Bagpipes Pub and Eatery

Fairly quiet spot for burgers and beers. Good watering hole for friends or a date.

I have never seen so many reviews about bar food. Emphasis on the BAR part.
My friends and I have been going to bagpipes now for several years. The service can be slow, the food is ok, and when there is a big sporting event it can be packed full of meatheads bro-​fiving and yelling loudly.
So why do we keep going? Because the drinks are ridiculously cheap every night of the week, the wait staff is friendly, and it’s close to my house. On any given night you can do a $ 6.00 pitcher of beer, $ 2.50 mixed drink, and Wednesdays are $ 5.00 pizza (which are actually pretty good).
So. if you want classy food at your bar, go to the domain. If you want a cheap drink in one of the few bearable bar atmospheres in north Austin, this place will do.

Football and trivia and 12 beers on tap… oh my!
I have been avoiding Bagpipes for years. There are so many other choices — many in the same intersection, that I never bothered. I figured if I wanted to watch sports, I’d just go to Plucker’s. If I wanted a cheesy bar for a beer, I’d go to Sherlock’s. If I wanted mediocre fried food, I’d go to Chili’s. I also thought this was a Hooters-​esque place, and I’m not really a fan of those places (Sorry Gary K.!).
Due to the «wussification of America» there was an NFL game on Tuesday, and me, my husband, and his friend wanted to go somewhere and watch it. I found out Bagpipe’s had NTN trivia, so I suggested it (and the boys excitedly agreed). I’ve been mourning the loss of the Arboretum TGI Friday’s (not for the food, but for a bar close to home that has trivia), so I was willing to finally give this place a try… and I actually thought it was great!
And here is why:
First, the girls’ outfits were not that bad. I was expecting Tilted Kilt type attire, but they were wearing outfits similar to what they wear at Flying Saucer which I do not consider to be one of «those» places. Second, the service was great. The waittress made sure to regularly check on us, and very little waiting for food and drinks. Third, the food was surprisingly good and the prices on food and drink were reasonable. Seriously, I was shocked, but the sliders were really really really good, and the Poblano soup (soup of the day) was also tasty. I stole some of my husband’s waffle fries and they were perfect with a little spicy seasoning. Fourth, there were lots of TV’s so you could watch multiple games at once. Fifth, and most importantly… they have NTN Trivia! I know, I’m a nerd, but I love it.
I think I found my new hang out spot.

Can’t complain about this place at. Its just I don’t give five stars unless I leave with a BJ. Good drink prices and the food is much better then chillies which is in the same shopping center.
The staff is pretty and friendly check this place out. Just found out they have $ 2 hamburgers on Tuesday Woo Wooooo

Can’t beat 35-​cent wings, right? Good football atmosphere, but unless you’re a Jets fan, stay out of there on MNF when the Jets are on. They dominate the bar (I suppose it’s the unofficial Jets bar of Austin) and are known to be a bit rowdy. Not bad rowdy, just loud. I love Jets fans, but some people expecting to just chill and watch the game could be in for a shock.
Anyways, as others have said… yeah, the waitresses are in little plaid skirts. That can’t be a bad thing, right?
As mentioned prior, the 35-​cent wings are pretty solid. Gotta order in increments of 10, though, which makes it kind of lame. What if I wanted 15? They should just say $ 3.50 10-​piece wings. Anyhoo.
I haven’t been on Tuesday night for the burger night, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good.
If for nothing else, I’ll roll over there on the occasional Monday night to eat 10 — not 11, not 12 — wings and enjoy pretty solid beer specials (I think we drank $ 7 Zeigen Bock pitchers, not horrible).
GO JETS! Err, wait…

I have now been to Bagpipes a total of three times. Each time it has been to watch an NFL game. From what I can gather, this is primarily a Jets bar but they have most all other games going on and are willing to turn on your game in front of your table if you get there before the game begins.
Food and Drinks Highlights:
$ 7 domestic pitchers
Don’t get the veggie burger
The waffle fries are amazing
Opt for the Shamrock salad
Out of the three times I’ve been here, the service has been good once, okay another time and bad the first time. It’s a toss up.

