This place is fine except once again, a bartender has assumed the $.50 tip. That shit really pisses me off. If any of you bartenders out there are reading this, NEVER assume the $.50 tip. I'm saying, if somebodies total is $X.50, and they give you $X + $1, give them the damn change! If you assume the $.50 tip, you're robbing yourself of the other half of the dollar I would have given you otherwise.
Review Source:My review may not be fair because I have a feeling if I wasn't pregnant and could get crunk up in this place, I totally would have. Unfortunately, the O'Doul's wasn't quite gettin me to crunk town. They only take cash which I find only appropriate in this little hole in the wall. The bartender is awesome and if you don't see her upon first entering, don't worry, she's out back smoking with the customers. They have shuffleboard and pool which is quite nice, especially if you're on a 2 hour wait for the nearby gastropub and especially if you can't drink and need something to occupy your time. I like it, looking forward to giving it more stars when I can get to said crunk status.
Review Source:As Austin dive bars go, there's nothing super unique about the Horseshoe Lounge. Well except for the horseshoe-shaped bar. It's your standard lack-of-parking, cash only, bottled beer, neon-lit, west campus filled, neighborhood dive.
For some reason though, I found myself liking this place. Maybe it was the clean bathroom...
I like dives, but...
We got the eyeball from all five patrons when we walked in. Â They serve both kinds of beer, Lonestar and Lonestar Light. Â The interior is that out of a late 70's pornstars basement, minus the wall-to-wall shag carpet. Â That being said, the beer was cold and cheap and the patrons finally started talking to us as we were getting ready to leave. Â Obviously a "friendly neighborhood bar", except we weren't from the neighborhood.
As far as dive bars go this is on the nice end. Not really as much a dive as as it is kinda sloppy yet clean.  A fair number of beer choices, pool table, juke box, shuffle board  table, etc. There are the stereotypical, ancient, bar flys and neon signs, but the place is well kept and structurally sound. A good place to drop in for a casual beer or 12.
Review Source:Great dive bar.  Really friendly bartender, Dixie.  One pool table.  Makes it fun to meet  and play against challengers, get to know some of the regulars.  Shuffle board.  Excellent juke box tunes.  One of my favorite signs - "Free beer ... tomorrow"  Keep Austin Weird!  Patronize local!
Review Source:Told no pictures inside. Coming here ten years, never a problem until Dixie decided we didn't match her crowd. Adapt or die. 47 years was what she said as we left. Austin is changing and you shouldn't alienate your customers. She also only corrected my Indian friends regarding shuffleboard etiquette despite the fact they were doing nothing wrong. Seemed we didn't fit her idea of the Horseshoe customer and was looking for any reason to kick us out. Thank you Dixie for ruining a fun place with your bigoted behavior and I will be taking my money elsewhere.
Review Source:Ummm....I'm really surprised by how high of a rating this bar has but this is Austin and I guess not many people are as picky as I am. Â However, if you like the following things, you'll probably dislike this place:
-Liquor
-Wine
-Paying with Credit Card
-Happy People
-Nice Atmosphere
That is all......
Certainly the best dive bar in Austin! You pull up and it really doesn't look like much...sketchy at best. But the bar is shaped in a horseshoe shape so you're forced to look at people sitting around the bar...which is my favorite as that always seems to force people to interact with each other.
I met a lot of old timer regulars there and had some lovely evenings. Although I don't remember my favorite bartender's name, he was tall and had dark hair...super nice guy. He gave me lots of ideas for other places to check out that I might enjoy while in Austin and in other parts of Texas.
There's a shuffleboard table on one side of the bar and good happy hour deals. No pictures allowed in the bar, which annoys me since I love taking pictures of everywhere I go, but I'm sure they have some sort of good reasoning?
i miss you, horseshoe lounge.
Years ago, I stumbled up to a threatening looking man, made a fool of myself, and we got married six months later. Â Thank you for that, Horseshoe.
For years, I would go to Horseshoe, meet people, have too many Lone Stars, and always have a great time. Â "Back in my 20s," I would come here at least twice a week, and probably more. Â It was a great dive bar with a great crowd, and had bartenders with the worst attitudes in town.
