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As a person lacking the enzyme to digest alcohol efficiently, 6th street doesn't appeal to me. The only redeeming qualities are music and games. Buffalo Billiards is the hub of games for that area. It has the standard bar games like shuffleboard, pool and darts. I prefer the upstairs because it tends to be less crowded and has other games like air hockey, foosball and videogames (Ms. Pacman / Mortal Kombat / Car Racing / Galaga). On two separate occasions I've arrived at the upstairs after the completion of someone else's private party making all the games within that room on "free play." The manner in which I play would be considered unhealthy since I'm not willing to leave that room or those games in fear that when I return they will become coin operated.
I know the "free play" deal is a fluke and not part of standard operation but it's factored into the rating. If I were to rate this bar on the company (rest of 6th) it keeps, the rating would be lower. It's ok for 6th street.
I didn't stay at Buffalo Billiards very long, so my review won't exactly be in depth. Then again, all we did was have booze & chat, so what can you expect?
A group of us came here after dinner one night just to relax, shoot some pool, and hang out in general. I was surprised at the size of the place - it even had an upstairs balcony overlooking 6th street. There were plenty of free pool tables that night and I think we managed to snag a shuffleboard area, too.
Prices were reasonable that night and our bartenders were nice, but mostly business. None of them seemed to want to chat with us while we were ordering, but oh well. At least the drinks were strong & we had a good time anyway!
Stop number three on the "Manly Pub Crawl". It's your average pool hall mixed in with a sports bar. It has lot of large screens for your viewing pleasure and a mixture of pool/foosball/etc. Service was meh and the bouncer got all up in our stuff about checking inside somebodies bag...a little overboard considering the place was dead and were had already been inside for a few minutes but I digress. If I wasn't in the mood for pool I think i'd skip the place.
It's your average sports bar, lots of room inside, plenty of billiards of course. Staff were friendly. Not a lot of outlets to plug into for laptops needing wi-fi.
I've been here a few times at the urging of others, for a huge party, and now for their 10 year anniversary. I'm pretty lukewarm about the place in general.
Buffalo Billiards could accommodate as many of your friends as you have, and I'm not kidding. It's a huge multi-leveled gaming facility with several very large bars and a stage and dance floor. Sure you have regulation sized pool tables, shuffleboard, video games, pinball, guitar hero, but there is something missing.
The thing about this place is that if I'm on sixth street, it's not to play games, it's usually to see a show or to carry on conversation with people that I am getting to know. I think there are a lot of things that go on here that you can find at other bars where it's not as loud, there aren't as many people milling around, and if you're competitive, there is a much better place to facilitate concentration.
All that said, if you are downtown and you have a gaggle of people who aren't good conversationalists or don't necessarily care about seeing a show, this is a place where most will find something to do. It's not for me, but to each his own. One star for being big enough to hold 500 of your closest friends (useful), one star for having The Black and White Years playing at the anniversary(cool), and one star for the big guy walking around with a backpack full of Slim Jims (funny).
This is the place I go when I want to stray away from very packed and crowded areas of 6th. The prices aren't too bad and you can get some food too. They have a fried basket that's about $5 and you can get fried pickles, mushrooms, french fries, and other stuff. You pick 3 types of friedstuff and it comes heaping in a basket. Starch + liquid starch = fatty = score!. The '!' is a part of the answer, so my period makes sense.
This place is spacious and contains shuffleboard. It's not too expensive to rent out the slidey things. It's fun to play after a few beers. The sand they use are actually very small plastic balls. That blows my mind for some reason.
Remember when this place had a huge Yelp event? That was a great night. I just wanted you to remember it.... REMEMBER IT!!!
I've been there a number of times over the years. Went there recently on a Saturday night with my date and it was okay. I like how the inside of the place is done upstairs and down with the solid wood paneling, stairway, bar. It's comfortable, music not too loud to talk, fairly decent pool tables, cue sticks that aren't terribly warped. Had a few beers and, oh no!, had to go to the dreaded bathroom there! The bathroom itself isn't bad, it's the smell of age-old piss and lots of it that practically makes me puke!...could it be they collected a swimming pool of piss from that can out back of Joe's Generic bar when it was still open and have ventilation blowing in ancient piss vapors!!! My God, I've never been to a bathroom that smelled so bad with old piss!!!
