Cactus Cafe

The Cactus is part of the Student Union building on the UT campus, and it’s been there since before I can remember. It’s in the very front of the building, closest to Guadalupe (The Drag), where «Commons» is engraved on the limestone above a fancy door intended for several generations of students past. But you actually enter at the next set of doors. The metal and glass ones.
As a true music listening room, it’s been the inspiration for other intimate venues such as Strange Brew Lounge. If you’re lucky enough to get tickets to see an artist here, it will feel like seeing them in someone’s home. Granted, their fairly large home, but it’s that sort of personal experience. The acoustics are great, the sound is mixed perfectly, and the seating varies depending on the number of tickets sold: tables or seminar style rows.
FYI: It’s not a party-​style atmosphere. They expect total silence except for applause while artists are performing. It feels almost like church at times, except for the alcohol.
They’re open during the day for coffee and drinks, as well. If you’re planning to see a band/​artist here, I advise buying tickets online instead of chancing their availability at the door. While you’re standing in line to enter, check out the wall of posters to your left, and you’ll see a sampling of shows you wish you’d been lucky enough to see over the years.
And since it’s campus, if you’re driving there, parking is a problem. Watch for limiting street signs and prepare to walk several blocks. There are on-​campus parking garages if you don’t want to take your chances on the streets of West Campus.

one of my favorite live music venues in the city. Reminds me of how Austin used to be.
Great sound, comfortable seating and chill environment.

I’m not into live music, but I AM into good drinks and a good place to drink them. That being said, I enjoy stopping in to the Cactus Café. I would never order a margarita at a bar, but the margaritas here are super tasty. The ambiance is good, the bartenders are fun, and it’s convenient to my workplace (I don’t even have to find a parking spot!).
And my goodness, they have hand-​crafted shakes made with real Blue Bell ice cream and actual ingredients. Mocha is my favorite, but they also have a pumpkin pie and dreamsicle depending on the time of year (outside of your typical vanilla and chocolate). They may also be able to make ‘em boozy but I haven’t tried that yet myself.
From what I hear, they have a great live music lineup and the schedule can be found on their web site at
. So find a show you like, grab a drink, and have a chill evening.

Perhaps they could put up some signs because we had to walk around asking people where it was. It’s inside UT, by the way… which many people did not know. As for the venue, it’s very nice. Small, quaint, and perfect for an intimate concert. The drinks are cheap and the bartenders relatively quick. The sound was probably the best part. All-​in-​all great experience and hope to go back again soon.

Hard to find. (Hint, it’s in the student union on the southern end.)
Walked in and the place was packed with only room to stand. (Really small venue.) Musician was eh.(I didn’t stay more than two songs.)
No one serves alcohol while the artist is singing. (Come on!)
Crowd was older. (50ish???)

I love the way the venue is set up due to there being tables. I sat right up front for the show (Battleme) and even though he didn’t have his full band it was still great. He even asked for request and played mine right off the bat. The pitfalls of this venue are the chairs are not very comfortable, especially for a 2+ hr show, and the prices for a drink are pretty steep. Lastly the sound guy was not very good in my opinion, but I suppose he was doing his best. I would consider coming back to this venue if one of my bucket list bands are going to play a show there. All in all its a cool little spot, but could use some fine tuning.

As a music venue I’ve seen some of my favorite groups play here. To me what gives this place the love it deserves is the ghost of Townes Van Zandt that haunts this place. When the place strolls off the beaten path of hosting singer songwriters then Townes ghost screws with the mix. They don’t do it often and Chris will fix you up good stiff drink if you are suffering from phasmophobia. All in all this place is a home to those who love the singer songwriter/​folk scene. Why only 4 stars, well Townes is rude and sometime’s possesses the other bartender’s body and she gets really rude and annoying.

