The Water Tank

Great value for the money! Go on in they will not bite, nice crowd and good olé 80′ music playing. I’ll be back on Wednesday for steak night and a margarita!

Def more like a hole in the wall bar, but Wednesday night? Steak, baked potato and salad for 10 dollars? Steak was well flavored and cooked correctly, baked potato was oozing butter sour cram and cheese like I requested and a fresh green salad? Yes please! Server was friendly and quick as well

Went on steak special night. There was a discussion between bartenders about whether it was over at 9p or all night. All night won out. I ordered medium rare and it took just over 30 minutes. The steak was cold. They were out of baked potatoes that came with the special, they offered fries, which were good. Salad was good. Beer was good.

Kareoke EVERY NIGHT. And the DJ is friendly!
And there are drinks and food.
That’s a full night of yes in my book.

Two point five stars? I think NOT. Only for people who are looking for gourmet (gore-​met) food and pricey bevs. This is a solid divey bar with nightly karaōke, a bar menu of food that is pretty questionable and a bartender as nice as she could possibly be.
I’m so happy we took the time to drop in here tonight after an event. Hoping against all hope it would meet the expectations of a north Austin dive bar. And it did. The fries were previously frozen and served with queso, the mushrooms were double fried and the drinks were strong and cheap. We sang all the songs we wanted to and cheered on the other patrons.
It’s exactly what you expect and it’s glorious.

Giving it 4 stars because when I came, I got excellent service from a gal named Veronica (if I remember correctly) and the cook made some darn good fish tacos. Taco sauce is on the spicy side but really good. The beer was on tap and served in a cold mug for $ 3.25.
The outside sign could use a lil tlc, other than that the place is fairly nice for a biker bar or whatever it’s supposed to be. There’s some tv’s on the wall, a modern juke box, and some pool tables. I’d definitely go back again but couldn’t say I’d take a first date there.

This place is going down hill fast. It used to be a decent, semi-​country dive bar you could pop in for a drink without a certain «element» ruining your experience. After a recent visit on a Saturday evening, it seems the local date-​rapey dirtbags that rotate between this place, Shenanigans and Little Woodrows are camping out at the bar waiting for any female on the planet to show up so that they can make not-​so-​passive sexual comments and imagine themselves as relevant. Having lived in the area before, you start to identify their familiar faces, but there now seem to be more of them.
If you’re female, I wouldn’t recommend leaving your drink unattended here until the management chooses to do something about a certain segment of their regulars, which with the current 5-​year trend, they seem to have no interest in what-​so-​ever.

1) This is a dive bar
2) Not a hipster dive bar that tries too hard
Okay, now that that is out of the way, this place is decent. We go in groups so I never have gotten «unwanted attention» or anything weird. The food is average bar food, drink a bit more and it goes up in quality. There is a couple good beers there that I enjoy, bartenders are nice enough and service is fine. they have a pool table and some games, plenty of places to sit. Bathroom is small but not gross or anything. Basically, it is what it is and I like it. It doesn’t try to be a dive bar or try to keep up with the Jones’s. I have always had a great time here, the beer is cold and the people are friendly.

I love this bar. My go to bar in NATX. Great people, great karaōke (if that’s your thing), divey in a spacious way, and the staff are all good folk. And hey, if you are into karaōke, this place is like Mecca… Too much? Doesn’t matter; check it out.

Decent bar. Definitely a dive, which is actually my preference. The bathroom situation needs massive improvements. It’s clean, but one single serve for women? I hope you like holding it because you will. Striker and his karaōke are a fantastic time, a boozy mix of Grammy winning wannabes and drunken shenanigans. And he’s a doll to them all. Veronica serves on the main floor on certain nights and this lady IS THE SHIT!!! I’ve met nice people before but she could teach them a thing or two about how it’s done. Amazing lady and I’ll love the tank forever for letting me meet her. You’ll get what you expect out of this place. I recommend it for the drunk people watching aspect alone. Just beware on Saturdays. There’s one bartender who will not hesitate to throw anyone she gets her pms on with under the APD paddy wagon bus. You’ve been warned.

The only reason to go here is if you can’t go anywhere else. The service is horrible and the only 3 beers on tap are Lite, Bud and one other crap tap. The barmaids are miserable and have no interest in customer service.

