Halcyon

Worst experience. Went with a group and everyone got food brought out at different times (after a long wait). When my food didn’t come for an extra long time, staff said they tried bringing it out but I said I didn’t want it. Turns out they brought it to another table instead of ours. Staff was rude and not accommodating. Missed part of my order and never brought it, even after reminders. Food mediocre at best. Would never go back.

So many issues here…
1.) the service was horrible and it took forever to get our food
2.) one member of our party did not receive her food and when we asked about it, they claimed that «she cancelled her order.» FALSE
3.) they finally did bring one portion of her food, but forgot the other and we finally requested a refund.
4.) they gave us a sheet of paper that said «cancelled order» when we asked if the card would be refunded they said «um pretty much». What does that even mean?!?
5.) the staff was rude
6.) the food was not good at all

This spot is literally perfection — smack dab in otherwise dirty downtown. A modern interior with tons of intimate couch seating, or traditional bar type seating if you prefer. This place is the perfect pitstop. We arrived here on Friday night and ordered drinks and ‘smores. I love the coffee meets dessert meets drinks aspect here, it’s refreshing compared to the rest of the dirty 6.
The only thing that’s a bit gross is the fact that their restaurant is open to the public and we saw the most random people walk in and use their bathroom which kinda marred the vibe a bit.
Otherwise, I love everything about this place — I’m sure it makes for the perfect daytime brunch and coffee spot as well! A must-​visit if you’re in Austin!

Amazing lemon drop martini. Wonderful vibe. I am not a big fan of the food, but I still have to try the smores :)

Coffee, tea, spirits, live music, art, people watching, and s’mores?! Cool place. Lots of seating. Open late. :)

Good coffee, friendly staff, GREAT atmosphere. Pastries are OK. I come here whenever I’m downtown

The bartender (Kiki) with the big black hat was amazing!!! She had such amazing vibes and she really gave us top notch service!
–jared sex toy boy
—–
When you come downtown, make SURE you stop at Halcyon. Its a cute little bar across from the gays. Say hi to my girl Kiki! Shes fab, famed, and goiiigeous.
Ask her for the special. You’ll be in luck ;)
— jetGlobal

Cool place that has Austin written all over it. Good food, polite service, and excellent coffee. They even offer their own brand of coffee for sale. Would certainly recommend this place to a friend.

Nice bright, modern bar and café located in downtown Austin.
I came for breakfast and ordered the Overnight French Toast with a Cappuccino. I was a bit confused that despite being «eat in» my cappuccino was made as to-​go. But it was alright. The french toast isn’t your traditional french toast, it’s actually pretty dense… more like a bread pudding construction. But it was still very good, I actually enjoyed the more dense, cakey texture.
All in all, it was a good breakfast. There’s no rush on the tables and the atmosphere is just fun and lively!

We got breakfast here to kick off a day in Austin — it was pretty great. Good selection of all the coffee beverages you’d want. Iced coffee was a good — not too bitter, just the way I like it. We also got the Migas breakfast tacos with avocado cream. They were really good, but beware the red salsa — it is extremely spicy. Also enjoyed the overnight French toast. Service was friendly and the place was very quiet and peaceful on a Sunday morning.

Pretty neat spot for late night coffee/​beer/​dessert downtown. I came on a Monday night and they were still hopping in the late night at around 11pm. It was world music night and about 10 different people came to jam out on an array of different instruments, playing music from India, the Middle East, Spain, etc. Everyone together. They were great and people in the audience started dancing. Totally unexpected and totally an element of why Austin is so amazing to create spaces for this to happen and in such unexpected places.
Had a great time. Nice folks at the bar.

