Steiner Ranch Sup

The area is beautiful and it’s pretty driving there but it’s 40 minutes from central Austin. That wasn’t the problem though.
I have been here a few years ago with no problems. I purchased a deal on Living Social and booked my reservation. When I got there, the person tells me that he forgot his keys to access the paddle boards and wasn’t even aware that I had made a reservation. He was apologetic and offered me a to come back next week with extra time at no charge. I made my reservation for the following Saturday. When I got there for the second time, nobody was there. This time I brought my whole family out, that was disappointing and a total waste of our time. I called them as well but no answer. There isn’t anything else to say.

Had a great morning on the lake! Easy to secure a reservation online and easy lake activity to enjoy!
We went on a Thursday morning so there were not many boats but I can see how the wake would make it more difficult to stay standing if the water was choppy.

We used the Groupon and had a great time! The instructor was very friendly and helpful. My advice is to go out at the earlier time (9am I think) because the boat traffic started getting crazy around when our time was up. Also bring a water proof watch to keep time.

From the looks of the reviews, this business had a rocky start! I was a bit concerned. So I made sure I knew exactly where I was going before I left. If you drive into the lake — you went too far.
But first off — I had a fun. I got some good exercise, got wet, had, and chatted with some friendly folks on the lake. I feel sooo bad about poor Heather P, and DiAnne. Darlins, maybe stick to using your free time for mani/​pedi sessions and stay out of the water!
The location is behind a gate that says «no trespassing», and since this is Texas and people may shoot you for doing that, I did not enter until after asking a guy launching his boat what the deal was. He said the sign was intended to keep the yahoos with truck/​trailer combos out. There is not enough space for those folks and they will park anywhere that is not posted.
However, once you open the gate, drive through, and close the gate like any good Texan would, there is ample shady space to park. The unmarked shack and pavillion is where the business is located. They really ought to invest in a sign.
The business is primarily boat rentals and the SUP is clearly an afterthought. The equipment is pretty bashed, but works OK. The man was very helpful and I didn’t even need to handle the board. Once on the water things got even better. Lake Austin is cool and cleaner than Ladybird Lake. There are power boats and the wake boats will put you down if you’re not paying attention. Watch for the reflections off the bank! But they’re also good practice at handling the board and who gives a fig if you get «unhorsed»? You’re on a lake! You will get your hair wet too. Waaaah.
I paddled down quite a distance — remember to begin your journey into the wind. That way it’s easier to get back when your begin to tire. Asked the fishermen how they were doing — nobody was catching much but they were all smiles. Funny how being on the water does that to you.
For the most part it is a very quiet, pleasant, and tiring experience. Definitely a good upper body workout.
I am going back soon, this time on a Thursday, and for three hours.
Oh, one last thing. Pick a paddle that seems too long. It won’t be once you’re underway.

I purchased a Groupon for Steiner Ranch SUP. thank God I didnt pay full price. The location is terrible for stand up paddle boarding. There were so many boats and jet skis zooming by us making it incredibly difficult to stay on the board much less paddle or stand up. Also there was zero parking and no direction as to wear the SUP building was. Oh, and the groupon didnt include the tax, which was not stated on their Groupon.

Had a great time.
Communication was great. Someone answered phone every time. Informed they answer ²⁴⁄₇.
8 boards
Boats made it challenging but was fun to see who would stand or fall. If not we had those that sat as well.
Little hard to locate but there was a small sign. Last gate on the Right before the actual water on River Bend Rd. Go thru iron gate and its at the small pavilion. Individuals were nice and instruction was the basics.
All in all 1 hr was perfect time. Go for 2 if you want to sit out there and soak up the sun. Will be back for sure.

Went here yesterday and had a blast. The only reason I’d rather go do stand up paddle boarding in Lady bird lake is because there are no boats allowed therefore you dont have all the waves to knock you off the board and deal with. Other than that thoug, these guys were professional, nice, polite, and NOTHING like these other reviews I’ve been reading. I used 2 groupons and everything went off without a hitch yesterday. I’ll be back for sure from time to time. Boats and all…

My husband and I went out for the first time and we had a great experience. The man who helped us was great, boards were in great condition and were waiting for us when we showed up. He helped us get out and gave us a few tips. We had a blast and can’t wait to do it again soon.

