i have never had such a horrible experience anywhere in all of Austin since i moved here in 2006.
and no.. it's not because i do not understand / hate dive bars.. i actually fuckin dig the shit out 'em.. or most of them anyway - hence why the hell i found myself there in the first place..
moral of the shit is.. i suggested it to a girlfriend of mine on the fly one afternoon/evening-ish -- as i had somehow never checked it out in all my years..
from the moment we walked through the door the bartenders went way out of their way to be fucking rude. before even making it to the bar - homeboy was blatantly mocking my friend to a crowd of his.. who were just absolutely eating it up.. even throwing in a heckle or two despite seeming to have little to no awareness of their surroundings at all.. let alone to have something to mock my friend about.
bartenders then accused us both of being underage - despite the fact that we each had more than one form of ID ..and several credit/debit card type shits that were all legit.. and that we are both 25 years old..
got so pissed off that we actually left the shithole & each picked up our passports.. haha this time they didn't even let us in the door.. i mean literally they had someone out front blocking the door.. hahhaa seriously though..
anywho - we left and hit up fuckin went east looking for a similar scene minus the asstards we'd just encountered.. found it immediately - and while venting our frustrations to said bartender.. we also learned that the mian douchehole bartender - has a reputation around town / is known for being just that.. a douchhole fucking bartender.
ha. rant - over. for now.
I go here when I want to go where nobody knows my name. Its my anti-Cheers.
They have beer, good pours, cheap prices, pool tables, old timers, bad smell, worse smelling toilets, lots of tattoos, a jukebox, a patio area which smells bad too.
You fill find an oddball crowd here. You know the kind of young women who have a Japanese symbol for beauty, but really means spicy tuna roll, tattooed on their forearm. The kind of young men who haven't showered in a while, and their hair and beard haven't felt a sharp edge in a while too. Ok the young women haven't showered in a while to, but its their choice.
Either ways, its a good place to occassionally hangout.
Fun dive bar. Â Not too hipstery or too collegy or too divey, just a fun, low key bar. Â Drink specials are great and the bartenders are cool. Â Its a low slung bunker with no windows, a great place to go in the disgusting Texas summer heat. Â The cute, young Chicana bartender is adorable! Â Can't remember her name but she rules. Â All in all, just about my favorite bar in Austin.
Review Source:Cheap beer. Weird characters. Copious filth. Missing teeth. Bathrooms without locks on them. Mildew and urine.
Yeah, it's a dive bar. There's not much to say about this dingy little place on South Congress; you're either there because you've been dragged there by someone who think it's neat to go slumming, or you're the kind of person who gets drunk before sundown on as many weekdays as possible.
Here's a cool 04 anecdote: last time I was there, a huge roach crawled across the bar about 12 inches in front me heading God knows where. Dodging my empty can and the half-hearted swats of the bartender, it made it into the straw holder. It got coaxed out and smashed, and without missing a beat, the bartender plucked out an unwashed straw to toss in some poor unwary chump's cocktail.
I don't take off any stars for that display of hilariously illegal hygiene, because if you go here you should know to drink only the cheapest canned beer you can find, for safety purposes. They do have a decent selection of fancier cans like Oskar Blues, but where exactly do you think you are? Get that hipster shit out of here.
An endearing dive in the 04, and probably the best bar in the area - Crow Bar is full of douchebags and plays godawful music. It's no frills, a bit loud and dank, but the people are friendly and the drinks mega-cheap. A great service industry bar, too, where you can meet up with all your friends from the many awesome restaurants in south Austin.
Review Source:For some reason I thought this place had closed a long time ago. Maybe I saw the signs before and then lost track of it. Or maybe because the garage near it suddenly changed and I just got the two mixed up? I have no idea. And it's a shame, because I missed out on a good thing by thinking this.
The beer selection is pretty good, and at the standard prices around here. It's a little crowded, so if you have a hint of claustrophobia, this may not be the place to go on a busy night. I'll see myself here with some frequency-if only because 78745 doesn't have a good selection of bars. Maybe they can start a 45 lounge?
I love this place. Â A friend of mine took me there almost 4 years ago when he was showing me his favorite spots in Austin, and I have been hooked. Â It's a complete dive, but if you can stand the dark atmosphere and the funny smells, it's great. Â A cheap alternative to a lot of the overly priced bars in Austin, the staff is great and the crowd is a mix of hipsters, neighborhood locals, and your average joe schmo working guy. Â Just an all around great neighborhood bar.
Review Source:This is the best dive bar in 78704.
