes my exhaustive review of places that you may want to check out if you live in or are visiting Austin. These are from my perspective, which is as an early 30's guy who likes a crowd that is mid 20's to mid 30's and laid back. If you are younger, my perspective may not apply to you that much.

Austinites: feel free to chime in with your own suggestions/critiques, of course!

East Side Bars

Late 20's/Early 30's hipster bars with cheap drinks and a low-maintenance crowd who actually like meeting new people

The east side is my favorite area to go out in Austin. Super cheap drinks, laid back atmosphere, an extremely hipster crowd but they're generally fun hipsters who are open to meeting people.

Shangri-La: my favorite pickup spot during the summer. Big outdoor picnic tables are very conducive to opening people. Gets pretty busy most nights of the week, even during winter. Their hipster beers like PBR and Miller HL 16oz cans are $1.50-$2.50 depending on the night. Awesome staff who will get to know you. Pool and old school video games.

East Side Showroom: it's a restaurant, but the bar is small and intimate, and if you are waiting for a table (usually 30-60 min wait on weekends), it's a good spot to open other people waiting for a table.

The Good Knight / Brixton / Gypsy / Iron Gate / Cheer Up Charlies: much more empty than Shangri-La. I'll hit them if I'm walking between Shangri-La and Liberty, but they're usually dudefests or completely empty. The Good Knight occasionally has a good crowd.

Rio Rita: occasionally is a very good spot for the ladies.

Liberty: similar to Shangri-La, but a little more divey and the crowd tends to be more cliquish and very local. Harder to open cold sets, but like Shangri-La, you see a lot of 2- and 3- sets of girls who are out for a drink any night of the week. Cool staff. Awesome food. Good laid back date spot, especially for the couches inside.

Rainey Street

Late 20's/Early 30's professionals who have better taste than going to West 6th street and are openly social

Clive, Lustre Pearl, and Icenhauer's are all pretty much cut from the same cloth, and all decent pickup spots. Lustre Pearl is by far the best one of the three for pickup because it is more open, the arrangement is more conducive to milling around and meeting people, and it has ping pong and hula hoops and a food truck. When it's warm, Lustre Pearl is a close second for me behind Shangri-La for best pickup scene. Icenhauer's is the newest, and is more upscale, but has been dead the several times I've been there. There is also a sports bar on Rainey, 96, which does get a surprisingly mixed crowd, but sports bars are terrible for pickup. The staff at Clive are the friendliest and will get to know you by name if you go there a lot.

These bars are pretty expensive by Austin standards, usually $7 for a mixed drink, $4+ for a beer.

This is a good area to go out in, because you have three large bars that often have a good selection of women (esp on Fri/Sat nights), and there are numerous excellent food options right there.

West 6th

Late 20's crowd, verging on douchey and meat markety at times, but some bright spots

Key Bar: my favorite bar on West 6th. Chill, outdoor area with a big firepit and TV's. Some of the cheapest drinks in this particular area. Good long bar, which I like for opening. Picked up quite a few women here. Easy to get to know the regular bar staff.

Kung Fu Saloon: a great date spot, it has lots of old skool video games and free skeeball. Surprisingly good pickup spot, lots of mixed sets and not too loud with a nice little smoking patio.

Union Park: the most clubby of all the spots around here. The crowd can get annoying, and it's a little meat markety, but you can definitely pick up here. Mostly people who have graduated from the dirty sixth scene. They have a brunch on Sunday afternoons with bottomless mimosas that turns into a party scene by about 5pm. Easy to get to know the staff if you go there during happy hour.

DB's: awesome little spot, often has live music. It's got a heavy regular scene, so not terrific for pickup. Good bounce spot, easy to get to know the bar staff.

Momo's: live music venue, the seating arrangement is very appropriate for pickup if the band draws a lot of people.

Little Woodrow's: older scene, tends to be dude-heavy but some nights can be pretty good.

