The guitar player was entertaining but the female bartender was more interested in sitting on the cooler and gambling in some dice game.anytime we needed something she acted as if we were intruding on her day.will not be back.she had no personality,don't think we saw her smile once. read more

I'm not one to give a really bad review for a specific incident w/out first going to the manager or establishment. (I also *rarely* have such incidents occur in my life.) But I tried to contact The Thirsty Nickel several times at different times of day but no one ever picks up the phone, and I can't find a manager, owner or other form of contact. So, this goes on Yelp. We went to TTN on Halloween night, around 10p-12a. We had an absolute blast - great music, didn't mind the $5 cover (actually think it helped take the crowd up a notch), good drinks, lots of funny costumes. Unfortunately, right as we were finishing our last drink before moving on, a female bartender hurled ice into the crowd. The rumor was that a patron she knew walked up to the bar and threw a drink on her (ostensibly over some issues between the two of them). All we *know* first hand is that the bartender then picked up a fistful of ice and over-hand pitched it into the crowd, aimed at the drink-thrower, but hitting lots of other patrons instead. THIS HAPPENED TWICE. My friend, who was visiting from Australia (not that it matters, but what a poor impression!), got hit TWICE. The first time, ice hit her hard just to the left of her left eye. Her eye was watering for the next two hours. She's not prone to overreaction. None of us was wasted or disorderly. When my friend approached the bar to speak to the bartender, the bartender 100% ignored her. Then the bartender threw the crowd the bird. We left immediately. My friend and her husband tried to talk to the bouncers on the way out - a heads-up to the effect of "just so you know, this happened in there and things are on edge", but everyone at the bar closed ranks and made folks in our party feel like liquored-up, trouble-making patrons. My friend is fine. We're not litigious people. But GEEZ! Had the ice landed one inch to the right, on my friend's eye... with the right kind of angry person, that's a lawsuit waiting to happen. I know Halloween is a sh*t show, but that's *exactly* the reason you have to employ people with an ounce of anger management and impulse control. I really and truly hope that woman was fired. The point of this (stupid long) Yelp review is simply to let our story be heard, because no one at TTN that night was hearing anything any of us had to say about the incident, never mind (out on a limb here) making sure their patrons were okay. Never in my entire bar-going life have I ever witnessed something so out of line. read more

been a year since i was last there. this time was better but still not what i would call a good experience. the same bartender was last time followed me out the bar and got in my face was still there and still had a shit attitude. from acting like a dick to the sound guy who was there trying to fix the issue to doing more shots than i could order drinks (it would have been far too much effort for him to step away from his friends and his shots of Patron to actually serve paying customers drinks). they ran out of two different drinks before the 3rd inning of the Cubs game as well. the Cubs viewing party didnt fail, just the bar itself! read more

I've made several recent trips to Thirsty Nickle that have re-established a new appreciation for this bar. Not only do I think they've changed my opinion on who makes the strongest drinks on 6th, but their crowd has drastically grown. I saw their resident all girl house band play the other night. Now I think that girl bands suck but they did choose some awesome songs to play. read more

Don't order the $9 frozen drink unless you like shaved ice with alcohol flavor. What a rip off. The bartender was rude when I told him nothing would come up the straw. He just said "you ordered a frozen drink". You can add a shot for $7.50. What a joke. read more

Definitely one of my favorites on 6th St. They used to have $2 You Call Its on Thursdays and their you call its is truly legit. You can get anything for $2, like H-Bombs, JagerBombs, any top shelf, et al. The bartenders are awesome, they have Heather & Mike and the manager is a crazy little guy. The DJ is really hot here and he's been around for decades. There is enough space in the front to dance and the bar has a really mixed crowd. Always a good place to start off to get some shots before barhopping the night away. read more

Great live music and nice open set-up. A good option on the street of craziness.