Trust me, if you don't like dive bars you really won't like this bar. Â It will scare the shit out of you. Â It's a no frills, discreet window-less building setback from South Congress that is easy to never notice while driving by. Â The beer selection is good while the liquor selection focuses more on the essentials. Â Service is great and you'll likely run into people that still frequent the bar from the Dee & Jim's era.
The internet jukebox can be annoying at times but it's easy to meet new people and strike up a conversation once you figure out who's who. Â Theres always something special going on and they really like to take care of their regulars when they throw parties.
Bars like this are a dying breed- frat boy meat markets and uppity cocktail lounges  with live cover bands are in demand.  Young adults have come to expect matching furniture and Peach Schnapps Shooter specials.  They'll have to tear the 04 down before that ever happens... Â
One day I'll be telling the new generation about bars like this and this one is sure to make that list.
I am a huge dive bar enthusist! Â This bar takes me back to being 19 sneaking into Terry's. Â There are no windows! Â Bonus, there's a food cart in front! Â Super cheap and dark. Â The bartender there on the Sunday afternoon I went was a little odd, but real attentive and he obviously had a following. Â The crowd was betting on a golf tourney! Awesome!
Review Source:I live up in Hyde Park (potential stalkers and angry bald psycho killer with your eyes too close together, beware, I'm armed), so I don't make it to South Austin all that often, but after the way they turned my night around tonight, I think I'll be making the occasional special trip to the 04 Lounge.
Particularly after the horrendous experience right before it (see my just-posted review of G&S), the 04 was delightful, but I think I'd like it even more if I was drinking and not in the throes of the minor headcold from hell.
Fairly priced drinks, friendly service, and pool tables where I can take a shot from anywhere around the table with no fear of hitting a photo booth or videogame. (Not that I mind photo booths or videogames, quite the opposite in fact, but pool cues aren't known for being short or bendy.)
Bonus points for having one of the most interesting bathrooms in town. The layout itself is spacious, the fixtures are old and cool looking, and the graffiti made for good reading. I'll be back.
Ok so ... I love dirty dive bars... and honestly this bar may be the ultimate in dirty dive bars!
As I walked in I noticed an odd smell which I decided to ignore. I walked up to the bar and ordered 2 drinks and smiled when I noticed my beer was 1.50.
I wasn't adjusted to the smell yet so I decided to go sit on the patio.
I happened to see a friend on the Patio so I sat down an began drinking. I was approached by several very sketchy characters throughout the night and as I listened to the music I noticed their seemed to be no link between the songs..
I heard everything from UGK to Johnny Cash to Def Leopard.. I had read some reviews and went to investigate the Juke Box thats when I noticed it was just a huge internet connected touch screen that could basically play any song.. Its probably a good idea to get here early and perform a take over of the juke box!
This bar is like a cultural melting pot.. You see every class and race of people mingling together enjoying the cheap drinks.
After a little while I had adjusted to the bars odd smell and the odd variety of music and then I began to see the true beauty of this place.. Its like reading a Bukowski novel.... its often crass and hard to appreciated but a beautiful work of art underneath the surface.
Erase all of your expectations and go to 04 Lounge for a cheap beer.. it will make you a better person.
Want to feel like a local? Go to the 04 lounge. I moved here last week from Wisconsin and luckily found this low key bar with an amazing jukebox, bar staff, and chill vibe. You'll find all ages here. Hope you're not superficial, because you won't like this place... Its ok, most people in it probably won't like YOU anyway.
Review Source:Wow! I don't know even where to start with this place.
After moving to Austin, I noticed this quaint little joint across from my apartment building on South Congress... that being the 04 Lounge. Even before visiting it, I was titillated and intrigued by this place. Now, I don't consider myself a dive bar aficionado but I revel in the dive bar mystic and am always up for spelunking into that dark cavernous territory which is the dive bar genre.
I stepped in here on Wednesday night with some friends on our way home. Once you open the door, it's not the atmosphere that you notice but the stench that is utterly indescribable. Moving pass that and the pool tables, this place is quaint with a complete mismatch of tables, chairs and booth seating.
This place is well staffed, three bartenders working when we walked in. The beers are cold and cheap. And I give them props for having Portland's own Full Sail beer on tap.
We moseyed out to the patio and was accosted by another stench that can only be described as garlic butter covered dog shit... maybe it was the fact that were close to the dumpster, not sure. Thankfully, there was a bit of breeze.
This place definitely has a cast of characters akin to the cantina on Tatooine in Star Wars. There's a guy with a parrot on his shoulder, a couple of bro ho's wearing short-shorts as well as a handful of hipsters and a couple of local yahoos.
