The Tavern

Austin, United States

3.4

Open now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 512-320-8377
Website:
www.tavernaustin.com
Address:
922 W 12th St, Austin, TX, 78703
Downtown
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.5 miGuadalupe/14th Street
0.6 miAustin Amtrak Station
0.6 mi5th/Rio Grande
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
No
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Accepts Apple Pay
No
Good For
Lunch
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
No
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Music
Background
Good For Dancing
No
Alcohol
Full Bar
Happy Hour
Yes
Best Nights
Thu, Fri, Sat
Coat Check
No
Smoking
Outdoor Area/ Patio Only
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
Yes
Dogs Allowed
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Drive-Thru
No
Caters
No
Has Pool Table
No

Today

Today 11:00 am – 2:00 am
Open now
Local time (Austin) 11:05 PM Saturday, June 21, 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Tuesday 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Wednesday 11:00 am – 12:00 am
Thursday 11:00 am – 2:00 am
Friday 11:00 am – 2:00 am
Saturday 11:00 am – 2:00 am
Sunday 11:00 am – 12:00 am

Description

Specialties

Located off twelfth and Lamar, The Tavern is great place to meet up with some friends to watch sports, drink cold beer, and enjoy a delicious burger. Amongst Austinites, The Tavern is the go to sports bar and hang out spot for more than 80 years. The upstairs patio is perfect for lunch with some coworkers or soaking in the night time air during a mild Austin night.

Feel free to come by and watch your favorite team on any of our 46 HDTV’s! We are constantly hosting gameday parties and for our Gooners we open up extra early just so they can cheer on their favorite club. Some say we’re crazy for doing it, but we just that’s what Austin’s best sports bar does! If you want it, our bartender can make it and if there’s a game, it’s on at The Tavern. You’re never too far from 12th and Lamar.

History

Established in 1916.

In 1933, after that terrible Prohibition, The Tavern was officially born and has been serving up good times ever since! Few other Austin gathering places have been home to so many students, soldiers, legislators, presidents, and our town’s general citizenry as The Tavern. Current management has given this old beauty a face lift with high definition displays, facility upgrades and an attention to detail that continues the tradition of this Austin Landmark as a defining part of our unique cultural identity.

Meet the Business Owner

Ellis W.

Business Owner

Growing up in a business-​oriented family, Ellis Winstanley and his brother Austin were destined to follow in their father and grandfather’s footsteps. In 2001, while sophomores at the University of Texas, Ellis and Austin bought Star Seeds Café on North I-​35, a struggling restaurant at the time. Within a few months, it was profitable again. The next year, they purchased Cain and Abel’s. The Winstanleys focused on salvaging ailing businesses, reviving several Austin institutions. Ellis enjoys being able to serve the public at The Tavern, where we bring together life’s necessities– great food, cold beer, live music and great company. Ellis hopes to provide you such a positive experience you’ll remember to return to The Tavern when you’re in need of a great meal.

