I debated between 1 and 2 stars. I settled on 1 for the simple fact that I felt like the ratings needed to be swayed in the proper direction. That direction being more mediocre than magnificent.
What is it about this place that attracts bachelorette parties?!? I seriously don't get it. $10 cover and $6.25 per mixed drink. When I think of fun Howl at the Moon NEVER comes to mind....unless if I imagine myself as a 55-year-old that wants to spend my Saturday night listening to horrible renditions of Benny and the Jets. Not to say that I may not get to this point in my life, cause lets face it...everyone loves them some Elton John, but still. I spent $19 on 3 drinks, and $10 on the door for standing room only and a snoozefest. Next time I'll just pass.
I'm a huge fan of this bar. Everytime I go to the Riverwalk...this is where I end up for the evening. The musicians are all extremely talented and the music is rockin' There will always be a cover charge for getting in the door. I was here on Mon/ Tuesday/ and Wednesday nights of last week and the staff was always very nice and welcoming.
There is a patio overlooking the river for smokers...if that's your thing. There is also an ATM in-house that you can use for song requests or phrases of the day. My ONLY beef with this place is the cost of beer. I shouldn't be paying $4.25 on a Mon/ Tue/ or Wed night for a beer. EVERY bar around them has beer much cheaper...for example, Coyote ugly has $2 beers until 8 or 9pm...then it tops out at $3. I'm a fan of the music...so I'll pay the extra $1...but the drinks are a rip-off. Pre-game before you get here to keep the tabs down but still have an enjoyable evening.
I'm not a fan of bars that have schticks to get people in the door, so I try to avoid dueling piano bars. Â I put them in the same category as bars whose bartenders offer body shots on the regular. Â That said, I ended up at Howl at the Moon last Friday for a friend's promotion party and I tried to maintain a positive "this is gonna be so much fun" attitude but unfortunately, it was as awful as I anticipated. Â
Walking up the stairs to the bar, for a second I thought, "Oh, it's karaoke night.", but then remembered where we were. Â Yep, the piano player/singers sounded like mediocre karaoke acts whose voices I was forced to endure for over two hours. Â I tried to have fun. Â I danced around in my seat, smiled, laughed, sung along a few times when requested, but it's just not my scene. Â The piano players switched it up a few times but it didn't help. Â A lot of times they seemed to be mumbling through the lyrics in a very unengaged manner. Â I ended up spending at least one very loud, poorly performed song tapping my foot and doodling on a napkin. Â
I will say that the servers and bartenders were super friendly and on top of doing their jobs, but they can't save this place for me. Â
If I have my way, I will not be back. Â (BTW, the night was rescued by a series of awesome places like SoHo Wine and Martini Bar, Barriba, and some dance club I can't remember the name of but I'll write about as soon as I get the info!)
I love this place, and I go as often as I can manage!
What impresses me the most about this place are the musicians. They have the two pianos, along with a sax, keytar, guitar, bass. trumpet, and drums! (I'm sure I may have missed an instrument or two!) What I love the most is that the musicians will trade places! They'll go from playing the piano and singing, to the drums, to the guitar... Love it!!
I know people complain about the prices and the cover, which ARE steep, but here's a tip for you younger folk out there...
1. Go Thursday night with your college ID
2. Enjoy budlights all night! $1 budlight with college ID entrance.
I have no shame wearing those bright yellow wrist tabs. I'm there for the entertainment. It does get busy, the tables are pretty tight together, but I got there around 8:30, sat in one spot for about 3 hours just enjoying good music, laughing along with everyone else, and enjoying some cold beer. NOTHING to complain about.
I will say that when I got there at 8:30 there were plenty of tables available, and as 10 o'clock rolled around it filled up quickly. But the early arrivals leave around that time too so tables open up all over the place. For the late arrivals, I say: "Keep your eyes peeled!"
Easily my favorite place to go on the Riverwalk in terms of nightlife. Â I have never had a bad time coming here. Â The wait staff is pretty decent, and the musicians are amazing. Â They do some songs that I never would have guessed they would have been able to do, like Tenacious D, Eminem, Busta Rhymes, etc. Â They also do your normal 80s songs like Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, and they actually know quite a bit of the current Top 40 hits, like Home by Phillip Phillip, Some Nights, Girl On Fire, etc.
Review Source:I'm not a fan of dueling piano bars so this is a little tilted (I was coerced by my group to go)
The cover was steep, they had attitude at the front door. Â For a piano bar.