This was our live music fix on 6th. The young man that was strumming his guitar yesterday was incredible. The drinks were fantastic and the bartender was cool. The place is a bit dark, but then again - -can't say that I didn't expect it. read more

Great service, decent beer selection, Nasty bathrooms, divey atmosphere...great if a college student though.

What a great 80s female cover band! I honestly had never been in here before since it was always so crowded later in the night but we came in around 8:30 and it was awesome! Reasonable drink prices for 6th St and a great band at no cover?!?! Sold. Bartender was very responsive, even asking if I needed another beer before I had to flag him down. Could be due to the small crowd at the time but still impressive for the strip. Plus - Big Buck Hunter in the back! Hadn't seen that game in a minute. I also saw a beer pong set up and heard a rumor you could play but we weren't really in the mood. Something to check out next time I guess. read more

I mostly come to The Thirsty Nickel for the music, they usually have some great bands playing. The drinks are as good and the atmosphere is great, all in all I recommend this place on a Friday and/or Saturday night when out with friends. read more

This bar had a pretty laid back atmosphere and the band played songs which were more mellow than those at the other bars. The drinks were pretty good. We had a few glasses of Long Island Iced tea, which was quite good. There are games as well for those who like them. read more

One of the best most favorite bars on 6th. The drinks flow freely, there is a photo pith, plenty of space for dancing, and the owner is awesome. We come to Austin about twice a year and always always come here. You can also catch sports games here as there are tons of tvs. A lot of times, live music too! read more

We were in town for the bat festival and stopped in here to cool off. Great stop. Brian, the bar tender, is worth making friends with. And... you have to do the jagermeister shot! We were so impressed with Brian we went back the next day. Thanks for the drinks! read more

Fun timea in Austin, this is a good place to have a drink and hear some good music. Lots of room to move around and lots of good drinks to choice from. read more

Dirty dive bar, cheap drinks, good live music. There's better bars in the area. I guess it might be good for the college crowd that wants to watch a sports game on tv. read more

Really disappointed. Terrible customer service. Stopped by on a Sunday to watch the game, and even though they've got plenty of TV's, and it was mostly empty, I asked them to change one TV and they told me it wasn't worth their time. It was super cool -_- . I was with a group and we wanted to sit together and watch different games. Josh was literally sitting behind the bar twiddling his thumbs the whole morning and couldn't be bothered. read more

Here from Cali and dropped in with a friend from Dallas and was drawn in by the swine flue shot sign! And meet Brian the bartendar who hooked it up with the shots best darn bar I've been to in Austin :) not to mention they played the best music. read more

My favorite bar! (Besides the one I work at of course) great staff

This is an amazing spot to get some drinks and listen to amazing music!!!!!. I had so much fun here and the drinks taste amazing. Bar tenders are awesome I asked them for a soft sweet drink and they deliver big time. Will definitely be back and I recommend anyone to stop at this place. read more

Fun bar on sixth street !! Nothing but good times, great drinks and cool bartenders. I'd recommend this bar out of all of them. My drinks were strong and they were served promptly read more

the only time i came here the bar was packed and the place smelled like a sewage pipe had burst. .. at least i like to think that stank was a sewage pipe...i guess the fact that the bar was full was probably more telling than i initially thought.. read more

I bartend downtown and when I went to the bar I went to the bartender Lanie and asked for a drink and she poured me a 2 count (1/2 oz) drink. I was like what the heck. I then on my next round went to the next bartender with the tatoos under her belly button, hot, hot, hot, and she poured the correct pour. I dont know why the first bartender chose to give me such a horrible drink, I thought we were friends. I actually before going to the next bartender went to the bar because I dont want to complain about service to anyone on my fun nights and I asked for a shot of rum and I poured it to my glass. I paid for it, it doesnt bother me, i just subtract it from the normal 40 percent tip i leave to all my service industry professional. I dont know why that still bothers me. It just does. I also noticed that the manager was running around like he was at home making all kinds of beligerant comments. Is this his bar? Or does he want us the guest to feel like its ours? I assure you my friends and I all felt like it was his and left. Besides the place had too many guys in it and just a few dumb girls that let guys push and talk to them like they were trash. Very unclassy spot. I wont be back. read more

