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Austin dive bars.

Armybrat

By Armybrat
in Food and Travel

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utee94

utee94 16093

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Buddy's is absolutely legit, long live Buddy's.  So many nights drinking Mexican martinis at Trudy's, then heading over to Buddy's.

Deep Eddy is largely unchanged, and now that Dog and Duck is gone, it retains sole possession of the Best Jukebox in Austin award.

Ginny's Lil Longhorn is still mostly legit.

I haven't been to Poodle Dog since it changed names, but I'm guessing it's not the seedy craphole it used to be.

Oh, and what about C Hunt's? I haven't been there in ages, is it still around?

 

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utee94

utee94 16093

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4 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Deep Eddy is still great as a bar. The crowd has changed to say the least. 

Crowd has definitely changed but it's still pretty divey. Love that jukebox.  It's not uncommon for us to have dinner at Fabi+Rosi, and then have drinks at Deep Eddy afterward.  Or before.  Or both.

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Ollie Slatt

Ollie Slatt 295

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2 hours ago, utee94 said:

Ginny's Lil Longhorn is still mostly legit.

I haven't been to Poodle Dog since it changed names, but I'm guessing it's not the seedy craphole it used to be.

Ginny's is still fine if you can hit it on a night when its not full of tourist.  

Poodle Dog is now much cleaner, has fancy drinks and a more hipster clientele.  Still got the shuffleboard table though, so thats cool.  

I have not been to Dry Creek in a few years, but I suspect it has not changed much.  

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11712

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Entirely subjective opinion below:

Everyone's got a different definition of what qualifies as a dive bar. In my subjective opinion based on nothing but "feel and intuition" the following qualify as no-doubt dive bars:

-G&S Lounge

-04 Lounge

-Giddyup's

-Barfly's

-Sam's Townpoint

-Buddy's

Then you've got bars with Dive qualities, but are not dive bars:

"Cool Bars" with hip people. Mainly on the East side and downtown - Casino, white horse, liberty, violet crown social club, yellow jacket, jackalope, etc. Others not downtown include Little Darlin or Work Horse or Indian Roller.

College bars like Crown and Posse and Hole in the Wall.

"Dive aspirational" but the clientele disqualifies them. Places like Lala's and Dry Creek and Donn's Depot, and Ginny's and now Deep Eddy. Deep Eddy used to be a dive. But the addition of Pool Burger downstairs and the clientele they bring now disqualifies Deep Eddy as a true dive.  

Then you've got pubs like Pour House, Drought Horse, and ABGB that have dive qualities, but are definitely not dives.

You can probably infer from my list that I don't go up north too often. I'd be interested to know of any north side dives other than Buddy's. Maybe Common Interest? It's been years since I've been there. 

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utee94

utee94 16093

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Common interest definitely not a dive bar.  Dive bars can have karaoke, but karaoke bars can't be dive bars.  My opinion, obviously.

Lala's used to be one, obviously, but really no longer is.  Pretty sad that so many of our old Burnet Road dive bars, no longer are.

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utee94

utee94 16093

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And then there's Pool Halls that can be divey, but if you've got more than a couple of tables, I don't consider it a dive bar.

To be a dive bar, drinking should be the primary entertainment option.  If you have a bunch of pool tables or a bunch of video games or whatever, you're a gaming bar, not a dive bar. Even if everyone there is ignoring the smoking ban and huffing Marlboro reds.  

 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 47388

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37 minutes ago, utee94 said:

To be a dive bar, drinking should be the primary entertainment option.  If you have a bunch of pool tables or a bunch of video games or whatever, you're a gaming bar, not a dive bar. Even if everyone there is ignoring the smoking ban and huffing Marlboro reds.  

This is a pretty good synopsis.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 47388

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. . . which leads to The Hole In The Wall.  There is no doubt it's a dump, and regardless of its proximity to campus, it's not really a college bar.  It probably pushes the pool table limit, and the live music aspect is pretty front and center, but let's face it, fundamentally HITW is a dive.

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11712

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8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

. . . which leads to The Hole In The Wall.  There is no doubt it's a dump, and regardless of its proximity to campus, it's not really a college bar.  It probably pushes the pool table limit, and the live music aspect is pretty front and center, but let's face it, fundamentally HITW is a dive.

Disagree. One, HITW is first and foremost a music venue. Two, the addition in the back is quite nice. Three, having fancy hipster ramen onsite fundamentally precludes a bar from "dive" status.

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irishtexan

irishtexan 11712

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4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Trust me, you don't want to see the back room with the lights on.  BUT, to your point, ramen invalidates the question.  Not a dive bar.

I don't think anyone would be wrong for considering it a dive. To me it'll always be a college bar, which per my very scientific taxonomic bar rank, is its own bar species separate from "dive".

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Ollie Slatt

Ollie Slatt 295

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20 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

So how is the bbq from the joint next to LaLa’s?

That used to be a Stubb's but they changed their name due to legal threats by the bbq sauce company.  I have never tried it but would expect the quality to be somewhat similar to the Stubb's on Red River.  So probably not great.   

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Deej

Deej 77950

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1 hour ago, Biff Tannen said:

The Water Hole in Garfield, out past the airport.

FYI, Little Thailand has reopened in Garfield. Younger family members opened it up. Surin's recipes and gave the place a facelift.

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