I've been to other piano bars like Shout House in Minneapolis that have a more lively atmosphere and with piano players that do a better job engaging the audience.
I am a fan... when I'm drunk.
Cover- $10
I came here stone cold sober, and I don't believe that I have ever been more irritated in my life. This place is far too small for the amount of people that frequent here. I felt like I was in a cage full of wild animals. Can't move, can't hear anything, can't get a waitress/waiter to save your life. We showed up RIGHT as it opened and the place was completely full, if not over capacity within one hour of opening. So unless you have reserved a table/ tables, you need to show up right on time.
There is a "continuous buffet" all night long. Yeaahhhhh, no. There were taquitos, tortillas, refried beans, and spanish rice. All of which tasted decent... that is if you got lucky enough to even get food before all the vultures in there beat you to it. If you're going to have a continuous buffet, then you should be more productive and efficient on getting it out on time and more frequently. You might as well just eat before you come here.
Getting a drink is just ridiculous. I believe our table went through 4 different waitresses because we just had to flag down random people in hopes that even though we weren't in their designated section, they would still cater to us. But god forbid you get up and go to the bar (if you can even get there), people would take the seat out from under you before you even get up. Just stay planted and do not pee all night and you're set! Drinks were expensive. We had 2 free drink ticket stubs and then after that, our bill was up there for 2 people. Sorry, but I do not remember the exact total.
The dueling pianos are pretty cool. You can request songs on a slip and everyone in there sings along. Just think... a giant adult sing along. People can get a saying/ quote written on the board for money, but honestly, I still don't understand it. They had a full band (2 grand pianos, drums, guitar) and everyone could play every instrument. It was pretty cool and they all had loads of talent. Being someone who is passionate about music, that did it for me. =)
There is a small balcony out back if you need fresh air, which overlooks the riverwalk.
Moral of the story... overall, yes, I did have a good time. But when it takes alcohol to do that for me, it's a mediocre rating.
Decent bar, mediocre talent, the bartenders and waitstaff can't keep their business straight, even to the point of angry arguing in front of us as who got credit for my tab. Then three days later I get double charged on my credit card! Very unprofessionally run. Like a bunch of kids with zero leadership in sight! I know the bar business inside and out, and though the concept here is a good one, the way it's run is a joke! We will not be going back here again!
Review Source:Came here for the first time on a Saturday night, it also happened to be Cinco de Mayo!
We got here around 9, maybe a little earlier, and the place was packed.
Great thing that they offer here is something called HIP, it is for service industry. OK so, if you are in the industry and bring a current pay stub, they will let you in free of charge, which is a $10 cover, and you get half priced drinks, all night.
Let's just say my guy and I drank, quite a bit and our bill after about 4 hours was $25 dollars, combined. SOLD!
Now, on to the entertainment.
There were about 4 different pianist/singers and then the band, or so we thought. Turns out almost all of the band and pianist could sing and play every instrument. They all rotated and put on a hell of a show, seriously he and I were both overly impressed with the music and talent.
Of course there were a lot of bachelorette parties and birthday parties, so it was a great time for the crowd to get involved. Â
I think our only complaint would be the inside needs to be bigger. We got lucky because some 80 year old man decided it would be great to get on bar railing and dance for the whole club (this isn't what made us lucky!), and due to this, he and his entire party were asked, not so kindly, to leave. So my date and I rushed for their seats, otherwise it would have been a standing fest all night long.
Anyway, if you're in the area I highly recommend this place, and if you're in the industry take up their HIP promotion, totally worth it!
Came here with some people I met at my conference, we came on a Thursday night and the cover charge was $7 we paid and made our way upstairs to some songs being played on the pianos and the guitar. We found our way to a table and sat down and a server came over and we ordered some drinks.
I knew the drinks were going to be overpriced since we were in a club and they were the girls I was with decided to split a bucket of hurricanes the bucket was $30 and tasted of liquid sugar.
The guys playing the piano's and guitars did a good job and kept the crowd into it.
I went in late with some new friends (strangers from the last bar who invited me) and experienced a little deja vu. How At The Moon is just like the one in Universal Citywalk - fun show, drink specials, lots of laughing. A key difference is the friendliness of the crowd. A random nice Texas lady watched my purse while I danced. You can't be in a bad mood in this joint!
