Rainbow Cattle Company

I had a nightmare about a year ago where I was in a gay bar chock full of lesbians, they only played country music, and everyone was line dancing.
Oh wait: that wasn’t a nightmare, it was Rainbow Cattle Co.
I’m sure what’s a nightmare for me is a dream for others. Carry on, ladies.

So, I happened to visit Austin on the same weekend as a Biker Rally and Gay Pride! I met up with my friend Dana and we met up with some of her gay friends at Rainbow. The atmosphere was awesome and the dancers were amazing! Those cowboys and girls new every step and every word to every song.
The drinks came fast – despite the crowd and were cheap! The only downside to the crowd was the HEAT! Finally the DJ got on the mike and begged management to turn up the AC.
We had a great time and I hope this place makes it. I heard from a local that the bar had lost its liquor license a while back and the everyday crowd is pretty slow.

What kind of restaurant is this??? We walked in and no one asked to show us to our table. Hell… there weren’t any tables! Not to mention when we finally decided to eat at the bar we weren’t presented with any menus. Not to mention this must be the worst date restaurant in the world as all I saw was groups of friends having hanging out. There were very few, if any couples. Further, the music is entirely too loud for a restaurant. Especially one with no food. I’ll stick to Austin Land and Cattle.

Every night is different at the Rainbow Cattle Co., so don’t judge it based on one experience. For instance, Friday nights can be quite slow, but Saturday night is usually hopping. Sunday night is «Latin Dance» night, and it is often a packed house, with young-​and-​old, gay-​and-​straight revelers, mostly (but not entirely) Latino. The drinks are priced in the average range for Austin, and most of the bartenders are very friendly. It’s fun to watch the two-​steppers dance – some of them are amazingly good! A few of them definitely suffer from borderline histrionic personality disorder, with choreographed routines and dramatic and/​or sexually provocative dance moves – they will bump and grind and then whip around several times, magically always presenting their smiling faces to the adoring crowd, exactly as if they were on stage – which they are, because the dance floor is raised, and people congregate around and watch all night long.
A funny thing about this bar is that the men and women gather in different locations. The front of the bar, from the DJ booth forward, is generally the men’s territory, while the women congregate at the back, near the back bar and the restrooms. I don’t judge this phenomenon one way or the other, but it is a notable peculiarity.
One of the bartenders also seems to suffer from the same performance compulsion as some of the dancers. A few years ago I walked in and ordered a drink – a vodka and Diet Coke (I was on my own version of the Atkins diet at the time) – from a bartender I didn’t recognize. He screamed «Black Bitch!» with a German accent directly into my face. I was taken aback and responded, bewilderedly, «What?» He screamed, «That drink is called a BLACK BITCH!» at me, again with a strange German accent, and with a look like Norma Desmond at the moment she is ready for her closeup. I said «oh», he made my drink, and that was that. So, I was a bartender for nine years, and I know that drink names are regional, but I had never heard this drink called a Black Bitch. I’d always called it VODKA and DIET COKE. I looked it up online, and there are several different versions of recipes for drinks called «Black Bitch», with Sambuca, Bailey’s, and 151 rum, among other equally repulsive mixtures, but there IS a version with vodka and Coke… HOWEVER, with Diet Coke, it’s actually called a «Skinny Black Bitch». Now you (and I) know.
That guy still works there. He no longer seems to have a German accent, or at least not all the time. He is usually drunk, serving at the front bar, and I have to admit that he is terribly mean but funny (at least when you’re drunk). The last time I ordered from him, a heavy-​set guy was in front of me, and when he stepped up to order, he said, «I’ll have», and the bartender interrupted with a loud, «Diet Coke!» The confused customer said, «No, I’ll have a Shiner,» to which the drunk, probably-​not-​German bartender shouted, «Are you SURE?», then looked the customer up and down before turning and smiling at me to make sure I had heard and appreciated his wit.
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Mean.
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Funny.

Cute western environment and good drinks. There are two pool tables and a huge dance floor. I always have some fun at RCC with the friends. It is a great place to meet up the friends.

