Every single weekday there comes a moment when you’ve either finished all your to-dos or read the entire internet. When that time arrives, you deserve to get yourself to the nearest establishment serving drinks priced at what you actually deserve to pay for them. And while alcohol is always good, the superior Happy Hour involves deals on both good drinks and good food. Luckily, Austin has many of them. This is our guide to the best Happy Hours in town that’ll get you through the work week (and sometimes even the weekend).
THE SPOTS
When: Mon-Thurs 3-6pm
The Deal: $3 house margaritas ($4 flavored), $2 domestics, $3 imports, $4 wells, $6 Mexican Martinis
We’ve talked a lot about the fabled $5 margarita, but head to La Mancha during Happy Hour and you can witness something even rarer—$3 house margs (or $4 flavored). Most of the drink menu gets the discount treatment as well, so make sure to order plenty of enchiladas to soak everything up if you don’t want a rough start at work tomorrow morning.
When: Wed-Fri 4-6pm
The Deal: $0.35 peel ‘n’ eat shrimp, $2 Modelos
Quality Seafood is an Austin institution, operating as equal-parts seafood market and restaurant since the 1930s. And if you find a better way to spend $0.35 on a weekday than on their peel ‘n’ eat shrimp, send us an email ASAP. A pound of shrimp will set you back about $5, and $2 Modelos are hard to pass up. Grab a seat at the bar and get comfy, there aren’t many better places to be at 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon.
When: Mon-Fri 3-6pm
The Deal: $6 cocktails, half off beer and wine, $5 small bites
Habana, a Cuban restaurant near St. Edward’s, offers one of the best Happy Hour deals on South Congress. On weekdays from 3-6pm they knock the price down on most of their cocktails to $6—including their signature mango-infused habanatini and more classic mojitos—plus half off all beer and wine. There’s also a handful of bites that get the value price treatment, like wings, ceviches, and empanadas, but you’ll still have to pay full price for their excellent Cuban sandwich.
When: Tue-Sun 4:30-6:30pm
The Deal: Half off all bottles of wine under $100, $10 smash burger with fries
Nothing screams “living your best life” quite like enjoying half-priced bottles of wine and discounted smash burgers at 4pm on a Tuesday. And whenever you’re ready to make that a reality, head over to Aviary Wine & Kitchen, where all bottles under $100 (and smash burgers) get that discount treatment from 4:30-6:30pm. The wine list leans natural, and the burgers are solid—the kind that combines a super thin and griddled patty with a big, fluffy brioche bun.
When: Mon-Fri 7am-6pm
The Deal: $5 wells, $7 house wines, $2 off draft cocktails, $2 off beers
We love the patio at Ani’s Day & Night—there’s plenty of space, and the whole place is far enough removed from Downtown to develop a sense of serenity. We love it even more during Happy Hour, when wells, house wines, beers, and draft cocktails get knocked down by a few dollars. Ani’s also plays host to a small fleet of food trucks—including the Caribbean-Latino truck Nyam, and Mexican Trailer, Las Alegres Comadres— that you can order from if you need something to accompany your drinks.
When: Tue-Fri 4-6pm
The Deal: $6 house red, white, rose, and bubbles; $3 beer; discounted select appetizers
Asti Trattoria in Hyde Park functions equally well as a simple place for a bowl of rigatoni amatriciana at the bar, or as a people watching spot on their chill patio with a bottle of wine. Wherever you choose to sit, Happy Hour is an especially good time here with $6 glasses of house wine and discounted appetizers. The crispy and tender fried artichokes with lemon aioli, normally $16, are priced at $8, which is a great reason to skip out of work early to take your cat for a last second appointment at the vet.
When: Tue-Fri 5-7pm; all night Sunday & Monday
The Deal: Half off select food and $6 cocktails
Péché in the warehouse district is one of our favorite spots in town for Happy Hour, with plenty of cocktails and menu items discounted heavily for a few hours every night, and all day Sunday and Monday, when they can get pretty busy. Grab a cocktail or some absinthe—they have one of the biggest selections in town—then saunter over to a dark corner of the always-full dining room and order some classic French comfort foods.
