Trophy’s Bar & Grill

Trophy’s Bar & Grill ends its life this Sunday. You know when someone dies we often ask «what did he/​she/​it die of?» Maybe this helps with the fragility of our self that is «I don’t have what ever this thing that kills or will kill and hence I won’t die.» When I was informed of the looming death of this dive bar I asked «so what killed it?», did the land got valuable or not enough patrons? Dunno. Maybe its just its time? I didn’t know it as long as the regulars that were in the place. Every one there used first names, the patrons never said miss when asking for a beer rather they said: «hey Liz».
I started going to the place about 2 months ago. I looked seedy but safe, but it also look didn’t have a lot of students and hipsters. So much for Austin being weird. I have loved the short time I spent there. So like a friend that is going to pass on soon I am going try to spend a few final moments with them.

Trophy’s and Dave are an ATX staple. No one is more unwelcome then anyone else. Currently on its last legs in its current location, but you dont need legs at Trophy’s, crawlin is not frowned upon in the least.
Blind folk can easily find the bathroom and they finally completely removed the shitter in the mens room, cause too many folk were cornfused by the duct tape.
An ass pocket full o whiskey will most likely not gut ya kicked out unless yer a dick anyways.
Staph is great, although seniority workin there is about 3 months.
Usually the bartenders are just ‘workin’ there to pay for their education @ the gentlemans club.
Soon this fine establishment shall move and i shall follow.
Vive La Trophy’s

I love this place. It’s a total shit hole but I like that kind of thing. Staff is super fun and off center. The beer is ice cold. No liquor. I saw a great band there and had total fun.

This place delivers exactly what it advertises. It isn’t fancy or pretentious nor does it boast celebrity clientele and A list bands. What you get is a dive bar on SoCo with cold beer, greasy burgers, pool tables and live music. Anyone expecting otherwise has only themselves to blame as Trophy’s is a, most unapologetic, hole in the wall and that is exactly what it looks and feels like from the moment you pull into the parking lot. There are no frills; there are beers, booze, friends, music and good times.

Trophy’s gets a bum rap on Unilocal.The sound is actually pretty good. Loud though. I don’t think there’s food anymore most of the time, but I hear that’s a good thing. There is, though, a super decent selection of Texas micros (yes, in bottles) for good prices. Real Ale, Independence, that kind of stuff.
Yeah it’s is a dive, but this town has plenty of «nice» bars. Go to them if you don’t like rock and roll dives. Beach House and Girls or whatever you’re into will never play here. And sure, maybe 7 our of 10 rock bands who do play here are pretty bad, but I’ve seen some damn good ones too. The beer is good and cheap and the people who work here are totally alright.

This is one of the «seedier» bars along SoCo — and you gotta respect that. Rather than serving $ 10 cocktails, $ 5 frozen ‘ritas or $ 4 gourmet coffees, they only offer cheap canned beer. And no wine.
It’s dark.
It’s dirty.
Our female bartender was really cool and perty.
There are far better bars in Austin, but I guess if you live in this hood or want to avoid the congestion of all the boutiques and hip new eateries down yonder, head to Trophy’s.
Note: $ 10 minimum on credit cards

Stopped in here last night hoping to discover another cool Austin dive bar. Paid the weirdo bouncer $ 10 cover (for me and the hubster), all the while thinking to self «umm, there’s nobody in here!» Oh well, we were on a mission, so we went in, sat at the bar, and were horrified by the singer’s (and I use that term VERY loosely) off-​key howling.
The bartender was great; cute, funny, great sense of humor. The beer selection is ok… they had Fireman’s 4, but nothing on tap. A black kitty cat came slinking in the door, hopped up on the bar and made himself at home. I forgot his name, but the bartender says the kitty is a regular and will get pissed off and leave if the band is too hideous. They have a few flat screens scattered around the place, which is good, especially the one behind the bar, since our barkeep had an old western playing: «Little Guys with Big Guns: The Terror of Tiny Town.» O. Mi. God.
The bartender, the cat and the movie earned this joint one more star than it deserves. If you’re looking for dive-​bar fun, go to the Horseshoe Lounge or Deep Eddy Cabaret. At least you won’t have to pay to get in.

No liquor and no tap beers. But maybe it’s for the best that the drinks are sealed.
Sometimes they have good bands, but not good enough to be paying a cover.
They might occasionally (?) let you smoke inside, if that’s something you want.

Infamous dive bar on South Congress. It isn’t just above a landfill as one person suggested, it’s just a dive bar. Sheesh. Seating is not very prevalent here so you may end up standing, though there is plenty of outdoor seating. There is no tap beer which is strange but they do have the $ 3 tall Pabst and Lonestars. Normal craft bottles are in the 4 to 5 dollar range. There is a decent sized stage and plenty of dance room here and they also have a very good jukebox with plenty of variety. If you play pool they also have that. The people here are friendly and easy to talk to and the bartenders can be slow but are nice and chummy. Tuesday is the night I usually go as they have an open mic starting in the 9 to 10 pm range. On these nights the crowd is what you expect to see at the Kerrville Folk Festival. I’m cool with that.

«Hey, do you know what band is playing tonight?»
«The crappy-​crap-​crap band»
«Oh, that explains the smell»
*pan to lumpy load in pants*
«You might call me a groupie»
Note: Review written after reading too many Cyanide and Happiness cartoons.

