Bar: Deep Eddy Cabaret
Location: 2315 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, TX 78703
Score: 9.9/10
Well, today is the day. One of the biggest drinking holidays of the year. The one day when you get together with your high school buddies and reconvene at a local watering hole. Just remember, you can tell yourself as much as you want that you will not overdrink and wake up with a hangover, but you inevitably will. You will piss your mom off and need to be rejuvenated by your Grandma’s turkey. This will happen but enjoy the night.
Now I know this is a special night for the drinking community. I knew I had to choose a bar great enough to rise to the occasion and seize the moment. After looking through my rolodex of bars there was only one option, Deep Eddy Cabaret. Deep Eddy Cabaret was one of the many unreal dive bars I recently visited in Austin, TX. I was recommended to this bar by a friend and kept seeing this place appear in local recommendation guides. I typically steer far away from these guides and decided to give the Cabaret a chance. Instantly this became the best bar that I have visited to date, surpassing my muse, Rossi’s in Chicago, IL. While Chicago kicks Austin’s ass as a city, Deep Eddy Cabaret came to take the thrown from Rossi’s as my highest scoring bar using my subjective metrics. Enough with the prelude of how the Cabaret was so great. Now let me tell you why it was great.
On the outside of the bar, you first see the corky building that Deep Eddy Cabaret is in. It is in an old, brown, farm-like building making it stick out like a sore thumb from the street. Instantly when you walk in Deep Eddy you are taken back to the 70s. The wood paneling on the walls, the ceilings that remind you of an old high school ceiling, and old beer signs covering the walls to add to the 70s vibe that the place has. The bar itself featured a couple of old stools seats for patrons with no backing. The bar top itself had a nice foam rail to rest your elbows, a very slept on feature that is slowly disappearing. Behind the bar, you see photos of patrons having a great time at the bar and a sweet Spudz Mackenzie statue repping a New Orleans Saints helmet. Outside of the bar seating, the place had a decent number of chairs set up around the bar with some tables that had seen some beer spilled on them for decades and hopefully, many more to come. Once you make your way back to the bar you see a few things. The first thing you see is an old jukebox that has an impressive selection of music, a Golden Tee machine, and a cigarette vending machine. All of which should be staples at every bar. Past the Golden Tee machine, there are a few pool tables which is always great to have at a bar. For how big the bar is, they utilize the space very well and fit the most into the bar.
Now let me tell you about a few things that additionally separate Deep Eddy Cabaret from other bars I have visited. The first thing is the beer signage. Yes, most bars have beer signage but the variety that this place had was unreal. From Rolling Rock to High Life, to Fosters and Stroh’s, this place had them all. The next feature that I enjoyed was the beer. Now, I am a simple guy. Give me a Miller Lite and I am content. But how can you separate a Miller Lite draft from other bars? Make sure it is ice cold and damn cheap. To ensure that they check off both of these requirements, Deep Eddy Cabaret serves their beer in frosted mugs. Every single beer you drink will come out of a new mug to guarantee each beer is as cold as before. What is better than cold beer? Cheap, cold beer. Everyday Deep Eddy Cabaret has a happy hour from noon to 1 that features $1.75 drafts along with pitcher specials. If it is not Happy Hour, you will not break the bank at this bar, regularly prices are cheap, the happy hour is just the cherry on top. Finally, the diversity of people that this bar brings is great. From 21–to 75-year-olds, we saw every age group during our visit. Everyone got along well, and people were super friendly. I even got a beer purchased for me during my second visit.
This bar sits at a 9.9. I am bullish that there is truly a 10.0 or higher lurking in the U.S, but for now, Deep Eddy Cabaret is the king and will remain so until a place rightfully takes their spot. Rumor has it their is a bar in Las Vegas that might receive a review soon that can go toe to toe with the Cabaret… Stay tuned.
Décor: Wood paneling, neon signs, great games.
Service: A+ service. Very friendly. I got notified 3 times that happy hour was ending to sneak in one last cold beer at happy hour pricing.
Atmosphere: Are you going to watch a game at Deep Eddy Cabaret, probably not. But this is a great place to start a night or end one or every hour in between.
Price: So cheap. Ten bucks can go a long way.
Cleanliness: Very clean place.
Bonus Points: Yes. Trough citing. First time I had seen one of these in the wild at a bar and it was glorious.