Lone Star Saloon

On the edge of downtown, just across from a Metro transit and a few blocks from a Greyhound station lies the epitome of a dive bar. The place doesn’t resemble anything else in the area– from the Downtown commercial district to the north, the Vietnamese restaurants to the south, or the bustling Midtown all around it.
The place is dark, the drinks are cheap, and it’s generally very empty. I honestly wonder how on earth the place stays in business. The servers are friendly and accommodating, and they have chips and quick-​bake personal pizzas for sale, but that’s about it. Due to the proximity to the aforementioned bus stops, you get a lot of odd characters coming through. Not for the faint of heart, but if you’re in the area, can’t manage to make it another 5 blocks to a classier joint, and would rather save money to get a strong drink, I’d say go for it.

When you just was good old bud light and no hippster. This place is the definition of hole in the wall. I haven’t been to a place like this in years, not since I had old biker friend.

Cool hole in the wall with strong drinks at reasonable prices. Will be back. Friendly staff and good experience. The place is old but it adds to the character.

Yes yes yes and yes. Dive in every way! Straight two star but thats a good thing! Max occupancy 72.

One of the most redeeming qualities of TLSS is that there is never ever a cover charge ever! Free entertainment available every day & night at TLSS.

We rode the megabus to Houston for the first time and while waiting for our friends to pick us up we saw this bar. This bar is right next door to where the bus drops you off in downtown. The bar is really small. It’s definitely a hole in the wall place. This place is kind of questionable and scary. I sat next to this drunk creeper that just stared at me without saying a word and just a blank stare. But other than him, drinks were cheap. It’s suppose to be a full bar but they didn’t even have crown. Which was weird. Our bartender was super friendly though. But this isn’t my type of scenery. So I don’t think I would go back…

Extremely out of line and rude bartender. We never even got served or had order taken because the short, portly Latino woman working the bar began to scream at us after I went towards the bathroom thinking it was the backdoor. It appears she thought we were trying to use the restroom without buying anything. This wasn’t the case, but we chose to walk out when she began yelling profanities at us. The bar is probably a good place to grab a beer, but this employee’s temper and refusal to listen cost her a few customers. Not to mention the scene she caused probably tarnished the bar’s reputation for the others there. Never coming back and will always have this bad story to tell about her.

Love love love this place… We always go with our friends and so far everyone has liked it… Alana is awesome and so is Jessica… They have never gave attitude unlike «Dog house tavern» but drinks are good and beer is pretty good to… Jukebox is awesome old school country along with new song…

If you are looking for a seedy hole in the wall dive bar, this is it. Cheap drinks and if you came with a group of friends, you’d have a good time. I’m giving it a low rating because the bartender is super unfriendly and is the reason why I’m leaving. Rushed me out even though I am the only person here… didn’t greet me, say thanks nothing. Worst service I have ever gotten. She gets no tip.
Update: there was several bugs in my drink

The Lone Star Saloon completely shatters any similarities you might find in nearby Midtown or downtown bars. The bar takes people watching to new levels with the Megabus and Metro downtown literally across the street. The bar is kind of stuck in time, but this ads to the bizarre uniqueness to this longtime establishment. If your looking to lay low, people watching I certainly think you should check it out. The bar has a very very large catalogue of the crazy/​strange stories that have happened within this bar, adding to the one of a kind legacy that could never be duplicated in a typical downtown or Midtown bar.

Perfect dive bar. Laughing Pete next to us calling me Elvis Costello and wonderful service from Jessica. Received a cool coozie and a warm welcome from owner Joe Lee

Quaint hole-​in-​the-​wall dive bar next to Metro downtown bus station. Much cleaner than one would expect, decent beer selection & friendly bartender, Jessica

This place survives off toothless hicks. Smells horrible and the old hag bartending was the furthest thing from friendly. It is right next to the megabus with ALOT of shady characters. Smells horrible, like cigarettes and, hot beer and piss. I couldn’t even breathe. I would not go there unless you want to be surrounded by bums from under the highway.

This is a great place to hide out and hang out. Jessica and Alana provide really good service without a load of attitude. The jukebox has just about anything you may want to hear. About the only drawback is the occasional street person wanting someone to buy them a drink. If you want a place that is on the bus line, and comfortable this is it.

Well if you are looking at one of Houston’s diviest bars, this would be it. I have driven by it dozens of times, but never went in to see what was behind the doors.
This place is not for the faint of heart. First it is conveniently located across from the Greyhound bus terminal downtown, so some interesting people come here with their «luggage» they have on the bus with them. That is if you consider garbage bags, «luggage.»
The beer is relatively cheap, $ 3 for a Miller Lite. They have a decent local selection. They do serve liquor.
Parking is a little tight in their lot and people do not park nicely next to you. They boxed in one of my buddies. Luckily for him, I parked next to him so I was able to move to get him out. You can also park on the street. I was a little worried about parking my luxury vehicle in the lot (buddies parked their high end cars as well); we were there for 3 hours and no problems. Several friends have had their vehicles stolen/​broken into not far from here that is why I was a little worried.
They have «pizza» they will cook/​heat up for you. They claim it is from a bakery in League City. I am pretty sure this bakery is called Tombstone or Tostinos. Unless you are hungry, I would not order the pizza.
After I had to go out to move my vehicle so my buddy could get out of his parking spot, I spotted three large rats crawling underneath the bar as I walked back in.
I would go back, but there are a dozen other bars downtown or in Midtown I would rather go.