Then something changed. Â The crowd changed, the regulars changed, the bartenders changed. Â Maybe it was me?
Where did Happy go, the million year old man who always wanted to kiss my cheeks? Â Where are the tamale sellers?
I loved Horseshoe back in the day, but again, something has changed about it, and now it just seems sad.
I have stuck with Horseshoe for years, and I realize it is nondescript in so many ways. There have been times when my friends and I boycotted Horseshoe because it was too smoky and the bartender was rude, but then we would go back to it because bartenders change and some nights the no smoking is actually enforced.
There is one reason we go to Horseshoe of all the dive bars in town: to shoot the shit with strangers. The crowd can be hit or miss because there is usually such a variety of patrons: different ages, different occupations, different stories. Usually, everyone is friendly and it is nice to just talk.
Some nights are a complete bust. However, most every time I go, I leave with a great story or hilarious picture. For example, how many bars will be cool with having a pinata guzzle beer and dominate at shuffleboard? Or, how many bartenders have told you that you look like trouble and they will have to keep an eye on you? Okay, well, this happens to me a lot. But, at Horseshoe it is out of affection.
Shlitz! In bottles?!?! God bless the Horseshoe!
What's not to dig about this place?! I'm perplexed by the terrible reviews. The staff has always been cool to me and my friends. I think if you go in any place with a douchey attitude, people will respond in kind. This is the type of place you go to chill and hang with your friends. It's not a place to "be seen". The patrons range from older displaced cow-folk to tatted and pierced old school Austinites. You gotta love a bar that considers Shiner a "premium" beer!
An added bonus...Barleyswine around the corner! Grab a bite or six, then pop over to Horseshoe for a nightcap!
Oh, did I mention...Shlitz in bottles?!?!
If you want old South Austin. Â This is it. Â Strictly a beer bar, but they don't mind if you bring in a flask. Â I have also been know to light a cigarette in here unabated on occasion. Â
 The crowd definitely changes on Weekend nights around 10 P.M.  It goes from the working class drinking their can beers to the college kids enjoying today's form of slumming. Â
 The beer is cold, the bar staff is nice, and most of the regulars will talk if you want or let you be and not look at you weird.  If you are a girl, prepare to be ogled.  If you want to be in the loop, show up around lunch and hop in on a game of dominoes.  Immediate acceptance.  I hit a dirty thirty on the bones table and have been respected ever since then. ;) Â
 This is where I go on the random nights where I don't want to see anyone and drown my Cowboys or Mavericks based sorrows.  Best shuffleboard table in town.  If you're looking for trouble, you can find it...other wise   it's chill.  Kinda reminds me of G & S's cool, simple, older brother.
The Horseshoe Lounge is defiantly a throwback to when things were slower & "South Austin" was actually the southern edge of town, in the middle of nowhere. That's what make the "Shoe" great, it never changed, and that's what makes it a steadfast anchor point for all the regulars. If your new to the area, don't worry, everyone's welcome at the "Shoe". Even you bartenders seems to be time warped from the 70's. The man behind the bar with the beard down to his knees, that's local celeb Reid Wilson, sliding you that white trash beer. You can catch Reid Wilson And His So Called Friends around town playing their outlaw county. Both the bar, the people that work there, and the regulars are true Austin originals (no matter where they're from).
The "Shoe" is one of the only bars to still serve Pearl beer. Check your Texas history, Pearl was actually the original beer of Texas, extremely popular in the day. Brewed just down the road in San Antonio at it's original brewery up until a few years back. I recommend a Pearl with lime. As my friend Shootsie says, "What does a Pearl with lime taste like?"....."Lime !" LOL!!!
Cheers to the "Shoe" and all who make it true!
Horseshoe is one of the most obscure bars in town.
Usually this place is pretty quiet before 9 and is one of my favorite places to study when the coffee shops get too crowded (studying and beer..mmm). Horseshoe also has one of the best shuffle board tables in town.
At the bar, beer is a little expensive, but they do serve pearl. Jukebox is decent and there's plenty of random dark corners for you and your friends to hang out in.
Laid back atmosphere and a little bit hidden if you don't notice the sign from Lamar. We stopped in after dinner at Matt's for beers and their famous shuffleboard with another couple. He's been before; it was my first time.
