Doesn’t every city have a place called “The Tavern”?

This Tavern is one of Austin’s best sports bars and great places to “chill” while watching a game.

The Tavern’s as original as they come. Not much has changed about the structure since it opened in 1916. The original wood carvings can still be seen along the roof-line of the old building, and all 55 TV’s can be controlled by a hand-held PDA. (How bout that little factoid, huh?)

Bartenders will gladly put any game you want on one of the screens - as long as it’s being played in the state of Texas, of course!

Speaking of the old building, some say the Tavern is haunted.

Yes, haunted.

Apparently, according to the locals, a spirit walks through the kitchen and up the stairs. Televisions kept in the bar allowing current day patrons to watch sports and local news switch channels suddenly by an invisible entity. A figure of a little girl is often seen in the window before she vanishes from sight. A woman referred to as “Emily”, possibly the child’s mother, is also seen frequently before she too is gone in the blink of an eye.

Are the rumors of murder true?  The most often told tale would have us believe that young Emily had a less than savory occupation. One night in the early ‘40s, a fight broke out between two men. Emily and her little girl were caught up in the middle of the brawl and neither one lived to tell their story.

I know, I know, not your typical sports bar tale. But intriguing nonetheless.

The food here’s also pretty darn amazing - for bar food that is. How does one shy away from their award-winning burgers with Jalapeno strips, BBQ pork wing sandwich, their mouth-watering Cobb salad or perhaps a few potato skins at a Tuesday night rate of 40 cents/per?

Exactly, they don’t.

They also have a happy hour special of low priced, very high quality, stress-free, low-cal, alcoholic beverages.

My only confusion here is the infamous sign.

I wonder why they felt the need to create signage where the advertising for A/C is nearly as prominent as the name of the joint. (Is there something I’m missing here?)

Regardless, visiting The Tavern, and it’s ghosts, is part of the experience when visiting this beautiful city!

The Tavern
922 West 12th Street
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 320-1545

www.austintavern.com