I went for lunch today with a co-​worker. We had a horrible experience. It was almost 5 minutes before we spoke to a waitress (only 5 customers in the place) when we first arrived. The menu does not match the menu on the website but decided this was ok and settled on simple burgers. Simple is correct. a frozen piece of «meat» reheated and frozen fries. The waitress never came to check on our table and refuse to bring us our ticket to tab out. Her mobile device was more important. If she did look up from it, she would only attend to the regulars sitting at the bar. We finally went to the bar and closed our ticket. Dive bars can be great… but this is not one of them if you are actually looking for quality food and average service.

I went in for dinner last night at about 8PM and to my surprise, the steak was no longer on the menu. Neither were any of the entrees, just burgers, sandwiches, wings, nachos and such. The menu was one page laminated, front and back. I was by myself, so I sat at the bar.
The website made no mention about the change, and still showed Wednesday to be steak night with $ 10 steak. The link to the Facebook page was relatively current, and the Google menu still showed the dinners, which included the steak.
I have enjoyed the steaks for many years and there is nothing on the brief menu that comes close to that for me. I was really hungry when I arrived and hoping for the steak, but disappointed when I left. I even skipped lunch so I would be able to finish it.
I live nearby and can walk, which is huge, but I guess I’ll have to stop by the HEB and make my own steak before I come, if I decide to come back. That was what I got every time I came to the Tank, usually on Wednesdays for the special. I’m not sure how you could convince me to come back when your online menu differs so greatly from your actual menu. I wonder if any of the other regulars have noticed this?
Like many things in Austin, something happens that changes a little part of it and it’s gone forever. I’ll miss the Tank, but will cherish the memories. I think the first time I went there was in 1992, when they first opened. I think the guy in charge was named Bob. Very humble, yet proud of his creation. I can’t imagine why they’d make such a huge change.

Typical dive bar, but worth a visit. They don’t have a whole lot of bar seating which sucks because I like interacting with the bartender & think it gets you faster service. The place itself is kinda dirty & dingy, but it definitely has entertaining patrons. I hear they have karaōke once a week too in the back room.

Came in for a quick stop and it’s a cool bar. Lots of great people. Sarah gave my girlfriend and I excellent service. Cruise in for a beer.

I just gave The Water Tank another chance and I’m happy to say the service has been a lot more stable than what it was in the past. Three weeks ago, I was tempted to walk out before ordering because it took so long, but since then, everything has been better.
I’ve only had alcohol there, but I hear good things about the food so I’m going to give that a try next time.

Pros:
— You’ll always see something «interesting» aka a «working lady», drunk karaōke, sloppy middle aged women and creepy old dudes
— Drinks are reasonably priced
— Various bar games/​activities
— Down the street from my apartment
Cons:
— If you’re not a regular, you’re ID’ed at the door and at the bar
— If you’re not a regular, the bartenders take about ten minutes before they acknowledge you
— Unwanted attention is just inevitable at this place. Accept it, and deal with it if you’re going to spend the night here
— Music inside and outside can be unnecessarily loud and poorly chosen

Why is everyone so hard on this place?
Johnny Sunshine was our karaōke DJ for the evening and he was delightful. Very funny, encouraging, and he even sang us a few songs! He came up to each and every participant and told them something nice and offered advice. He had a ton of songs to choose from and seemed to really know each and every one of them!
The drinks are tasty. There isn’t much on tap… Zigenbook, Budweiser and Bud Light as I recall. The bathrooms were very clean and the staff was nice and attentive. The clientelle is a wide array of characters but we had a great time, there is some serious talent at The Water Tank.

So, I play skeeball here on Sundays and after having their fried mushrooms, and loving them, a friend and I decided to go back for a burger.
Now, don’t expect fancy, you won’t get it. I think we got a mildly cold shoulder from the bartender because we’re not on a first name basis, but it wasn’t bad. We both got a cheeseburger and it was good! Not gourmet good, short order good, but still yummy. I got the onion rings, and FAbbbbulous! The fries were average. All in all, we each got a burger w/​a fries and two beers and it was $ 15 a person which wasn’t too bad.
I’ll be back every Sunday to skee and I just might be dropping by between then to get a beer and a bite, since it is my neighborhood bar.

This is a great dive bar with awesome karaōke, good drink prices, friendly bartenders, and ample seating. There’s something about a dark, divey atmosphere that really makes me feel at home, and Water Tank achieved this.
My friend and I went for Tuesday night karaōke and there were only three people singing, me being one of them. The three of us basically were on a constant rotation for 4 hours which was both sad and a blast at the same time.
Tuesday is also $ 1 taco night, and the tacos were pretty tasty.
We’ll definitely be back.