Next time I'm there and have to piss, I'll just leave.
Buffalo Billiards is like the unwanted offspring of a pool hall and a frathouse. But it's actually more like a threesome, also involving a country western saloon. To make things worse, each was also screwing a divey irish pub on the side and getting reacharounds from a slutty rockabilly bar in the alley. That's when the hiphop ballroom moved in upstairs and became the village bicycle.
They all caught Syphilis.
Good times.
I rarely went there because I don't play pool or Foosball.
I attended a yelp party on the second floor. BTW, nobody even know they have the second floor. It's huge.
I ordered chicken nachos. It's fully of jalapenos. Spicy enough, but not enough cheese.
Had a good time here for a private event. Bartenders were extremely quick and poured generous, good tasting cocktails (the open bar policy was a deff perk to the party). The additional games located throughout the bar added character to this place. Think fooze ball, billiards (obvi), and a wii.
Very casual, horrible bathrooms and a bit dingy in a few corners. Fun party/event space for relaxed affairs, but so not my new stomping ground.
Yes, it's Sixth Street. Yes, the bar smells like, well, a bar. And while the prices aren't great, they're not terrible either.
This is, in all, a pretty cool place. There's tons of pool tables - more than 16, I think - darts, foosball, shuffleboard, air hockey (it's upstairs in the game room), a few old school arcade games, a PS3, XBox360, and a Wii.
The pool tables are well taken care of; good shale and nice felt. The cue sticks could be better, but I suspect that's more the customers' fault than the bars - I'm always able to find a fairly straight stick. The prices are a bit higher than Slick Willies, but you're on Sixth Street, not bargain hunting. They're still well within reason at $12/hr for 4 people on a Saturday night.
You can also venture up the (huge) staircase to either the game room or the lounge area (if its open). The game room contains the aforementioned air hockey, PS3, XBox360, some of the arcade games, and the Wii. I prefer this area to hang in - it's quieter, provides a lot more seating space, and is less crowded. It's also nice not to have to move out of the way every three minutes when another pool player needs to put her queue stick where you're standing. The Wii is a great party device. Contrary to what my namesake Alex M. mentions, the nunchuck controller is available for the Wii - you just have to ask for it. They have Guitar Hero 3 for PS3, and several shooter games, including Halo3 for the Xbox360.
A nice touch? The console systems are free to play - there's no charge for sitting on the Wii for two hours (like we did), or hitting up Guitar Hero for a bad rendition of Jump by Van Halen; you just have to give the bartender your ID or credit card to hang to in exchange for the controllers.
There's an upstairs deck that's surprisingly badass - it's pretty cool to look down on the Sixth Street crowd, especially on a busy night, Nawlins style - plus, it's one of the few places on Sixth now where you can go and smoke a cigarette without leaving your beer behind. The Lounge area is pretty nice as well - large, huge projection screen for ballgames and such, and plenty of comfortable seating.
The food served is moderate - neither great nor terrible - but prices are fair and the portions are good-sized. Not bad if you forgot dinner or just need a snack. The staff is reasonably friendly, though I did wait longer than I should've on a slow night for my beer when the bartender just disappeared. It took me long enough that my friend texted me to see if I'd left without him..
In all, it loses a star for not having slightly better pricing, that ever present smell (clean up, guys!), and slow service, but it's a pretty cool place. A nice chill night out or warm up for the night of craziness, either way.
So, I've been here a handful of times now and nothing has really inspired me to write a review... perhaps in part of the only partially remembering a couple of the times. The last three times, however, I've been sober and with Yelpers... how often do you hear those two words together in a sentence? Not... very... often. Perhaps not often enough but, whatevs.
