Prague

I just moved to Austin and I was on the lookout for a decent place that plays EDM (electronic dance music). Prague does just that. They have a nice mix of styles depending on who’s on the bill for the evening. Not really a top 40 dance club so if that’s what you’re looking for, you should probably look elsewhere. You’ll hear the occasional mashup of a top 40 song but it’s usually in the style of the DJ spinning it.
I’ve never really noticed a bad vibe at Prague. It’s definitely not some drunken frat party ass grinding venue. You get the occasional turd in the punch bowl but that happens anywhere. Most of the folks who go to places like Prague are there for 2 reasons… they love EDM… and they love to dance. Go there looking for that and you’ll likely be a happy camper.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by Prague.
I know a lot of people in Austin like to complain about cover charges and «expensive» drinks, but this place by my standards was perfectly reasonable. I moved here from a very big city where no cover charge and cheap drinks are unheard of. Austinites, you’re city is growing. Get used to it.
Prague, in comparison, was exactly what I expected. Wasn’t charged a cover because I’m 21+, $ 6 dollar cocktails with premium booze (Grey Goose, Jack Daniels) and in nice, tall glasses. Very friendly bouncers. My bartender was lovely and very heavy-​handed so I was blitzed by three drinks.
I went on a Friday night around 12:30 and was surprised about how empty this place was. It’s got a great, modern atmosphere, lots of seating, and an enormous bar… but I don’t think there were more than 25 people in there the entire evening.
It’s not the greatest place to cut loose and dance on the dancefloor because, well, nobody’s dancing. Of course you’ve got your random, skany, high-​heeled chicks doing the two step, but that’s it. Lots of creepers drooling around the dancers.
Prague is definitely a place to sit around with your friends and get wasted. Don’t expect to pick anybody up or find a dance partner.

Let me break it down for you. This place = NOT OKAY.
All right, maybe that was a tad harsh, but if you’re anything like me (and geeze, I hope not because well, sucks for you!) and you’re a tad older and not too fond of rambunctious young ‘ums — stay far away from Prague. It’s my own dang fault because I had no idea this was a 18+ bar/​club, being led here by a friend after we asked him for a «good dancing spot.»
I mean sure there is dancing to be had, but the music was a little strange and dated on this particular Saturday — 90’s hits piped into the near empty and not in the quirky hilarious way. More like in the the «what the heck?» kind of way — yeah.
How to describe the ambiance? Secret lair like? It’s «underground» and very dark. It is quite spacious — I’ll give it that. Really spacious at around 11 p.m. because it was mostly deserted — which the ladies’ restroom attendant said was uncharacteristic of Saturdays (maybe ACL had worn everyone out?). I will say she was especially nice and chatty. The few other «dancers» weren’t exactly the college crowd, but definitely young, a couple of them underage.
I did think the bartender was a sport when we asked for «vodka and soda with a lot of limes» and he produced a couple of drinks fully rimmed with lime wedges. Lime tree-​ed vodka sodas — kind of cute.
I will say that this place remains open post-​2 a.m. so we did wander back here for a second go-​around but left with haste as it was just more of the same. ..

i was asked to remove this, instead i will post an update and say this… The manager of the venue and i have spoken about this issue and i am willing to accept the fact that it was a poor judgment call and mistake by a brand new door guy and not the way the club normally is ran. Management has been more than accommodating to me since then and over all this is a pretty cool venue doing some pretty cool shows…
moral of the story, people make mistakes, but sometimes, the people ultimately responsible for said mistakes will step up to the plate and make things right as has been done here.

