Hot Happy Hours

Austin's best new happy hours for cheap drinks and eats

Happy hour is the best hour, so we've rounded up the hottest new happy hours and deals from Austin restaurants and bars, including a few brand-new spots. Here are nine sizzling summer happy hours to indulge in right now:

Boiler Nine Bar + Grill
In the Boiler Room, Boiler Nine's sultry basement bar, happy hour is available Thursday through Saturday from 5-7 pm and includes $5 glasses of wine, cocktails, and draft beers. The Deck Nine Observatory Bar upstairs is also serving daily specials after 5 pm Tuesday through Saturday.

Cedar Tavern
Eberly has unveiled a new lineup for happy hour at the Cedar Tavern bar. Enjoy $4 draft beers, $6 glasses of wine, and $7 cocktails, as well as new pizzas and other bar bites, Tuesday through Friday from 5-7 pm, all night Sunday, and Monday from 5 pm to close.

Fine Foods at Austin Motel
The recently revamped Austin Motel has a new bar, Fine Foods, located on the former Snack Bar patio. Sip a frozen old fashioned for $4.50 and get $1 off draft beers and well drinks Monday through Thursday from 3-6 pm. Hungry? Grab a bite from Jo's Burger Box.

Juliet Italian Kitchen
Juliet Ristorante recently reopened as Juliet Italian Kitchen, with a more casual vibe and "red-sauce" Italian fare. There's a new happy hour menu to enjoy on the gorgeous patio, featuring $5 draft beers, well drinks, wine, and "patio pounder" cocktails, available from 3-7 pm daily.

Mattie's
Mattie's, the new restaurant on the grounds of Austin's iconic Green Pastures, has a brand-new lawn happy hour. Running Tuesday through Saturday from 4-9 pm, there are deals on refreshing summer cocktails, like a $7 summer old fashioned, and bites, like a $5 grilled pimento cheese.

The Native
Austin's new hostel is also a hot new happy hour spot. The restaurant and bar at this east side hangout offers $3 domestic tall boys, $4 Like Oak HefeWeizens, $5 glasses of wine, and $6 Tito's Vodka mules, as well as deals on burgers and sandwiches every day from 3-6 pm.

Second Bar + Kitchen
Second Bar + Kitchen downtown launched its first happy hour a few months ago. Available Monday through Friday from 4-6 pm, get discounted cocktails ($5-7), draft beers ($1 off), snacks ($4-$16), and more.

Uchiko
Uchiko's beloved Sake Social has been revamped. Have a $3 sake or Sapporo beer, and pair it with a wide variety of small bites, available daily from 5-6:30 pm.

Unit-D Pizzeria
Starting this week you can indulge in a new happy hour at Unit-D, available from 5-7 pm on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All specials are $5 or less, including draft beers, house wine, several cocktails options, and new dishes like the bread and butter cauliflower topped with Salumeria Biellese coppa. Bonus: All pints are $2 on Monday from 5-10 pm.

Enjoy beer, wine, cocktail, and food specials at Cedar Tavern.

Photo by Julia Keim

Enjoy beer, wine, cocktail, and food specials at Cedar Tavern.

drinks happy-hours

Back to the Plow

Homey Austin jam and bake shop closing and returning to farmers market

Confituras/Instagram

Confituras Little Kitchen is closing its brick-and-mortar store, but feeling optimistic about the future.

A famers market find is returning to its natural environment after six years in a brick-and-mortar location. Confituras Little Kitchen, which specializes in locally sourced preserves, is closing its jam and biscuit shop after service on Sunday, December 22. However, it will continue selling goods at the Barton Creek Farmers Market and via retailers.

Confituras announced the change in a newsletter to its customers in December. The letter called the news "bittersweet."

"Although the brick and mortar will no longer be, the good news is that this will be a fresh new start for us – we are bursting with energy and creativity at the thought of being back out in the community where it all started for confituras," it said.

The kitchen is closing because the lease is up, and the team has decided to "give up the chase." The newsletter emphasized the ups-and-downs of business over the past several years — ones that were chaotic for just about any business, let alone a small, fairly niche food operation.

"So much has happened since we decided to open a brick + mortar – a wonderful kickstarter fundraiser, THE PANDEMIC, the AFTER-EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC, and an ever growing city," the letter says. "We tried so very hard but never really got our footing. We know we are not alone, many small business are in the same boat. We renewed our lease during the pandemic because we were hopeful we could make it work - the changing times had other ideas."

Finally, it shared how customers could keep enjoying Confituras creations:

The Barton Creek Farmers Market is open at 2901 S. Capital of Texas Hwy. every Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm.
A list on confituras.net compiles retailers including Royal Blue Grocery, Farmhouse Delivery, and Antonelli's Cheese Shop.
Jam share and Table22 subscription customers will have more instructions coming soon about picking up their goods in January at the same space, 2129 Goodrich Ave.
Customers may also reach out to inquire about continuing to order meals directly.

The kitchen also hosted frequent events and workshops, but the letter did not address this aspect of the business.

A shorter message shared on Instagram has inspired 63 comments so far, five days later. Customers eulogized the shop for its community feel and providing a sense of regularity during the height of the pandemic thanks to weekend pick-ups.