I’ve never been to Britain nor have I ever been to a pub. However Bagpipes Pub looked like a modern sports bar with cartoon red walls decored with random medieval pieces. The waitresses add to the british/​irish theme with their short, plaid, kilted skirts. Their regulars seem to come here for the flat-​screen TVs, video games and the bar, or even maybe the waitresses. Definitely not for the food. Or maybe not even the drinks, which are reputated for being flat.
Breakdown of the food:
Fried calamari. One word, chewy. And prepacked marinara sauce.
Grilled chicken pasta. Rotini pasta, cream sauce, steamed broccoli and grilled chicken. The sauce was runny and thin and the broccoli wasn’t fresh, tasted like the ones from the frozen aisle. Actual chicken wasn’t bad though.
Irish style smoked salmon. Smoked salmon and Irish soda bread with sliced boiled egg, cream cheese, diced onions and capers. Quality of the salmon wasn’t up to par and the ‘soda bread’ tasted more like stale Cinnamon bread with raisins.
Fish and chips. Three cod fillets battered and fried. This is what they are known for so fortunately it wasn’t that bad.
Have you ever wondered what a Scottish Hooters would look like? Well come on in. Bagpipes Pub is where sports bar meets Irish pub. The food is pretty bad. They do have $ 0.35 wings on Mondays and $ 2 burgers on Tuesday that are really $ 2.75. You have to wonder what’s in the food. Other than the fish and chips, I wouldn’t come here. In fact, I wouldn’t even come here for fish and chips. The waitress, who was dressed in a short, Irish theme school girl outfit, made us wait a little longer than she should have. But she was pretty attentive throughout the meal.

Come for the atmosphere, the fine food and lovely Bagpipe’s ladies. Realize that the atmosphere is more Chili’s than sports pub, the food is blah and that the ladies, well, you can judge for yourself.
On the plus side, they apparently do have happy hour all the time, as in always, whenever they are open. $ 2 domestics and a nice selection of sub $ 4 call drinks. Service is generally pretty good as well, even if not as pretty as you expected…
They do have plenty of TVs, but with the big box layout and the smallish size of the TVs (40″?), it can be difficult to see the game you are looking for if you aren’t seated right in front of it. They should offer loaner binoculars perhaps…
For those of you who really want to watch the big game in a bar but are too lazy to get there 2 hours ahead of time like everyone else, you can actually walk into Bagpipes 5 minutes before the game and still get a seat, or even during most games. It never seems to completely fill up — see top of this review for details on why.

Football season just started and bagpipes gets all the games so I will be there several times for those SEC games that just don’t make it on TV. I went out today and the place was packed but we still got good service.
They still serve decent bar food and beers are up $ 0.25 since my last review to a whopping $ 2 a pint for domestic drafts.

Really, this place is a two but based on the fact that our server could manage the world cup traffic, i give it a three. Pizza = terrible, prices = amazing, bar = terrible, service = worthy.
There are TVs everywhere, they do have bar food and they have really great drink specials actually all the time. And heavy pours. Net Net come here when you want cheap drinks, want to ogle some chick in a small outfit and watch the ball game. I think we got a rare server with decent ability to handle the insanity.
It;s not a trip… but sometimes a stopover will suffice.

Bagpipes Pub & Eatery reminds me of the title to one of my favorite Clint Eastwood westerns: «The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.» This a GOOD sports pub with lots of high-​def TVs and great beer selection. The BAD (naughty?) is the wait staff here all wear plaid skirts and tight button shirts (that’s thinking with your dipstick!), but the service here is flaky at best. The UGLY really comes down to their food quality. Their menu choices are your standard bar norms which include bland wings, soggy fish ‘n chips, pizzas that taste worse than Totino’s frozen and shepherd’s pie that is missing flavor. Come on guys! Is it that difficult to make some decent food? I’d love to order apps during the big game. I have to take away a star for your poor food quality.
Bagpipe’s deco is your standard pub atmosphere with a bar and restaurant area with comfy chairs & booths. You’ll get a good view of the TVs pretty much from any seat in the house! The bar is conveniently situated in the same strip center as Plucker’s. If you’re hungry, do what my friends and I always do before watching a big game… we eat at Plucker’s then walk over to Bagpipe’s since they have better beer choices and TVs.