Review Source:I love this place. San Antonio does not have the best nightlife so we constantly find ourselves going here anytime we decide to go out. This place is a blast. Come prepared with a list of songs or just enjoy.
You need to get there early (by 9pm usually) in order to get a seat/table. It's also a great place for any type of party.
If you work in a service industry in SA bring a pay stub and ask for the H.I.P. card, you get free admission & half price drinks all night for your drink only. If you order for a group they will only give half-price on your drink.
I am typically a more laid back bar type but I went out of happy hour with my co-workers to howl at the moon on Friday and we had a great time. It is not somewhere that I would frequent often, it but it is fun for a change of pace. Actually it brought me back to my college days, not only because Mizzou had a dueling piano bar, but because there was a very young crowd. Overall, fun for special occasions when you want to get a little loud.
The downfall for me is I am a beer girl and the pickings were quite slim.
I will respectfully disagree with whoever said this is great for both the outgoing and the introvert because I, as quite the introvert at times, could not make myself enjoy this place. But preface this whole review by saying I was the DD (and the staff is nice enough to mark you as such and give you free soda all night, though you feel the need to tip, so not completely free but still nice gesture). Â The cover was expensive and this is just not my scene. This might as well be drunk group karaoke as far as I'm concerned and I don't dig it. Lots of others (many drunk) do, so this is one Yelp where I would not hastily make any decisions based on me and my words. I'm not a social butterfly and I would have been way happier if all my friends had stuck to the hotel bar and played pool and darts. Â This is too loud, so other than group participation, you aren't really hanging out with your friends and I'm not a fan of that myself.
Plus side is there is a nice patio outside that overlooks the riverwalk. I spent 99% of my time out there with 1/4-1/2 of our group at any given time. I claimed a table or two quickly, which is a good idea if you have no intention of going in and have to hang for a couple hours. Out there I had some nice conversations with a lovely breeze and a great view and still had waitress service. Inside was a madhouse with way too many people (social anxiety, anyone?) and too much loudness. Judge yourself honestly before signing up for this trip because you'll be there for hours and if you aren't into it, it will certainly feel like it
A very fun bar to go to whether you are an outgoing personality or someone who keeps to yourself. The seating is arranged all around the stage and instead of the normal socializing through talking, everyone is socializing by singing along with the entertainers on stage. A very fun and, to me, a unique experience.
The entertainers seemed to know every song somehow, and they did an excellent job of playing each one. They entice the crowd to sing along with them by playing requested songs. The drinks are also pretty strong and use good alcohol.
The only downside was that a girl sitting near us had a bit too much to drink and made a mess of herself, her table, and the floor. It seemed that the staff didn't know what to do about it and kind of all just stood there watching. When she finally left the staff came back and all kind of stood around the table again then walked away and came back at least 15 minutes later to clean up the area. A customer had to put chairs up to block off the area so that no one would try to sit down at the table. Which could have ruined someone's night. Didn't ruin mine though, I had lots of fun!
All you need to know is they sell drinks by the bucket, by THE bucket. For $30 u can get a bucket of whatever mixed drink u want. Â After that ENJOY :) Â
Do keepin mind that the place is small and it fills up quickly we had to sit outside in the balcony which was just as great but I have no idea what exactly goes on inside. Â Next time I will arrive early so I can experience the show
GF and I went on advice of the other posters. Â Most of the posters depict an accurate picture of Howl at the Moon. Â
Crowded: EXTREMELY! Â
Cover Price: Horrible (unless you show the hostess the Yelp 'free cover' advertisement). Â $10/person and you're almost guaranteed to be standing the entire night. Â Seating is limited and if you go in a group, I'd be shocked if you'd find seating to accomodate your entire party (especially if you want to sit together). Â We got there at 7:45pm and it was already packed. Â Thankfully we didn't have to pay the cover, but I felt bad (and would've been pissed if it were me) for the other patrons who had to pay and stand. Â Lame.
The dueling piano action is a little misleading. Â The two (there were actually 4 performers on 2 pianos when we went) pianists aren't dueling each other. Â One is the lead performer on the song and the other assists on the other piano, then they switch when the next song comes on. Â We were very impressed w/one of the performers but the other 3 left a lot to desire, especially the one that looks like Doogie Howser. Â
Anyway, you also better be prepared to pay a premium for drinks. Â $8.50 for a redbull and vodka isn't that bad, but when the vodka is Smirnoff, I'd have to say that the cost didn't meet the quality of the drinks.