There was a time and a place for an establishment like Trophy’s in my life. The time was during and post-​college, the place was a giggly, young girl who could handle standing in front of (or not even in front of) blaring speakers and sweaty men screaming into a microphone.
It’s a dirty little dive of a bar (that adds a star!). Has a pool table. with only a strip of bar stools and what seemed like a half a dozen other ways to sit, this is the place to go to stand and mingle (but not talk) with a beer in your hand. Why it doesn’t have draft beer kind of stumps me. Seems like the perfect place to have cheep beer on tap.
Bad bad bad place to go if you intend to talk to someone. They do have an outdoor area in the back but I went last night and it was drizzly. I met a Unilocaler at Trophy’s last night and all I can say is that because we could not talk –awkward –. (shout out: I would never play with my iphone when in the company of anyone in nearly any other situation on earth.)

Boring dive bar. Bartender was hot but apparently had been fired that day. Dos Equis was skunky and nothing on tap.
Find another cooler place.

Trophy’s is solid. Though, the grill part of the name throws me off. I saw a microwave… but no actual grill. No bother.
In my time living in and exploring South Austin, I never took the time to walk in Trophy’s. I’m not sure I remember what I thought of it, but evidently it wasn’t enough of anything to illicit an action on my part.
A friend of mine moved in nearby and we walked over. As I said before, it’s solid. There is nothing on tap (important to note), but there’s enough of a variety in the fridge to keep you satisfied.
I wouldn’t make an afternoon or evening out of Trophy’s but if you’re in the area and need a beer, it’ll do you fine.

The closest decent bar to my house. That being said, decent means dive and dive means old toothy men drinking Lone Star at 2 in the afternoon with the owner, Dave (we call him Crazy Dave, but because we love him!) Definitely a rough around the collar kind of place. The bartenders are all the sweetest ladies though, and will even shotgun a beer with you!
Best dive in Austin. There are places that think they are tougher, but they also feel like they have something to prove. Trophy’s doesn’t. Go on a night that they have live music too, Lions will play there every once in a while and throw down the house!

Trophy’s is changing. It has elements of an awful dive bar, but they have a back yard that seems to be filling up with more and more tight-​pants-​wearing hipsters who are willing to pay a high cover to sit in the back yard and say they hung out at a dive bar last night — and thus by not being in a trendy place can then be trendy themselves.
It is a nice back yard, though. And the only bar in the vicinity. For that it gets more than 1 star.
They don’t have liquor at the bar, but I hear that your can bring your own bottle. They do have several varieties of bottled beer. You may not be able to see them on display easily because its so dark, though.
Star++;
Inside is dark, grungy, and smells like rancid alcohol as one would expect in a dive bar. Generally, you can find a band playing inside that you may rather not be listening to.
The covers when a band is playing are ridiculous. I’m sure it is to cover the cost of their South Congress location, but dang. $ 10 cover for a band I don’t want to see just so I can go sit in literally my own back yard of my condo is a bit steep. Once I walked out because the cover was too high and they murmured something about me being underage because I wouldn’t even show them my ID. I’m definitely not underage, but I can’t blame them for thinking so.
At some point this place is going to have to decide whether to transition away from being the local neighborhood hobo hangout or the hipster joint it seems to want to become.

First off, my two stars have nothing to do with the bar. Its a bar. That’s it. Pretty basic. Vending machine for setups (which they will allow depending on the mood.) Beer. So so sound. Crappy bands galore.
But really, unless you’re one of those hip kids who have to see every 3^rd rate so called rock band that is just starting out (comprised of all your call center co-​workers) that can’t get a gig at emo’s, there isn’t a reason to make this a regular hangout. It just doesn’t stand out.
Personally, I’m in love with the bartenders. They make an obligatory night at Trophy’s seem less painful…
Let’s get to the point though… you don’t come here because it’s cool. You don’t come here as a neighborhood bar. You come here because there is a band you want to see. And in that respect, the place does just fine — even better if its a shitty punk band, because they’d match the décor.
However, forget all the commentary about how BAD the place is, because it’s not BAD. Its falling apart (its a dive bar for cryin out loud) and people smoke inside (so what — I’m not a smoker and I don’t give a damn), but it’s just your typical run down rock and roll bar.
It’s just too bad that these negative reviewers have only experienced the downtown version of a dive bar — dive bar Disneyland, so to speak. Get out there and get in the grit.
Trophy’s is ok.

Trophy’s is my neighborhood bar. Dive or not, it’s a home away from home.
Sure — I have seen plenty of awful bands there, but that stage also holds some of my favorite memories. A little over a year ago I crammed myself in there to see Ghostland Observatory. It was sweaty, maybe little too close for comfort, but completely freakin’ fun!
Leslie and The Ly’s have worked their magic there. Moist Boyz too!
When I walk into Trophy’s I never know what kind of night it’s going to be. I could be back home after my first beer or I could be sliding under the sheets as the sun comes up. That is the beauty of this place, you never know what you are going to get.
I’d rather be surprised than roll my eyes all night at beauty bar any day of the week.

Trophys truly is as GREAT and as DISGUSTING as everyone says…
Personally, I love, love, LOVE the place. i think it’s GREAT. i also hate it a great deal. What a fun weird place for talented musicians to show off shit ! (who of you reading this were there for the secret SPOON shows?) Who saw Rockland Eagles last week? and Lions? YUP I THOUGHT SO. it rocks a whole f-​ing lot and it sucks equally.

The kind of place where the toilets don’t work, and when they do, people don’t flush. Basically, my kind of place… I love nasty dive bars.
When you go here and think of how nasty it is just try and remember when it was really skanky 10 years ago.

Any place that hosts Leslie and the Ly’s (April 30^th, her debut performance in Austin) is a’ight by me.
Iowa-​driven voluptuous white chick in secretary glasses, sweater with sequins and tight gold pants.
Thank you, Trophy’s.