Billy’s on Burnet

Very impressed with this place. The beer that they have on tap. Awesome. Great selection of beer. I do like good beer and when I see a good selection on tap. I’m a happy camper. I can not speak for the food. But the overall experience was great. Prices were very reasonable too.

Great stable in Austin. Always tasty food and good beer on tap. You can not go wrong with anything at Billy’s. Go give me your money!

One of my favorite burgers in town, and a great beer selection. I dig the atmosphere. The kind of place I’d be a regular if I lived nearby.

This review is based on my most recent experience; The staff was friendly and the «Happiest Hour» special of $ 2 off pints from 10−11p M-​F (AFAIR), is a great deal. I told the bartender that I had a special occasion and I got a free beer, which I was grateful for. Overall I was happy I came here!

Fried mushrooms were fried too hard but seasoned well; $ 9 is a lot for a basket of crunchy mushrooms. drinks were cheap.

Unpretentious neighborhood bar, comfy and friendly, with awesome burgers. Pool tables and other games. We come just to hang out, relax with a cold brew, munch on the fried mushrooms, and down a great burger. I guess we’re becoming regulars, but just so you understand — we seldom go to the same restaurant twice because there are so many good ones left to try. So the place has to be special to get us to return over and over again. No long lines of people puzzling over the ingredients (should I order my burger with the watercress or ancho pickles?). Nope, Billy’s figured out great burgers, gave them all cool names, and there are enough to choose from without creating lines of people reading the menu fine print and footnotes instead of relaxing and eating. Oh, and you can carry on a conversation and actually hear your dinner partner’s witty repartee — despite the fact that Billy’s is almost always busy. No shouting required.

The bar location is good but the TVs are extremely small for a sports bar. There were too many children in the bar but the drinks were reasonable priced. I would highly recommend that you search for a different dive bar within the area but all in all it was a satisfactory experience.

Shockingly good burgers are churned out by the kitchen at Billy’s. In a sea of ever-​changing restaurants and fickle foodies, there is something comforting about a spot like Billy’s that has withstood the prissification of Austin with its Packers pride, service without a smile, damn tasty bar grub, and ample beer offerings. I dig it.

Solid dive bar, great vegetarian options for food. Also, center for Green Bay Packers and Cheesehead culture in Austin. Nice outdoor deck. Wish they sold more Wisconsin beer.

Billys is a great little bar on Burnet. Great place to meet up with people for a drink and quiet enough to have a conversation with them on a week night. Friendly staff and speedy service. The food is terrific too. I cant stop in without grabbing a bite to eat and, of course, a top notch beer selection. Also a great patio with heat lamps.
The atmosphere is a lot different on Sundays though when the packers play. Dont expect to find a place to sit during game time. Better show up an hour early to watch some football, because the joint will be completely packed with Packers.
My favorite local spot to hang out with friends. They could use an extra server working during the busier times, expect to be in a line while the loner server serves everyone. Overall a great spot.

The joint is a hard core Green Bay Packers place. If the Packers play later in the day there should be no worries as they open at noon on Sundays.
My thoughts today: Chili 2 Stars as it is Yankee heat nor made there, burger 3 stars and I ate the whole thing and got it all over my beard, all the other stuff 3+ stars without tasting but based on the variety, including brats. Overall impression as a beer joint with a variety of food and a GB crowd that goes there 4 stars easily.
They have a ground meat chili, with no beans. It is not made there and I don’t know the brand, but I recognized the taste. I asked the barkeep if it had MSG or the name of the brand and he said he didn’t know. I am very sensitive to MSG, but I have felt no tingling. I loaded it down with hot sauce as that is how I like it. They have a vegetarian chili which they do make themselves, but I don’t recognize the existence of vegan chili, so I have no input there. I also ordered a Cobra Burger (Bacon, grilled jalapenos, cheddar, chipotle mayo). It came with a lot of fries, that I brought some home to have with brisket later that night. The burger was not hot at all, but tasted quite good.
There is easy parking for about 18 – 20 cars, 1 handicap spot and a ramp for the wheel chair crowd.
They do not take reservations. Lots of room, pool tables, game room, etc. This is just like stepping into a place in Green Bay, Minnesota or Cleveland out of the snow with an Austin twist. I had not been in about 6 years and it has not changed much. It is a dive neighborhood joint with decent and in some cases some really interesting food. Lots of items on tap. The bar keep was quite friendly and really made it a pleasant experience.
I will be back! I will most likely take a taxi or one of the services so I can spend a few hours there eating food and have a pitcher of beer.
Well done. I really like the place as a place to chill, especially during football.