All in all, it's a cool place to visit when you're in town, but the overall experience is just 'okay.'
We have been there twice and had a REALLY great time both times. However, it is insanely crowded. Â It's fun to go with a group, but I marked it as "not good for groups" on my Yelp review because it's nearly impossible to seat your group together. Â
It gets crowded and I can deal with that but the tables and chairs are CRAZY close together - very uncomfortable and hard to get around. I'd rather just have them remove the tables and stand all night.
We got there around 5:30pm for a Happy Hour Party and tables were already getting tough to find. Â A friend of ours showed up around 8PM and had to wait in a long line - the building was at capacity and they were letting one person in each time one person left - makes sense, just shows how packed it was.
Not a bad place overall, but it is pretty pricey - remember, it's in the downtown tourist area on the West Bank - right next to the Hard Rock. Â Expect to pay a bit more in this area.
VERY convenient parking lot RIGHT across the street from the bar but you pay for the convenience. Â We paid $13 for parking from 5:30pm until 10:00PM. Â There was PLENTY of parking at 5:30PM but I think by the time our friends showed up at 8pm, it was full. Â I can't swear to that though - they may have just been too cheap to pay for parking in this lot - I just kept getting texts that they were trying to find a place to park....
I think we've outgrown Howl at the Moon. Â This last visit was fun, but the Bachelorette party in front of us was a little immature and the crowded floor was a little much. Â It is a great place to take folks who have never been, but for locals, I'd find a place off the riverwalk...suggestions?
Review Source:God I love dueling piano bars. Â I especially like going on my birthday when you get all the extra attention by plopping yourself up on the piano for your own "special" song. Â Since it's more than just a bar, but also mighty fine and highly interactive entertainment, I'm perfectly fine with coughing up the cover charge.
Review Source:My boyfriend and I were visiting San Antonio and we stopped by for a drink. Â I showed them the yelp ad for free admission on my phone and they let us in for free. Â We ended up having a really good time. Â The musicians were great! Â And I really like the quote boards they display!
I agree that the cover charge is super lame, but its good spot to enjoy some live music when you're in town.
I love going to this bar with my friend. We have managed to have some very good times and stumble across misadventures there.
I don't particularly like that this bar charges cover. Its a bar! I'm here to spend money. If you must charge cover it should be something ridiculously cheap. I want to spend cash on drinks not the doorman.
The drinks are average priced. I thought that was good being as this place is on the Riverwalk. The piano players always choose good songs and keep everyone entertained.
If you're hoping to get a table or bar stool, early arrival is a MUST. It can get very crowded and you may have to stand the entire time if you get unlucky.
Smoking is permitted but that's just par for a SA bar. Overall, I'd say its a great place to hang out with friends or have a bachelor/bachelorette party.
Man, on yelp it said when we went here that if we showed the ad from yelp we were supposed to get in for free! Well we showed them the ad, they radioed to their manager and they said they had no idea what deal that was and told us we were making it up. LAME. We tried arguing, but still nothing. BOO.
So we paid our cover and went inside and then we actually were pretty entertained by the two piano players, although we thought for a piano dueling that they would actually be battling with each other, but they actually seemed to just take turns, and there was no battling at all, which again we thought was not quite as exciting as we were hoping it to be. The drinks are average in price, and they have big sharing bowl drinks and such too, which the birthday party group definitely had a few of since they were belting out all of the words to every song requested and played.
The other thing the piano guys did was trade off songs that were dropped off to them, which again didn't really seem to be "battling" or "dueling" to me, but I guess harmony is cool, right? They did bring in a guitar and a drum set for some songs too, so that added a little more pizzaz, but I think unless you are more drunk than we were, this place is only entertaining for so long.
A very fun place to hang out on a Saturday night!
There were a few cons:
smoking everywhere (but that's TX for ya)
$10 cover (cover charges are my pet peeve, but I felt this place earned it).
But I liked a lot:
-Musicians were friggin awesome, and knew how to play just about any instrument. Â Not only could they play a huge variety of songs, but they even knew the lyrics!! Â The girl was nice to look at, too. Â (oh yeah, and they get big points for playing "Santa Monica")!
-It was very entertaining the whole night through!
It can get pretty packed, but somehow we got lucky and my buddy found an open table in a good spot!