When: Mon-Fri 4-6pm
The Deal: Half off wines by the glass and burgers, $2 off draft beers
A few blocks removed from the busiest part of South Congress, The Meteor is one of our favorite places in town for drinking wine. And it’s a spot that only gets better during Happy Hour, when you can get all of their wines by the glass (and burgers) for half off. Cheap wine and a burger sounds like a weeknight jam.
When: Weekdays 3-6:30pm
The Deal: Half off all appetizers; $1 off all drinks
There are multiple locations of the crowd-pleasing Jack Allen’s Kitchen in the Austin area (Anderson Lane, Oak Hill, Round Rock, and Cedar Park), and they all do half off appetizers during Happy Hour, which is a very good deal. Whether it’s a late lunch or early dinner, you can make a very solid full meal out of appetizers like smashed guacamole, chicken nachitos, and smoked barbacoa quesadillas.
When: Tue-Sat 5-6:30pm
The Deal: Half off wine by the glass and Austin beers; $8 cheeseburger; $6 zeppole; $4 onion rings and popovers
During dinner at Foreign & Domestic, a burger and fries is $18, but the Happy Hour burger is only $8. Math is hard, but that’s basically $10 for French fries, which means you can and should spend that $10 you just saved by ordering zeppole and onion rings instead, and still somehow come out ahead. Also on Tuesdays, Foreign & Domestic does $1 oysters and 50% off chilled wine all night. The oysters tend to sell out, so you can reserve up to six oysters per guest on a reservation.
When: Mon-Sat 5-7pm
The Deal: All food items from the bar & lounge menu are $10
Vince Young Steakhouse might not offer much in the way of daily cheap drinks, but their Happy Hour food discounts alone are worth a visit. Grab a seat at the bar and enjoy everything from fried calamari and crab cakes, to wagyu brisket burgers and steak frites, all for just $10. Most of these items typically come in around $20-30, making this one of the best Happy Hour food deals in town—if it were any cheaper, we’d be worried.
DK Maria's Legendary Tex-Mex
When: 3:30-6:30pm daily
The Deal: Half off select apps, $5 margaritas, $1 off draft beers
DK Maria’s has been serving up Tex-Mex classics out of a well-decorated strip mall location in South Austin for a few years now, but the best time to visit is from 3:30-6:30pm when they offer half off a handful of appetizers and $5 margaritas. The fabled $5 margarita has become something of a rarity in Austin these days, but the dream lives on at DK Maria’s.
When: Thurs-Sun 4:30-6:30pm
The Deal: Half off bottles of wine under $80 (outside only); $3 off cocktails; $2 off beers; $6-$13, Wednesday all night (half off bubbles)
Lenoir’s awesome backyard wine bar - with the Live Oaks and twinkly lights - is a special place to hang out with your friends. Friends are cool and all, but the real reason you bring people here during Happy Hour is so that you can order whole bottles of wine for half off.
When: Sun 4pm-10pm; Tues-Fri 3-6pm
The Deal: $6 cheeseburgers, $6 sangrias, $3.50 High Life, $4 St. Elmo Kölsch, $6 Draft 'Tails
Based on how busy Better Half is during the day, you’ll often wonder if people in Austin even have jobs. Maybe the draw is the nice backyard, or maybe it’s the $6 cheeseburgers during Happy Hour. Better Half also has a reverse Happy Hour with $6 draft cocktails 9pm-close, and $6 burgers 9-10pm 7 days a week. Also on Tuesdays, bottles of wine are half off.
When: Weekdays 2-5pm
The Deal: $5 boozy slushies; half off beer and wine; select menu items $6-9
The set-up at Loro is ideal for work Happy Hours, so snag a picnic table for your whole team and spend most of the time on a secret Slack channel furtively and furiously talking about Sharon’s double-dipping habit. It’s also the only time of day you can order certain menu items - like the $9 cheeseburger and chicken karaage - which makes all of the double-dipping bearable.
