The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium

The Flying Saucer Draught EmporiumThe Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
The Flying Saucer Draught EmporiumThe Flying Saucer Draught Emporium
Bar, Eatery

815 W 47th St
Austin, Texas, 78751-2359
United States

(512) 454-7468 | map
beerknurd.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.08
Reviews:
24
Ratings:
54
pDev:
9.56%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 3.97 by Spaceman_Jer from Colorado

Jul 31, 2018
Photo of Jmilton
Reviewed by Jmilton from Michigan

4.61/5  rDev +13%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4
I used to work in Columbia, SC and our group often went to the Flying Saucer for diner on Wednesday, which is beer night. I now travel to Austin for business and thought I would try the Flying Saucer. Great beer selection and good service. Not quite the fun college crowd that frequents the Flying Saucer in Columbia, SC, but still fun. Highly recommend visiting for a beer.
Sep 22, 2017
 
Rated: 4.31 by GreatStoutman from Texas

Mar 21, 2016
 
Rated: 4.31 by OldBrewer from Canada (ON)

Mar 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.73 by mig100 from Texas

Nov 21, 2015
 
Rated: 4.25 by BGsWo22 from Texas

Aug 31, 2015
 
Rated: 3.83 by SergeLowpz from Texas

Aug 26, 2015
 
Rated: 4.26 by gilgar from Texas

Aug 23, 2015
 
Rated: 3.98 by Patrick_Redbeard from Texas

May 17, 2015
 
Rated: 4.5 by jkinny from Texas

Dec 11, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by cfrobrew from Texas

Aug 19, 2014
 
Rated: 4.75 by reebtaerG from Maryland

Aug 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Ben7773 from Texas

Aug 10, 2014
 
Rated: 3.25 by GRG1313 from California

Jul 31, 2014
 
Rated: 5 by axpetree from Texas

Jun 15, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by mgr78704 from Texas

Jun 08, 2014
 
Rated: 4.75 by Nightwish1094 from Texas

Jun 03, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Jame515 from Texas

May 29, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by CraigTravor from California

May 25, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by charleslueg from Texas

May 01, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by greenspointexas from Texas

Apr 30, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by Getalegup from Texas

Mar 18, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by Mazzifer from Texas

Feb 08, 2014
 
Rated: 4.5 by MichialTanner1 from Texas

Jan 25, 2014
 
Rated: 4 by kjkinsey from Texas

Jan 24, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by blue_eyed_fury from Texas

Dec 27, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by Texasfan549 from Texas

Dec 25, 2013
 
Rated: 4.5 by Fabiand from Texas

Dec 11, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by JamLand from District of Columbia

Nov 24, 2013
 
Rated: 3.75 by BillRoth from Maryland

Nov 11, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by n00blar from Maryland

Oct 20, 2013
Photo of champ103
Reviewed by champ103 from Texas

3.61/5  rDev -11.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.25 | selection: 4 | food: 2
Located in the Triangle shopping center, this is pretty much your typical Saucer. Except for the awesome patio outside with wood benches, and the inside has a bit more wood accents than the Houston locations. Still same old penny lined tap wall.

Service..pretty much the same. It entirely depends on what time you come and who you get. Early weekday, wide open and no problems. Food is exactly the same as almost every other location I have been to, and frankly bad. Which is par for the coarse.

Good selection of beers. Tons of Texas options, as well as the usual mix of good national brands and imports. I still love seeing Firestone Walker on tap. I guess since it has not hit Houston, it is still a new sight for me. Good beer, cool patio area, that is about it.
Mar 23, 2013
Photo of videofrog
Reviewed by videofrog from Texas

4.48/5  rDev +9.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3
Visited on a Friday night. It was crowded, but not shoulder-to-shoulder. The atmosphere was lively, but not loud. Really liked how a couple of Beerknurds were toasted (one guy had hit 1000 beers tried).Our waitress was very helpful, and actually talked me out of a beer in the best way possible by offering a sample instead of an entire pint. She didn't hesitate on my other 3 choices.
I had one of the turkey sandwiches, which was not bad for the price. Choices are good with very few "palate killers" on the menu.
72 beers were available on draught. Great variety of locals, imports, and U.S. craft. Menu was easy to read with good, concise descriptions.
I've been to the Flying Saucer in Downtown Fort Worth, but I definitely enjoyed this one more. The service/atmosphere here finally convinced me to join the UFO club. Can't wait to move back to Austin.
Feb 15, 2012
Photo of mixnslam
Reviewed by mixnslam from Texas

4.44/5  rDev +8.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5
This place being a chain establishment is what I usually frown upon but it wasn't too bad. There was a good selection of beer, customers and staff were friendly, good seating and if you like pretty little waitresses and bartenders, then you will like it here. The place is clean and the decor is pretty nice except these plates they plaster all over the walls that I think ruins the look. Overall I give it a good rating because they are true to providing a good selection of beer and a decently knowledgeable staff. Check their websites for specials.
Jan 19, 2012
Photo of ZenAgnostic
Reviewed by ZenAgnostic from Texas

3.64/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
The place was pretty much packed when I got there around 11pm on a Friday. The waitress apologized for the wait times and told us we had gotten there just around the rush.

The place was a bit too noisy, but it's a large place with both indoors and outdoors seating, so it's pretty much expected to be pretty loud. Not too loud considering the number of people though.

