Hi Hat Public House

Really impressed with the food quality, specifically impressed with the tacos. It’s a relatively small restaurant and we went in after a trip to Hops & Grain. The service is great and the beer selection is stellar. I would highly recomeend adding Hi Hat to your East Austin restaurant rotation.

Cute little pub space with a good beer selection, decent food (delicious pretzel), and occasionally live music. If I lived nearby, I’d probably stop in more often.

Excellent selection of rotating craft beers on draft. This place is further east enough from the hip, crowded east Austin scene that it has a low-​key, neighborhood feel. The menu always has creative and comforting dishes. Bonus points for having a flavorful veggie sandwich, bomb side salad, and always available parking spots nearby.

After reading some of the reviews I feel like I need to come back so I can review more than just the burger and a glass of water but oh well, it can be a start.
I was looking for a quick spot for lunch while meeting a friend on the East side one afternoon and found this place that I had previously bookmarked so I figured I would give it a try. The mac and cheese sounded really good but I was trying to be somewhat healthy so I go the burger lol.
I think it was kind of a late lunch so the place wasn’t crowded at all. We sat at the bar and the lady behind the bar was very friendly and quick to help us out. This place has a great selection of local and non local craft beers which unfortunately I wasn’t able to taste. They have a self serve water station at the front that I helped myself to.
The burger was not huge, but perfectly seasoned with just the right amount of spice. It tasted like a gourmet burger, which I wasn’t expecting coming from a bar. It came with a side of house made chips which were also tasty but I didn’t eat many of them, you know the healthy thing to do. I think you could easily substitute the chips out for a variety of other sides for an additional charge. Just typing this makes my mouth water for another one of those delicious burgers.
So, I have posted a photo before of an amazing burger I had at a food truck trailer parked at the Hops n Grain Brewery on the East side. I saw this same truck outside of Hi Hat when I came for lunch. I put two and two together and realized Hi Hat is the same as Kick Drum Burgers (the food truck). I did confirm it with the bartender and she said yes it moved between a couple of locations so it is not always at the Hops n Grain Brewery. They had this sriracha burger with like green chilis or something amazing. Okay damn, so much for being healthy I am now craving a burger!
I will update my review once I have tried out a few more things off the menu. Sunday brunch looks pretty good, so perhaps then.

taco tuesday — 2 tacos and a pint for $ 10! Also their nachos are banging. super super good.

I am craving for a Mac-​n-​Cheese. While checking on Unilocal,I discovered Hi Hat.
I check if they have Shrimp Mac-​n-​Cheese, for $ 8 I consumed it ravenously. Yummy!
It’s a combination of Sauted Shrimp, Bacon, and Scallions, a perfect pacifier!

LOVED my Saturday afternoon experience at Hi Hat. I’m not one for traditional ‘brunch’ items but $ 18 for a pitcher of mimosas was a great deal. And the food, my GOD, the FOOD! My roomie ordered like half the menu, and I was totally okay with that — the pretzel, the duck confit nachos, the shrimp and BACON mac & cheese, and a few tacos. Not one bite wasn’t delicious. Can’t wait to come back and try more!

3.5 stars
This is an unassuming, ‘dive bar’ kind of place that serves good food. They have a long list of draft beers from which to choose, but not many options for strong, dark ales.
The pork belly sandwich ($ 12) was quite flavorful and tender. The sandwich is sizable as well. If you are not in the mood for a whole sandwich, consider getting the $ 10 half soup and sandwich deal. You can choose any of the sandwiches available. The $ 7 large pretzel was on the dry side and seemed a bit stale.
Unfortunately, there is no table service here. So if you are seated at one of their tables, you will need to order all food and drink at the bar.
parking — free street parking

This was a surprise. We stopped by on the recommendation of a barista at Cuvée — and I wasn’t expecting much because this is a bar. Let me repeat that, this is an honest to goodness neighborhood bar. Once we walked in I was resigned to just eating bar food for dinner and that pretty much set my expectations. The real reality — this is good food. Some of it is no doubt just bar faire, but I never kick a giant pretzel out of the bed and this was a big one, with cheese sauce.
Then the real food started coming out, burgers and tacos, that’s when I realized this is a restaurant, an honest to goodness neighborhood restaurant.
I’m taking a star off because I think I really just want this to be a tiny restaurant with more comfortable chairs and less loud drunk people.