I’ve been coming to Halcyon for years, every trip I take to Austin. I’ve always been a fan of the cute and cozy furniture, the fact that they have alcohol, food AND coffee, and that the atmosphere was chill.
But this last visit was all kinds of disappointing. I would love to blame it on the fact that I was extremely hungover, but I was the only one that was and everyone else was pretty bummed out by the time we left.
We walked in as a group of 6 girls. We ordered individually, food and drinks. It took 20 minutes for the first girl’s food to come out. It was just a sandwich. Then another 20 for the next plate. By that time the first girl had finished eating. 10 minutes later, two other plates came out. Followed by two more, another 10 minutes later. It was a ridiculous amount of time for extremely easy food to prepare.
On top of that, the food was inconsistent. My side salad didn’t have a dressing, but two other girls’ did. Two people ordered the chicken pesto sandwich, but they looked different. One was missing what looked like a sundried tomatoe type of sauce. The food tasted mediocre, at best. At least it was something in our stomachs. But the most laughable thing was the egg panini with sausage. I posted a picture. Literally one sausage patty cut in half, for the entire sandwich. We were so done with the whole experience that we just laughed it off.
There are so many other local coffee shops in Austin that likely won’t be returning to Halcyon for a while.

The food here was delicious. They have a beautiful selection and the location is open and comfortable. I arrived for breakfast and got a cream cheese bagel with salmon! Yum! The coffee was A-​OK and… Jeez… What a beautiful selection of drinks and food. Such variety! This is a great place to come during your morning work routine, or for a date, or for a reunion with an old fun! Yay!
Why didn’t I give it five stars?! They were filming a movie! And, no, it wasn’t cool. It was bothersome and it seemed to make the service… Less attentive. I know this may seem like a grumpy review, like, darn you kids and your fancy Polaroid cameras!!! But it really was annoying. The cashier wasn’t the most polite guy. I didn’t know you were supposed to order up front first (you order up front first!). And he kinda treated me like I was an idiot. It was not welcoming… It was more like, «oh you DON’T come here all the time?! Well allow me to make you feel like a lesser person.» Yuck. If I wanted judgment I’d go to Burger King and order a pizza.

A friend recommended that I try Halcyon while I was in Austin and I’m so glad I did! My barista was actually from the same town I am, which was absolutely insane to me because it’s over 500 miles away! This coffee shop is in a great location and not too far from anything! I ordered an iced latte and my husband got a chocolate frappé and both were excellent! Halcyon has a full bar, so you can add a shot to any drink you purchase. The ambience is awesome, and there is a ton of comfy seating. Their art is mostly from local artists and right now they have huge glitter paintings of celebrities and I almost emptied out my savings account for one of them, but you can’t exactly fit a 40×50 canvas in a carry-​on bag.

What a cute place! I heard so many good things about their s’mores, and I was in such a s’mores kick so I had to try it out. I can’t say it worked perfectly, and made my marshmallows nice and crisp and gooey on the inside, but It tasted fine!
Their coffee is also very delicious. I love Austin coffee anyways. Their beans are so aromatically wonderful. Great place to go to with a group, or even alone!

Friendly service, fun atmosphere and free music. Everything an evening spot should have. They also have outdoor seating and a walk-​in humidor! Awesome

Generally enjoy Halycon. Daytime and nighttime. Drinks and snacks are good, especially the Insomniac.
I like working on my laptop here but fundamentally believe I shouldn’t be forced to buy TWC Wifi because Halycons connection is so bad. Reconsidering my default work spot.
Update: Internet connection seems to be much better! Owner also contacted me on Unilocal to apologize. Yay!

It’s a nice little place, but with Austin hipster attitude. Sparse seating and retro kitsch décor greet you upon entry, and there’s an odd cigarette shop in the corner. Service is what you would expect, but the coffee experience was not as expected. Plenty of coffee shops take their brew seriously, but none of that is apparent at Halcyon. It’s a nice place to sit and have a breakfast pastry, but skip the coffee and get it somewhere else.

A date night place if I’ve ever seen one before. It had a distinct hipster-​y vibe and it’s probably a place you’d expect to see in Austin. The guy we were getting advice from at Berry Austin suggested that we come here for «the best hot chocolate and s’mores in town». Since we were pretty much done with alcohol at this point, we stopped in for a bit.
It’s pretty cute and I think the s’mores are a unique and excellent idea. Basically they bring a lighter, light it for you, and you roast your s’mores over a little fire. Yum! I haven’t had s’mores in a long time. There’s only enough for about two of them a piece, so make sure you savor every bite!
I ordered the peanut butter hot chocolate. I thought it was okay, but the peanut butter was being overruled by the chocolate and the hot temperature from the drink. Note to self: peanut butter in a hot drink doesn’t seem to mix very well with its contents. I tried scooping the peanut butter out with my straw and almost gagged on the remnants of the peanut butter. Bleghh.
Well, that minor detail aside, I would recommend taking your bae here and showing her how manly you are by not starting your marshmellow on fire.