Oh, you pretty ladies. How you charm (and torture) me so!
As previous reviewers have noted, RCC has become the default lesbian bar after the severe attrition of Austin’s dykalicious dives. When I first moved here, Cattle Company was much more of a dude-​dominant spot. I guess we all got herded over to RCC out of sheer desperation (no pun intended — wait, ok, I guess somewhat intended).
In any event, I’ve always been an RCC fan, even before the ladies took over the dancefloor. I love the mix of two-​stepping and hot-​stepping as the DJ oscillates between C&W and hip hop most nights. The drinks are cheap, the bartenders friendly, and the space to dance (or gawk) aplenty.
Speaking of gawking though — RCC has garnered the nickname «The Fishbowl» on Craigslist’s WSW, thanks to the tendency of many to wallflower beside the DJ booth and gaze out at the movers and shakers ahead. There’s also somewhat of a cliquishness, depending on who you ask. Snobbery or shyness, it’s a thin line, but either way, it can be kind of uncomfortable for some.

I have mixed thoughts about this one.
On one hand, because this is a gay bar with a hick appreciation, I wonder how it ever made it before the advent of Brokeback Mountain. Someone enlighten me, perhaps this bar lead the homosexual cowboy movement? Or, rather, did this bar open post-​Brokeback?
On the other hand, when I went this place was crowded, and I mean, so crowded the women’s bathrooms had a ten to fifteen minute wait. So apparently, the Cattle Company serves a definitive niche (for a city as progressive as Austin, there are not a lot of gay bars). For you curious folk, no I did not make it to the female restroom, I ended up retreating to the male one. But it was okay, despite the «no door in front of the crapper» policy, there minus well have been one because – surprise! – we were in a gay bar so no man was really trying to cop a glance at my chacha anyway. I was very comfortable here.
Definitely more women than men here. I kind of got the vibe that these women were not all open lesbian women, for a great number radiated the «I’m married and I told my husband it was Girl’s Night Out teeheehee!» aura about them. But that is just intuition. After all and above all, this is a definite gay bar.
The dance floor is huge, this place is huge, but in all its hugeness, the Rainbow Cattle Company was packed like whoa. So, if you are gay, and particularly if you are female, most definitely give this place a chance. The populous was considerably moreso than any other gay bar I’ve attended, and hey, they say there is luck in numbers.
To be sure, however, the country music and the two-​stepping rubbed me, and not in a pleasant manner. A little is fine, but holy Jesus, it got old, particularly on top of the aforementioned overkill Brokeback attempt. On this particular night, it seemed most of the women were coupled as well. Not so much with the men. Whichever way you lean, however, I recommend a visit nonetheless.
Horsies,
Andrea

Cattle Company, as it’s usually abbreviated to, is a honky tonkish gay bar on 5^th Street, kitty-​corner to the Guadalupe USPS. Although it sits at the end of the bar/​food strips on 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th, it is still very much within walking distance of any downtown locale you might frequent during a night out.
There has been a ton of lesbian bar turnover in Austin and many fun bars have fallen prey to the high price of a liquor license and the low turnout of women. Rest in Peace: 1920s Club, Club Skirt, Chances, Sister’s Edge, and the lovable Sidekicks.
Through it all, Cattle Co. has somehow managed to keep a loyal customer base and a fairly full house on weekend nights. They are not specifically a lesbian bar, but here is where women tend to navigate, as opposed to the 4^th St. bars. Thursdays are ladies’ nights.
The bar has two decent pool tables, friendly barkeeps, and a killer dance floor. The deejays play a nice mix of hip-​hop and country, contemporary and older, fast and slow. Even if you’re not a two-​stepper, swing by Cattle Co. and be impressed by the fast-​moving, quick-​steppin couples. Some can dance with such enviable rhythm, while others are just learning. Which brings me to another Cattle Co. plus — they offer free dance lessons! (I think they’re still free… check the website or call for more info.)
Cattle Co. offers cold beer, a laid-​back atmosphere, a safe space for GLBTers, and some lively dancing.
Definitely worth a visit.

I have some lesbian and gay friends who always want to swing by Rainbow Cattle Company on our way home from downtown. A little removed from the rest of the Gay district, Rainbow is on 5^th street.
When you walk in, you’ll find a dimly lit huge room, a large dance floor, some pool tables and a heckova lot of people. Rainbow is the only bar in town that caters directly to the lesbians in town and boy do they. I have never seen so many cowboy hat and belt wearing girls all in one place in my life. The floor is usually filled with people two stepping and the music is lively.
While on their website looking for specials I found out that my favorite drag group the über– amazing Austin Babtist Women (a drag group made up of older men in really horrid drag who do hilarious sketch comedy) will be at Rainbow December 17^th. They usually play to raise money for HIV/​AIDS organizations.
So next time you and your girlfriends decide to dress up in cowboy gear and hit up a night on the town, check this out.