Exceeded expectations.
I’m not much of a drinker, so the menu at a bar matters, and this one went on for several pages, with the kind of pub/​UK items that really appeal to me. I came with a regular, who recommended the meatloaf sandwich, and both it and the cottage-​style fries looked great. I’m counting calories again these days, so instead of the Shepherd’s Pie, I had a 3-​egg omelet, but without the bangers, the cheese, or the bacon (?) listed as possible fillings — the waitress easily substituted spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Nice! And it was fine, competently made.
Even without being a volume drinker, I noticed that the prices posted around looked pretty good, in the $ 3 range, and they have two of my favorite scotches on the drink menu (Springbank, a Campbeltown, and Talisker, from the Isle of Skye), as well as Franziskaner Dunkel, a favorite beer.
It was spacious and dim with plenty of dark wood furniture and a couple dart boards, and (I’m told) a pool table in the back. So it did feel like a pub, except for the dozen TVs — holy crap. I just didn’t look up. The clean bathroom also wasn’t very publike, but I’ll accept that concession.
Last, I hate places where the waitresses dress «sexy» as part of the draw. It’s condescending, offensive, and trashy. I’m no prude, but I don’t enjoy women being on display for a crowd. However, the tartan skirts, knee socks, and mary janes that waitresses wear here aren’t over the top. I didn’t see the manager in a kilt, but whatever.
Looks like a good place, more worth going to than I’d expected. It’ll probably be a while before I go back (like I said, counting calories), but if the service, prices and food are consistently this good, I’ll upgrade it to five stars.

I hope I can do this place justice!
I went there for a short while tonight and had a great time. The very sexy waitress (yeah, I’m jealous) was very sweet and attentive. I even got a couple of guys hitting on me. One of the guys was probably 20-​something, which is fine. Frankly, I didn’t find him all that attractive, but whatever. He actually recognized me from TGI Fridays in the Arboretum!!! That’s pretty cool, I must say! The other guy who was hitting on me really reminded me of Jim Varney. «Ernest P. Worrell», for those of you unfamiliar with the actor’s real name. I actually always thought Jim Varney was kinda cute (I know, WEIRD), so I was digging it.
I’m really sorry I left Bagpipes and opted for Cool «Cougar» River. Read my review of Cool River and you’ll see why I highly regret going there. Bagpipes is a great place. They have great prices on beer. Example: I paid $ 2.50 for a Coors Light draft at Bagpipes, but paid $ 5.75 for the same at Cool River. Do you REALLY wanna pay more for the same beer if you can get it at a more relaxed place like Bagpipes!!!
Oh yeah, their pizza is surprisingly good, too! I haven’t tried any other food there, so I can’t comment on that.
Do yourself [and your wallet] a favor and check out Bagpipes!

I pretty much go here at least once a week or so if I have the funds available. I have never had HORRIBLE service and the food is always reasonable if I decide to eat. The staff is incredibly nice although the service can get iffy at times if they are super busy which is understandable.
They usually have an interesting drink special each day during the week which makes this place convenient to stop by after a long hard day at the office.

The food is decent and it’s in a good location. The prices are fairly reasonable. I’ve had the pasta and I really enjoyed it. I went with some co-​workers and the males loved the itty-​bitty skirts and the almost not there shirts on the waitresses.
They have several tv’s for sports and they are always friendly. Not the best service, but it’s not a bad way to spend a few bucks with some friends.

Bagpipes: let’s see how to start, I wonder? Great Caesar’s ghost; Superman how can it be?
Well went to Bagpipes with my foolish buddies Tuesday night. Let’s really compare Bagpipes to restaurants similar in style. The Scottish/​Irish style bar is more like Tilted Kilt. The female staff dresses more like Flying Saucers. No comparison to Hooters at all. The customers were various white collar of various size and shape that may work for IBM or other computer companies or banks (etc.). Normal people just like our relatives and friends.
Now about the restaurant itself, I went here several times soon after it opened a couple of years ago. The food did not thrill me that much so I choose other restaurants instead and never went back. The service was fine no problem with and waitress. I liked the Tilted Kilt style dress of the waitresses. Again the food did not draw me back.
So we decided to give them another try this week to see for ourselves if it is bad as all the reviews. The young female staff was very nice and served us very well. No flirting at our table but I did see some of it. Great, I like to see it. The current dress has changed since we last visited. They now wear short kilted style skirts (not real short though) with full logo T-​shirts which most anyone wears both male and female almost everywhere they go in Austin. The female staff outfits were not that sexy and the least reveling of all the other restaurants that have a young female staff to attract male customers. But still attractive.
As for the food, I read the special on burgers flyer on the table, yes $ 2 burgers’, Wait! Yes I see if cheese is added it is $ 2.75, other styles were more. No cover up here. We ordered a burger with fries, a meatloaf dinner, and Sheppard’s Pie. The burger was fine, the fries were round style and OK, I did not like the meatloaf or Sheppard’s Pie but my friends did. I remember now I did not like the meatloaf before either. It had to much of an herb taste and no meat taste. My friends liked the beer on tap. Still the food is not a real draw for me.
The food and drink cost was in line with all other restaurants of this type, not over priced.
Overall the restaurant is nice, staff nice, food OK.
Would I go back? Yes but only on a rare occasion.