This place HAS to be experienced first hand to really understand what I'm attempting to describe. I'm glad that it's so close to home, not sure if I have the nerve to become a regular... we'll see.
To the crazy, illiterate person who posted the nonsensical rants on 7/14, your posts made laugh hysterically. Â There's a remedial spelling course at acc that I think you should take.
Let me guess. The door guy kicked you out for being a douche and your only recourse was to go home and cry to your computer.
Thank you for never coming back to the 04.
This is a great little place to meet up with friends. Â Parking is on the street usually but, always able to find a spot. Â Tons of cheap beer, booths inside, pool table and then quaint little patio area. Â It's a very small place but, does the trick if you are looking for a dive bar in the 78745 neighborhood.
Review Source:The beer was cheap, the service was prompt, and the bathroom was way cleaner than I had expected it to be (as in, perfectly fine, a little abused looking, but nothing terrifying).
The chairs out back made me feel like a kindergardener (I'm not sure if that's good or bad) and the patio was incredibly uneven, making using a table or a chair much more difficult than it ought to be.
Here's something, though: great jukebox, but how about you refrain from playing songs that glorify (sexual) violence against women? Â Does that make me uptight? Maybe. Don't care. It's offensive.
My BF and I met up with some friends that are familiar with this place. From the outside it looks like a crusty apt. building that would be scary to go into. Inside not so bad. yes it is the ultimate dive bar but not bad. The bartender seemed to be the only employee there and wasn't that friendly but still cheap drinks, a pool table and outside seating where you can smoke. Inside seating was old and worn...lots of butts have sat on those seats. It's a little hidaway that I understand has the history of bikers going in and having some drinks. Check it out sometime and bring your friends.
Review Source:TOO dive for my tastes. Â Call me neurotic, but I was nervous sitting down for fear of getting stains on my clothes. Â Didn't even try to use the bathroom, didn't want to know.
Besides this I didn't like the layout of the place or any of the furnishings. Â Not looking for anything fancy, but I wasn't too crazy about sitting in a chair made for elementary school children. Â Didn't really make me want to stay for another round.
Also kinda felt like it was trying to not try. Â If that makes any sense.
Great "locals" Austin bar. Â Nothing fancy. Â And I do mean NOTHING, but that's what's great. Â There's a little outdoor seating area, but it's not much more than a gravel alley smashed up against a fence. Â There are two pool tables and a very few places to sit. Â The smell is best described as acrid.
A GREAT place for late night drinks.
If a biker dude and a hipster man could have a baby (Junior, anyone?), the 04 lounge would be it.
Its dirty, its clientele is a mix of people in Led Zep shirts, some tight pants, and a few of the biker crowd. I like that the place isn't trying too hard to be super south Austin hippy-trendy and just sticks the basics, (alcohol, pool, music).
I wish I liked this place.  It's like Creekside light.  Bartenders are great, drinks are good.  Diverse crowd.  You're  gonna see half ass gangbangers and pretty hippish dudes with ironic t shirts and strange hats.   I'll have a drink there at 6 but I don't think I'll ever close the place down again.  To each their own......... Might be beneficial to add that I'm in my early 30's.     "in the end, life is a gag"
Review Source:I recently realized that I had never wrote a review for the 04 lounge. Now granted I am not the end all be all of reviewers for this site but I generally do not miss a chance to review a place I frequent as much as I do the 04. That being said I have 2 rules for this review that I will strive to follow: I WILL NOT CALL IT A DIVE... IF YOU HAVEN'T"T GOTTEN THE POINT THAT THIS PLACE IS A DIVE BAR PLEASE MOVE ALONG. Secondly, I will try to tell the truth and make it sound as good as possible.
Everything about this place is ugly except the bartenders. (TRUTH). This is not a place you go if you want to see pretty people, pretty art, pretty drinks. The smoking area is a soupy, muddy mess. The bathrooms are shoe boxes with 2 toilets (men's room). The bar area is always crowded. Parking isn't bad since you can park behind Napa as well.
That being said I love to finish my night at the 04. The people working and the fellow patrons are a friendly bunch who want nothing more than a cold beer or a shot of whiskey and I can relate to that. Also the jukebox isn't bad...The prices are reasonable and its like 2 blocks from my house (my bias).
If you like a place to have a cold beer with no other pretenses then I recommend swinging by the 04, if you require some kind of garnish on your drink then I'd avoid the 04 because to them Ice is your garnish.
