Love the Ann Richards and fresh cut fries!! Beer is cold and staff is friendly without being fake!! Great little bar!

Watched the Super Bowl at The Tavern and it was Awesome. Beat Chief's bar outside of KC!

This is tough to write. I used to love going to the Tavern back in the day. But over the last few years it's been mediocre at best. The food has gone way down hill, and even the vibe during a Sunday NFL visit was lackluster and quiet. Hope it can turn itself around, it's an Austin staple. read more

The bar staff are super friendly, so you're off to a good start when you get there. This is a great bar to watch sports at. We stopped here, specifically, for World Cup games last month. My husband loves English Premiere League football (soccer), so we went here to try it out. It is the home of the Austin Arsenal supporters, and we're Man U fans, so it's not going to be our normal hang out, but it can certainly be a cool place to chill. My brother was visiting when we stopped here. My husband ordered a Guinness, and I guess, depending upon how it is served, it can be good or bad. Here, he claims it was good! I ordered a Celis, but they were pushing the Ahlstedt pretty hard. My brother likes the cheap stuff, so probably got a Coor's Light. We went there around lunch time so we were all a bit "peckish" as my British husband would say. We were originally given "breakfast/ brunch" menus, and I ordered a trio of queso, salsa and guacamole for a snack for all to share. My brother tried to order a hot dog, but the barman said that it was on the brunch menu, and now it's lunch time and the hot dog isn't on that menu. Ummmm, weird! My brother's fiancee got a salad, which was served in one of those old woven, wooden bowls, which my husband loves. Overall, good beer and good service. Bar snacks are fine, but our experience with the menu options was a little weird. Still a great place to watch the footy, so I'm sure we'll be back! read more

The Tavern - Trio appetizer, June 2018 - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

I love coming here on a random Saturday and just sitting at the bar alone to have some beer and watch college football. The food is pretty standard bar food and there are plenty of beer and drink options. Also this is a Chiefs bar and gets busy during those games so keep that in mind because if they happen to be playing, it will be extra busy and hard to get a seat. read more

Wow. In all fairness, I've been here before and had a much better experience. If I were to sit at the bar and only drink beer this would be a far better review I am sure. I'll give the server a break for being obviously new to this restaurant and service in general. My girlfriend who is also a server and a damn good one at that knew he wasn't going to remember a thing we said, including the ONE modification. She was right. The food. Oh, the food. I wouldn't give food that quality away. Tried the pretzel first. It was like someone left a frozen pretzel in the microwave too long. Gross. Two bites and we said we were done. Fit to feed ducks at the pond at best. The bites I had were purely to avoid the embarrassment of trying the queso with a spoon. Reuben. I had to take pictures. I feel like I need to find someone named Reuben and hug them just to make up for the disaster I was just served. I think after some minor forensics I have discovered what happened. Upon burning the shit out of the first side of the bread the cook decided to cover it in some cheese and burn that too. Also burned some corned beef in case I was missing that beef jerky texture reubens are so famous for. Some was not burned, just really dry, and that's best I could hope for. A few burned pubes of kraut really topped it off nicely. If there was ever Russian dressing on it, it had evaporated amidst whatever hellfire it endured before reaching my table. The burger. Got the California burger. I am so glad I did. The uncooked veggies made up for the grey over cooked meat disk. The bun had a nice flavor. Dipping it in the ranch helped with the moisture the patty was lacking. The Mac and cheese was decent as were the sweet potato fries. The Guinness was set up well and kept a nice head. There's the one star. read more

The Tavern - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

See all

Amazing neighborhood watering hole! I am fairly new to Austin and this bar is everything I look for in a sports bar! Friendly family feel great food and plenty of big screens for your sports viewing pleasures! I ordered the wings tots and fried pickles. Came out fairly quickly and taste great! Bo offered jokes and quick service with a smile thanks! read more

This was my first time here. I've driven by it a lot and always notice the sign says "air conditioned" which seems weird. This place has been around for a while so that was selling point back in the day! With that said, this is definitely a dive, but there's parking, lots of seating, and an outdoor deck upstairs so I like it! Happy hour is pretty good and the food we all ordered was good too. Not a lot of cocktail options, but the pomegranate mule is great! There are a few beers on tap and the usual liquor drinks. It's good place to hang out for a while as it wasn't too busy and the service was good! There are TVs to watch games, so I'm sure it gets packed in the fall! Overall a cool spot that keeps it simple! read more