When: Weekdays 3-6pm
The Deal: $3 drafts, $4 well drinks, $5 wine and frozen cocktails, $6 snacks; free popcorn
Things we’re grateful for at a Happy Hour: enough seating for all of the coworkers/friends you actually like and free popcorn because snacks are what make us happiest. Order the wings and sit out in the patio to remind you that the sun still exists even if you don’t see it all day.
When: Daily (Wed-Sun), 4-5:30pm
The Deal: Half off all pizzas; $5 house wine and draft beers; half off all bottles of wine under $100
If it’s too early for dinner, grab a snack at Bufalina and order a bottle of wine normally reserved for a celebration - but for half off. And then promptly get some pizza afterward.
When: All night Monday and Sunday
The Deal: 25% off all bar food and wines by the glass.
Unless you’re really going all-out, dinner at Jeffrey’s is a little expensive for a casual weeknight. But their daily Happy Hour is a great time to grab a few drinks and discount food at the bar like crispy fried gulf oysters or the Wagyu cheeseburger, and see who goes out for $50 risotto on a Wednesday. There’s also 50% off bottles of wine every Sunday.
When: Daily, 4-6pm
The Deal: $3-12 dishes; $6-10 sake, $6-$20 wine and beer. $8-$9 cocktails
Uchi is best known for their sushi, but what they should actually be best known for is their “sake social,” the daily Happy Hour during which you can sample excellent rolls and classic Uchi bites for a fraction of the price. If you haven’t been, you’re doing things all wrong. P.S. this happens at their sister restaurant Uchiko, too.
When: Weekdays 5-6pm
The Deal: Half off all alcoholic beverages.
Austin has many, many margaritas. And La Condesa’s margarita is one of the best in town. During Happy Hour, you can get it for half off.
When: Tues-Fri, 4-6pm
The Deal: $8 cocktails and bites; $12 32oz Corona; $14 Bucket (6) 7oz Coronitas; $25 Bucket (6) mix-n-match 12oz Beers
Kick off a night on the East Side at Licha’s with $8 margaritas and food. The only possible downside is that you just might end up sticking around all evening.
When: Tuesday-Friday, 5-6pm
The Deal: Half off beer, select wine, and cocktails
Dining on Olive & June’s patio almost feels like you’re eating in a tree house, with a three-story patio built around a giant 200-year-old oak tree near 35th and MoPac. And during their Happy Hour, beer and cocktails are half-price. And that just means you have more money left over to spend on their excellent pastas (try the bucatini).
Lou’s
When: Weekdays, 3-5pm and 9-10pm
The Deal: $5 classic burger; half-off Lone Stars and Sangria
Lou’s almost feels like it’s a patio first, and a restaurant second. The food is mostly rotisserie-based, but they also sell tacos, sandwiches, and a really tasty burger. Weekdays from 4-6pm (and 9-10pm for you late eaters) you can get the burger for $5, as well as half-price Lone Stars and $5 cocktails. Also, wine is half off on Tuesdays and there is trivia on Wednesdays.
Hank’s
When: Daily 3-6:30pm
The Deal: $7 frozen and tap cocktails; $7 tap wine; $3 off appetizers; $1 off beer; half priced burgers all day Monday; half priced bottles of wine all day Tuesday.
At Hank’s during Happy Hour you can get all of their frozen and tap cocktails for just $7. The Happy Hour is available on their covered patio, their dining room, and importantly, for takeout via their drive-thru. We’ve been known to show up with a cooler full of ice so that we can take home frozen margaritas and palomas. Also on Mondays, their burgers are half off and on Tuesdays bottles of wine are half off.