This is pretty much the only bar I go to in Austin. That probably says more about me than it does about the 04: it's close to my house, they serve cheap, strong drinks and everybody I know likes to come here.
Whether or not you like this place will depend on several factors:
* do dirty bars bother you?
* do you want to go somewhere you can dance?
* do you want a place where you can hook up with strangers looking to hook up with strangers?
* do you prefer cocktails to beer and basic bourbon-and-coke mixed drink?
* do you want a guaranteed place to sit and have your drink?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might want to consider another location. If these things aren't important to you, come on in.
If, like me, you're into dives, then this is the place for you -- especially if you live on the south side. If you also insist that said dives be authentic, rather than places made to *seem* like dives solely for the benefit of ironic hipster types, well then double word score for you! The 04 delivers.
It's a little grimy, with just a bit less seating than it seems to need. But you've got pool tables, a decent jukebox, and bartenders that seem to favor a stiff pour. It's also worth noting that this is a bottle bar, so no taps and no pitchers. They manage to have a decent selection despite this. But not having taps/pitchers is one of the most serious transgressions possible according to my Dive Bar Rulebook. Also, be aware that there's a minimum for cards, but it's like $10, so it's probably not a problem unless you want to make an appearance for something and get out quickly.
Honestly, if there were a few more places to sit, I'd give it four stars, but of the many times I've been here, I've only been able to sit down once. I like to stay and have a drink, you know? I'd also bump up the rating if the jukebox were a little better. I appreciate the metal selection, but overall, it's pretty middling. More chairs + music + taps, and this would be a five-star dive for sure.
But don't let the rating fool you; I come here all the time, I just try to be as objective as possible. Convenience and laid-back atmosphere are enough to get me to frequent a three-star joint. So, take that as you will.
back when this was Dee and Jims,I would stop in every several years. Now that its the 04 I go 3-5 nights a week! Love this place. I will agree that the jukebox needs more local bands but the staff,the owners and regulars are all great. The drinks ARE cheap and strong! Â Nothing fancy about it but it is my favorite place to be. Bikers,fixed gear kids,hipsters,warm hearted riffraff....a perfect neighborhood bar.
Review Source:I live in Austin. Austin is safe. But for some reason, I was afraid to go in this place, it looks that divey! Of course, when I stopped in one night, I kicked myself for depriving myself of such wonderful pleasure. This is Austin. Austin is eclectic and wonderful and so are the people in this bar!
Drinks are cheap and super strong. Discount if you pay cash. Pool tables and board games. Outdoor patio. Big screens that aren't too distracting. People from all over. The best thing? THE JUKEBOX.
Damn, it's like everyone in the bar was on the same page, the music flowed so nicely. Everyone was dancing! It was incredible.
This place is boss. And stumbling distance from my house? Oh yeah.
So, this was the last place on our stroll down South Congress last night. Â Both of us hadn't been here yet so what the hell right? Â So we walk in and it's totally a dive. Â To all of my friends that say Bender is a dive or "shady"....come here my friends...THIS IS BOTH! Â I say that with all the love in my heart too. Â The bartender was friendly and efficient, 25 cent discount for cash paid tabs! Â They have a couple of pool tables, a HUGE golden tee game and lots of chairs and a patio. Â That said, the jukebox last night was totally on! Â EVERYONE was dancing! Â It was freaking amazing! Â Imagine Creekside Lounge sans annoying hipsters that listen to shitty music! Â Exactly! Â It's damn near a perfect world! Â Man, i'm going back...and soon!
Review Source:A new bar to the scene, but relatively close to where I live, so I give it a thumps-up. Â Defeintely a DIVE...last time I was there I was sitting next to a bunch of drunk people that were trying to figure out how to get their friend out of jail, meanwhile avoid ending up in jail at the same time. Classy! Â
Nothing fancy here, just cold beer and pool tables. Â This place probably wouldn't be nearly as neighborhood-y if it was anywhere closer to downtown. Â However, being a block from Expose has it charms.
I love taking my north side friends to dirty divey bars... but this one they found on their own. I think thats why they feel some strange affinity for it. Â Its a regular dive -- tattooed, unwashed masses mingling with hipsters mingling with people on an adventure so they can tell their friends they went to "a dive bar". Â Pool tables, cold beer, decent pours. It's just alright... but if you live in the area, probably a cool, inexpensive place to get out of the heat and into a tall frosty.
Review Source:Sweaty.
Dirty.
Hot.
Divey.