Originally posted Summer 2009:
As you enter through an old world Gothic iron gate you spiral down a hand laid stone staircase into an underworld environment beyond anything else in Austin with an amazingly well stocked bar lit by a sexy red hue with a friendly bar staff that pour well and usually fast enough to not piss me off. The «you can dance anywhere» layout is very European. Semi-​booths provide a sexy and cozy environment when you want to chill. The room is erotic and entices a sense of mystery… however the music often lacks an integrity (accept during special events such as the once a month UNTERVELT or TANTRIC THURSDAYS). The Music is often just Piped in dredges of cheezy bubble gum pop, horridly stupid top 500 hiphop but I’ve noticed this changing recently. The TV screens are often set up to showcase sports, commercial TV, and relatively uninteresting stock trance video however for special events these can be easily controlled. So unfortunately on any given night it feels more like a confused mainstream sports bar but with a bad ass gothic décor. I say get rid of the standared lazy fair and stop catering to the warehouse district which has too many of the same kinds of bars that very few of them are ever peaked out. and instead embrace a more subversive and diverse culture that is more in tune with the décor. Shut down the sports TV at clubs, stay home and leave the real partying to the professionals.
With a name like Prague and the décor I expected lot harder dance music, german techno, viper electronik, heavy EBM, Dark electronic house music, gothic, and industrial mixes.
The bar features some of the best staff ever though, the door men remember you even if you only drop by once in a while, the bar tenders are fast and pour well, and the manager is fair to do business with. The prices range from surprisingly affordable on Wednesday to other nights you have to watch which shots you ask for… and they sometimes offer bottle service too.
My only major complaints have to do with the TVs… showing sports crap, and commercial television… most people go out to escape the their homes and meet new people, to have a few drinks and dance… with this being much more like an underground catacomb instead of a pool hall I would expect more — hot techno go go dancers, great hard core underground electronic dance music, bizarre fashion, and even some fetish thrown in for good measure but other than special events the overall mood of Prague is more of the same ol’ warehouse confusion rather than a unique scene.
UPDATE 2010:
On Friday night May 14, 2010, all this changed thanks to advent of our UNTERVELT event. After a few meetings with the manager and owner expressing my concerns about the above, I managed to secure a night for Hipnautica and our underground friends to take over the club once a month to see how things would go.
I’m proud to announce UNTERVELT @ PRAGUE. Saturday July 17^th, 2010, as we present a night of live music by Hipnautica, 3 great DJs to get your groove on, sexxxy hot dancers, custom visual projections over 20 entertainers. Our first two parties were on Friday Nights in May and June and went so well they bumped us up to take a Saturday in July. This change was an update to my old review below. On the nights of our events, the staff has been nothing but friendly and supportive of our diverse eclectic and often wildly unpredictable crowd. from subversive, alternative, tribal, belly dance culture, wild attire, and freaks of all shapes and sizes, the club has been an outstanding host to our 20+ different musicians, dancers, sponsors including Artstrada Magazine, Puzzelle Productions, Secret Oktober, Enternal Vigilance, and so many more I can’t list them all… we encourage you to come out and have a great time with us during our UNTERVELT events which we hope to make a weekly event eventually but the club is currently only giving us once a month.

I actually went in for the first time on Fat Tuesday. My boyfriend and I went in after work, we were just roaming around to bars we had not been to. It wasn’t overly busy, but the girls bartending were super nice and friendly. The only reason we left is a song came on we don’t like. I will for sure stop back in.

I went here for a show during SXSW, so I can’t tell you if my experience is the standard or not. As it is, I wasn’t hugely impressed with the place. A velvet rope and red carpet out front? COME ON. My guess is that the usual crowd there is not one that I would enjoy being around.
Pros:
— The décor is nice and dark.
Cons:
— $ 5 for a bottle of Blue Moon makes me twitchy. Maybe I’m spoiled, but so be it.
— A stripper pole? CLASSY. This makes me even more sure that the usual crowd there would not be something I would enjoy.
— Bathroom attendants make me nervous. I’m a chronic tipper, but even I don’t want to give someone money to turn on the faucet for me.

My dearest Prague… I’m not sure why I havent reviewed you until now. I am sad that you have had to wait for your review, but it has been well worth the wait.
So I met Matt and Lance (owners) when they owned 90 proof. It was my local flavor… my home away from home… and I was quite saddened when they decided to leave 90 proof and head to a new home. Although I love Prague, it will never be 90 Proof. I have a lot of respect for Lance as an owner (Matt recently left the club industry to invest in the mobile golf cart pedi cab company in Austin)… Not only does he make me feel welcomed, he acknowledges me everytime I come in and he makes it a point to try and meet his customers. Lance, don’t loose that quality in you because it really sets you apart from many MANY of the other bar owners in Austin and makes you humble and gracious.
Prague is exactly what you would expect when you hear the name… dungeon, lair, underground, gothic… dark. Walk through the cathedral front doors and down a staircase that leads to a bar infront of you and a wrap around dance floor. Booths that are plush and red tint everywhere, you feel as though you might need to watch your neck or be biten in the night. An almost erotic dance entices you to the go-​go dancers and then you spot the pole in the middle of the floor. Everyone… and I mean everyone has to give it a whirl. For all those men who talk trash about ladies, you will see many a man and woman try their luck on the pole and it really leads me to believe pole dancing classes might be for more than just men.
Head towards the bar and you might encounter two of the best bartenders you will ever meet. Jeff, who transferred with 90 Proof makes a mean shot and once he knows your poison, you better expect him to make it the minute he sees you approach the bar. Nadia, a well known bartender from the 6^th street area brings her skill and friendly vibe to the bar. Both of these bartenders are people you can be friends with outside of the bar and you know they care about you and not just your tip.
The bathrooms are large and very well lit and clean so you dont ever feel like you are trying to pee in some crap-​tastic toilet like the ones in emos. This bar does a lot for service industry nights, cheap shot nights, free champange nights for the ladies, and they do really cheap bottle service at the tables for groups. You can even reserve a table for your birthday and they load you up with all the necessities.
I only have two complaints… this bar doesnt need the people in the rest room who try to sell me hand lotion. I think this might have been something you experimented with once in a blue moon, but its more annoying than helpful.
My only other complaint… the music is really changing. It went from exciting cutting edge dance music, to the new top 40 mash ups… and the dj mashing them up is NOT very good. I like coming out on nights when I’m not gonna hear the ghetto mixes. I think the djs have gotten really lazy and the music can ruin a good thing… Please… MASH UPS are for bars like Spiros and Liquid not Prague. Get back to what your good at…
You know I will be back. I always come back… I bring all my friends here and don’t know if I would ever NOT think of this place as a second type of home… Best of luck Prague.

