a good vibe safe place and drinks are great staff is really cool and chill! Me and my girl had a…read moreball plus everything well a lot of stuff. The drinks are strong.

Located in downtown San Marcos in the very heart of "college town, USA," Shade offers a picturesque…read morerooftop view of downtown and surprisingly good adult beverages with modest prices all in a safe environment. I wasn't told about this establishment, rather I happened upon it while meandering about aimlessly on a Saturday afternoon in April. All the other bars at 2am seemed dead, so I saw the sign and decided to ascend the "stairway to drinks" in the easily overlooked front entrance. After hitting the top of the stairs, the place opens up to a very interesting experience. There are two main covered areas, a thought to keep in mind as it was rigorously sprinkling when I visited. First there's a well-stocked open bar area under a makeshift roof with TVs there to grab the attention if the phone isn't working. Sorry, that's a pet peeve of mine as so many people go out nowadays to bars and sit on a phone rather than socialize. What's the point!? Ok, lets get back to the review shall we? While the bar has a 270 degree seating area, there are some open tables without a roof. This yields to the largest area with a shack like roof covering picknick tables, benches all not exactly the most comfortable seating but cozy nonetheless. The fellow patrons were extremely nice and represented all spectrums of life. As for the drinks the bartender was extremely helpful in suggesting drinks of the day while being fast in severing over 30 people by himself. Kudos to slinging suds at a lightspeed pace. I don't fault the establishment for only having one person scheduled as 2pm isn't normally busy but when an impromptu bridal shower shows up, Shade showed out (meaning they handled it well)! My bourbon cocktail was perfectly balanced while their special drinks weren't overpowering yet had enough alcohol to kick start a motor into 5th gear after sitting idle for too long. Overall, I love this joint as it's everything one could realistically want in a bar. Even though their cocktails varieties are somewhat limited, sorry I wasn't ordering a "pickle-rita" they're very good and reasonably priced. The view is great no matter where which seat is selected and the people are fun and delightful. I highly suggest giving this place a shot as it checks all the boxes on an impromptu list. The only pause would be if it's raining hard, let it end before heading up the stairs.

Love this bar! Come here for Cass she's the greatest. Love…read moreher and all the other staff members here as well ,great environment,good time ,fabulous cocktails. Couldn't see this bar for what it is without kas

love kass and Payton and Brianna great bartenders and Amazking service favorite bar in San Marcosread more

Really incredible and kind service from the tall bartender with the glasses! Very very nice! I…read moreordered lemon pepper wings and a lime frozen marg! Both were good! The wings had a crisp on them that was out of this world! Perfect patio music playing in the background and an incredibly dog friendly outside area! They have both shaded and unshaded seats! This was a super nice place, I'd come back! Perfect after a day at the river ! And I saw they do karaoke and trivia !

Only came for drinks. Will come back soon, for food. Loved the ambiance. The bar server was very…read morepatient as I requested my drink to be prepared with extra limes. Great place to hang out, grab a drink and sit and mingle. Plenty of outdoor seating.

I'm walking down the square looking for something to do and I see a warm light coming from a…read morebuilding to my left. I mistake it for someone's home because there's a few people inside and it looks awfully tiny to be a restaurant. Out of curiosity we walk into the building and upstairs where we've met by the backs of the members of a live jazz band. We have to walk past the band to get into the room and that alone almost stopped us from coming inside. However realizing that's the only way into we room we do. To our surprise in this room (think a studio apartment) there's a full bar and quite a few people. This room also held the members of the jazz band who were rotating themselves from bar to band every few songs. This is what you can find in the TheUpRoot every Thursday. Every other week there is a beautiful restaurant a floor below.

Cocktails are amazing and really great!! Location is wonderful! Atmosphere is top notch! Thank…read moreyou to Gummy the bartender that evening.

Ordered the Whimsey in a latte since they were out of cold brew. The coffee tasted high quality…read more It's also not too sweet which I appreciate. There's a lot of students studying with a large amount of open seating. The front has a garage door open to let in some fresh air while keeping it cool enough inside. Would definitely come back if stopping by in San Marcos!

Coffee is really good quality. Got it half sweet. It was a good amount to still really enjoy more…read moreof the coffee bean taste right over the sweetener that was used. Matcha was the reason for the 1 star off. I could not really taste the matcha itself. Does not taste terrible, but did not stand out. I think it would be better if there was more of the matcha itself in the drink. Ambiance is really nice and the decor is modern and high end vibe. Parking is limited with street parking, but doable.

Do not go to this bar unless you want to be racially profiled. My friend, boyfriend, and I came…read morehere for a casual night out and had just ordered our first drinks when things took a terrible turn. My boyfriend went to use the restroom and was stopped by a Hispanic man who claimed to work there, telling him he couldn't use it -- even though other patrons were freely going in and out. Since there were no signs saying it was closed, he proceeded to use it. Moments later, several men began harassing him, then physically assaulted him -- throwing him out of the bar. Outside, about six other men joined in, punching and kicking him while he was on the ground. Even worse, people who said they worked for the bar pulled out their phones to record instead of stepping in to stop the violence. My boyfriend, a Black man, was clearly targeted. This was racial profiling and completely unacceptable. This place is unsafe and discriminatory.

Food was way too salty …read more I felt my blood pressure rise with each bite

It has been awhile since I've been here. Great place to get a beer for sure. Also great place to…read morerun into people you haven't seen in a few years. There's a pool table, and plenty of seating, at the bar, tables, upstairs as well. Found out that they have food, which I didn't know. We got some burgers, to make sure they were good. And they were. Just good. I did love the fries, done week done, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I had onion rings with my burger, they were just alright. The service is good, plenty of bartenders. Super nice and helpful and patient, took me awhile to order. The bar has a mug system, not sure how it works, but they have discounts daily for mug owners. Pretty cool idea. Plenty of TVs on, music was playing.

Attentive bar tenders. Low key locals ( went 6ish on a Thursday the week after parents dropped off…read morestudents) crowd probably much different hours later& weekends. Didn't eat. Only had a few drinks. It's dive bar vibes.

They didn't let my friend in because he was wearing crocs, but they allowed another man inside who…read morewas wearing crocs because "he's a friend." Could be a coincidence that the person they didn't let in was a part of the LGBTQ+ community. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Went there and there was throw up all over the women's bathroom, Sink was full and so were toilets…read moreof throw up and other things. To many underage people asking if you can buy them a drink.