The beer menu featured a pretty good selection. In theory. In reality they didn't really have the beers I wanted.
The only beer on the entire menu that I wanted to try (one of the Jester King's) was out. I ended up settling on the Chocolate Truffle, which is a Young's Chocolate Stout with a splash of Lindeman's Framboise. Unfortunately, they were out of Framboise too, so they had to substitute Timmerman's Strawberry lambic.

While the menu was pretty large, lots of the beers were pretty low grade stuff you'd find at a gas station or grocery store. They had a few Trappist beers, which was suprising though. I might have tried the Orval if it didn't cost $10 a glass - which I suppose is a reasonable price for a bar.

The waitress was nice, talkative, and I gathered that the job had turned her onto craft beer (rather than the other way around). She gave us some recommendations and let us have some 1 oz samples. I didn't like any of her recommendations, but no point in shooting the messanger!

Overall, the place was enjoyable if somewhat disappointing. Their "fire sales" are pretty cool though. Every while (maybe hour or so?) they write on the chalk board the name of a different beer they're lowering the price of to sell fast for about $3 a pint.
Sep 03, 2011
Photo of coldriver
Reviewed by coldriver from Texas

4.16/5  rDev +2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4
Visited on a hot August night 2011. Pretty packed considering that college is out of session but we were able to find a table outside. Really like the location in the Triangle right along a nice pedestrian mall/street. This is the third Flying Saucer I've been to and like the others the selection here was great with several local beers that you can't find much outside of the Austin area. I like that they allow dogs at the outdoor seating area and people who had them exercised good judgement as they were all well behaved and friendly canines. Server was good and attentive and she somehow made a bullseye guess of my all-time favorite beer in making a recomendation - amazing! Unfortunately, this Flying Saucer also had the dreaded quarterly beer menu which leads to totally unnecesary back and forth negotiation between drinker and server regarding what's truly available versus what was available two or three months ago when somebody put together the list.
Aug 15, 2011
Photo of shoky01
Reviewed by shoky01 from Texas

4.43/5  rDev +8.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5
The second Saucer i had ever been to outside my home Saucer in Houston. We went for a day trip to have lunch and beer shop. The lunch hour was very slow so we got very good service. It is a bit of a small location compared to Houston but i liked where it was, right in the Triangle. Had my 3 beers and my compadre had a couple of rootbeers since he was driving. First time we ever saw Thomas Kemper root beer, not something we get down south. The food selection was a little different, had myself a burger, which we also dont get in the houston location. Very good. Our goddess was friendly and attentive and talkative. Good experience and will be going back some time. I do like the outdoor seating area with the wooden tables and benches, will have to sit out there when cooler weather hits.

Also, your membership in the UFO club counts in ANY Saucer so no matter where you are, if you have your card your beers count to your plate.
Aug 08, 2011
Photo of 2xHops
Reviewed by 2xHops from Texas

3.95/5  rDev -3.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3
By far the best quality this place has is the selection of the beers. It's very good if you can have over 100 beers to choose from, so you can always pick something new each time you visit.

The atmosphere here generally are good, and it can be somewhat lively when the college crowd descend on the restaurant. However, if you come here often enough, you can guess when will be the "slow" night if you wanted some quiet and few beers.

The drawback, for me, is the menu. While I can't say I have tried every item on the menu, I can certainly say that there seems to be some inconsistency in the quality of the food. For example, the wings aren't very good at all, and it's overpriced. Some of the hot sandwiches aren't so bad, and some of the appetizers are good too.

I am a strong believer that every pub should strive to have absolutely amazing food to go along with some of the best beers they have to offer. Flying Saucer doesn't quite do this, but why am I not surprised? I usually only come here for the beer.
Aug 07, 2011
Photo of jamescain
Reviewed by jamescain from Texas

4.3/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5
I've only been to this location twice. Each time I was there for some special event, so I'm not entirely sure what the regular atmosphere is like, but it seemed pretty relaxed before things started. They have a great selection, I believe they have the most taps in Austin, but I'm not sure if that is a fact or not. Their staff is knowledgeable and they have a certified cicerone working there too. I tried their salmon wrap, which was very good. Thursdays then will tap a rare beer, which is usually something that is hard to find in Texas or has been cellared. They will regularly have weeks scheduled around various events, one of the times I went there it was an event featuring hoppy beers and they had guest speakers from various breweries. It is definitely a good beer bar, but also similar to other saucers, so it's not special in those regards. I would still recommend it if you are looking for something good to eat and something good to drink.
Jul 22, 2011
Photo of mltobin
Reviewed by mltobin from Connecticut

4.3/5  rDev +5.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4
Located in the Austin Triangle is The Flying Saucer, which has several other locations in the south, southeast of the U.S.. It has quite a bit of space, with outdoor seating, indoor seating and a long bar...perfect if you have a good sized group. Staff members were fairly well versed in the beers that they served and very friendly. They carry some local Texas beers such as 512, Ranger Creek and Live Oak. As well as others from the U.S., such as SKA, Deschutes, Boulevard, Green Flash, Big Sky, plenty more. With reasonable prices too boot, I would definitely recommend stopping in.
Jul 14, 2011
The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in Austin, TX
Place rating: 4.08 out of 5 with 54 ratings