The Tavern - Fried mozzarella - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Very good experience! Amber and Eric were amazing!! We had burgers. My friend had a allergy and they were very accommodating to us. Loved the service! read more

Super casual, chill, dive-y pub in a great location! Service is great - we were there during the World Cup, and it was super busy, but our server was helpful and very nice! Good beers on tap - and local choices, too. We got pitchers of Circle Blur Hefeweizen! And the food? Surprisingly vegetarian-friendly! They'll make any of their burgers with their veggie patty! I had the Teriyaki veggie burger, with comes smothered in Teriyaki sauce and a pineapple slice! My friends got a burger, a veggie sandwich, and a chicken Caesar wrap. The menu is pretty varied - something for everyone! Great appetizer options as well! The Tavern has a lot of seating! Downstairs, upstairs, and a great outdoor patio area off the second floor! Separate bar upstairs! They have a parking lot across the street (southeast corner of 12th and Lamar)! All in all - an AWESOME place to hang out with friends or watch a great game! Couldn't be happier that I saw the Women's National Team win the World Cup here! Awesome experience!!! read more

See all

I highly recommend The Tavern. Great food, great service and great people. On nfl game day it is THE place to congregate if you are a Kansas chiefs fan. Lots of tv's, seating and a wide selection of food and drink to enjoy while watching the game. Get there early because it will be rockin! Super bowl Sunday will be one huge all day party.... read more

The bar is amazing and quaint, I recommend anyone to come here for a chill environment. The bartender Skylar makes you feel right at home and will talk to you as much as you want. I felt right at home with Skylar talking us up and telling us the the history behind the bar! If you're looking for a cool, chill place to go to out in Austin I would definitely recommend this place! Thank you to Skylar for making us feel right at home when we came in! read more

Great food, great service, fun and easy atmosphere! Burger selection ranges from delicious traditional to unique specialities!

This review is for 3.5 stars. If you're looking for just a beer and the game, then fine, Tavern is just fine. Beer list is just ok, but worst part is there's no menu and half the waitresses have no idea what's on draft so you're doing your own work to figure out the bottle and tap list. They do have Electric Jellyfish (you locals know) so all good on that. TVs a plenty but somehow difficult to get your game on if it's not on a big sprouts channel. Food bar food but pretty good. Lots of ghost pepper options which I always like, and would come back just to try. Club sandwich well put together and grilled cheese with pimento unique and filling. Parking out back fills up fast, but is there at least to begin with. Plenty of room at the Tavern for your games and drinks, but don't expect stellar service. This is your local sports bar with ok food and that's that. Pro tip: check in on yelp for 20% off your first time to give it a shot and get some discounts. read more

Fun local gem! Great food and service! Cold a/c! Cozy and quaint inside. Shout out to Johnny who was great behind the bar making yummy cocktails. Top notch service! Highly recommend checking it out! read more

Another night of trivia in the books! It's a Wednesday evening and the last thing I wanted to do was to fight the traffic from north Austin down to 12th street. But in the end, it wasn't bad at all. Trivia started at 8:30 and went by pretty smoothly with 6 rounds of 10 questions each. Nothing to complain about here. Seeing how the place was essentially downtown, parking is always a concern. But again, no worries. Their parking lot is across 12th street and had a fair amount of spaces. The sign on their door also explicitly states that you can't park in the lot right next to or behind the restaurant. Let's get to the food. I ordered the chicken fried steak with garlic mashed potatoes with black beans and rice. My favorite part of the meal was without a doubt the mashed potatoes. The consistency was a bit on the watery side, but as a fan of garlic, the flavor was on point. The black beans and rice was pretty good as well. The chicken fried steak, though, was really sub-par. The meat was tough and only had an okay flavor. This place is okay, but with good company, I wouldn't mind coming back. read more

I have been coming here for many, many years and I have to say that the new management has screwed this place up. Whoever the manager is needs to quit the dope or quit the job. read more

I do like watching games here a lot and great service. Food is not bad. Great spot though. Top floor. Deck. Steer level. All good spots. read more

Went here for first time. Great spot. There were 3 of us. Food portions are perfect and large. Don't know what people are talking about bad service. It took a few minutes to be recognized but after that we had great service. Food came out fairly quick and cooked to our liking. The bison frito pie was delicious though could use more heat. The philly cheese steak was very tasty with lots of mushrooms. The cheese burger was cool with the large pan fried cheese crisp. The ghost burger was spicy but not to point where couldn't taste anything. Will be back. read more

