Dreamers

We visit Toy Joy every single time we are in Austin. They have cool vintage toys and miniature…read moreversions of toys from our childhood. They sell shirts with their logo and my husband buys the latest shirt every time we are in town. I like that they've rearranged the store and moved the register and aisles. The place is really opened up now and more easily accessible. Yum Joy is worth checking out when you are in the area too. They sell candy and ice cream and vintage sodas.

This place was such a cute surprise! It was so hot out that we were on the hunt for ice cream. On…read moreour walk there, we found this fun store right next door! My kid said: "They had such cool stuff!" That's it. Mic drop. Stop by if you're around!

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Figurines

Elephant Room

4.1(599 reviews)

8.7 mi•Downtown

First off, for a jazz club in Austin, it has all the ambience. Good conversation, pretty solid…read morecocktails and of course, great music. It is a very lively atmosphere that's accompanied with dim lighting after a long day. I really like how it's never too crowded since they control the amount of patrons allowed. However, service is not great. I hope it's a fluke, but consistency is present on how the waiters and bartenders interact with paying music enjoyers. Could not have begged more to order drinks or get a couple waters to a full table. I suggest tipping the musicians before being met with the lack of friendly service. Or even service for that matter.

The Elephant Room is one of Austin's most widely known jazz venues. It is located below street…read morelevel on Congress Avenue. If you are claustrophobic, this might not be the best place for you. From the street level, you walk down steps to enter the club. This basement club delivers an authentic jazz experience. The dim lighting, narrow long room, and close seating create an intimate atmosphere. Live jazz musicians are hosted every night of the week, often with multiple sets, featuring a mix of local musicians, rotating house bands, and visiting musicians. Because of the tight space, you are always close to the stage. Tonight's headliner was the Concept Orchestra. Cover tonight was $7. Cocktails range $14-16. The room was pretty tightly packed creating positive vibes.

We had a very enjoyable jazz-filled evening at Elephant Room. IG: @coreyd123

Stage

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Looking out from stage left. IG: CoreyD123

Midnight Cowboy

4.0(580 reviews)

8.5 mi•Downtown

I was unable to check out the quality or ambiance of this establishment as there were a number of…read moreissues with my reservation. Basically, I had a large group reserved for a celebration, and I didn't get a confirmation email and when I noticed this I scrambled to find another reservation. The reservation link I was sent to kept erroring out when I tried to process it. Apparently the incorrect date was selected and I did not notice I was charged an exorbitant amount of money because it was a larger party, but we had every intention of going and we would have spent quite a bit of money. After being charged a $120 no show fee I tried to contact them to see if they could at least squeeze us in or take the no show fee off but they said their policy was clearly stated and they don't respond to my last email. Also, there is no phone number which is incredibly frustrating as I would have called to confirm my 5:30pm reservation issue, but instead just assumed it didn't go through While part of this was undoubtedly user error, the process of reserving and confirming reservations was not easy. Furthermore, the establishment was not overly understanding Some tips: Go to a different bar. There are so many great bars, lounges, and speakeasy's in the area, and I wouldn't risk the potential hassle. We pivoted to the Roosevelt room last minute and we had a great time Cheers!

5-star speakeasy...if you like cool, secretive, unusual speakeasy cocktail bars - this is the place…read morefor you! Located on 6th street in downtown Austin (near the Driskill hotel), in what looks like from the street an apartment complex. You buzz the "secret" button and if you have a reservation, they let you in and escort you to your beautiful, sexy table. Their menu is creative and their every cocktail delicious! The theme we experienced was tarot cards and we loved the presentation and creativity of cocktails. Service is excellent and all drinks are around $20. Worth a visit for sure - great 5-star speakeasy and so fun for a date or with a group.

11.1 mi•South Lamar District, 78704 (South Austin)

Table side bartending

Libations of the night

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Monkey See Monkey Do

4.4(167 reviews)

Great selection of Simpsons stuff, particularly the Tree House of Horrors. We picked up a Kidrobot…read morefigure of Blinky and it's awesome! 10/10 would recommend

I went to Monkey See Monkey Do for fun with my family. We parked in the parking lot and went in…read more The store had a lot of stuff that was reminiscent of my childhood. They had some fun squishy items, dolls, action figures, and other collectibles. I felt like a kid in that store. I told my husband that I had to get out of there or I would buy everything. It was a cool store to visit and I will return to buy more fun nostalgic items.

Wall of socks

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Dolls, Action Figures, and Squishys

Valhalla

4.1(52 reviews)

8.4 mi•Downtown

Came here two nights in a row during SXSW to see different brands. I'd classify it as a dive bar…read morewith live music. Things I loved about this venue: - They have multiple water stations! Hydrate hydrate hydrate - Food, and seating, are available upstairs (window order). No vegan or GF options though. - Pool and air hockey tables - Amazing bartenders, super nice - Solid vibe Things I don't love: - It's warm, even with the A/C on -- dress appropriately - Bathrooms - Speakers are quite loud. We went and bought ear plugs after night #1. Was perfect for night #2

Valhalla is the nightmare to pretty princesses like myself. It's a grungy, unsterile dive bar where…read moreI'm genuinely afraid to touch or even look at most things. Inside, it's dark with zero sunlight. As soon as you walk in, you're immediately met with the bar and a pool table, and if you continue down the path, you'll end up in a back room where bands play, with this caged upstairs area overlooking it.