Great experience here last Saturday morning. Great beer selection, knowledgeable friendly staff, and tasty scratch-​made food. My wife had the tomato soup (delicious), I opted for the spicy brussels (pan seared and tossed with red onions, also fantastic) and the tostadas (four half-​tostada shells loaded down with meat and cheese). This was our first visit but we were definitely fans. Will revise and give a more extensive review upon our next visit.

Yeah… I did it. Gave 5 stars. Great beer, awesome service and food is excellent. At least the tacos were good. Honestly what else is there to say? Chill vibe, not noisy and nice place hang with friends or whoever.
I will likely be back — will share more based on subsequent visits. But I do recommend checking it out.

If you love brunch and live music and patios and carafes of mimosas (AKA: if you’re not a monster), come to Hi Hat!
There aren’t any waitresses because, duh, it’s a bar… so that makes for a bit of a stressful situation when you try to order beverages or food at the bar and it’s crowded and loud. But sometimes struggling to get what you need makes you appreciate it even more.
I ordered the lox bagel, which came with an everything bagel from Rock Star. It was delicious. I fell in love with lox/​cream cheese bagels in Manhattan, so I was skeptical of how well this dish would live up to my expectations and prior experiences. But, I have gone long enough without a decent bagel in Austin and took the plunge: Hi Hat does a good job.

Came here for brunch and it was pretty good. I saw the good reviews and was expecting a good Sunday brunch and enjoyed my food but felt as if it was a pretty small portion. I got the corned beef hash and it was flavorful but the eggs were a little over cooked and not that runny which is the way I like them.
Very good service and very friendly though. Definitely got a great, laid back vibe from everyone I spoke to.

Kudos to another top-​notch public house on the east side! Rotating craft draught beer menu, amazing food, eclectic atmosphere and a great staff.
BONUS: spectacular HH specials! Do it. NOW!

This is a great place to stop in any night of the week. Good beer and wine selection, but also includes a full bar. I was pleasantly surprised by the food here. Definitely better than your typical bar food. The chicken taco was fresh and full of flavor, and the veggies were light and cooked well. Outside is calm and dog-​friendly. The inside tends to get more crowded but is still a fun environment. My next couple trips here will be for ½ priced wine Wednesdays and weekend brunch!

I’ve heard nothing but good things about this place. I finally came by to try out their brunch. The outside is not indicative of what lies inside. I’ve driven by before. Hi Hat looked to me like something other than a cool bar with nice service, live music, craft beer, and great Americana food which is exactly what it is. For food, I ordered:
Eggs Benedict
–Poached Farm Egg, English Muffin, House Chorizo, Cotija Cheese, Cilantro Hollandaise. For $ 12 you only get the Benedict with no side. I can’t say it’s a great deal. However, I can definitely say it is mighty tasty. I love cilantro so the cilantro hollandaise was pretty damn great. The house made chorizo was right on as well. One egg was poached medium hard and the other medium easy that was ok and provided some balance. This was a fantastic dish and worth returning for. I was still hungry after this so I then ordered their:
Steak Fajita Taco
–If you’re not a fan of black pepper, you may not like this taco. Me on the other hand, I love me some black pepper so the highly peppered cut of flank steak was fantastic and went well with the nice dollop of guacamole on top and grilled onions. It came with salsa I didn’t even end up using since the taco had more than enough flavor itself. I did add a nice sprinkle of lime on top which just tied it all together. The taco does fall apart a bit while eating it, but that’s a small price to pay. The steak was tender and juicy.
I didn’t get a beer on this visit which was hard not to do since they have some great selections on draft. I’ve also heard their Sake Bloody Mary is great too. All the other food items whizzing past me looked great as well including their mac n cheese (available outside of brunch too). You can tell they take their food seriously here which I always appreciate and hold in high regard. I left just as the band was setting up. I’ll have to come back for the combination of live music, great food and great beer.