The Tavern - Burger bun. Burgers are massive and super tasty. - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

I've been a customer of The Tavern for over forty years, and have enjoyed many, many great meals and drinking experiences at this quintessential Austin establishment. However, now that I find that it's literally impossible to visit The Tavern, or at least to attempt to drive there in a motor vehicle, I'll likely never patronize the place again. Parking has become a challenge in recent years in Austin, but after trying in vain to find an available space at 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon for drinks and an early dinner/late lunch at my once-favorite watering hole, I'm certain that I'll never put myself through that frustration again. read more

This is a good neighborhood spot to hang out and get some really good food. Their burgers, fries, and chicken fried steaks are to die for. However, if you're feeling like being healthy, I wouldn't really go here. Their salads aren't too good but at least they've got the option. I dig the music they play here, it's like emo night every night. read more

See all

This bar has been around since my parents lived here in the 80's. Coolest interior decor. Old bar top with amazing wood. You can tell you're truly in an old Austin staple. BEST. WINGS. IN. THE. CITY. read more

Have you been to The Tavern since Shannon Sedwick & Michael Shelton took over? If not, go! Shannon and Michael owned The T in the late 70s/early 80s, left to open/operate Esther's Follies, and have recently bought it again. It's been restored to the lovely pub I remember from olden days - and the service/food/ambience is just delightful. The nonprofit I work with held an event there last night. GM Vince took care of every detail from booking to closing it out - he and the rest of the staff did a fantastic job for our fundraiser. Our buffet was served beautifully - hot food was hot! cold items, fresh and cold! - and the bar took care of guests seamlessly. Special events aside, this will definitely be my new favorite place to watch football. Love, love The Tavern! Many thanks to all who made our evening so special. read more

As comfortable as an old shoe. Food consistently better than average. A lot of beer and burger places in Austin want to be what the Tavern is - But they're not. ***** The above lines are my review of the Tavern and I am sticking by them. However, if you read the other Yelp reviews - you do get a different story. Service is slow. Hmmm ... did I say slow? I meant glacial. Did I say glacial? I meant - you can write your entire master's thesis while waiting for your order. * This does not particularly bother me. When I go to a place like the Tavern, it is to slow the metabolism down, Drink some beer, watch some of whatever sport is on TV and move from Manhattan time to Peruvian village time. Beer comes when it comes. Food comes when it comes. If I had work to do, I wouldn't be here. Tell life to go away and come back tomorrow. If the beer is good, the room is good and the food is good then everything is good and it's time for a nap. * If you are one of these people who like their food to come the same decade they order it, then you might find the speed of service at the Tavern disconcerting. A Yelper like me for whom it's all about the food, and nothing but the food I leave my stopwatch back at the house. **** Bottom Line: The Tavern is still one of the classiest places in Austin to hang out to drink, eat fun food and generally chill out. read more

The only reason I'm giving this a two star is because the food came out in a reasonable time. Other than that... we had to get our own silverware after asking twice, had to get our own water after asking twice... I should've been paid since i was doing more work than the server. Trying to pay the bill was impossible. Our waiter, who is the manager, never came back to check on us.... He also stuck his nose in the blue cheese to see if it was ranch or blue cheese... Anyways, don't give it a try, not going back. read more

Absolutely love a good weekday happy hour with one of the bartenders in town, Lauren! Thanks for the consistent, top of the line service always! read more

We have been coming here for years and the food /drinks has always been great. Especially the burgers, salads, and Ann Richards sandwich. We have not had anything off the menu that we didn't like. Tonight, we witnessed Jonny handle an out of control patron. He did an outstanding job. Very professional and couldn't rave about this place any more. Definitely worth a stop if you're ever in Austin, Texas. 10/10 read more

This is a strong place to watch out of town sports. I rolled in and asked for Bruins hockey and they hooked me up in minutes. I would definitely return. read more

we were very disappointed with how we were treated last night by your staff. we had checked with your hours posted on Google maps and it said you would be open until 12am. We arrived at 10:45 to a rather full establishment and were told by the bartender that the bar was closing in one minute and that even if we did get a drink, they only had the ingredients to make your 'basic bitch' drinks. Needless to say, we left. Sad that out-of-towners are treated this way when we were hoping to have a nice post-concert evening eating and drinking at your establishment. read more