My girlfriend and I were walking down 6th and stopped here because of the good music we could hear from the street coming from the band. The door guy told us they had $2 LITs so we sat down at the bar and ordered one but what we received tasted like straight up coke and sweet & sour and it was in a short glass. So I asked the bartender (who's shirt said Cody) what he had put in it and he listed off the right ingredients and I told him I couldn't taste any alcohol in the drink so we ordered a second round and told him we didnt care about the price just make it like a regular LIT. So he made another while i was focused on the band i didnt see what he poured in it but it still tasted like a coke and sweet&sour so i explained to him that I had been bartending for 5+ years and am not just a complaining patron, I just wanted a good drink to start off my night and he rudely replied "Good for you your a bartender so am I" in a mocking way. Not the way I would expect fellow industry to be treated. This guy could've made a good tip off of us and had some ladies in his bar but after his attitude my friend and I walked out without even drinking our poorly prepared drinks with a bad start to our night. The band was good, but don't waste your money here when there are great spots close by with friendly service. read more

two years ago, would have given 4 stars. used to be a must stop on thursday nights for 2 dollar you call its, but a lot of drinks (i.e. buttery nipples) no longer fall into that category. there are weekend specials as well. also, tends to get ridiculously crowded and loud. has gone a bit downhill in my opinion, but still a regular stop. read more

I come to the Thirsty Nickel every time I'm in Austin. I LOVE this bar. The AC is always cranked up to max which is great when you've been floating the river all day in the heat, or playing in the sun. Its one of the few bars on that side of sixth with such great air. The drinks are always reasonable or cheap depending on how you look at it, and the service is great. I was a little annoyed that Crown wasn't on their $3 u call it special, but with so much other alcohol to choose from, it really just didn't matter enough to say anything. I'll for sure be back. You can count on it. read more

Couldn't get in the Trashy Room, so came here, and had fun. Not much of a dancefloor, so I went HAM on the stage. Might start coming here cuz the jerk bouncer at The Trophy Room always wanna keep me from coming in. read more

drinks were cheaper and the music was better than the rest of 6th st on a saturday night. visited from out of town. there was an all girl band playing 80's rock cover songs when we got there. sounded good. the place was fairly packed. when they got off stage half the place left but the dj continued to play mixed 80's rock mixed with club music. read more

Was in Austin over Easter weekend and stopped in on Sat night (4/7) after hearing an all girl cover band playing. They were great. We stayed for the rest of their set and then they had a DJ, who was also good, so we stayed until about 1 am. It's a nice place. good atmosphere. read more

I wasn't a laughing asshole, love this place, good staff great atmosphere, fair drink prices. I really recommend going for the good music and lively atmosphere. read more

I liked the Nickel alot, good prices the staff is very friendly, especially Brian the bartender, we had a great time with him and went back several times just to hang out with him. They also put out hot snacks occasionally, very nice. read more

i've been going to thirsty nickel for quite some time and i love it. HOWEVER, i had an experience that was just totally unacceptable! i asked for a frosty bomb, there's inconsistancy in the way that bartenders make it, usually i just ask the bartender to make the one with the 2 CUPS and theres not a problem. Well, i was wrong in my wording and asked for a double SHOT. the bartender then felt the need to correct me, no problem, i continued to tell him i liked the 2 cups and he still continued to lecture me. i also had to tell my guy friends to back off because the bartender was bent over the bar and had me by the arm. i didnt understand the need for a lecture when he knew what i was talking about and i was consistent on it. read more

This bar was empty on a Wednesday night, we went to play video games and after pumping money into the game it didn't work. After asking the bar to be reimbursed the bartender made a big deal and pulled money out of the tip jar. I don't want or need her money. It's also a Chicago bar, and I'm from Chicago and would never recommend it. That is the worst bar staff I've ever met. read more