The way I see it, there’s three ways to do brunch in Austin:
1. The shit-​show that is downtown brunching. Think unlimited mimosas, i.e. the recipe for disaster.
2. Snobby fancypants brunch with things made of truffle oil and microgreens. Your mimosa WILL have an ingredient in it that is not OJ and champagne.
And lastly,
3. True blue, old-​Austin Sunday brunchin’, complete with biscuits, gravy, and live music (bonus points for a jam session). This is Hi Hat to a T.
Located on far East 6^th, parking is ample and free.
Inside the relatively small venue, the owners bring in top-​call musicians for live jazz music on Sunday afternoons that is just the right balance of energetic and fun, but laid back and ambient also.
The brunch menu has quite the variety of options, everything ranging from nachos to sandwiches, to lox bagels and frittatas. Service is friendly and fast.
Hi Hat is known for their craft/​local beer selection, but I always go for the saké Bloody Mary. My love for this drink is well-​documented in my weekly «check-​ins.» I wouldn’t say this lightly, but I do believe this is the best Bloody Mary in town.
Give Hi Hat a go next time you’re looking for a solid brunch joint.

Yup five stars… I feel justified in giving that after quite a few visits here, always ending in a bit of surprise at how great the food is. It’s a little corner pub but that kitchen is kickin.
We’ve been here often because it’s located conveniently right across the street from our architect’s office, and after a 3 hour meeting, one does get noshy and need a drink. So we stumble over here for another 2 hour «meeting» to rehash the shit we just talked about. It’s exhausting, really. BUT, no matter how glassy eyed and brain dead we are when we come in, the same bartender (Habim?) is there with a great big grin on his face and is so patient with our «we just spent hours making decisions, please just tell us what to drink» attitudes. No matter how busy he is, he takes the time to pour samples of beer until we find the one we like. And then, when we go in next time and realize ALL the beers have changed, he does it again.
The first fortuitous time we came in, it was Pint Night and the He’Brew company was sampling their Slingshot lager. After talking to the very nice rep, she bought us our first round which came in whimsical pint glasses. We got a second round and now have a full set of great glasses. We felt like we hit the pub lottery that nite.
But, again, it’s the food that is so surprising… almost, dare I say, gourmet? It’s not your typical pub food… yes they have tacos (2 tacos and a pint for $ 10 on Tues), but their tacos are legit, with carnitas and fresh avocado and that yummy crumbling white queso, served with lime and cilantro and onion on the side. And they have great sandwiches like ruebens and a duck confit sandwich, crazy good. They will also serve all their sandwiches on fresh greens instead of bread which made my low carb hubby happy when he got that reuben salad. For my low carb self, I got a bowl of posole with an egg on top and avocado on the side and I can say, I actually felt really good about my diet that nite. That shit was legit.
One word of advice (if you’re not on a crazy diet like I am), get The Pretzel. Yup, I’m giving it the capital letters it deserves. Don’t DARE say, let’s get «the pretzels», as ONE is all you need. It’s big as yo face and served warm with a mustard sauce and a beer cheese sauce. One second word of advice, skip the mustard sauce (it’s good but…) and get two tubs of cheese. The pretzel is nicely crunchy and salty on the outside and warm and doughy inside and when paired with the cheese, well… you’ll thank me. Just get it.
Hubby and architect and I are staring down a long road with this «little project» but having this place nearby makes it tolerable. I look forward to many nites recovery here.

This review is regarding brunch.
I love a good bloody mary, but when I heard a patron so enthusiastically order the sake mary I had to go over and ask him about it. He stated it was known to be one of the best cocktails in town, and while I haven’t researched his claim based on my personal experience I’m going to say he is absolutely right. It’s fabulous! The sake gives it such a unique and refreshing flavor, and it’s chock full of veggie bits and comes with three large stuffed green olives. Hint: if it’s not spicy enough add some hot sauce to it. — 5 stars.
My corned beef hash was good: the eggs were good and the corned beef was lean and flavorful, but I wasn’t expected it to be diced. For something unique and tasty, I recommend the Hi Hat plate, a take on breakfast nachos.
It’s a smaller venue and although I like the jazz music it seems quite loud (yep that’s right you whippersnappers! LOUD I say) and it impedes conversation. I’m a big fan of the creative use of musical instruments as functional elements; my favorite piece is the drum set chandelier.

I absolutely love this place! I’ve been here a couple of times at night, but this time I decided to take a friend with me during brunch hours. Hi Hat Public House not only has a great selection of draft beer, but the food is oh so awesome! The prices are reasonable for the location. I got to meet the wife of the owner the same day and she was super friendly.
What you’ll like more if you like LIVE music (which you should if you live in Austin) is that there’s always a band playing every Sunday. Super thumbs up! I got to enjoy a band called, «About 7» today. Amazing! Go check them out!