8.5 mi•Sixth Street District, Downtown

Exterior

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Upstairs (view from Downstairs)

Velveeta Room

3.7(68 reviews)

We came here after Esther's Follies, with the program from Esther's you get in free and just have…read moreto find a seat, we took seats on benches along the wall as most of the tables were taken as the stand up had already started. We caught the last joke or two of one of the openers then the headliner came on, TJ, On twitter as @tjstandup and has a special on Amazon called Weapon of White Destruction and a tour called The Colonizing America tour. Dude was incendiary (to use my wife's term) and funny, My wife and I were laughing for most of his set and the guy at a table in front of us almost never stopped laughing. The place is small and a long time fixture here in Austin, you order drinks from a QR code at the table but no minimums drink limits which is nice. It is a fun stop and you never know who you will see or what style of comedy you will get.

Terrible "comedians" on the show that seemed to be people that just really hated themselves and…read moreeveryone else. Maybe try therapy instead of getting a bunch of audience members to suffer through what you think is funny but is not.

Show starts in a few minutes but still pretty empty

Stage 2

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The stage

NAKID Social Sports

3.5(13 reviews)

9.4 mi

THIS IS A BLAST! So…read moreI was playing in another kickball league here in town (we'll call em WAKA) and it was one of the worst experiences I've had in a social sports community. So when I came to NAKID I was not expecting much different, but was stunned at how different and how much more fun I had! My team is the Awful Waffles which was a team in a different league, we were all so fed up with the competiveness of the other leagues. Where they cuss you out if you make a bad play, make a bad call as a ref, basically have no regard for sportsmanship, and to top it off the league is ran by douchebags.It was so refreshing to come to NAKID, its fun still competitive(in a good way) AWESOME TROPHYS, cute girls for you guys out there, as well as flip cup tournaments every week!!! (AHHH HEAVEN!!) You gotta give it a shot!

The staff that help run this are so helpful and very quick to respond to email. I had a small group…read morethat was wanting to play and Dan got back to me right away. He also followed up with me multiple times to make sure my needs were being met. Great service and a ton of fun. I highly recommend NAKID Social Sports. This will be my second season, but it will not be my last.

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Thirsty’s

3.2(112 reviews)

8.5 mi•Downtown

Next stop, Thirsty's...they must have rebranded because in Yelp they are listed as Thirsty Nickel…read more This club gets a A+ for marketing...they had a handsome young man outside harking free drinks. He was super personable and even made suggestions of low cost food options on 6th street. Thirsty's chose the drink they gave you...tasted like drink mix (no alcohol). We only had a sip and were off to our next adventure. The bartender was super friendly and nice. All the staff was super friendly, which was pleasant. Thirsty's is a large club with basketball machines in the back. The bar is quite long bar with a large space for dancing. The music was popping, so we can see how it can be an attractive club later in the evening when the party folks come out.

False advertising and shady behavior. There was a girl outside promoting $2 shots, so we decided to…read morego in. We ordered 6 lemon drop shots and got charged almost $100 for drinks that tasted like juice. We still tipped 20% because we try to be respectful. When we confronted the staff, the same girl who advertised the $2 shots suddenly claimed she never said that and then kept hiding to avoid the situation. Management looked surprised at the price but just shrugged and offered no solution. Don't come here. This place practices sneaky, misleading tactics and clearly doesn't value customers. They do not deserve your support.

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Mystica Fiora

5.0(2 reviews)

6.4 mi•Cherrywood

I give my strongest recommendation to Mystica Fiora's belly dancing/flow arts classes and…read moreperformances. She is a skilled professional of the highest caliber and multitalented showcasing a wide variety of styles: fire flow arts (fans, poi, hoops, wands, hand candles, wings), belly dancing (Egyptian/Raqs Sharqi, fusion, Indian), mermaiding (swimming with tail), and clowning (balloon animals, face painting). She is also pleasant, kind, and cheerful. She is very professional and always on time and communicates well. She has both online and in person classes available and hybrid options. I have also seen her perform multiple times and she is stunning! Book her for your special events! I have been taking belly dancing and flow art classes with her since the pandemic (mid 2020). At first we met online and now we meet in person. When I began classes with her I was suffering from debilitating chronic pain and could only dance for 5 minutes before needing to take a break. She was happy to incorporate accommodations for me when my feet were hurting or injured, for instance, we would do a seated chair class and focus on chest and arm isolations instead of leg movements. She always found a way to incorporate movement while working around my health issues, injuries, or surgeries. Now I can dance for hours and am teaching my own dance classes. I highly recommend seeking Samantha out if you have any chronic health issues that would improve with low impact exercise. She is also highly educated in these different art forms and is able to discuss the history of belly dance. She has been trained in a variety of styles from across Africa to the Middle East to India, even having traveled abroad to learn from instructors in other countries.

Mystica is an amazing belly dance instructor! She is kind and encouraging, positive and…read moreprofessional. Her excitement and passion for the art form is out of her! I get very excited for every opportunity to take a lesson from her.

Space themed LED Dance

Fire Dancing for wedding

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Fire Dancing for wedding

The Smoking Caterpillar

4.0(9 reviews)

8.5 mi•Downtown

Good service and good items! Tons to choose from something for everybody !!! I would recommend to…read moreanyone dropping in from out of town.

Cool peeps that work here!!…read more The Smoking Caterpillar is not only a super smooth name, but a place where you can find all your smoke shop needs + bounds of valuable knowledge! It was my first time trying (or even hearing about) Delta 8, and the worker was so patient with helping me understand what it is and its benefits. Got some cool herbal smokes and gummies to try out at home!