I’m giving Prague a provisional 3-​stars. I’m a huge fan, and wildly optimistic, but like others have noted, it needs a clientele to develop.
Service is outstanding, the go-​go dancers are super-​hot, but I’ve not had much luck *meeting* people here per se. Last night at about 1am, there was a the biggest crowd I’ve seen, and it even featured a good number of people who aren’t service-​industry workers, so my optimism grew.
Good luck, Prague, and don’t worry, I’ll be back by to keep things fun.

I’m sure this place will be great once it gets its clientele going but we were there 3 times and I think there wasn’t a single girl in the place. And only about a dozen guys. We were there on a Friday around 10, then again around 11pm then Saturday at some point that was early as well. Maybe it was just early for this spot. Maybe by midnight or 1am, it’s packed but I didn’t see it.
Well, actually there was one girl there. The go-​go dancer! and that’s the only reason that this place is getting 3 stars. Very cute. And it’s a nice touch to hire dancers. Can’t be faulted for that. But I went up to the bartender and said: «so, like, you guys have exactly ONE go-​go dancer?» and he said: «well, some nights we have two.» Yeah, get a few more. Anyway. The downstairs, dark, dungeon-​y feel is kind cool and goes with the dark metal «Prague» DJ, dance mood. But they just need to get the place going and it’ll be fine.

Prague might be a paragon of fashion and culture in Europe these days, but in Austin, it’s a dank, semi-​gothic, grotto-​like cellar seemingly given to objectifying women, roping off tables and charging out the wazoo for bottle service. So, what better place to spend the later hours of a bachelorette party than at Prague?!
When we arrived late– and when I say late, I mean around 11:30– the male to female ratio was about 7 – 1, so that combined with the fact that a) we were a well-​accessorized bachelorette party and b) most of the young men were unaware, in their altered state and that dim environment, that we were probably older than their mothers, meant we got a lot of extra-​special attention.
The highlight of this place from what I could gather are the highly untouchable dancers on the daïs, which provided additional explanation for the attention we received. These lovely girls, dressed in softcore S&M garb circa 1998 and flailing their giant flogs at the young men nearby, seemed to me strange and sad, and made the feminist inside me weep quietly as I shimmied my way around the dance pole.
Of course, not to be outdone all we ladies had our turn on the pole, which gave way to hips being humped and, thankfully, the last of the bachelorette tasks quickly being completed so we could return to our hotels and pass out.
Aaah, the fond mem’ries Prague will provide.

I have been here twice. Once under the old ownership and it was horrible, annoying music by the DJ and 3 dudes snorting coke in the bathroom stall.
Second time was under the new ownership and the music was EVEN more terrible and head splittingly annoying. The only good addition over the old was two girl dancers, but only one could dance. The other writhed around like she was having a seizure. There is nothing special about this bar. Can’t they take a hint that the DJ should be fired when NO ONE is dancing? Obviously not.
I give two stars: one for the smoking hot dancer who could dance and one for their super nice bartenders and bouncers. Music sucks and the environment is nothing special. It’s a basement.

I was not expecting much from this bar. I have always thought of Prague and Gruv as being on in the same. I was completely wrong.
Prague has nice décor both inside and out (Beautiful girls working the door was an added bonus). The stripper pole which was previously mentioned is great. Not only is it fun to watch the ladies operate the pole, but you could look around and see guys had their eye on it as well. I am NEVER going to be a stripper, so I gave it a whirl myself.
As for the bartenders they are very prompt, drinks were reasonably priced, and the patrons were very attractive and seemed personable.
Will definitely go back to Prague on a night out in downtown Austin.