There's really not much to say that hasn't been said... lots of pool tables, a couple shuffleboard tables, Nintendo Wii and video games in the upstairs (on certain nights), and high amounts of douchebaggery from the obnoxious 6th Street crowd. Not to mention the craptastic rap/hip hop/ whatever the kids are calling music these days blasting over the loudspeakers. I've been here for the Indiana Jones pinball sober, don't remember why while intoxicated, probably more unnecessary beer intake.
What sort of inspired me to write this review were the events of this evening, after being present at the 3rd place winning of the trivia at BD Riley's across the street. I quickly managed to irritate the bartender by requesting a sample of Lucifer beer (I don't think they usually do this here, he could've just said no) and hastily declining it. It was pretty awful, incredibly sweet... like a beer attempting to be girly. Ordered a Fireman's and it was presented to me in a dirty glass, it seemed as if there were particles of dirt on the edge of the glass and a couple on the side. He threw it down and poured me a new one. I thought it was kinda funny, then realized that he was REALLY irritated. Assclown. One of the Yelpers with me even noticed the guy's asshattery. We played a couple killer games of pinball, finished the beer and went on our way.
I'll definitely not go out of my way to come back here... even if they do have pinball and a Wii, for which they get 3 stars instead of 2.
We went here for a victory beer after winning trivia.
It has a fun feel to it.
I'm not a pool/air hockey sort, but hey, they had alcohol and that is really all I require. :-)
Here are a list of things that I have done at Buffalo Billiard's that were firsts:
Played Indiana Jones pinball with Quani while espousing my opinion on the upcoming New Indy movie.
Told 4 different British people that I was really glad that they came all the way from England to see me, even though they had not.
Found out a friend was getting married.
Played shuffle board as an Austinite.
Won a no-limit poker tournament of more than 25 people (there were 76).
Walked right up to Chuck D. after he gave an interview to 101.X during SXSW, shook his hand and greeted him, in my most pompous British Accent, as "Charles".
Now, which one of those things wasn't true? Regardless of which it is, I always have fun here, and never think to go unless it's someone else's idea. I wonder why that is?
Pool tables... blah blah blah... shuffleboard... blah blah blah... foosball... blah blah blah... beer.
Well... none of that really matters because these guys now have Pinball machines (it's about damn time!)
Pins at this location:
NBA Fast Break (Bally 1997)
http://ipdb.org/machin...
Demolition Man (Williams 1994)
http://ipdb.org/machin...
Both machines play pretty well. The NBA Fast Break machine has a couple problems with the "ball shooter" from time to time, but it wasn't too big of a problem.
The Fast Break machine is upstairs, the Demolition Man is downstairs in the front window.
Even though the pool cues are crappy, the tables are fairly decent here. However, it's a nice place to come and play if you bring your own pool cue.
As you would expect, it gets fairly loud and crowded on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Beer selection is standard, service is usually pretty slow, but still -- this is a fun place to come with a big group. Besides, you can always walk out after a few games of Cut-Throat, and voila, you're on Sixth Street. And that's always a good time.
I can't hate this place because it is both where my friends and I invented "Extreme Shuffleboard" and where I passed Chuck D. walking in the door during SXSW, so it will always have some cool points in my book.
It's probably not the first place I would pick to hang out on the weekend, but when I do come out here, I end up having a pretty good time. It's unpretentious and relaxed. Definitely better than most college bars on 6th.
I wouldn't go here for the food and you have to be careful that you don't waste a lot of time when playing pool, because it can add up pretty quickly.
Anyway, if you are interested in playing some "Extreme Shuffleboard" I believe there must be whiskey, sliding the pucks as hard as you can, and the loser doing shots for each of the winners points. It's all a blur to me though . . .
This billiard is a nice place on the weekday nights or whenever there are not many of drunkers. There are a plenty of the pool tables and all of these are very nice. I really like the western-ish environment, because it makes all of us feel comfortable and chill. I went there once on a weekend night and it was too packed and I did not like it.
It may be expensive, but it is a nice place to end the night of drinkings or whatever you all have been doing.
Ever get the urge to just hang out , play some pool and drink some beer?