I had a great experience with Steiner Ranch SUP. I am not a huge water sports fan, but my hubby convinced me to give it a try. The guys working were super helpful on getting me out in the water even though I was a bit freaked out (husband making fun of me entire time). I had a great time and would definitely do it again. No issues making reservation. Can be a little tricky to find but once there it was totally worth it.

One of the things I love about Austin is all the outdoor activities. My newest addiction is Stand Up Paddling and Steiner Ranch SUP provides me with my regular fix. :) I found this place originally through a daily deal and have been back several times since. The guys are super helpful (assisting me with my board and getting in/​out of the water) and I can’t recommend this place enough! It’s not crowded like it is when I SUP on Town Lake (and it’s closer to where I live). It’s quiet for the most part and I love how this is something you can do almost year round in Austin! Thanks guys!

Visited on Mother’s Day using a Living Social deal. No problems booking the time. Agree it can be confusing to find them as you have to go through a closed gate. There’s a sign that directs you to go through the gate, but it still doesn’t seem like you are in the right place when the gate is closed. But, we were and everything was fine.
This was our first time to SUP, and honestly I’m not sure if Lake Austin is the best place for it. Since it’s narrow and there’s boat traffic it can get pretty wavy. Wife and kids were able to get up and stay up, for the most part. Me, not so much.
Anyway, we would do it again.

BEWARE! I bought two living social deals for 2 hours of Stand Up Paddling. When trying to make a reservation owner was first unavailble, once we did finally connect dates were unavailable, and finally when the coupons conveniently expired he was unwilling to extend the date despite HIS unavailability. Oh, he did offer to let us PURCHASE more time at half price… pshaw! How ridiculous, you dont run a living social deal to make money, you run it to get the word out about your business to ultimately promote your business in a positive way in the community. I was appalled to see that they are running yet another living social deal this week! Don’t buy it! You would be better off throwing your money on the water and seeing if it floats back to you.

This place is just atrocious. Like others, we bought the living social deals. One would think that when offering a deal on Living Social they would live up to the deals. No. They told us later they have only 8 boards period.
We found that out after two weeks of trying to get a response.
Each time we went we were given TERRIBLE equipment. One board had NO fins. NONE. If you are not a paddle boarder, one quick note: if requires a fin. We were given a paddle that didn’t telescope, which meant my 6 foot husband had to paddle board with a 4 foot paddle.
The kid said that the boards were all damaged cause they had a big party the night before and that that party ruined their equipment. Not remembering this lie, he said it again the next time we went. So looks like they repair their boards in the week from big parties every weekend?
When arriving back to try and swap out the board that couldn’t be used due to lack of fin, the kid said «Oh well.» Did not offer another board or to schedule another time. How is that for customer service?
The web site offers hours they do not accommodate, they do not answer the phone or return emails, and the persons who make sure the boards are available can’t help you schedule either, so trying to actually use these vouchers has been a nightmare.
I know there have been some positive reviews. Those reviews are clearly from people who have never tried stand up paddle boarding (they say it in their reviews) and really enjoyed the experience. For those Unilocalers I truly suggest trying Go Paddle Down in Marble Falls or the Texas Rowing downtown.
Note: There was one man who was very nice who helped us on one occasion. I just want to be clear that at least one employee or assistant was very helpful.

OK, SUP only makes me think of the shortened version of «What’s Up?» which makes me love Steiner Ranch SUP even more… didn’t even know that was possible.
My wife and I love the water but we typically lean towards motorized sports… ya know, less work equals more fun. We couldn’t have been more wrong. Paddleboarding was such a blast! We loved the experience on the water and can’t wait to take some friends out.
I was also glad that S.R. SUP worked all the kinks out of the booking process. We had a super easy experience. We called, they answered, we were booked 3 minutes later. We showed, followed the basic instructions given to us and we were paddleboarding within 10 minutes.
If you are reading other reviews try and look at the date they were written. I’m confident S. R. SUP has created a seamless process and gotten through the start up hurdles all companies experience. We’ll be back on the water soon… hope to see more folks out there.

