6th St post Thanksgiving was a delight! Quieter than usual, we were thrilled to find Parkside. Sat at the bar & it was perfect!! Their Happy Hour from 5-6 was AWESOME! Half off all drinks & 4 of their top selling appies was perfect! Nico was behind the bar: Friendly, professional & gave the perfect suggestion for my palate. My husband loved his Oysters & Lamb with the WA Hedges Cab & Still Rye from Austin & I ADORED my Austrian Buchegger Riesling with the Ceviche. Fresh, balanced & tasty... we'll definitely be back.

My wife and I found this place on our walk back from our hotel. We were greeted with amazing customer service and sat promptly at their bar, as requested. The service was some of the best I’ve had. They had a fantastic authentic gumbo special and the oysters were delicious. At the end, they let us sample their king cake! Jill was fanatic behind the bar. Everyone in the restaurant appeared to have been having just as much fun as well. Highly recommend and we plan on returning there to eat before our trip ends!

Brendan Alvarado

Friends Bar is a great live music spot with a relaxed, local feel and a lot of energy once the band starts. The sound was better than I expected, and the crowd vibe stayed friendly—more “neighborhood hangout” than touristy. Drinks are reasonably priced, bartenders work fast, and there’s enough space to enjoy the music without feeling packed in the whole time. It can get loud and busy later in the night, but that’s part of what makes it fun. Definitely a good place to catch live music and hang out with friends.

P M

Austin is built different. Meaning that they give out liquor license out like candy on Halloween. You can walk down 6th street and they'll be 4 bars right next to each other followed by a pizza place followed by 5 more bars. Obviously I didn't go into all of the bars but in my time in Austin this bar was my favorite. Love music every night.and most importantly CLEAN! Lots of the bars in that area are kind of dirty especially the bathrooms. I walked into one bar and my shoes were sticking to the floor and the counter was gross. I'm from the Napa valley, I doubt that you'll find more upscale bars in most places. If friends bar relocate as is to napa it would be very successful. Bathrooms clean Counters clean. The bartenders so friendly and nice. The only downside i would say is that the bench seating isn't too comfortable. They're really high up and lean forward. I went out for a smoke and someone swiped my chair when I went back in. There were 2 pretty bartenders and 2 dudes. One white dude and a black guy. I took my spot standing to continue watching the football game. The black dude found a chair for me and brought it over. Made me feel like royalty. I was there January 3rd 2026. If you're the owner reading this please praise your staff who was on that night. Especially the black dude, he didn't have to do that, I felt..... special lol. Lots of bars down in that area know they're going to make money regardless if they can make drinks or not or how they treat their guests. This place cares. Again the staff is really good. Thank you for the wonderful experience

Nique White

Cute little dive bar with amazing live bands everyday/night. We go every time we visit Austin!!! Never disappointed! ☆★☆HIGHLY RECOMMEND★☆★ Try their sex on 6th drink! It's freaking amazing!!!! Per person price was entire night total each person.

Randy Venne

Good drink selection and tasty food. A bit loud with the live music that was playing. It’s one thing to blast out something that merits it but more low key tunes are best enjoyed at a volume for the bar you’re in not down the block.

James Harkins

Friends is a classic Austin institution. The bar staff makes great drinks. The music is always great! The food hits the spot. On dirty sixth, this place reminds me of what I want when I go down there. Please, more of this! The rest of the street needs to catch up!

dirty nickel

Great atmosphere. The food is a plus. Friends always has great live music. Highly recommend when you’re in the area. The best place downtown for a good time.

