Southwest Austin happy hours
Southwest Austin is small (thirty-odd places across Oak Hill, Bee Cave and Barton Creek), but the list is not thin. One of the largest happy hour boards in the entire city is out here, and three o'clock is the opening hour almost everywhere, an hour ahead of downtown and the east side. If you live this side of the loop, there is more to work with than the count suggests.
Where to start
11 of the 30+ 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: Eurasia Sushi Bar & Seafood via Google Maps 01 · Sushi at $1.95 for two pieces
- Daily 4–6:30 PM
- Thu–Sat 9–10 PM
Sixty deals, the largest board in Southwest Austin, with vegetable nigiri under two dollars a pair, running daily. A strip-mall room doing Japanese-Indonesian-American fusion, and better than the setting prepares you for.
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Photo: sway thai via Google Maps 02 · Half off the whole drinks list
Sway
$$$- Mon–Fri 4–6 PM
Beer, wine, sake and signature cocktails all at half price, weekdays from four to six. Elevated Thai, and one of the rooms people drive across town for.
See Sway's deals in Zappy → Checked -
Photo: La Popular Austin via Google Maps 03 · Three-dollar tacos, and a second window at nine
La Popular
$$- Tue 11 AM–10 PM
- Daily 3–6 PM
- Mon, Wed, Thu, Sun 9–10 PM
- Fri, Sat 9–11 PM
Carnitas, ribeye, chicken tinga and street corn at three dollars each, three to six every day and all day on Tuesday, with a second window from nine at night: one of the few genuinely late options out here. The tuna tostadas are what regulars add on.
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Photo: Paul Delacruz via Google Maps 04 · Fifty-cent wings, most of the day
- Mon 7 AM–10 PM
- Sun 8 AM–10 PM
- Sat 8 AM–11 PM
- Tue, Wed 11 AM–10 PM
- Thu 11 AM–11 PM
- Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 3–6 PM
Same wing price as the Burnet and Southpark rooms, on windows that open at seven on Monday, eight at the weekend and eleven midweek, and run to ten or eleven at night. Quick, hot, unpretentious.
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Photo: Jack Allen's Kitchen Oak Hill via Google Maps 05 · Half off queso and guacamole
- Mon–Fri 3–6:30 PM
- Mon, Sun 3–9 PM
Soup, barbacoa stackers, chunky queso and smashed guacamole at half price on a thirty-four deal board. The half-price appetizers are the specific thing regulars name when they talk about this place.
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Photo: Oak Hill Social Coffee & Cocktails via Google Maps 06 · Buy one burger, get one
- Mon 4–8 PM
- Tue 7–9 PM
Not a percentage: an actual second burger, which is a rarer structure than it should be. A large, event-friendly space, so expect it booked out some evenings.
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Photo: Keepers Austin via Google Maps 07 · Zero-proof, in a part of town with four options
- Mon–Sat 3–6:30 PM
- Sun 3–9 PM
- Fri, Sat 10–11 PM
One of only four Southwest Austin venues discounting non-alcoholic drinks, with 20+ deals on the wider board. A neighborhood room people are protective of.
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Photo: Hopdoddy Burger Bar via Google Maps 08 · Half off sliders and the drinks list
- Mon–Thu 3–6 PM
Sliders, beer, wine and cocktails all at half price, Monday to Thursday from three to six. Reliable rather than surprising, with a patio worth waiting for.
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Photo: Little Woodrow's Bee Cave via Google Maps 09 · Half-price wine bottles
- Wed 11 AM–9 PM
- Mon–Wed, Sat 11–2 AM
- Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 3–7 PM
A bottle discount in a room nobody visits for the wine list, which is why it is worth knowing. A sports bar in a strip mall, and it does not pretend otherwise.
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Photo: Pluckers Wing Bar via Google Maps 10 · $2.50 pints
- Mon–Thu, Sun 11 AM–11 PM
- Mon–Fri 3–5 PM
Bud Light and Michelob Ultra pints at two-fifty, the cheapest beer in Oak Hill. Regulars rate this branch above the other Pluckers locations.
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Photo: The Well - Westlake via Google Maps 11 · Another zero-proof option
- Mon–Fri 3–5 PM
10+ deals and another of the four Southwest venues discounting something non-alcoholic. Health-leaning, and the vegan options get recommended by people who aren't vegan.
When Southwest Austin happy hour actually happens
Three o’clock, overwhelmingly: the large majority of windows start then, against a handful at four. The endings are less predictable than elsewhere, spread across six, half past six, nine and ten.
That spread is worth reading carefully. Unlike most of Austin, a Southwest happy hour that is still running at nine is not unusual, but it is also not the default. The difference between a 6 PM and a 10 PM cutoff at two places on the same road is the kind of thing that ruins a plan.
A short list with two very long boards
Thirty-odd venues carry 400+ deals between them, and sixty of those sit on a single menu, Eurasia’s, with another fifty-three at The Cheesecake Factory in Barton Creek. Below those the boards are a more ordinary size: thirty-four at Jack Allen’s, then the low-to-mid twenties at Via 313, Waterloo and Keepers.
What the shorter boards out here tend to do instead is discount by category. Sway and Hopdoddy’s Lil’ Doddy both take half off beer, wine and cocktails as a whole rather than naming items, which reads as four lines on a menu and covers most of what you would order.
Not drinking
Four venues discount something non-alcoholic: Keepers, The Well, La Popular and The Cheesecake Factory in Barton Creek. That is a short list, but proportionally it is not far off the rest of the city; only around seventy venues in all of Austin do it.
All 30+, sorted by what's live
This page is 11 places and an opinion. The app has every Southwest Austin happy hour we track (400+ deals) on a map, filtered by the day, the time and what you actually want to eat.
Common questions
How many Southwest Austin places have a happy hour?
Zappy tracks 30+ venues across Oak Hill, Bee Cave, Barton Creek and the 290 corridor, carrying 400+ deals between them.
Which Southwest Austin happy hour has the most deals?
Eurasia Sushi Bar & Seafood, with 60 deals, is the largest board in Southwest Austin and one of the largest in the city. The Cheesecake Factory (Barton Creek) is second with 50+.
What time does happy hour start in Southwest Austin?
3 PM dominates: the large majority of windows out here start then. Endings are more spread out than usual, with clusters at 6 PM, 6:30 PM, 9 PM and 10 PM.
Are there late happy hours in Southwest Austin?
A few. La Popular and Waterloo Ice House (Escarpment) both run to 11 PM, and Pluckers Wing Bar (Oak Hill) runs to 11 PM as well. Late options are thinner out here than downtown.