Now I sort of like this little place. It's not fancy. There's an interesting cast of friendly characters there. Bartenders and patrons. I think we probably chatted with nearly everyone.
I was happy to find a juke box. It's been years and years since I put money in a juke box - at least 4-5 years before everyone started carrying their own little jukeboxes in their front pockets.
Now with the juke box comes a warning. It seems to turn off sometimes. And when it goes silent, and if there is not a crowd, be warned that your voice will carry. It will carry right down the hallway, to the bathroom where your wife will hear everything that is said. Yeah . . . somebody left in a cab.
So our party of 4 became a party of 3 . . . Also be warned they only serve beer and it's cash only. There is a nice little ATM side business next to the bar for us cashless people.
EDIT 5-15: I have received some concerned messages. Thanks! It wasn't my wife who fled! And I believe our lovebirds have made up as of today!
This is one of those places where u can go if you want to:
(A) avoid crowd;
(B) save your greens;
(C) have a conversation with your drinking friends.
We came here on a Wednesday night and it was blissfully quiet for us girls to catch up and enjoy some simple, good-ol beer.
If I recalled correctly, they only take cash...
I love it, I love it, I love it! This is truly a dive bar. There is a couple of little TV's, a jukebox, one shuffle board table, and one pool table. Its a very tiny bar that holds no more than 50 people. I am from DFW, so this place is comprable to Ships in Dallas (dont know if that means anything to anybody out there). The bartenders are either old ladys or a tall, lanky guy with a huge beard. All of them are super duper rad! They give you the lone star caps if you ask for them....and maybe even help you dicipher the pictogram. They only serve beer/wine behind the bar and country on the jukebox.
This is the bar to take your grandpa to!
Oh, and dont forget your dollar bills since its a cash only bar. But even if you forget, there is an ATM in the corner.
This place is cool.
True story: using the bathroom and noticed vomit in the urinal/trough (men know what I am talking about). Later, shooting pool when the bartender cuts the jukebox... silence... He shouts "Someone vomited in the urinal! Seriously, vomit in the trashcan or the toilet. I'm f-ing pissed. [beat] But I'm going to get over it." Flips a switch and the music kicks back on.
Pool table is sweet, too.
Maybe I'll have some fun here some day, but not for the moment. Â Not too much going on. Â Pool is probably the best attraction. Â Jukebox with lots of country music, old and new, okay. Â And after an hour, if you're looking for something to do, you can watch those disks slowly glide to a stop over at the shuffleboard table. Â No thanks. Â Good for one or two drinks, then move on. Â Except there's very few bars nearby...crap.
Review Source:Full disclosure up front....I'm 38 years old, so be ready for a nostalgia filled rant here.
The Shoe isn't a bar....it's a community. Â Or at least it used to be. Â And honestly because I have forcibly been moved to Dallas for years I don't think I'm going at the right time.
Time was that this place was filled with the people who get their hands dirty for a living and old men who weren't afraid to say whatever the hell was on their mind. Â The only time the conversation waned was when you were up during the shuffleboard tourney or a chorus of "You don't have to call me Darlin'....Darlin'" rang out loudly if slurred and echoed off the cheap wood-paneled walls.
But the old men were right. Â The predicted back then that there would eventually be ferns in the place...and in a metaphorical way there now are. Â Austin is part of the reason why. Â No smoking in The Shoe? Â Are you kidding? Â Time was that was even largely ignored, but not the last time I was there. Â But then again the last time I went the crowd were cheesy tweed hat wearing, soul patch sporting rejects from the movie "Swingers". Â No, they were not so Money...and they really needed to know it.
But you can still get a cheap Shiner in a bottle. Â The shuffleboard table is still the best I have every played on. Â There's still Willie and Stevie on the juke. Â
The old pervs may have moved on, but the Shoe will always be what it wants to be. Â Now if it could have the same people it would be perfect.