Arpan Makwana

Good place for live music. They have live music from 12 pm to 2 am everyday! We always go here when we are in Austin. They have good drinks options, but bad food menu. The food items are jot upto the mark. Wish they had more / better options. The best part is live music and the bands.

charlie jones

Hands down, you won't find a better place to absorb into the Austin live music vibe. This spot has great local entertainers from open to close 7 days week. In my experience, there's maybe a couple of places in New Orleans that could rival the amount of live music, but hardly anywhere else even comes close. You get to catch the feeling of the 6th Street historic bar scene and you can grab some great food from the kitchen as well. Highly recommend the Hangover tacos! The bar staff grooves along with the music while fulfilling your local beer dreams and mixing up some tasty Austin inspired bevvies you won't find elsewhere along with your standard faves. It can get pretty packed but the pro bartenders never let it slow down. There are several screens to enjoy the Texas Longhorns and all your favorite sports as well. This is a favorite spot for lots of locals and a must-do for anyone traveling. Live Music is alive and well at Friends Bar, come see for yourself 🍻

Jake Avery

Go here. Period. They always have great live music, quick bartenders with a huge selection of drinks and some of the most underrated food on the entire strip. The hangover tacos were so good we came back the next night for them.

Liam Lewis

Came in there on a Tuesday night. Bryan the Bartender was super chill and the band ripped. Kid deserves a raise.

Anthony Couillard

Great place to grab a bite, drink, and check out some live music. We were stuck in town due to the weather and decided to check out the town some. Our hotel told us to check Friends out. Nice sized bar, with a camper kitchen in the back to get food. 12 noon, and they had Casey Shaw playing live, who sounded pretty good. The bartender was super nice. Great atmosphere. If visiting Austin, you must check out the music scene, and Friends is a good start!

+16

gid_fps

great vibe, came here from phoenix looking for the live music vibe and they more than delivered!! cheap drinks, great vibe and awesome food!! there was an artist there who drew me and my friends too, I wouldn't change that night for the world!!

Andrea Metoyer

This place had awesome live music and friendly fast service. We didn't order any food. However, other plates look pretty decent.

LaTisha Hagler Bickel

Fun place to sit back and enjoy live music. Drinks were cold. We did have to walk to the bar to get drinks. This place is dog friendly INSIDE (no patio). The bartenders were sweet to our pup and made sure he always had water available. We will definitely be back!

Amit Jain

I have explored several establishments on 6th Street, but Friends Bar consistently stands out as the most vibrant. The atmosphere here is truly unique, creating an energetic and welcoming environment. Every visit has been an enjoyable experience, with affordable food and drinks adding to the appeal. The venue is always buzzing with a lively crowd of young patrons, all immersed in the dynamic ambiance and making the most of their time. I look forward to returning and continuing to enjoy everything this place has to offer.

Andy Chiang

Cool spot for live music, not too busy sometimes, and no cover. Easy to walk in and not pretentious. Good price for drinks and food for snacks as well. Good for live music and a quick bite before you head to another location.

+1

Wow! Unexpectedly fantastic! Excellent band. Even better margaritas. Like a 10 out of 10! And the burnt ends tacos were a delightfully delicious surprise.

The menu and live music attracted us from the street. Ordered a few items and was very impressed with the seasoning and quality. Would definitely recommend the cheese curds and fried pickles. The chi…

This place has great drinks and diverse crowds. Music was mostly rock when we were there but they took requests and were all great.

We stopped in before our show and grabbed some chicken tacos from the food truck which were good. Ice cold carinas and some good live music. Fun times

Awesome happy hour deals! Sun-Fri 5-6 PM 1/2 off cocktails, beer, wine glasses; 1/2 off select menu items (east coast oysters, beef tartare, ceviche, crab fritters, USDA prime bacon cheeseburger). Greta ambiance. Downtown street parking. We especially liked the cheeseburger, crab fritters, and beef tartare. Outside of the happy hour menu, I recommend the endive salad (so good with apples, nuts, and dressing) and caramel pear tart for dessert.

Tried Parkside for dinner on East 6th and it’s a good pick if you want something a little nicer but still relaxed. The raw bar is the move here—oysters were fresh and the mignonette options made it fun to mix things up. Cocktails were solid, and the dining room has that brick-and-wood downtown vibe that works for a date or catching up with friends.

No wait for us, there were two barstools available, otherwise it would have been about 25 minutes. The food was very good, the service from the bartender was good. I left no additional tip, due to the 20% service fee added to the bill. I hope that goes into the tip pool, if not, do better by your servers and customers. The prices are high enough, 20% service fee is defeating the purpose, if it is a tip...I would have left more than that, if not forced to pay it.