When: Daily 5-6:30pm, patio only
The Deal: $7 draft cocktails and wine; $5 beers; $6.50 snacks; $4.50 tacos; $8.50 burger, spicy pork fries, or cheese corn.
Bar Peached is the bar-focused sister-restaurant of The Peached Tortilla, serving cocktails, tacos, and Asian-inspired comfort food. Their Happy Hour includes $6.50 snacks like edamame and Brussels sprouts as well as some heartier foods for $8.50 like a burger or spicy pork fries.
Waterloo Ice House
When: Weekdays 3-7pm, all day Wednesday, 9pm-close
The Deal: $4 frozen or rocks margaritas; $2 off cocktails and appetizers; $1 off draft beer, wine, and Texas vodka
Waterloo Ice House has become a bit of an Austin name over the years, with a footprint extending back almost 45 years. There are four locations across Austin, so chances are you’re probably not too far from one now.
When: Wed-Fri 3-5pm
The Deal: $5 select apps, cocktails, and house wine; $2 off draught beer
Scholz Garten isn’t just the oldest bar in Austin, it’s the oldest operating business in Texas. Which means that they’ve had more time to perfect their menu of classic German offerings. The Happy Hour has apps for $5, so while it’s not exactly 1866 pricing, it’s close enough.
When: Mon-Fri 4-7pm
The Deal: $3 domestic bottles, tallboys (including Lone Star), and well drinks
At the dive bar Lala’s Little Nugget, the halls have been decked with boughs of holly for decades - it’s been continually and epically decorated for Christmas since the 1970s. Their “Jolly Hour” includes $3 tallboys of Lone Star, which sort of makes every day a little like Christmas.
When: Mon-Fri 5-6pm
The Deal: Half off beers, cocktails, and wines by the glass; $5 off appetizers and burgers
Housed inside (you guessed it) a converted laundromat, Launderette is probably the most attractive restaurant on the East Side. Fortunately, Launderette isn’t just trying to get by on looks - the food here is actually good. And during Happy Hour, you can get $5 off appetizers and one of the best burgers in the city.
When: Mon-Fri 4:30-5:30pm
The Deal: Half off select food items, select sake and wine.
It’s worth pretending that you have a “dentist appointment” to hit up Lucky Robot’s Happy Hour, where you can get half off their contemporary sashimi, select kitchen menu items like dumplings and chicken karaage, as well as designated bottles of sake and wine. Going to the dentist never tasted so good.
When: Daily 4:30-6:30pm
The Deal: $2 off draft beer and craft cocktails, $6 rotating house wines ($24 bottles); discounted apps, $5 tacos, $7 fried chicken.
Every day during Happy Hour, Salty Sow knocks $2 off their drinks (including the house blood orange frozen margarita), but the star of this two-hour show is the honey rosemary dipped fried chicken that’ll turn first-timers into regulars. Enjoy it with some triple fried duck fat fries (then try saying it three times fast) or some chips and guac on their large patio right near Manor and I-35.
Sway Thai
When: Mon-Fri 4-6pm
The Deal: Half off all cocktails, wine, beer, and sake; discounted snacks
If you live anywhere in Austin, at some point you’ll find yourself in West Lake, probably for a doctor appointment. Or maybe you’re lucky enough to live there. Either way, for Happy Hour, it’s hard to beat Sway’s offering of half off all drinks.
When: Tues-Thurs 9pm-close
The Deal: $5 pints and pretzels, $15 pitchers and pizzas.
Reverse Happy Hours are pretty rare in Austin, but lucky for you Central Machine Works on the East Side knows how to take care of the late night crowd, with $5 pints and pretzels, and $15 pitchers and pizzas.
When: Mon 5-6pm; Tues-Fri 4-6pm
The Deal: Half off off all cocktails, beer, and wine.
Il Brutto on East Sixth serves simple Italian food in a space that works great for everything from a double date to a birthday dinner (and there’s even a very nice patio shaded by an enormous oak tree). Another real draw here, however, is half off all drinks during Happy Hour.
