The best bars in Austin span East Side cocktail rooms, natural-wine spots, dive bars, and rooftop views. Here are the ones worth the trip, ranked.
The best bars in Austin, ranked for range and not just the loudest block: the serious cocktail rooms, the East Side dives worth the cab, the rooftops with the view, the honky-tonk where everyone two-steps, and the natural wine bar. Built from citywide research and cross-checked against the critics and the neighborhoods that actually drink here, not the bachelorette strip. For each spot we tell you what it is and what to order. Updated as bars open, move, and close.
- 01
The Roosevelt Room
Downtown · craft cocktails · the benchmarkThe cocktail bar other Austin bartenders measure themselves against, an industrial-chic downtown room with an encyclopedic menu spanning every era of the classic cocktail. Tell the bartender what you like and let them build it, or work through the menu by decade. It is polished without being stuffy, and it is the safest answer to “where should we get a serious drink.” Go early or expect a wait.
Visit site → - 02
Small Victory
Downtown · tiny cocktail hideout · ice-obsessedA small, dim, second-floor hideout for people who care about the details, down to the cut of the ice and the exact pour. The menu is tight and classic-leaning, the room is quiet enough to talk, and the craft is the whole point. This is the date-night or nightcap pick when you want precision over a scene. Seating is limited, so it is best earlier in the evening.
Visit site → - 03
Here Nor There
Downtown (Driskill alley) · hidden speakeasy · reserve via the appA genuine hidden bar, tucked beneath an alleyway by the historic Driskill, with a members-club hush and theatrical, high-concept cocktails. You reserve through their app and follow the directions to find the door, which is half the fun. The drinks are a production and priced like it. Save it for the night you want the bar itself to be the event.
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- 04
Nickel City
East 11th · dive-meets-craft · pinball and Frito pieThe platonic ideal of a modern neighborhood bar: dive prices and energy, but with bartenders who can actually make a great cocktail, plus pinball, a Frito pie window, and a frozen drink. It is welcoming, late, and unpretentious, the kind of place you stop in for one and stay for three. The best all-purpose bar on the East Side.
Visit site → - 05
Half Step
Rainey · cocktails and a big patio · the good Rainey barThe cocktail bar that makes Rainey Street worth it, a remodeled bungalow with a large oak-shaded patio and a menu that takes the classics seriously. It is the escape from the vodka-soda crowd a block away, with real craft and room to breathe outside. Come early in the evening before Rainey gets loud. Order a daiquiri and grab a spot on the patio.
Visit site → - 06
Little Brother
Rainey · tiki and kolaches · the anti-RaineyA bar that seems to wish it were not on Rainey Street, in the best way: tiki-leaning, rum-forward cocktails instead of the usual formula, plus coffee and kolaches by day. The drinks are playful and well made, and the vibe is low-key and local. The move when you want Rainey without the Rainey energy. Try whatever rum drink the bartender is excited about.
Visit site → - 07
Kitty Cohen’s
East (Webberville Rd) · poolside patio · 1970s tropicalAn East Side patio bar built around a shallow blue pool and a sunny, 1970s Palm Springs aesthetic, with tropical cocktails and an outdoor kitchen. It is a daytime-into-evening hang, made for a warm afternoon with a group. The drinks lean fun over fussy, which suits the setting. Get there before sunset to claim a spot by the water.
Visit site → - 08
The White Horse
East (Comal St) · honky-tonk · two-step and live music nightlyThe East Austin honky-tonk, and one of the most purely fun rooms in the city: live country and Americana seven nights a week, a giant dance floor where strangers will teach you to two-step, whiskey on tap, and a taco trailer out back. Cover is cheap or free, the crowd is all ages and all types, and the dancing is the point. The most Austin night on this list.
Visit site → - 09
The Liberty
East 6th · dive and patio · East Side King out backA mellow, dog-friendly East 6th dive with a picnic-table patio and, crucially, the original East Side King trailer in the back slinging excellent Japanese-influenced street food until close. Cheap drinks, an easy crowd, and some of the best late-night eating attached to any bar in town. The reliable East 6th anchor before or after everything else.