I have been here several times and till this day I still have no clue what’s up with Prague. Some day it gets really packed and some day it’s quiet like a cemetary. The DJ usually spins good music but the tv is a little distracting. The pole! Yes, the pole! On your lucky day, you can see crazy people swinging and dancing around it. Something I totally like is their restroom, they are totally classy and clean all the time.
Only thing I don’t like is how it reduces my cell phone reception when I am underground.

This is one of those bars that I generally only go to if there is a special event or I have a friend with me who absolutely insists on stopping by. Prague is located between the Marq and Gruv on the corner of 5^th and Congress.
The décor is as you might expect from the name, it is kinda reminiscent of a funny Halloween haunted house. Lots of candles, gargoyles and a ton of things that look like they belong in an S&M theme room at a motel in hell.
The staff is very friendly, the bartenders are professional and pour good drinks at average prices for the area. The music has always been decent as well, I honestly don’t usually stay in the place for more than 15 minutes so I don’t usually get a chance to really enjoy the music.
Overall it is a strangely themed underground bar with polite bar staff, decent drinks at average prices. One thing that they really have going is that they are about to open a roof top patio bar which should really be interesting and make the whole corner of 5^th and Congress even crazier than it already is.

An interesting underground bar. we had some Czechs with us so obviously they wanted to «czech» (haha. ok er) this place out. After going down into the dungeon you are greeted with a very translyvania type atmosphere. There are gargoyles, dim lighting, and those types of things everywhere. I thought it was a bit of a mood killer. plus it was a big sausage fest and not enough young people. Also, my friend got so drunk that night he just started walking around and calling chics derogatory names. not cool at all.

dropped in a few weekends ago on our way to red fez. it’s good for what it is — a loud, dark, $ 7 cocktails 5^th street bar rather similar to other loud, dark, $ 7 cocktails 5^th street bars.
i did like the three booths against the back wall, the one closest to the «dance floor» gives a really great view of everyone mingling while keeping you pulled back from all the people. we had a really nice waitress who kept coming to check on us.
i was a little creeped out by the two tv screens mounted on the ends of the rooms that have security camera looking views of the areas at the ends of the bar including the oddly placed stripper pole. it’s that horrible night vision that in horror movies always shows someone being pulled into a windowless van.

Decent venue, like the gothic touches, but YOUNG and lacking much sophistication. More like a Lancelot-​themed frat party.

I liked it, which is rare for a bar I can’t see from the street. I have said for years that if you are gonna have a bar, you should be able to see in the windows, get a feel for the place, the vibe, etc. However, like Barcelona, being underground IS the vibe here, and they pull it off well. The night I was there there was not much to speak of in the way of music, but a good DJ would turn this place into a top notch party.

My friends and I refer to this place as «The Door.» This is because the entrance is a very conspicuous door on a very plain wall on 5^th street. The wall is white and the elegantly carved door is the only thing on it. You enter the door and decend some stairs to enter the lounge (I guess the stairs lead to the address on Congress).
This place is pretty cool, I must admit. The reason I opted for 3 stars (more like 3 ½) is because of the weird hours they have… even on St. Patrick’s Day/​SXSW. They are open at 8pm sharp until 2am, Wednesdays through Saturdays. I like a dependable place that’s open every day or almost every day… it’s like a source of comfort to me.
Upon descending the stairs, you come into a pretty vast open area… complete with stripper pole, as my intoxicated friends pointed out. The layout is awesome with a long, two sided main bar in the middle and a little corner bar… duh, in the corner. Opposite the corner bar is a semi private curtained area with incredibly comfy couches, which is where we decided to rest our feet before continuing to other ventures.
The atmosphere when I was there was pretty quiet, really laid back. They have live music a couple times a week, as is shown on the website. It’s incredibly dark with a few gargoyles looming on the walls. There’s lots of shades of red, purple, and blue… most of them pretty deep shades, actually.
I had a pomegranite martini, which was pretty damn tasty… even if I cost $ 7. I actually don’t think that it was too much to pay. They have an impressive martini list and a moderate beer list (not a list actually, you have to look at the cooler behind the bar). I accidentally forgot to close my tab, so after my friend and I rushed back to close it the bartender, I think his name was John, offered us shots. I said yes and he whipped up some flavorful concoction of his own… really yummy.
I hope to be coming back to «The Door» soon.