Need a break from the trendy Houston lounges, rude bouncers, loud house music, and overpriced drinks? Mosey over to Lone Star Saloon and enjoy a cold beer and a hot pizza.

Loved loved this hometown divey bar in the center of downtown Houston. I landed at 11:45pm and my friend picked me up — we headed straight for this joint and it was fun. Belly up to the bar and drinking cheap beer in an old school Texas bar was a perfect way to arrive in Houston. Will be back, no doubt.

«Mikey, Mikey, this ain’t the kind of place you want to go to the bathroom in.» But seriously: mismatched bar stools, temperamental jukebox, cheap booze, close proximity to the Greyhound station AND the downtown transit center — what more could a girl ask for?!
This place is a quintessential dive. Not fancy, not trendy, but thoroughly adequate. It even has purse hooks! Come on! Purse hooks! Actually, if you don’t carry a purse, you are probably woefully unaware of the existence of purse hooks, and said purse hooks will rape the living [expletive] out of your kneecaps. Uh, yeah, so on second thought, maybe the purse hooks aren’t such a selling point.

One of my new favorite jukeboxes in town is a bit ornery. It stops taking money and requests; it decides when. Brilliant music, although I’m still searching for the one that has Bessie Smith, old Motley Crue, David Allen Coe, Chuck Berry, and Siouxsie and the Banshees.
I recently found myself here twice in one week; my first two times to the bar. A true dive bar: the neighborhood bar. A long shotgun bar, fantastic jukebox, questionable, yet clean bathroom, long bar with ample barstools, booths, cash only (for any tab lower than $ 10) and a broken cash machine, less than ten regulars sitting at the bar at any given time, questionable element of danger (bus terminal across the street), cheap wine with the option of ice, and a few more, but then I’d just be rambling. The only disqualification on a previously written list of «what makes a true dive bar,» is that there is a outdoor patio. Fie on that disqualification, it’s a great patio.
In a daze earlier in the week, it occurred to me that there was no venue for the after party of an upcoming event. I was sitting at the bar with a few friends at The Brewery Tap. A few names were mentioned, but nothing seemed like the perfect place. We wanted someplace new; someplace comfortable and inexpensive. Like a rusty, flickering light bulb, an earlier argument with a local pub trivia organization reminded a cohort of the Lone Star Saloon. Perfection personified, and just up the street. About ten of us immediately abandoned our posts at Brewery Tap for the saloon, just to make certain our ideas weren’t going the way of insanity.
All smiles and jukebox, no insanity.
In fact, as fate often lays its cards, another trivia team member involved in the aforementioned argument (all three of us were in agreement), sent a text to me the moment our small group entered the Saloon. She walked through the doors ten minutes later.
Oh, the after party? Thirty to forty happy people, although none of us played pool. For our awesome bartender who didn’t bat an eye when she was told that we would potentially be taking over her bar in a couple of days, then helping us all with a smile when we did, I’m rounding this solid three and a half star bar up to four stars.

God bless Texas.
Like Cyrus S, I’ve driven by Saloon Lonestar many o’ times. The most memorable was watching what looked like a homeless man in a wheelchair skurry his way through the doors on a sunny afternoon. «Yes,» I thought. «I must go there.»
A few years later, my friend Tommy and I found ourselves sitting in my car listing off places to go on a Thursday night. Giving the old «been there, done that» excuse to every bar mentioned, I remembered Saloon Lonestar, a place neither of us had been to and would more than likely respect this shiz out of.
We parked on the private graveled lot and walked in through the back entrance and quickly found a cozy seat at the bar. A pool table, big screen (not a fancy flat screen) showing a college bball game, the required neon beer signs and an old jukebox playing the blues was on. There were two been-​to-​hell and back folks lounging in a booth, and three cowboys at the bar. That’s when we met Nancy, the petite older Asian bartender. With big permed Texas hair, tight jeans, a saucy little top and a smile, she took our orders — not before she carded me (woot!) — and said, «I’ve never seen you two around. This your first time.» Indeed, Nancy, but it won’t be our last.
The proud, hardworking mother she was, Nancy went on to tell us about her kids, her hard-​to-​work-​with boss/​owner (who was just a few bar stools away), the slow business, tales about a few bar brawls and even gave us the low down on how much they markup the frozen pizza they sell. She recommends ordering delivery to the bar instead. This bar doesn’t have any daily or happy hour specials, but beer is cheap. You can get a tall PBR for $ 2.75. All this with the old skool tunes, like James Brown’s «It is a Man’s Man’s Man’s World» jammin’ in the background.