OMG! So my review of Bagpipes is completely eclipsed by the fact that K-​fed (or another tool that dressed EXACTLY like him) came in and sat at the table next to us. It was horribly delicious and my sister and I enjoyed every moment of watching his spectacular douch-​E-​ness.
Ok, so now for the what’s what on Bagpipes. This place blows. It was loud and there were a lot of way overtly obnoxious people. The drinks were nothing special. I just don’t get why places like this exist. I am not much of a bar person anyway, so that probably doesn’t help.
Our waitress was very nice and attentive though we didn’t need anything more than our original drink order. I was not impressed over all. Won’t be back.

Bagpipes Pub and Eatery is a pub located in the Northwestern-​most tip of the Crossroads shopping center. This shopping center is located at the Southwest corner of the Burnet Rd & 183 intersection. It was quite easy to find. Other stores in this shopping center include Chili’s, Benihana, Tabu, Pluckers, Aqua swimgear or something, and more.
I came on a Monday and Tuesday. They have nice Happy Hour specials: 35-​cent wings on Monday and $ 2 burgers on Tuesday. There are also other good Happy Hour deals on Tuesday but the $ 2 burgers looked most fetching. The beer is also pretty cheap. Their regular menu looks like any other pub menu with similar prices. That being said, I tend to think all pubs in Austin are kind of overpriced anyway (with plates starting in the $ 6-​$ 7 range).
Bagpipes has a laidback and cozy atmosphere with Scottish-​themed décor, lots of friendly waitstaff wearing matching plaid skirts, lots of flat-​screen TVs mounted on the walls, a slightly-​dim interior, and dark wood wall panels with wood blinds on the windows. When I came around 5:45 pm, the half of the restaurant with more TVs was about half-​packed with people watching sports. The other half with lower restaurant tables was thinly-​occupied on Monday, but filled up more on Tuesday (due to the awesome Happy Hour specials, I presume).
Lots of organizations seem to like its conference room for holding group meetings. On both days that I attended, there were Toastmasters meetings being held. The conference room we were in had a handsome pool table, nice Scottish décor, and seating capacity of 40+.
The parking lot had lots of space. The interior seemed clean unlike the Dog and Duck Pub. I’d probably come again, but on Tuesday for the Happy Hour deals.

Wow… I didn’t check
before showing up to Bagpipes last night… looks like I should have! This is a big collection of negative reviews!
We checked this place out last night for 2 dollar burger night. I mean… 2 dollars! The burgers arrived and they were really tasty… our entire party was thinking, «this place is going to be our new Tuesday destination». Unfortunately, the burger is about all that was decent about this place.
When the bill came everything suddenly changed.
The «2 dollar burgers» were actually 2.75. I mean, it’s still a cheap burgers, but I asked our server about the 75 cents. She said, «you got it with cheese». I don’t want to sound like a cheapy, but when I asked our server when I ordered the meal what came on the burger, she replied «tomato, pickle, cheese», and she even asked me what kind of cheese I wanted… she never said it was an upcharge or even implied I would be. I know it’s only a 1.50… but I hate going out to dinner and feeling like I got scammed.
My friend ordered a Miller Lite… it came to the table, he tasted it, his wife tasted it, they all agreed that it was flat and warm… something was wrong with it. When the server came back to the table we told her the beer was bad and he ordered something else. When the bill came she charged us for the Miller Lite… my friend said he sent it back because it was bad, she replied «well, you drank out of it»… how else are you supposed to tell if it’s bad??? When she came back with our cards she said she took off the Miller Lite… nice gesture, but she said it like this, «I ended up paying for your Miller Lite»… Ummmm, thanks?
Wow. This is by far some of the worst service I have encountered in Austin. This place went from a «we’ll be here every Tuesday night» to a «We’re never coming back here» within a matter of minutes.
The service was SO bad and I felt SO scammed that I made sure to keep my receipt. Now I’m going to have to check my bank statements… because I had the worst feeling that she was going to charge me an extra tip or something. Definitely NOT the feeling you want when you go out to dinner.
Listen to the Unilocal reviews… AVOID THIS RESTAURANT!

Good food, Great beer, and you have to just love a place with swords on the wall, and daggers and axes and shields oh and like 20 HD-​TVs somewhere in between all the weapons.
They have Bodingtons on tap and that makes me happy.
So far I have tried the Bangers and Mash, Corned Beef Sandwich, Fish and Chips, and the Shrimp and chips. All very good. Overall I like this bar quite a bit.