Buffalo wings are tangy and spicy. The Blue cheese is very thin, more like ranch. Wings were hot in terms of temperature and celery in carrots were cold and fresh, no dryness. String onion fries is a nice touch to the dish. The pretzel bread is awesome. Warm from the ocean with tasty bacon beer cheese spread. I had mine with a Stella in a cold pint glass. As it was not very busy this Monday night, I was well cared for by the friendly and happy bartender. My Glenfiddich whiskey meats were perfect, no residual water and not overloaded with ice. Food service was faster than expected. Ambiance is nice and I learned about this spot from Meetup. The Barcelona FC meetup group I belong to gathers here for big Barcelona Champions League games. It would be difficult to not feel at home here. Real sports fans. The bartender and server was a true pro and her name is Jessi. read more

The Tavern - Screens from the bar! - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

See all

In a tavern (no joke) where the interior is a two story dark, wooden with TV's showing sport ball. I was here for a meet and greet with Eberly's Army, who are Austin Soccer supports and was part of the Austin Aztex supporters. Eberly's Army was hosting a meet and greet with FC Austin Elite (women's soccer team, WPSL) (http://fcaustinelite.com/) The service was good and attentive. I ordered the fish and chips and they were decent. It's not one of the places I would come back too often but it's decent. read more

The Tavern - Fish and chips - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Came in for a few drinks on a Saturday night. Johnny behind the bar upstairs is great!!! The atmosphere is great-one of the last vestiges of true Austin. All around great vibe. Looks like they are geared of for the summer soccer tournaments! read more

Stopped by with friends to watch a basketball game recently. The nachos were a joke, some of the worst nachos I've ever had. This place is owned by an iconic Austin couple who've been here for decades. How can they serve nachos like this and not be embarrassed? They need to stop by Matt's El Rancho sometime, order the bean and cheese nachos (simple and classic), and remind themselves what this town is all about. read more

"In the Tavern, you're abandoned Waiting for your beer and wine I'm no minor, This adult diner And you're wasting my damn time." Pool tables upstairs were decent and uncrowded and they had a good selection of tunes on the jukebox--their saving graces for the day that kept this outing from being a totally one-star experience and complete disaster. Service I found to be below yuppie bar levels downstairs or upstairs with no appreciable customers on a weekend afternoon. HINT: Dude--don't keep restocking the bar for another 10 minutes before you get me the freaking beer I ordered! And, no, I didn't get the world-famous TB (Tavern Burger). But for $10.99, I honesty felt their chicken fried steak should be a significant improvement upon a Banquet frozen dinner stuffed into a food nuker. Once again, I could sing several verses of "Old Folks At Home" waiting for service and meals to appear. This is not the place to go if you're in a hurry, or even if you are within ten years of your mortality index. I think management ought to provide all the bartenders and waitstaff gimme hats to wear that say "Air Conditioned". After all, a word to the wise is usually sufficient. read more

Visited The Tavern last weekend to watch the UT vs OSU game. I was looking for a sports bar close to downtown with great food, ample room, and plenty of TVs. While the game was a pooper for UT, the Tavern came up a bit short on my wish list, although I would visit this place again. Great location, but parking is a drag. No left turns on Lamar and you may likely have to park across the street. It's a two story wooden bar and an outside balcony - cool beansa. It gets very crowded here, and noisy, but they have plenty of TVs here - - more kudos. We found a table outside - and there's heaters too, it was much quieter, so far so good. Pretty diverse menu, we started off w/ the Homemade Pretzels, the waiter gave us 3 dipping sauces per our request - which I believe wasn't possible, but he made it happen. Queso, spicy mustard, and cream cheese. Go for the queso + cream chese, the mustard just tasted off - - even though I am a mustard guy, it just didn't taste that good. The pretzels were good, fluffy, but slightly on the stale side. I think they were made a while back and were just heated up and basted w/ butter. Butter makes everything taste better, doesn't it? White wings - awesome. Go get em. Boneless wings w/ bacon wrapped around and comes w/ ranch or blue cheese. The chips with queso + guac + salsa is supposed to all be homemade, but I wasn't too impressed - - the salsa was okay, the queso was good, and the guacamole really didn't taste fresh at all. It was good, but tasted like it came from a package or was made much earlier. The waiter was good, but service dropped a few times on water refills when they got busy. Later I went to the bartender downstairs and put in a to-go order. Bartender was nice, he took my order, then he asked me if I would like a drink while I wait - - yes - - I requested a Sprite, to find it later on the bill for $2.50. "I didn't know you were going to charge me for that..." I said to him. He looks at me and says, "oh, I'm sorry", but doesn't offer to take it off, and asks if I want it to go. It's the first time that's happened to me - - every place where I have ordered to-go (and offered me a drink while I wait) never charged me for it when they asked so I just expected this to be the same here. He knew I wasn't pleased yet he didn't make the change, oh well. Overall, not too shabby, I may go back, yet I am still looking for a place close to downtown that has plenty of TVs w/ great food and awesome service. read more