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20 reviews of The Tavern

No registration required
Place rating: 3
Austin, TX
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) (
)
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.
Place rating: 1
Seattle, WA
Food is terrible, drinks are mediocre at best, awful service.
Worst place to watch sports in town, sure u are historical, I hope they level this place soon. Again horrible service, and no it isn’t part of the experience like Dick’s. Kitchen staff and manager thinks customers are stupid and can’t tell the difference b/​w chopped beef and beef fajita. You have been warned
Place rating: 4
Leander, TX
Great service, awesome atmosphere, the «White wings» are worth the trip alone. Will be back here for sure!
Place rating: 3
Austin, TX
Beer from a bar in a haunted «tavern» calls for an awesome time. This pub-​esque building is historic and you can tell from the floor to ceiling wood infrastructure. My friends and I have enjoyed trivia here many times, and we usually have fun – even winning 3rd place once! However the food can be a bit mediocre, and the service, while great, can be very slow. We got the pretzels once and they were a bit on the dry side. The other time, I ordered a chicken fried chicken which was pretty good. Yet the fully occupied 2nd floor was only staffed by one or two waitress, leaving us waiting for our bills to be processed for 15 – 30 minutes. The understaffed service left us with painstakingly waiting for our turn to departure. It was evident that she was working diligently and this issue might be from management.
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Okay the food here ROCKS. the white wings and the burgers are delish and you have to get them. also the buff chicken sandwich — PERFECTION. the service on the other hand. needs a lot of work. I actually worked at the tavern for a month so I know how severely understaffed and unorganized this place is. the poor servers are so overworked and underpaid. but nonetheless, such a fun place to get a pitcher and watch the game!
Place rating: 5
Magnolia, TX
Awesome service on Tuesday and an even better burger. The Tex Mex killed it. Love me some jalapeños and this burger delivered. Glad for the walk from Mariott on 4th Street. Working it off. Lance was the bomb as a bartender, very friendly.
Place rating: 4
Albuquerque, NM
I’ve had the club sandwich as a to-​go order for lunch and it’s a pretty great, hearty, and flavorful sandwich. They definitely don’t skip on the meat and toppings. The Kraft cheese slices are not doing this sandwich right and next time I’ll ask to sub it out and have the cheese melted. Their sweet potato fries are an awesome side option. The food is a bit overpriced and to-​go orders are slowwww. The service needs to be improved upon. To-​go orders should not have to wait 10 minutes for someone to even greet you. If they were faster on the to-​go orders, I would probably order the club sandwich more often.
Place rating: 3
Austin, TX
Atmosphere: They were pretty busy when we came in. There are numerous TV screens– typical and expected of a sports bar. The upstairs seating was a little more quiet– I’d ask for a seat upstairs just because I like to talk and have conversations during my meals.
Service: We weren’t greeted immediately and had to find a worker ourselves to get seated and served. Our waiter was kind and knowledgeable about the menu but he was kind of nosy too. He asked us lots of questions about our personal lives and I didn’t feel too comfortable about it. When I come in for food with a group, I’m expecting to have conversation with my group not our server. It’s nice when the waiter/​waitress is friendly, but it’s an entirely different story when their interest lies not in not how your experience is but in your personal life.
Time: We came in a group of 8 (including myself) and the food came out in reasonable time.
Food: Their fried okras were pretty good (slimy in texture just how it should be). I got the California burger in medium rare and it was pretty heavy. I ate half of it and took the rest home for a second meal. The serving size is pretty good for its price.
The food was on the better side but they could definitely work on customer service.
Place rating: 3
Vienna, VA
We had a trainee waiter and she took our orders and didn’t write it down so one of us got the wrong entrée they got us the right one. So when one of us got up to use the restroom she said don’t worry we took off the wrong one but they still charged us. Then it took forever to get the check. However the burgers were good.
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Great place to watch sports. Thursday’s have a $ 12 pitcher beer happy hour which is fantastic. The food is good and service has been decent every time I’ve gone.
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Service from the bartenders were good and the $ 3.50 pint of Thirsty Goat was a good deal. I liked the ambiance of the place and it was fun overall. I didn’t eat anything, but the food seemed decent, based on what I saw.
Place rating: 1
New York, NY
This place was terrible. Just don’t.
You’re going to think about doing it but just don’t go through with it. Stop yourself while you still can
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Went in on a Saturday to meet a few friends and watch the UT game. The game started early (11) and with the Horns not playing so great this season the place was pretty empty. So that meant there was open parking in the lot across the street and there was loads of seating. Not sure how packed this place gets at other times.
Our waitress was super nice and stayed on top of bringing us drinks and food. I only got chips and queso to eat though my friends did get the white wings which they said were good. They have a decent selection of beers on tap too.
Place rating: 4
Milwaukee, WI
Burgers! Beer!
I read about the Tavern and its reputation for good food, beer & atmosphere so, on a recent stay in downtown Austin, I walked there to check it out.
There were several interesting brews on tap, along with sports on TV. I sat at the bar and ordered a queso burger (½ lb patty, diced green chiles & Tavern queso). Not only was the burger very tasty but it came on an amazing bun. I learned later this is a kolache bun — really fine as a burger bun!
This is a great place to check out of you like burgers and beer. I will definitely add this to my «must visit» places next time I’m in Austin.
Place rating: 3
Nashville, TN
This could be a good place if they’ll get rid of their 30+ TV sets and loud locals who come to eat, drink and watch whatever random football game happens to be on, but I doubt they’ll do that since the place was packed with the people who actually wanted to be in that environment.
Fine. I was a visitor from a far away state (TN) and was attracted to its exterior hinting at the possibility of maybe German fare. None of that here. The food selection is good but their menu contains the usual suspects that you’d find in a sports bar. I had chicken fried steak which came with very good mashed potatoes. The steak itself was OK but generously portioned. Average beer selection and they were out of my first two picks but still managed to have something I enjoyed.
Bring earplugs and if you want to communicate with your party, you have text messaging.
Place rating: 1
Austin, TX
Honestly I don’t know where to begin… the food is good, but heck that service. It beyond words to describe because the servers are nearly non-​existent. I mean the good one are far and in between. But seriously have this past weekend I’ve had it up to sky on their poor service and servers.
Literally order the 2 pretzel appetizer, NOT sure where they waitress missed the 2. But she only brought out one, and when I corrected her to placed the order for the additional pretzel seeing I still wanted to to begin with and clearly she did not hear me. The time in between the tickets time was seriously excusable. It’s like she forgot to place the order and to top that… She charged me for 2 separate pretzels… Guuuurrllllll you only screwed up my order, your now officially over charging me.
By then I was over her, my food and football and wanted to leave. Never had her correct my ticket, because honestly I felt that she knew her mistake and would probably have her manager correct the over charge keep the dollar. Be my guest over charge me, go have your manager correct your ticket and pocket that money darling. That’s the only way you’ll get a bigger tip.
Place rating: 5
Nashville, TN
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!!!
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Best sports bar in the city!
Service is excellent. Youll have a great time chatting with bar tenders and the folks hanging out in this Austin original.
Seasonal beer bucket was great and my Cali friend loved the divey feel. 2 stories though, so plenty of room to spread out.
If youre feeling hungry, the fried pickles are none too shabby.
This a really chill place to hang.
Place rating: 4
Austin, TX
Really comfy atmosphere! The staff is so laid back & fun!
Great drink specials everyday.
Place rating: 3
Austin, TX
Tavern is definitely a solid spot for a beer, burger, and sports (alliteration fail). The two story sports bar falls in that category of what you see is what you get. No flash or frills, but that’s not why you go to a place like Tavern.
In both my visits, I’ve stuck to the burgers. Solid, not particularly spectacular, but better than your average fast food junk. Portions are good and there’s a healthy (or unhealthy) supply of fries. It’s a must to order a few beers as well. The selection is good, but not out of this world. Still, most beer drinkers will find their brand. Wait service can be a little spotty, so don’t come when you’re in a rush. Also, they do trivia on Wednesdays.