Alyanna Estrada

Friends is a smaller bar but it has a big personality. It can get pretty packed, so getting a seat isn’t always easy and I definitely wouldn’t recommend bringing more than a group of 4. But it has great vibes! The service is always friendly, the drinks are reasonably priced, and the live music never disappoints.

Fairly large pub/bar with a stage at the front and a music venue feel to it. The cover band played a good selection of Texas rock and blues, so a great place if your into that. As they played some SR…

We walked in late afternoon and there was a live band and a full bar. Drinks were excellent and the atmosphere was inviting and lively.

Fancy Dining here so it's definitely kind of pricey but some dishes are nice. If you ever decide to dine here, you can get the following: Beef Tartare - It's interesting how they added a tortilla chip as the base. Gives a good crunch to the raw beef Marinated Pork Blade Steak - Found this very tender and filling. Something you can savor. Some things to avoid: Corn - Totally not worth it and hard to eat Lamb Pastrami Ribs - They made it a bit too salty and meat is slightly tough

Some of the food here was hit and miss. The macaroni lacked flavor. The squash and salmon were really fantastic. However, compared to other reviews and photos I saw. The portions for the entrees given to us were a lot smaller on Valentine’s Day for the same price. That was a let down. Also while everyone was nice, we were seated very closely to other people. All in all, based on my experience it seemed this business is more interested in turning tables and serving less portions for the same prices. Don’t think I’d return.

darryl clark

Great Music and bar service! Standard Bar food! They forgot my order and waited 45 min for my food! It is a live music venue and bar! I won’t hold the food service against them

Super disappointing Valentine’s experience. We chose Parkside because we recently rented the event space upstairs for our wedding, and were truly blown away. I’m not sure where the lines got blurred, but our recent dinner experience was everything but smooth. Our 6:30 reservation was not honored, we finally managed a table about 30 minutes after that. Once seated, it took about 20 minutes to get seen. Thankfully my husband managed to order me a drink from the bar. Once our server came around, we put in our complete order from the Valentine’s menu. We received our oysters about an hour after seating and nothing else. The server never came around again, no management came to speak to us, we never even had the opportunity to know what was going on. After voicing this to a person running food, she simply dismissed our concern and told us the restaurant would cover our oysters. No hospitality, resolution or explanation. Mind-blowing bummer.

Lindsey J

Went here bc they said they had live music. It’s Fri at 11pm, I’ve been here an hour and there’s been no live music. Tried to order food. Took 10 min before anyone acknowledged me. After I ordered I was told it would take 10 min and was handed a buzzer. After 25 I went to check on it, with the inactivated buzzer, the guy handed me a cold taco. To recap, I waited 45 min for a cold taco as the only person in line that entire time

Our reservation was at 730pm and we arrived at 710pm. Got seated fairly quickly then it took awhile for someone to take our drink order. Another 20 mins goes by and finally someone takes our order. Afterwards they tried 3 separate tikes to brings us other people orders. Our food arrives after the 2 couples seated after us already had their food. My wife's food came 10 minute before my steak. When my steak arrived almpst blue rare(ordered medium) I was done and ready to leave. Food arrived an hour after we first checked in. Other only table we could find last minute on Valentines Day was at a Saltgrass location and ended up have a great time there.

I got the lamb ribs and I didn’t like the sauce on top. It was too herb taste So if you don’t like intense herb flavor ask the sauce on the side. I ordered the salmon and it came with a green sauce and I didn’t like it either and the salmon didn’t even had salt or pepper it was plain . The worst part was to wait for our food 1 hour 30 min.

Amrit Singh

Review for the guy that runs food corner here. Wish I could give him less than 1 star. I got there and I was standing right in front of him. Few minutes before 10. It said it closes at 10 but he closed the door and he turned the open sign off on me. What a rude behavior. I knocked on the window. Do not appreciate it at all. Throw this guy out and bring somebody in who respects the customer. What a jerk…