North Austin happy hours
North Austin is Burnet Road, North Lamar and the Domain, and its happy hours split cleanly between those worlds. The Domain end runs polished rooms with bottle discounts; the Burnet and Lamar end runs dollar floaters and two-dollar margaritas. What the whole area shares is an early start: three is the most common opening, and a good number open as early as 11 AM.
Where to start
9 of the 50+ we track, chosen for a reason rather than a rating. Hours below come straight from our database, not from this article.
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Photo: Plank Provisions via Google Maps 01 · Dollar oysters
- Daily 3–6 PM
Chef's choice oysters at a dollar, the cheapest raw bar price in North Austin and competitive with anything downtown. A bright seafood room where the cooking gets talked about as much as the oyster price.
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Photo: Marissa Resendez via Google Maps 02 · Two-dollar oysters and a lobster roll
- Mon–Thu 11 AM–9 PM
- Mon–Fri 3–6 PM
Oysters at two dollars, with fish and chips, a burger and a mini lobster roll on the wider board. It looks like nothing from the frontage road and is considerably better inside than that suggests.
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Photo: Yard House via Google Maps 03 · Half off a long appetizer list
Yard House
$$- Mon–Fri 3–6 PM
- Mon–Wed, Sun 10–11 PM
Chicken tenders, lettuce wraps, brussels sprouts, truffled mushroom pizza and two kinds of nachos at half price. It is reliably full. Expect to wait for a table at peak, or take the bar.
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Photo: Doc B's Restaurant via Google Maps 04 · Half off wine bottles, eleven to eleven
Doc B’s
$$- Sun 11 AM–9 PM
- Mon–Thu 11 AM–10 PM
- Sat 11 AM–11 PM
- Tue–Fri 5–7 PM
Bottles at sixty dollars and under go half price on a window covering most of the day: long and genuinely discounted, which rarely go together. The kitchen is quick and the chimichurri wings are the order people repeat.
See Doc B’s's deals in Zappy → Checked -
Photo: Chuy's via Google Maps 05 · The dollar floater
- Mon–Fri 3–6 PM
A dollar for a floater, at the same price for a very long time. Big portions, fast service even when full, and no pretence about what it is.
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Photo: Loro Asian Smokehouse & Bar via Google Maps 06 · Zero-proof, at the Domain
- Mon–Fri 2–6 PM
One of only four North Austin venues discounting non-alcoholic drinks. Order at the counter first and find a seat after; the layout confuses people on a first visit.
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Photo: North Italia via Google Maps 07 · 30+ deals in a full-service room
- Mon–Thu 3–6 PM
One of the larger boards at the Domain, and a happy hour menu that is a genuinely different proposition from the dinner one.
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Photo: Bouldin Acres via Google Maps 08 · Three-dollar mimosas
- Sat, Sun 11 AM–3 PM
- Mon 11–12 AM
- Tue–Thu 3–6 PM
- Fri–Sun 9 PM–12 AM
Cheap, on a stretch of Braker with little competing for the same afternoon. Come for the yard and the price rather than the kitchen; that is the consistent read.
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Photo: Karla Robles via Google Maps 09 · Zero-proof and ramen
- Daily 3–5 PM
- Mon–Thu, Sun 9–10 PM
- Fri, Sat 9–11 PM
Zero-proof drinks at two-fifty, attached to a room people were already driving to. Busy, and faster than the queue suggests.
When North Austin happy hour actually happens
Three is the most common opening and 11 AM the second, with few waiting until four. Six is the most common close, then seven. The 11 AM cluster is almost entirely chain restaurants running an all-day bar special, which is a real option up here in a way it is not further in.
Half the list up here runs a window to 9 PM or later. In absolute terms that is still fewer late options than downtown or South Austin, so if the evening is going to run long, it is worth checking before you commit to the drive.
Two different neighborhoods
The Domain and the Burnet–Lamar corridor are both North Austin and they behave differently. The Domain rooms discount by percentage, half off bottles and half off appetizers, because their regular prices are high enough for that to mean something. The Burnet and Lamar rooms price low outright: a dollar floater, two-dollar margaritas, three-dollar mimosas.
Neither is better. But if you are picking by price alone, the second group wins, and if you are picking by what you get for the money, the first often does.
Not drinking
Only four North Austin venues discount anything non-alcoholic, against sixteen in South Central. Loro and both Ramen Tatsu-ya locations account for most of them. It is a genuinely thinner list up here, and worth planning around rather than assuming.
All 50+, sorted by what's live
This page is 9 places and an opinion. The app has every North Austin happy hour we track (700+ deals) on a map, filtered by the day, the time and what you actually want to eat.
Common questions
Are there happy hours at the Domain?
Yes, the Domain sits inside the North Austin area, and includes Yard House, North Italia, Loro and True Food Kitchen among others. Several run half-price appetizer or wine lists.
What time does happy hour start in North Austin?
3 PM is the most common start, with 11 AM a strong second: North Austin has a large number of all-day windows attached to chain restaurants. Most end at 6 or 7 PM.
How many North Austin places have a happy hour?
Zappy tracks 50+ North Austin venues carrying 700+ deals. All but a handful are $ or $$.
Where can I find cheap oysters in North Austin?
Plank Provisions runs chef's choice oysters at $1 and Garbo's (Mopac) runs them at $2, the two cheapest raw bar prices we track in North Austin.