The food was great! The Packer game crowd was awesome. The staff attitude seemed privileged, unless that was their stress coping mechanism. When I left, the waitress had the gall to ask me why I did not tip her. Every patron in the bar got their own drinks cleaned their own tables picked up their own food when their name was called, where and who was I supposed to be tipping? Even though the food was great and the crowd was amazing there are other bars in Austin that would have a great packer crowd, I’m not interested in putting up with their attitude.

When I lived up north, this was my go to spot! I’m a meat eater but their veggie burgers rival any beef patty. Highly recommend! The owner is a little salty but it kind of adds to the «rough around the edges» feel of the place. Just don’t ask for substitutions and you’ll be fine!

I enjoyed drinking the $ 3 beers and it had a chill feel to it. The bartender was nice enough and I’d probably return in the future.

A year later I’m back to say this place is still one of my favorites.
You’re can find me here most Friday nights with a beer and a burger!

Well, I liked the place… tons of beer on tap, decent food & nice patio. Staff wasn’t very friendly, but whatever, it’s a bar for God’s sake! I did get sick once I got home, like run to the bathroom every 30 minutes & control both ends sick, but I can not definitively say it was due to Billy’s, and I won’t. I’ll give it another visit for sure.

1. This is a bar that serves food or a restaurant that serves beer… good, draft, ice cold beer.
2. They have plenty of parking at lunch. Did I mention the beer on tap?!
3. The Chili Cheese Dog is something that you want to slap your mother with, it’s that good.
5. The guy waiting on us at the counter was friendly and took care of us with a smile. We (my father in law and me) were newbies and we were not clear on procedure and this guy was great.
Dad liked the burger and my dog was it! The beer was cold, my dog was hot, and… you know the rest!
Love this place and I think it’s going to be our new Monday lunch date with dad.
Thanks again Billy’s

Don’t let this bar fool you. They have some of the best juicy burgers around. They have Inside and outside seating along with a small video game room.
They even have some older video games. PacMan anyone?

I stumbled to this place on a Sunday after a fun day of CSB down the street. Food was seriously hot and service was fast. They also have some local craft beer on tap which is always a plus.

I visited this place for the first time this afternoon/​evening and am really surprised that Billy’s on Burnet has an average of a 4-​star rating. The cashier who took our order at the register was really terse, rude, and made it apparent that she did not value customer service. When we walked up to the register to place our order, another customer cut in front of us (this isn’t the second grade!), and instead of kindly telling the customer that we were next to order, the cashier looked at us un-​apologetically and proceeded to take the other customer’s order.
Not only were we immediately offered sub-​par service when placing our order, one of the waiters spoke to us in his snarky, sarcastic, annoyed tone of voice when we asked for water. Instead of letting me speak, he cut me off mid-​sentence as I was asking for the water jug to be refilled.
Given this was a social outing to watch the Women’s World Cup, I wanted to stick around. My friend had brought her dog so we ended up sitting outside on their patio. We asked both the waiter and cashier to switch the channel to the World Cup series at least THREE times over a span of 45 minutes and every time they gave us the same «it should be on that channel already» answer. Despite our efforts to convey that they were, in fact, wrong, they didn’t even care enough to come outside to check.
This is my first and last visit to Billy’s on Burnet.

I’ve been here a couple of times and is now on my rotation of places to go. They have their usual bar food usuals burgers and fried food. My husband and I always enjoy their burgers there. I’ve had The Shults which is amazing! If you love bacon on your burger and can appreciate lots of crispy bacon then this is up your alley. I recently have been watching/​balance my meat intake or you can say I’m like a part time vegetarian/​pescatarian. One time I was there I was needed a vegetarian option and was happy to see that I had lots of choices to choose from. I got the Veggie Burger with fried zucchini and chipotle ranch. Yum! It was delightful. On another visit I got the friend pickles with the chipotle ranch and was surprised. They were spears with a different breading than I was used to. It was great because the batter was lighter and it all stayed together when you ate it. You know how sometimes the pickles and the breading separate? This did not do that.
There’s a decent mix of local beer and affordable prices. It’s especially great during happy hour. There’a different special every day. If you’re into trivia they do it on Wednesday. It seems every time i got it’s trivia. I’m not there to play so it seems awkward that we’re never playing. This place is small and cozy. There’s seating inside and a patio outside which is dog friendly. I haven’t had issues with seating but I’m sure as we move on to summer and if you go at peak time it will get crowded.

Solid, very classic neighborhood bar. Definitely hole-​in-​the-​wall, but in a chill, relaxed way (not a gross, or dirty way).
We had heard from a good friend that their burgers are some of the «best in Austin». This claim — after Billy’s being bookmarked for several months – finally pushed us to give it a shot. Burgers were mediocre. Slightly overcooked, leaving them dry. Even mustard, mayo, and ketchup couldn’t save them. The other bar standards we tried (queso, fried pickles) were all basic.
Average beer selection. Average prices. Have to be fair, however, and mention that they do have some pretty awesome beer specials depending on the day (check their website).
Patio is small, but get there early enough and there will be plenty of seating for a large group.