Ranch / J Blacks / Annies West / Molotov / Dogwood: all pretty similar. Dallas-y style bars that feel like douchey meat markets on Fri/Sat nights. Heavily populated by the blue shirt and khaki population. I avoid like the plague on Fri/Sat nights, but they can actually be really good on the occasional Thursday or Sunday. If you are looking for late 20's HB9's who know they're hot as shit and like AFC guys swooning all over them, these places (esp The Ranch) are probably your best bets outside of the higher-end downtown clubs.

Warehouse District

Mid-late 20's laid-back crowd, a little bit sausagey

219: seating is more restaurant-style, and lots of bigger groups for happy hour, so not the best pickup spot. The bar area is good for meeting people on a Fri/Sat night when it's really busy. Good cheap food, good date spot.

Cedar Street: older pickup scene. Wednesday nights get packed with tons of women who come to see the 80's cover band (good night for dance floor game).

Fado: used to be an awesome pickup spot, seems to have gone downhill over the past few years. Still pretty good on Fri/Sat nights, and weeknights when there is a band.

Lavaca Street: big service industry bar, because it's downtown but still really cheap. It's basically a sports bar, but on weekends gets packed with mixed groups and can be a decent spot to meet people. Often heavily male crowd. Great staff.

Red Fez / Lucky Lounge: used to be hot pickup spots, now good but not great. Red Fez can be a good date spot on the more chill nights, they rent hookahs. Both get really loud on weekends, but can be packed. I like the top bar at Lucky for meeting people.

Belmont: the crowd can be a little stuck up, but when it's busy, it's a good spot for meeting people. Good staff.

Rebel's Honky Tonk: if you have any country dance floor game, this is your place. Similar to Dallas night club up north, basically a pickup and date joint for cowboys and cowboy wannabe's. A fun scene if you like two stepping etc.

The W Hotel: just opened, but already is clearly going to be the main pickup bar downtown for oldies. If you want cougars, go here any night of the week.

Kenichi: the bar is often packed on weekends and happy hours with professional, somewhat stuck up women, and it has a pickup-friendly atmosphere. Good bar staff.

Congress

Meat markety dance clubs

I don't care for dance clubs that much, but in order of decency for pickup I'd rank them 1. Lanai 2. Prague 3. The Marque 4. Light 5. Sky Lounge. The upstairs bar at Speakeasy can be good on weekends, but it also gets really loud and packed.

Dirty Sixth

The college scene

I mostly avoid Dirty Sixth these days. If you're looking for college-age women, though, it's probably your best bet. The most fun bars are places like Maggie Mae's, Jackalope, Blind Pig, and Dizzy Rooster. A couple of meat markety dance clubs, like Barcelona, Soho and Pure if you're a dance floor guy. Cheap drinks.

Red River

The alternative music scene

Tends to be a mixed bag, from college-age up to late 30's depending on the music playing and the time of year.

Club DeVille, Mohawk, Side Bar, and Beauty Bar have the most mixed crowd and are good for meeting people. The relatively new Barbarella is a dance club with a very non-dance club feel, and a great outdoor area for meeting people. Emo's, Red 7, and the places around there tend to be music-only venues, but can be good depending on the band. Lots of emo/punk type bands and the people who like them. Concerts at Stubb's can be really good for meeting people because the place is mostly standing room and the back area is relatively quiet.

South Side

Alternative local scene

I don't make it south that much, but the Continental Club has good music and is a great pickup place on the right night. Some of the bars down there worth checking out are Gibson, Black Sheep, Crow Bar, Opal Divine's, Highball, and Horseshoe Lounge. Highball is expensive but has a good scene on weekends at the bar, plus it has bowling and skeeball.

North Side

Dell crowd

Despite being a northsider, it's kind of a wasteland for pickup bars. Lots of cliquish groups of Dell types. The most laid back bars are Opal Divine's, Little Woodrow's, Sherlock's, and the like, but they tend to be dude-heavy and populated with big groups who don't really want to meet people. The bar areas at the restaurants in the Domain can be OK for meeting people, but it's a pretty stuffy crowd in general. I'm sure Round Rock has some decent places to meet people, but I don't make it up there, I go downtown.

Hope that helps!