Visit site → - 10
Edge Rooftop
Downtown (JW Marriott) · rooftop · downtown and Capitol viewsThe downtown rooftop pick, on the JW Marriott with cocktails served over Congress Avenue and views of the Capitol and Lady Bird Lake. It opens in the early evening and is built for a sunset drink before dinner rather than a late night. Pricey and polished, as hotel rooftops are. Go for the view and the first round, then head down to the East Side for the rest.
Visit site → - 11
LoLo
East 6th · natural wine bar and bottle shopAustin’s natural wine headquarters, a snug East 6th bar and bottle shop pouring hundreds of low-intervention wines by the glass, with snacks to match. The staff are generous with recommendations, so name a flavor you like and let them steer. Drink in, or grab a bottle to take home. The move when the night calls for wine and conversation over cocktails.
Visit site → - 12
Meanwhile Brewing
Southeast · huge beer garden · food trucks and live musicA sprawling southeast-side beer garden with its own well-regarded brews, a row of excellent food trucks (including Distant Relatives barbecue), live music, and acres of room for groups, kids, and dogs. It is a destination afternoon more than a quick drink, the Austin beer-garden formula at full scale. Come hungry, bring the crew, and plan to stay a while.
Visit site → - 13
Oilcan Harry’s
Warehouse District (4th St) · the iconic gay bar · drag nightlyThe anchor of Austin’s Fourth Street gayborhood and a Warehouse District institution for more than twenty-five years, with drag shows every night and a dance floor that stays packed. It is the heart of the city’s LGBTQ nightlife, welcoming and high-energy seven days a week. Go for a drag show, stay for the dancing. The other Fourth Street bars are steps away when you want to wander.
Visit site →
The things we passed on are part of the value. Documented for editorial discipline.
- Dirty Sixth (the 6th Street strip)The famous neon block is fine for a bachelorette crawl and not much else. Austinites drink a block east across the highway on East 6th, or in the cocktail rooms downtown. We sent you there.
- Mega-clubs and bottle serviceThere is a velvet-rope, table-service scene downtown if you want it. It is not what Austin does best, so we ranked for the room and the drink instead of the line outside.
- Hotel lobby bars (most of them)A few are genuinely good, and we kept Edge for the rooftop view. The rest are convenient rather than a destination, so they did not make the list.
- What are the best cocktail bars in Austin?
- The Roosevelt Room for the full sweep of the classics, Small Victory for tiny and meticulous, Here Nor There for a hidden, high-concept night, and Nickel City for great cocktails at dive prices. Half Step is the standout if you want serious cocktails on Rainey Street.
- What are the best rooftop bars in Austin?
- Edge Rooftop on the JW Marriott is the most reliable downtown rooftop, with Congress Avenue and Capitol views. P6 at the Fairmont and the LINE’s spaces are other strong hotel options. Most open in the early evening and are best for a sunset drink before dinner.
- What are the best gay bars in Austin?
- Oilcan Harry’s on Fourth Street is the longtime anchor of Austin’s gayborhood, with drag shows nightly. The surrounding Fourth Street and Warehouse District blocks hold most of the city’s LGBTQ nightlife, so it is easy to bar-hop from there.
- Is Sixth Street worth it, and what is the difference between Dirty Sixth and East Sixth?
- Dirty Sixth, the neon downtown strip, is rowdy and tourist-driven, fun for a crawl but not where locals go for a good drink. East Sixth, across I-35, is the independent, cocktail-and-dive side where Austinites actually drink. Head east.
- What are the best dive bars and East Austin bars?
- Nickel City and The Liberty are the East Side dive standbys, The White Horse is the honky-tonk for live music and two-stepping, and Kitty Cohen’s is the patio. East Austin has the city’s best concentration of independent bars.
- Which Austin bars have the best patios?
- Kitty Cohen’s for the poolside scene, Half Step for the oak-shaded Rainey patio, The Liberty for the picnic-table dive patio with East Side King food, and Meanwhile Brewing for a full-scale beer garden with food trucks.
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