If you’ve read my reviews you know I like businesses that are exactly what they purport to be. Like Billy’s.
This is a neighborhood bar with an emphasis on the neighborhood. A local watering hole where people stop off after shopping to meet their friends, or more likely to have a beer after work.
You walk up to the register, order, pay and pick up your drink, and leave a food order if you want. The kitchen quickly puts out good pub food and you’ll be called over the load speaker.
Yes, it’s tiny, but there’s room for pool, table shuffleboard and pinballs. And tables. Lots of tables for the space for people to sit and visit. And that’s what you do here: catch up with friends, say hello, shoot the breeze, heck, you can even enjoy the newspaper and read undisturbed at one of a handful of bar stools.
A nice deck with ample seating is outside when the weather cooperates.
Some tv screens keep you up with the news or sports, but these are background only.
You won’t see a lot of crazy behavior or obnoxious people here: the locals keep it nice and apparently Billy (like me) likes to call it a night early — the place closes at ten.
You may not want to drive across town for your local pub, but if you’re in Rosedale/​Allandale/​Hyde Park you could do a lot worse. Billy’s is so u pretentious and cool I could have sworn I was back in the Bay Area the other night while sampling one of the many fine brews on tap, while Neil Young played and people clamped their arms a bit to ward off the chilly dampness.
Go if you’re anywhere near here, and enjoy what a simple neighborhood place was meant to be.

Like my intrepid Community Leader, I am a huge fan of dive bars, and Billy’s is an unapologetic dive. If you start off by being a dive bar with vintage arcade games, a pool table, lots o’ craft brews and a vegetarian chili dog, you’re probably gonna get at least four stars out of me. If I’m already several IPAs in when I get there and your bar food is an appreciable cut above average, well, I just might want to move in.
Billy’s has a classic «neighborhood bar» feel, and that is the kind of feel that I like the most. If old people belly up at your bar, you’re probably okay in my book. Since half the bar on my Thursday visit was populated by septuagenarians, I knew that I was in a place where old drunks come to die: like the middle porridge, it was just right.
Big, old, round wooden tables encourage groups. A nice selection of about 30 craft brews with happy hour, pint night and pitcher discounts keep ‘em flowing, and the fact that the place was last remodeled during the Carter administration allows even the regular prices to be wholly tolerable. There’s the Austin-​standard patio for warm weather months.
All this would be enough to make Billy’s a Crown & Anchor category keeper, but the bar food is actually pretty good. Oh, it’s not Gourmand’s good (no other bar food anywhere, ever is), but the fried pickle spears actually had a spicy and interesting enough batter to make them something more than alco-​shield. And really, how many cities have enough vegetarian townies to get a veggie dog with homemade veggie chili onto the menu?
So, if you like beer bars, good company, and all manner of side diversions, Billy’s is a place that you’ll want to check out. It might be closer to four stars if you’re not an enthusiast of the dive bar category, but, Lord help me, I so am.

Billy’s remains my go-​to local pub. The food is excellent and the beer selection is large, unique and rotates frequently. They offer loads of vegetarian options — my favorites are still the Avocado Reuben and the Veggie Chili Cheese Dog — and my gf swears by the chili cheese dog. And they have good specials everyday of the week; Texas Tuesday is great with $ 2.75 for trying new Texas beers, and Wednesday any pint for $ 2.75. ALL DAY.
Weds night is Geeks Who Drink pub quiz night and from 7 – 10 or 11 I avoid the place like the plague. I’m sure pub quiz is fine, but don’t go there and try to hold a conversation there on quiz night. You go to a bar to hang with friends and socialize. You’ll get some nasty looks and comments for talking during their quiz. It’s a bar, get over it.
Billy’s is a haven for sports fans, especially Packers fans, but people that don’t like the sports me, are not alienated. It’s one of the few places in Austin where a non-​football fan can hang where people are watching football.
I used to rate Billy’s a 4, bordering on 5 because they had a jukebox with a great selection of punk, metal and country. However, the jukebox was replaced by one of those online jukeboxes that has an awful selection of shitty pop and classic rock tunes. The selection of punk rock and metal is little to none, and the country is mostly new country. And when there is no music cued up it plays 50s and 60s doo wop, blues and early rock. Plus, it’s 50 cents to a dollar per song. The new jukebox has really ruined the experience. It’s so bad I have to take away a star
Overall, though, still a really great local bar with some really friendly bartenders.