It's the one pseudo hipster bar that actually lives up to the duality of having both unkept 20-somethings, and unkept working class family men at the same time. Â
There's a guy with a fu manchu in the corner shootin' the shit about his ex-wife, and there's another guy... same fu manchu, playing pool and talking about the last time he saw Grizzly Bear in concert. Â It makes me think of a south side Barfly's, only a bit more grungy. Â
Outside it has the usual, Christmas lights and picnic tables. You munch through pebbles when you walk. Inside it's all pool tables and mirrors, and tv's, and slimy bar booths teeming with trouble in waits of happening. Â It's the kind of dive bar ambiance you see in movies, really.... And, about the same service.
The #1 reason I miss living in the 04 area of Austin! Â I love this bar! Â Great service, cheap booze, and always a good conversation to be had with people from ALL walks of life. Â A real neighborhood bar in Austin.
It really reminds me of all the bars I grew up in up in the northeast part of America, very Brooklyn/Providence/Boston type bar filled with working class and wannabe poor artist.
The owners are great people as well.
Great Job!
P.S. A wine list!?! Â REALLY??? AAAAAHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA
The word DIVE is not over used in this situation. Often in Austin people refer to bars as Dive when they don't really deserve it.
Formally where Dee & Jims once reigned (I never went in there even though I lived in the neighborhood for years - but everyone that has mentioned this place has referenced it in lieu of giving me directions), The 04 Lounge is dark and cool in this ungodly heat of summer. With 25 cent discounts on all drinks paid for in cash and jello shots strong enough to melt your face off, I'm sure its doing its location justice.
2 pool tables
Jukebox
Small outside area full of sand, so if you are wearing fancy shoes ladies, be careful.
The 04 Lounge is a pretentious little piece of real estate on deep South Congress where...okay, okay, I'm just kidding. It's a dive, it's hardly pretentious, and it's a cool little cerulean bathed dive at that. Â The 04 is hardly full of itself, and the chill, weathered faces you may encounter hunkered down at the pool tables or buried in a wall-side booth confirm the same.
It's cash only, and they're almost apologetic about it, and why in this day and age cash only still happens is beyond me, but there it is, and fortunately I caught them on a night when I had a semi-mobster roll working. That almost never happens. As has been noted, the jukebox is another fine Austin spinner, and most folks I found here to be as chill as they might have been on a local patio with the sun ebbing into the hills. Â That is, if those hills were a neon blue, if the clouds were corner pockets, and if approaching evening was that next Lone Star behind the counter.
This isn't the place for you if you:
*are in a greek organization
*drive a hummer/BMW
*wear a shiny silk, unbuttoned shirt or sport a "popped collar"
There, much better. Â Seriously, this place is not bad at all. Â As the previous reviewers have mentioned; cheap drinks, good jukebox (eeh I wouldn't completely agree on this juke, it is expensive to fill), horrific women's bathroom, no credit cards accepted but ATM on site, nice bar staff, and smoking inside (ugh.) Â
04 Lounge has the makings to be a successful, dirty dive bar in my neighborhood. Â Glad I found this place.
Oh, how I love the dives.  And this is one of them, for sure, in the best sense of the word.  We paid in cash, but it wouldn't surprise me if they don't accept credit cards.  I never made it to the place when it was Dee and Jim's, which I really regret now, but I have a feeling that the same laconic, friendly vibe weathered the transition nicely.  It's a little bright inside, perhaps, but there's also pool and a nice beer selection.  The only thing it's missing is shuffleboard, really.  And ladies, can I just say: the restroom is amazing.  A wonderful mélange of Bordello/Rococo/Funeral Home sort of décor.  You'll see what I mean, with all the red, gold and floral. Â
Can't wait to go back. Â This could be one of my new haunts.
Cheap and well made drinks, decent jukebox, a bartender as sweet as pie, & it's not over crowded.
These are things I like about the 04 Lounge.
However - I feel the need to warn the women of Austin, TX: There is something about this place that attracts some very strange and unfortunate men. I'm not saying this because of two or three weirdo's approached me and my friends, no, I'm talking about every man I met while I was there. My eyes were tired from rolling & my friends and I finally got sick of hiding out in the bathroom to avoid these overly confident members of the opposite sex. I'm not trying to be a bitch, it just really blew my mind.
Will I try the 04 again? Yeah, but I'm just not going to make eye contact. I'll chat with the awesome bartender & keep my head down.
Please note that I am in no way full of myself or do I think that all men are some how interested in me.... maybe I can just chalk my experience up to "there's something in the water" at 04
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,611 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,972 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,318 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,915 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,987 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