In the words of Randy Jackson, "this one was just alright for me, dog." I've been to the Tavern several times through the years, often when the highlighted air conditioning was in full bloom, and when the sports adorned the flat screens. This bar has always struck me as much for its neighborhood staying power as anything else: the food I've found perfectly appropriate to expectation, the staff has been helpful, and I do appreciate the occasional place to park near by. Not a transcendent experience, but a nice place to kick up your heels and watch a ballgame. And that's got to count for something. Paula? read more

The Tavern - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great atmosphere. Great service. Great bar food (appetizers, burgers, sandwiches, etc.) My burger was great and maybe almost even too big. Mom raved about her Chicago style hot dog. Chips and salsa were good. Drinks were refilled. The only short suit in the food department were the fries, which were a little underdone and a lot bit salty. There were a couple of glitches and tips that you should be aware of before visiting the Tavern. First, the menu online is not current. The menu at the Tavern has a lot less, especially in terms of burger options. Also, the information online (and even at the Tavern) shows a closing time of midnight. That's absolutely accurate as far as the bar. BUT... the kitchen stops taking food orders at 10 PM. So, the Tavern isn't really an option for late night dining. I wish the website and the sign were updated to reflect this. And as with anything in Central Austin, the parking is limited. There's a parking lot on the other side of 12th Street, but the parking lot next to the Tavern may or may not be off limits. It's hard to tell. read more

I went here a few weeks ago and was so pleasantly surprised! I used to go to the Tavern all the time 3-4 years ago, but something went awry with their food in 2010 so I stopped going. I don't know what changed, but the food and service are back to what they used to be. Good beer selection, good food selection, give it a shot if you haven't been recently! read more

There's really nothing to complain about when it comes to The Tavern. According to history, this corner bar (12th & Lamar) was born in 1916, long before the winding, trafficky, pain-in-the-ass gravel and untimed lights of Lamar Boulevard existed. (Conceptualizing a time when Austin was without a Lamar excites me.) Anyway, aside from the interesting exterior, Tavern is a fairly typical sports bar. Long before I ventured inside, I would drive by and see their infamous sign and wonder why the heck they felt the need to create signage where the advertising for A/C is nearly as prominent as the name of the joint. (Is there something I'm missing here?) The Tavern is friendly and warm, with a lively dinge that's best for taking in sporting events. Their multiple screens allow for easy viewing (sans the stiff neck). The two-story tavern boasts a patio as well. Although I previously noted the typicality of the watering hole, there are a few pros to convince you to stop by. I would argue that the bar is advantageous for three main reasons (debatable, of course...) 1) Tavern has their own parking lot. I repeat. A mid-town bar with a parking lot. 2) Tavern has kick-ass weekly and happy hour specials. $3 house wines, $3 margaritas, $3 well drinks, 25 cent buffalo wings, 35 cent potato skins...you get the picture. 3) Tavern has a cool location. They say it best when they boast, "You're never too far from 12th & Lamar." Too true. Tavern is your ticket to the game. read more

The Tavern - Sports Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

You can't beat this place! They have taken everything you love about chicken wings and removed all the things that deter you from eating them! White wings=clean finger eating chicken wings wrapped in bacon!!! You can't go wrong. No mess, just flavor and the jalapeno is a nice twist! Their happy hour pricing on all apps besides the fried pickels is $5.00 (pickels are $5.99) and that is an amazing deal! Had two beers, two apps and walked away paying $25.00! Small draft selection but, it seems to be quality over quantity! The ambiance is that of an Austin local corner bar, which I love. The staff (Rebecca) was knowledgable about the products and companies behind them. She was fast, friendly and welcoming! This bar does not reak of the pretensiousness of the bars on 6th street! The bathrooms are super clean and their patio upstairs is nice! It appears that it has the ability to be heated and cooled! The bar top is fun with people's names and such carved in it. They give you comment cards to fill out and the last one says what could we change. My answer is a big Nothing! They are fine just the way they are! read more

See all