This is my go to when I am late night raving on 4^th.
It can be a bit packed, the baristas a bit pretentious, and the wait time a bit too long… but you are in downtown ATX, kiddo and you gotta learn that this is the norm somewhere so it might as well be where they have «DIY s’mores» and killer Thai Iced Tea (w/​a shot of espresso, it is DIVINE!) and is one of the better «after all the bars close» people watching perches!

Love the coffee and vibe!
On this occasion…
My coffee took like 20 – 30 minutes though (we came before the rush too, no one when we got there) When I asked about it at the 17 minute mark after the 3 people with me got their drink the girl said, «oh I didn’t see it» then took another 10 minutes to get my drink! Didn’t exactly apologize or make it right away.

After a stroll on town lake with a friend in from California, we wanted to grab a cup of coffee and be able to chill out to people watch. I had my dog Nymeria with me as well so I suggest Halcyon because of the seating outside and I’ve heard people rave about this place. This was a chill day after New years winter day in Austin so the weather was perfect. We parked nearby and my friend waited outside with the dog so I went in to order. The line was about 5 people deep and the inside place was pretty full. One thing that I thought Halcyon did well is the different flavors of hot chocolate. I ordered their special of the day which was Mocha La’orange (mocha with an orange zest) and my friend got their Mayan hot chocolate (spices and cinnamon). I asked about how long the drinks would be so I know about what time to come back inside to grab them, the barista said 5 – 7 minutes. Usually I wouldn’t care but we also had a parking meter ticking for 30 minutes. I came back outside and I loved where we sat because there was heat lamps above to keep us warm. I did notice however where we were were the only place with heat lamps, no where else on the patio. After about 7 – 10 minutes I went inside and was hoping my drinks would be on the counter. No one acknowledged me and I looked around to see if the people that were ahead of me got their drinks already, not yet either. About 2 – 3 more mintes p

The Good: This place is pretty consistent in everything it offers. Good coffee, vibe, people, service, etc. It’s not you’re usual coffee shop. On any given night you can find live music, smoke hookah or roast some marshmallows and make s’mores.
The Bad: as in most dt locations if you’re looking for a work-​place or a stop-​and-​go coffee this is not a easy place to stop at, unless you live downtown. Parking around this area is not easy, but not impossible.

I’ve only been to Halcyon a few times in the company of friends who knew some of the bartenders/​baristas. Based on those experiences, service and the price of our cocktails was quite reasonable. Absurdly reasonable.
Nepotism aside, I really enjoy the environment at Halcyon and the enormous selection of drinks they offer. It’s hard to beat sitting outside on a pleasant fall day and people watching. I’ve never gotten the S’Mores before, but it definitely looks like quite a fun thing to do and would be perfect for a date.

Vibe is chill.
Bartender is cool but for the price of the drinks I expected more with a lot better flavor and more diverse choices.
Bee’s Knees wasn’t on the menu but was made for me anyway. Okay. Bartender added quite a bit of gin which of course is pretty dry so even the honey couldn’t sweeten it up by much.
Lemon Rhubarb was basically just sparkling lemon with a touch of alcohol. Where was my rhubarb?
They looked oh, so very pretty but looks were kind of deceiving.
Thin mint is good but the person I was with that indulged in it said it sickened them after just a few slurps.
Hot chocolate was pretty bitter and really just could have used more sugar. It’s hot chocolate, my friends. I’m trying to indulge, not be healthy!
Pretty cool that they have a cigarette bar inside to make purchases from and I love the idea of a coffee shop, food, and a bar combined but I’ll stick with just getting the food and non alcoholic beverages (skipping the hot chocolate) next time I’m in here.