Drinks are tasty and average-priced (which is a good thing when it's on the Riverwalk). Â It also does seem like a very popular place with wedding bachelor / bachelorette parties.
I would definitely go back again some time!
I had so much fun here! I was in San Antonio for work and went here with some colleagues. I haven't been that drunk in a long time. I was spouting out facts that we learned on the riverboat cruise from earlier in the day.
The piano players and band are absolutely great and inappropriate! They make it just a really super fun time.
This is a fun place to go ... but not ever time you go downtown. If you want to get all drunk at a cheap price you can get these buckets that say "the most fun I can have with my clothes on" The piano music and show is ok, at least it gives you something to do besides drink.
The cover price is horrible- we had coupons "buy one get one free" without any restrictions on them. (Mine you we were there for our joint Bachelor/Bacheloretter party) But the people there said because it was during the alamo bowl if you get in before 6pm we could use them. The guy at the front desk was nice and stamped our hands.
Again, good place to go ...piano show tends to be the same act ... :/
This place was really fun....after about 4 drinks. It was a little awkward at first because the crowd was older, about 35 and up, but they were still a lively bunch. There were 2 pianos that were not exactly dueling, but more of a tag team. One song would play and they would switch, seemed too tame to be a duel. I was really surprised that they would go on these long "auctions" on specific music eras...like cheesiest 80s songs. They would go up a dollar or two with each additional song but only played one chorus. I feel bad for the person who paid $17 for a song only to have been outbid 20 seconds later by a $20 bid. They did, however, get to requests pretty quickly though. It took maybe 5-10 minutes for them to play a request. Overall good ole drunken fun.
Cover charge: $10. Beers: $4 each. Bachelorette dropping her pants on stage: just plain raunchy.
A dueling piano bar where all of the band members(or whatever you call them) play every instrument and sing?!?! AWESOME and really impressive.
I've been to piano bars before so I knew what to expect. I would highly suggest getting here really early if you want to get a table. Otherwise you will be standing which kinda sucks.
Wow.. I'm actually surprised this place got so many not-so-great reviews..
I love this place. I've been to a lot of piano bars and this is by far the best one I've ever been to.
First off, they actually have a full band. Most piano bars just have the two baby grand pianos back to back. But this place has an electronic drum set, an electric bass guitar, an electric 6-string guitar, a sax, and a KEYtar. Of course, they don't always utilize the entire band, but they do about 30-50% of the time.
Secondly, they actually have a female performer. It's definitely a breath of fresh air. I can't tell you how sick I am of going to other piano bars and having to hear a man sing "I Will Survive".. I assure you that I will not survive if I must endure it one more time.
Finally, all of the performers can play all of the instruments and can all sing very well. They'll often rotate instruments and singing duties every few songs. They do instrument duels once a night (sometimes it's the dueling pianos, sometimes it's keytar vs. electric guitar). It's very entertaining, especially for music lovers. And they are very good at interacting with the crowd.
The drink prices are average. They do have cheap jello shots in syringes but everytime I've gone, it was never served by a man (I would never take a syringe shot of alcohol served by a man). It was always one of the many attractive waitresses they have.
My only complaint is the $10 cover charge, which actually isn't bad compared to the bars where I'm originally from. But that, on top of having to pay for parking downtown, is a pain. That's the ONLY reason I didn't give this place a 5th star.
The only other thing I have left to mention is that the crowd was a bit... older.. than me and my friends were. But hey, you go to have a good time with your friends, drink, and enjoy great entertaining music, so it doesn't matter what age the crowd is.
Looking forward to coming here again.
Smoking allowed here. Â Again, yuck.
The musicians rotating from drums to mic to dueling pianos were an impressive mixture of successful synergy and managed to play all the Elton John classics to additional favorites and sing-alongs such as Sublime.
The drinks are stiff.
The bar is accessible even when the crowd is rowdy.
Despite the massive groups of people the women's restroom never had a line. Â Finally a venue that accomodates the need to listen to music more and stand in a cue less.
Behind the musicians you can see a huge mirror. Â Each side states a price which one can pay to have a statement written and viewed by all for different periods of time. Â On most tables and bars you can find blank paper and pencils for requests, etc. Â During my visit there was a meteorology convention. Â An example of a clever quote was, "Meteorologists do it with crystal balls." Â Tres tres chic...
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,608 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,970 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,309 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,906 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,985 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