If yes, then never come here. Never. Not only is the pool $10 for two people for one hour, I paid $4 for a Coors light. I know, I know, I should've known when I walked in the door that I should've walked right out.
I was so disappointed because I read that this was the best pool hall in Austin. The best pool hall, if your parents pay for everything, maybe. But, if you are struggling like me, and don't want to show off, or hook up, or start a fight, don't come here.
The location is killer though, and the inside is really cool.
Huge place, lots of pool, fooseball, darts & cheap drinks.
I was happy to see more than just Bud, Bud Light, Coors Light & Lone Star on Tap (seemed like that's all the other bars on 6th had). We roamed in after a horrible lunch at Hickory Street, played a little pool & darts, had a few beers and just an all around good time. The place is very laid back, service was good and prices were great.
Would definitely recommend that you check this place out.
Stella on tap. Four shuffleboard tables. Three dart boards. Two nunchucks for wii sports. And one vintage Wayne Gretzky hockey dome!
If you love to drink and play all kinds of games, this bar has you covered. The cavernous layout is true, but upstairs is much smaller and a little nicer. Watch out for the big bar downstairs. The planks of wood are not flush, and yes, I sloshed a little beer while trying to slide a drink along the bar. Minus one star. They have plenty of pool tables, but we were there for the random games. Big Buck Hunter. Pinball. Air Hockey. Did I mention the shuffleboard?
But, we came for the wii, so here's the review: you get to play on a 42-inch flatscreen wall-mounted TV, on wood floors, with three or four leather seats and couches in a semi-circle around the TV area. They don't have the matching controller for playing boxing (or maybe you have to ask for it?), but wii bowling is totally worth trying. Plus, you'll get to see your friends do hilarious miming, dancing, and pouting. And the best part? It's free, as long as you open a tab with your card upstairs. And that, honestly, was pretty awesome.
"Are you sure you're an American?"
Yes, Kevin N. I understand that Buffalo Billiards is an essential part of the American experience and that by waiting 23 years to make my first stop, I've violated some pretty important rules and risked deportation and/or decapitation, but last night should make up for all that.
Not that I did anything particularly debaucherous or even all that interesting, but the fact remains, I did go. I did drink. I did sit. I did look around. And for those of us who can play neither pool nor foosball, and who stink to high heaven when it comes to other pub games, that's basically all there is to a Buffalo Billiards experience.
I was impressed by the size of the place and the number of tables for pool (regulation and smaller, though, as Mark informed me, no snooker tables), shuffleboard and foosball, some arcade games, and a row of dart boards. I didn't notice my favorite quarter-a-game game, air hockey, but I wouldn't be surprised if some of those tables were tucked away elsewhere.
Beer prices seemed reasonable for Sixth, and specials sweeten the deal -- there's a different one every night of the week.
It does smell, to steal Mark's words, like standing in line at Astroworld. Having not made it to Astroworld before it closed forever (I know, Kevin, unamerican, huh?), I would instead compare it to the smell of the area where you check out bowling shoes or old rollerskates at the rink. Sweaty and stale.
Also, while I like that it's got a huge chunk of real estate and is thus not claustrophobia-inducing, it felt too big at times, more like a games venue and less like a bar where one would go to socialize.
I would certainly go back, and I might even try my hand at not getting a negative score on a game that begs me to use more hand-eye coordination than I was born with.
A beer should help.
Great place to relax on off nights downtown and enjoy some pool, shuffleboard, darts and even the newest video games. Drink prices are reasonable, decor is exactly what you would expect for a pool hall on Sixth Street.
Location did hurt the rating though, unfortunately Buffalo Billiards is located next to the most drug infested and crime ridden bus stop in all of Austin. Not the bars fault, city can take full blame on this one, but it definitely makes the place not as safe as it could be.
One HUGE thing Buffalo does have going for it is the new Barbecuties stand out front, which pretty much rocks my world.
So anyway,l they have your typical bar games, they frequently have events with big fights and pay per view stuff going on, and they have all the new game systems upstairs so you can get your 360, PS3 or Wii on.
