Nickel City

Built into the side of an East Downtown warehouse, this spot does everything a dive bar should—from great cocktails, boilermaker beer and shot specials, a solid cheeseburger, and a TV for the sports fans. Nickel City epitomizes the jack-of-all-trades neighborhood bar.

Originally from Austin, this spot knows how to replicate its well-worn dive bar theme. Somehow everything here looks distressed, as though folks have been moseying in and out of the bar for years, even though it was created of nothing but an empty room.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

photo credit: Nickel City

photo credit: Richard Casteel

And while looking worn in, the food and drinks at Nickel City take it from more than just an everyday dive. The menu includes double-decker cheeseburger sliders we order every visit, to the unhinged delight that is crunchy pizza logs—cheese and pepperoni stuffed into egg roll wrappers then deep fried, of course—and baskets of tots smothered in chili and gooey cheese. 

Nickel City serves greasy dive bar food and gallons of booze from noon to 2am every night of the week. For a good time any afternoon or evening, swing in to catch a breeze on the patio, side-eye an Astros game, or grab some fried bologna and a shot of Beam.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Nickel City

Drinks

Apart from exceptionally cold beer, Nickel City has a deep selection of liquor, a fleet of house cocktails ranging from a boozy Old Fashioned to colorful tiki drinks, and frozen cocktails like a cream-spiked Irish Coffee in case you need some caffeine.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Double Slider

While the slider here is small, it will curb any appetite for less than $7. That’s thanks to two griddle patties smothered in cheese, fried onions, and a fluffy steamed bun. For those with an appetite, make it Texas-sized for only a buck.

photo credit: Richard Casteel

Wings

These wings are pretty standard compared to others around town, but the drums and flats are still sauced-up fried chicken, so by the laws of man, that still makes them damn good, especially on Mondays when wings are only 99 cents each.

Pizza Logs

Imagine a marriage between fried cheese sticks and pepperoni pizza rolls, and you might have something that resembles Nickel City’s pizza logs. What arrives looks like an egg roll, but inside is nuclear-hot cheese and sliced pepperoni. This pairs best with a cold beer.