FOUR PICTURES?
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN:
50,000 Graduate & Undergrad students
25,000 Faculty & Staff
AND Cactus Café is open to the General Public, in a city of approx population of 750,000 inside the City Limits, about 1.5 Million total in Travis County.
And FOUR PICTURES of the Historical, Legendary, Irreplaceable Cactus Café; that’s ALL?
What’s wrong with this picture? NO pictures, that’s what!
So I ‘m gonna help out a little, but not nearly enough; I NEED HELP OVER HERE!
When I first moved to Austin, many moons ago, one of the first places I got taken to was The Cactus Café. The drummer of the band I was playing with at the time was a Professor of Musicology at UT (though not much of a drummer, to be honest), and we went to see another (band) project he was involved in. I LOVED THE PLACE. I was young, had never been to a College music venue before, and I was impressed.
I never attended UT, which is why I probably didn’t go to Cactus as much as I would have, had I been a student. You students, you are very lucky to be in such close proximity to such a wonderful place. I know you frequent the place, probably «frequently». SO TAKE SOME PICTURES, PLEASE!
Actually, the entire Student Union complex is remarkable, and the Cactus Café is the crowning jewel of the whole thing, if you ask me.
OK, OK, nobody did, nobody ever does, but that’s what I’d tell ‘em if they ever asked.
Tonight, I THOUGHT I was going to Cindy Cashdollar’s CD release party; slightly mis-​informed by a friend of mine, I was (channeling Yoda now, I am). But in essence I WAS attending a «Cindy release» party. Tonight, Cindy performed with an all-​female Country /​Folk act called THE CARPER FAMILY. Cindy co-​produced this, their second full-​length CD, «Old Fashioned Gal», and performs on it as well, along with some other very talented sidemen. This review is about Cactus, so I won’t delve into how talented a group The Carper Family are, with their perfect instrumentation, and precise three-​part harmonies filling up the entire Universe, it would seem. But they are a PRIME EXAMPLE of the caliber of talent you’ll get EVERY TIME you attend a performance at The Cactus Café.
My cheap, stupid camera won’t take good low-​light pictures at all, and they weren’t allowing flash to be used. My cell phone camera’s even worse, they ALL are. Wouldn’t have mattered anyway; I was too far back for the flash to carry in the first place. So the pictures I took inside the venue were not fit to post; sorry.
What I DID capture are several framed groups of POSTERS from past shows, which are only a teeny, tiny FRACTION of the legendary musical acts that have graced the stage of the Cactus over the years and years and YEARS. You may not be able to see all of them in great detail, as Unilocal doesn’t allow very high-​resolution pics to be uploaded. But you get the idea. Anyway, THAT’S what I’m posting, and it’s a DAMN SIGHT BETTER than the pictures of empty chairs that are there right now.
«Is this picture HELPFUL?»
No, it’s a CHAIR!
But my additional shots are just a start; we need LOTS MORE PICTURES.
I haven’t been to Cactus Café in a long time; I’m ashamed to say how long. But every time I go, it’s always been a wonderful experience. Last time, it was a Django Reinhardt Festival, several years back. I don’t know if they’ve held it again, but if they have, I wasn’t aware of it; I would’ve gone. And to any «Jaywalkers» out there: NO, Django Reinhardt has NOTHING to do with the recent «Django» movie. In fact, although I like Tarantino’s movies (this one included) I think he’s a real PUTZ for naming the movie that, unless it maybe gets some younger, uneducated, uninitiated individuals to stumble upon Django Reinhardt’s music. That would be a GOOD thing.
So c’mon Students; I KNOW there are some Unilocalers among your ranks. Please start fillin’ up the Cactus Café photo page with LOTS & LOTS of HELPFUL stuff, such as the myriad of performers that are playing there all the time. Start promoting one of UT’s most wonderful features.
And no more «empty-​table-​and-​chair» pic’s, PLEASE?
And a total of only 42 reviews (not including mine) is pretty lame too. Any JOURNALISM MAJORS reading? You budding journalists do read and write? Right? So WRITE. Right now. It’s your God-​given RIGHT.
OK, I think we’ve worn THAT out…
The Cactus Café is an awesome place, one of the best Live Music venues in all of Austin.
And oh yeah, UT’s curriculum’s nice too.
WOW, THAT WAS SHORT!
Or at least, SHORTER.
Maybe the «Bet-​For» treatments ARE working after all…
larrythediner
.

Absolute gem of a live music institution in Austin. If you enjoy singer songwriter bands you need to catch a show at the legendary Cactus Café.
The theater is located inside one of the UT commons buildings so you will need to look at a map before leaving so that you understand how to find it. There is a Starbucks outside the Cactus that is open until just before the doors typically open if you want coffee. A line normally forms before opening time. Once doors are open there is a full bar inside. Wine is reasonably priced at $ 6-​$ 7 a glass.
The room is very small so you really get to hear the music of the artist and in some cases it feels like you can almost get to know them. This is one of the things that makes the Cactus so great.
Your best bet for parking is to park on the streets behind The Drag or find a parking garage off The Drag. My recommendation after seeing a show here is to walk the few blocks down to Freeman’s Bar which is usually open until around midnight.

An amazing venue for a small show. The acoustics are fantastic and the Cactus Café has that nostalgic feel about it. The drinks were reasonable and the service was not bad at all. The best thing about this venue is the intimacy you feel. It feels almost like the show is in your front room with a small gathering of friends. If you want to really experience music– try a show at the Cactus Café.

I don’t think I have ever had a bad time at The Cactus Café.
Small intimate venue. Great sound. Great performers. I love it.

Great acoustics. Small and cozy. Top notch performers. I love that they have coffee on a chilly day!