Please hate it, please say mean things about it. Â If you can't appreciate a jukebox with Otis Redding and Willie Nelson no one wants you in there anyways. Â Sorry, as a born and bred Austinite I get a little defensive of things we do consider true Austin and don't want them changed like so many other things in this town. Â
Now I admit one night we pulled in and I let out a big sigh when I saw a brand new BMW in the parking lot. Â Great. Â We sat at the bar, cash in hand (yes we laugh at you when you try to start a tab) and enjoyed a cold cheap beer. Â Ended up talking to some guys, (cause that's what people do at the Shoe they actually TALK and can hear one another) and shared some funny stories and just had an enjoyable night. Â When we left we noticed they were the ones getting into the BMW. Â So note to self, not all yuppies that visit are annoying and that is just one more thing to love, all types can get along here.
I quite possibly was too drunk to accurately review my experience here as I have been told a few things by my companions that I have no recollection of, but I'm writing this anyway.
I walked in here blind drunk so I went straight for a table and planted myself there while I drunk FB status updated on my BB. Â I know. Â Sorry to those who where subjected to that.
One of my companions bought me a beer, and I sat and watched as she and our other companion played a round of pool. Â Big deal, right?
Oh, but it was. Â This VERY interesting looking man sat right next to the pool table FIXATED on them. Â I don't know when I've witnessed a more awkward, creepy, leering man. Â The next day the one companion summed up his look, "he looked like Jerry Garcia on a BAAAAAD Day"
That he did. Â
I feel compelled to return. Â Just to see what happens next time.
A biker bar with no bikers.
I met up with a group of friends at Horseshoe and liked the place at first with the wood paneling and long faced regulars around the bar. I ordered a Stella and was told 'we don't have those fancy beers.' The options were Heineken, Corona, Lone Star and like 3 other options...that's it....and no liquor. After one beer, that my friend bought me b/c it is cash only we went to another hidden neighborhood bar with more options.
Horseshoe Lounge: Â Shell of a once great Austin dive bar?
Growing up about a block away from here, I remember this place being somewhat scary as a kid. Â It seemed like if you didn't own a Harley, they wouldn't let you in. Â (Remember that scene from Pee Wee's Big Adventure?) Â Probably those feelings resulted in me not coming here for the first time until fairly recently. Â
Boy, times have changed. Â You're more likely to find Austin-transplant hipsters here than the type of rowdy locals who used to frequent the place 20 years ago. Â While that's not necessarily a bad thing, I kinda feel like some of the charm of the old South Austin bar was lost in the process. Â
The strange thing is, the bar looks about right--it just doesn't feel that way. Â The beers (are there any on tap?) seemed pretty expensive by Austin dive bar standards and I didn't really feel like the bar tender wanted to be there. Â Nobody seemed to be laughing or having a good time either. Â Maybe I just came on a bad night or maybe that's how it is all the time? Â Either way, I probably won't be back.
Dropped by here after a flick over at Alamo South last night, and Horseshoe served its purpose as a sketchy dive featuring rowdiness and pool. Â
Several patrons looked as if they'd been sent by Central Casting for a biker bar brawl scene, and kept the volume on their bawdiness up for full effect. Â
My lady friend and I decided to shoot some stick at the other side of the bar to escape. Â I whipped her butt (admittedly, it's not that hard), and apparently inspired an onlooker to challenge me to a match. Â We split two games.
Verdict: fun times. Â The place is an unrepentant dive bar (cash only, please), with a jukebox full of classic country and Southern rock, and an unpretentious mix of beer drinkers getting a good old-fashioned South Austin buzz on.
Beard Punch...
Let me explain. Â On the way home the other night, Suzie Q and I decided to drop by an old haunt for a beverage. Â We pulled up, went in, and the usual crowd seemed to be there. Â In the corner there were a couple of guys, one with a beard, playing pool. Â We sat up at the bar and settled into our beers.
Shortly, voices were raised, and pool cues were held at the ready. Â Â There seemed to be some altercation between the players. Â I watched with interest, as well as making sure that Suzie was safe. Â Yelling pursued, pool cues were drawn like an Olympic fencing event, and then it happened. Â The non-bearded dude unleashed a right hook, which from my view, landed perfectly square on the other patrons chin. Â The guy barely batted an eye, and pushed the other guy away. Â By then the bartendress had moved over to the guys and told them to grow up or leave... Â 10 mins later, the guys were back at their pool game, and I was still somewhat astonished that the guy that took the right hook, was still standing... Â Then it occurred to me.