Haven't eaten here and honestly until I read the last review I didn't even realize they sold food, damn I have been down here almost two years and didn't know that!! HA HA.
Check this place out if you are into pool and bar games but pass it up on the weekends for one of Austins amazing nightclubs.
Ok place, kind of steep, I'd probably like it more if I was more than a reluctant billiards player (which I'm not).
Minus 1 star for the bar, which slopes and helpfully deposits your drink in your lap if you aren't holding onto it at all times.
A decent place to play pool and have a drink downtown. Minus one star for no air hockey, though. The crowd can be a bit younger than I like on weekends, though. Drinks aren't overly expensive, and pool is fairly reasonable ($10/hr for 2 on weeknights). Foosball, darts, shuffleboard, and several TV's also adorn the lower level. I don't do beer so I can't comment on that selection, but their mixed drinks and booze selection are quite adequate. A good stop for some not-just-drinking-fun when you're on 6th.
If the upstairs is open it's a great place to go for a little more room and a better chance at a pool table... expect long waits for shuffleboard and pool if you go anytime between Thursday and Sunday nights (it's a big hit then since it offers entertainment as well as drink specials) or if you head out after eleven. If you go before ten the crowd isn't as college-pure. The bar also offers a limited menu for those who get the munchies while out. It's not a bad hangout, and well located, but it's very dependent upon the time and day as to whether you can play a game or dance with friends, or if you are waiting more than an hour for a table.
A good place to play pool and have a good cold beer. This is a tough location to be successful on Old Pecan street due to the bus station being right next to the front door and many a homeless standing around the area. Still Buffalo has made it work because the owners are quality and the staff goes out of its way to please. Of course the big screens are an excellent draw for the sports fan. I send many a people this direction when looking for a place to play pool and watch sports on Old Pecan Street.
Photo Hunt. 'Nuf said.
Chill place with funny messages on the stalls in the loo. The drinks were well-mixed and I spent a lot of time upstairs on a couch, watching cats play pool.
Great place with decent drink specials. The new rec room upstairs is pretty sweet. They have all the next gen game consoles and a variety of classic arcade games. Of course there are also plenty of foosball, shuffleboard, and of course pool tables. A few nights a week there are foosball tournaments with players that take the game way to seriously. Wow, thats almost as annoying as people who take yelp way too seriously.
Great place for drinks and games, they've got everything from shuffleboard to real billiards. The place has become a Mecca for foosball players recently as well. The bar staff is great, the beers on tap are plentiful, and with an upstairs plus the Orbit Lounge there's plenty of room to stretch. The menu has some unique items on it as well - such as the Buffalo Burger, which is a description of the type of meat more than just a reference to the bar's name.
Huge place, with fun atmosphere. I've seen some amazing shows here throughout the years.
Ran into some Air Force employee hot chick on the street beating each other up, the four of us wound up at this spot with 2 well drink specials one friday night. Thier co-pilots were three guys who were each well over 6'ft tall were drinking out of huge mugs which prob. contained about 24oz. of light beer. The night ended early for me and them. I'd never go there again unless I ran into some other drunk Air force chicks who wanted my company on the street or I was a prudent member of a fraternity or just a hard up guy looking to get with a sorority girl who kissed me in a dark backroom.
Cheap drinks, pool tables, shuffleboards, and big screen TVs...this place is awesome! A pretty cool pre-party spot when you're out on 6th street.
Bad food. Decent pool tables. Good HeffeWeizen. Sometimes friendly staff at the bar. A bit less annoying than other bars on 6th. i really shouldn't talk badly of these establishments on 6th. They are actually quite OK. the street is safe and businesses try to be nice to the customers. It's the crowds that leave bad taste in one's mouth. Something sticky and weird about them. Like zombies.
Austin, TX
Category: Pool Halls
Neighborhood: 78704 (South Austin)
Category: Pool Halls
Austin, TX
Category: Pool Halls
Austin, TX
Category: Pool Halls
Austin, TX
Category: Pool Halls
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