I have seen two spectacular concerts (Balmorhea and Hello Wheels w/​Wild Child) at Cactus Café and am always on the lookout for more shows to go see here. The acoustics are great and it’s a nice change of pace to be sitting down at a show, quietly appreciating beautiful music. It’s such an intimate venue that you leave feeling like you and everyone in the room, including the band, are friends. Shows sells out quick and for good reason so buy your tickets early. Cactus Café is a gem for The University of Texas campus.

It’s tiny, so no matter where you are sitting, you aren’t very far from the performers. And you can def. see some great acts at the Cactus. Lately I’ve been going for the Views and Brews series by KUT — a donation only live performance of classic jazz music is a real treat, and especially in such an intimate venue. If Austin allowed indoors smoking, it would be your quintessential small smoky jazz club atmosphere. The 20^th century was a different time, alas, but the Cactus is a good approximation of that live music-​bringing-​people-​together kinda thing that is so cool about art.
And the bartender is really nice.

Great venue, very small and intimate. I love the low lighting, the bartender is cooler that the other side of the pillow and the drinks are reasonable.
If you are sitting right in front you will feel like you are onstage with the band. You can literally touch them, if this closeness makes you uncomfortable sit in the middle it is still amazing but you have a little space.

Visit the Cactus Café if you’re on campus — especially because there have been a handful of attempts to get the place shut down/​converted into something else. A big piece of UT campus history.

Knowing that this place still exists pleases me to no end, even if I rarely get the chance to enjoy it in person any more. When I was a student at UT throughout the 90s, I spent many happy evenings here in the smoke-​free environment (this was before Austin’s smoking ban) listening to amazing acoustic performances in a perfect space for true music lovers to be up close & personal with the performers.
Just this week, I had the great pleasure to hear Chip Taylor (acoustic guitar) and Carrie Rodriguez (fiddle), along with their friends playing upright bass, electric guitar, and pedal steel. The crowd (all ages, but heavily skewed to the baby boomer set on this night) was pleasant & engaged, the acoustics were amazing, and the bar served some stout cocktails at a very cheap price. It was a wonderful evening, and we were on our way home by 11:30pm, extra nice on a school night.
We had decided on the spur of the moment to attend this 8:30pm show on a Wednesday night and we were pretty lucky to get in. When we arrived at 7:45, there was a line at the door, and we nabbed the very last two chairs in the house right before they cut off entry. Next time, we’ll plan ahead and make sure we’re there by 7:15.
Good to know:
Many Cactus shows do not offer advance tickets, and doors open 30 minutes before showtime.
It’s on the UT campus, just about directly east of the University Co-​op store, so you must park wherever you can find a space in the adjacent area. We paid $ 8 to park at the UT garage on San Antonio by Whole Earth Provisions and then came in the back entrance of the Union off 24^th.
UT students showing ID get $ 3 – 5 off the ticket price, generally $ 15 for touring acts, $ 10 for local acts, and (gasp) *free* for some events.
Join the email list to get advance notice of upcoming shows here
This link provides the advance ticket sales

well I am PISSED OFF to read that UT has decided to close this venue. I was just there tuesday evening, ever so thankful to have such a warm intimate venue. a real gem there in the UT student union. I shudder to think of what great plans they have for the space, I sure hope it does not involve covering the historic walls with huge flat panel tvs to display sports.
I feel sick.

I’m not much of an acoustic listener (unless it’s jazz), but we decided to meet an out of town friend at Cactus Café last night. He’s a huge fan of last night’s opening act, Raina Rose. What a nice little bar right on UT’s campus! I spent about 10 minutes lamenting the fact my college had nothing like this. And then looking at all the laptops on wi-​fi around the Union, I got even more depressed about the time I was in college in the early 90s. Damn I missed all the cool stuff!
Cactus Café is a dark intimate venue. Candles on the table and a small stage give it all an interesting atmosphere. It’s small and tight. You have to be on friendly terms with your neighbors. After the show, it was really weird to walk out into the clean UT Union Building instead of some seedy-​looking street somewhere in Europe! I’ll be watching for more upcoming shows!

During the day, you can get a beer or coffee and get to work on your laptop with wireless internet connection (for students/​staff/​faculty — you can also apply for a guest EID if you visit the FAC next door). And get this, you are even encouraged to eat your lunch here (bagged or from nearby take-​out). Study groups and friends meet here for happy hour; it’s a great place to unwind after a long day at school.
In the evening for shows, there’s not a bad seat in the house. Jazz club seating and intimate. It’s been smokeless since the 80s so there’s no stale smoke smell to mar the experience.
There’s a garage for paid parking behind the University Co-​op on San Antonio between 23^rd and 24^th. There is also a surface lot at Guadelupe and 25^th. Both will run you $ 8. It’s worth it.