He had only suffered a beard punch. Â His assailant had merely whiffed his punch, and struck facial hair... what an excellent decoy for future battles on the pool table!! Â Of course this wouldn't work in north austin, since I believe bars up there have a no beard policy....
This place is probably looking for bad reviews because they don't want your sorry ass in there.
I'm assuming this place doesn't serve liquor cause the sign on the door says you can bring in your own flask. Righteous! Check out the graffiti in the mens' room. Somebody either hates me or someone who spells their name exactly like I do.
I paid 50 cents for a Pecker Stretcher and a Pecker Stiffener from the novelty machine in the bathroom. The Stretcher was good for about five minutes of straight laughter.
One of my friends did that little trick on me where you hit the top of another person's bottle to make the beer all foamy and rise to the top. Well, I stood up to get ready to chug and I tried to start downing my beer, but I started laughing at the same time. Beer was coming out my nose so I had to just let it all go and I spewed beer all over the place. We would have been kicked out for that at most places. Here they just laughed.
Some regulars were in here selling homemade chicken fajita tacos. I think they ate all their profits though.
I'll be back if I'm ever in the area.
The Horseshoe Lounge isn't just a dive bar... it's a shithole. The kind of place that requires a tetanus shot before you enter. Just pray one of the locals doesn't bite you while you're there. My biggest gripe is the ATM, which is OK for some places, but in Austin we pretty much live 3 years in the future compared to the rest of Texas. So let's pony up the cash for the credit card machine. Fights are common, bartenders are rude, Â and waitresses... We don't need no stinking waitresses.
So why do I give it 3 stars rather than the finger? It's a dive bar and I do love dive bars, and the biggest reason... Coors original in a can. Say what you will about the Silver Bullet, the Yellow Belly is the shit, and rarely served in bars here.
The Horseshoe isn't a kitchy, hipster-trying-to-be-a-dive-bar bar. It is a true dive bar.
I was there the same fight as Jefe when two girls got into a fight over by the pool table. The girl who instigated the fight got kicked out, the one who got her earring torn out got to stay. Didn't even seem to phase her, she sat at the bar and literally used the napkin wrapped around her beer to wipe off the blood off her ear, then she wrapped it back around her ear and kept on drinkin'. Wow.
Then, a man who was about 115 years old explained the rules of shuffleboard to me.
Good times.
It's not a bad place. Â It's really not. Â I don't want to judge this place harshly considering it's just not my type of atmosphere, but I also cannot separate myself from my true thoughts and feelings. Â I think $2.75 for a Lonestar and $3.75 for a Shiner is too pricey and I absolutely LOATHE country music. Â I also don't want to hang out with people in their mid-30's who look and act like they drink every night of the week. Â Needless to say, I won't be going back.
Review Source:This place should also be listed in Dive Bars, because it does a good job of hanging on to that title, even though most of these in Austin are getting taken over by the hipster set. Â My experiences here are quite dive like, however. Â I played cheatin' songs on the juke every visit I've made there, danced with another man's wife, and saw the nastiest cat fight in here once. Â Earrings ripped out and hair pulling and the whole nine yards. Â If only they had bad food.......
Review Source:Divey. Not impressive, but also not offensive. A solid 2.5.
If only I remembered this place just a little better, maybe I'd have some insight to add. As it is, suffice it to say you can fit in well here if you're fairly trashed. Or at least not notice whether you fit in or not. Seemed kinda crowded by our smallish group.
Here is a place on "Slamar" that time and trendies forgot. Â Austin has changed much in the alst 15 years. Â Horseshoe is a place where you can drink to forget that any of those changes ever occurred. Â A true community is here worthy of any anthropological study. Â When I was here all the shuffle board tables were going and most tables ahd a conversation or two going on, perhaps an internal monologue.
It is a community however that has sacrificed much to travel outside this mainstream path that continues to consume and Gentrify all of Austin at an alarming rate. Â Indeed they brandish a heavy torch in holding on so. Â Enter here quietly, absorb, and you will be rewarded with rich memories and and freedoms of Austin wilder western times.
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