Wow, I had not read other reviews prior to going and I’m glad I didn’t. My experience with them was great. Per the website, I emailed to make a reservation and Bill responded right away. With the bad weather, we had to reschedule twice, and he was very responsive the whole time; he even extended the Living Social deal by a week when I couldn’t make it before the deadline. My GPS found the place easily, the only confusing part was where to park and the small sign, but no big deal. I’ve done several deals with water sports in Austin, and it’s always a little hard to figure out exactly where to go since there are boat docks around. Steve was there when we arrived and was very friendly; our hour didn’t start until we were physically on the boards. Yes there were boats around, but hello, that’s what happens when you do water sports on a lake and its out of the company’s control. We stayed close to the edge and it was not a problem. You shouldn’t try this if you’re not willing to roll with it and possibly fall off into the water. But if you are, it’s alot of fun!

Incredibly annoyed. I had a Groupon for a 1-​hour rental for 2 people. I called on Thursday to redeem it that Saturday. When I called the message said that phone calls would not be redeemed on Thursday so I had to email them. I emailed and was confirmed for 10am on Saturday.
I pulled up directions from the directions on Groupon and headed out. I was quite certain that we were going the wrong way so I called to double check. No answer. The person on the recording spoke a bit too fast so I had to call back. I made out that we we were going the right way so we kept going. The directions led us to a trailer park. We drove around for a bit and found a private club, but no SUP. It was after 10 so I called again to hopefully speak to a real person or at least try to make out the remainder of the message. The message said go straight until we hit the water, and a sign being next to another sign who’s name I couldn’t make out. We went back to that area and finally saw a small sign for Steiner Ranch SUP. We turned in, parked, and looked around.
There’s a small building for Freedom Boat House but nothing that says Steiner Ranch SUP. We headed for the building, looked inside, wandered around, waited. And waited. And waited. We finally left. I asked a man working across the way at the private boat club and he had no clue as to what I was speaking about. Extremely disappointed and having wasted the 45 minute drive each way on my Saturday.

If you have had a horrible experience like I did. contact Living Social for a full refund. Do not contact the owner. all he did was give me the run around. He lied about sending a check to me in the mail. Such a hassle for an $ 18 refund. such a waste of time!!!

Like the previous review said they are extremely hard to get a hold of. I emailed once and called at least five times throughout a two week period, even left a message and nobody got back to me. Finally got a hold of someone and made a reservation today. Me and my girlfriend had a good time though. It’s out near lake travis, so kind of a far drive. Just a warning, the amount of boat traffic was really high that day so there were a ton of waves.

Wow. Where to start. I bought a package on Living Social and was really excited about stand up paddleboarding someplace other than the rowing dock.
Good luck finding it. The address is not listed anywhere on the website, although there is a Google map. Their FB page is marginally better, although if you check the info page it says «closed now». Hmmmm.
The website says they take email reservations. Well, I emailed to make a reservation for this past Friday morning. No response. So I called and left a voicemail. No response.
I have six damn certificates for this place, so I drove out there Saturday morning. I had to call them while parked at the address they list as theirs, which is in front of a mobile home, and ask them where they were. «Uh, keep going to the boat ramp and thru the gates.» This would be helpful info to have on your web page, your FB page, or both. Or on an outgoing message on the answering machine for messages left that are not returned. The signage is not easy to spot once you’re there, either. And once you walk in you are supposed to intuit that they are located at the little place inside the gates, even though there’s no signage on that, either, for Steiner Ranch SUP.
I finally arrive and start to fill out the paperwork when I am asked if I have a reservation. «Well, not for lack of trying.» The guy then tells me, «All our boards are scheduled to go out at 9.» It was 9:05. Two boards laying on the shore. By that point my patience was gone and I snapped, «Well that was a nice 45-​minute drive for no reason.» If I wasn’t stuck with these certificates I would never go back. Some very basic education on running a business is sorely needed.