Swan Dive

Really cool spot and pretty small and intamite, which I like. The sound quality is top notch as well and you don’t pay an arm and leg for drinks. Last time I was here was during SXSW 2016 and they did a good job of keeping everyone full of drink and a great job of keeping the riff raff out as well.

This place has terrible service! Also, never open a tab there because the bartender will add drinks to your tab and also give themselves a bigger tip once you close out!

Was here for an unofficial sxsw party on Friday, pretty packed, lotsa offbeat art pieces, we didnt stay too long, nothing really that memorable about the place

Great venue for live music! Love the individual booth seating if you want to chat w friends or snuggle with your hunny.
Bathrooms are clean for a live music venue.
The back patio is huge and has 2 additional bars.
Staff is polite. Always a nice time here.

My band plays here a lot. The staff are all friendly and professional. The fact that it’s connected to Barbarella in the back gives it a unique type of traffic and crowd. Lights and pictures look good in the all white interior.
This venue has grown and improved a lot over the last couple years and I always have a great time playing here. Cheers!

Very nice atmosphere. The interior is all painted white and there is a lot of design areas, including a patio. The bands they have are always fantastic and the sound system is great.

I really only came to Swan Dive because I wanted to use the back patio to get into Barbarella next door. However, when I was taking a breather from dancing at the Barbs, me and my friend came out here to watch whatever band was performing.
The band was awesome. The crowd was into it. I was into it. The place wasn’t too packed. Pretentiousness wasn’t found. I liked it. And, if all the bands that play high are as awesome the band that was performing when I was there. This place is definitely worth checking out.

I would only go here if I knew a band that was playing here. Service is alright, ambiance is ok – the entire place is painted white and they have booths around the bar. It is nice because this place shares a back patio with Barbarellas, and once you pay cover at one place, you can go both (at least when I have been there). Overpriced drinks, but none have been offensive.

Came here during SXSW. We would leave to check out other venues and be right back to Swan Dive (did that twice). This place was so chilled and laid back. The live music was amazing and the back patio was really casual. The drinks were really yummy too. I really liked that it wasn’t directly on 6^th street (which I find obnoxious).

Great venue to check out a live performance.
It’s never too crowded and the service is excellent.
If you like to dance at Barbarella, one can usually get a drink, catch one’s breathe or relax a bit on the Swan Dive side that’s connected on the back side of both clubs.

The Swan Dive-​I went in not expecting much, but it was a surprisingly nice venue. First and foremost, the air conditioning worked perfectly. If I’ve got fully functioning AC and a Strongbow in hand, I’m set for hours.
I also like the indoor seating areas. The tufted vinyl upholstery and the little booths. Very cute.
However…
The bartender was kind of a jerk. The bathrooms weren’t unsanitary, but messy. And they need some seating outside in the back. It does connect with Barbarella, so don’t expect this place to be calm on a Friday or Saturday night.
But it’s definitely one of the better Red River establishments.

SxSW free show. Anytime there are special events they will not let you in the barbarella patio. Swan dive is pretty neat. Big open space and can either be chill or crazy.

If perchance you are ever forced to go to Barbarella with your friends and there is a huge line to get in, just go in through Swan Dive. They are connected in the back via a patio. Also, while you are in Swan Dive, have a Moscow Mule. And maybe use their bathrooms if you have to, which are 100% nicer than Barbarella’s. Maybe even hang out at one of their cool, retro-​looking booths. Maybe even find yourself spending all night in there on a Tuesday, crashing someone’s karaōke party. Maybe just vowing to yourself to never go to that meat market called Barbarella again; instead, choosing wisely to spend your free time at Swan Dive.

When I think of downtown, I think of dirty 6^th, nights of $ 5 pitchers of long island iced tea that I’d rather not remember (and honestly, can’t even if I wanted to) at Shakespeare’s. The Swan Dive was a nice change of pace.
My friend’s boyfriend’s band was playing, so we stopped in and listened to two bands before them. They were fun. One band sounded like surfing on an acid trip. kind of like a beachy version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I wasn’t expecting that.
The drinks were stupid expensive. However, I loved the décor. It does look like it hasn’t been remodeled since the 40s, but that’s what I loved about it. There were flowy, white sheaths of fabric right behind the stage, little booths tucked away on either side of the dance floor, and the wallpaper going to the outside area seemed really vintage. I felt like someone had transported a shit ton of hipsters into this romanticized rendition of a drinking establishment.
Speaking of hipsters, no shortage here! It was kind of funny though. My friend smokes, so in between sets we went to the patio so she could smoke and I could dance. The dj was playing a great mashup of 90s hip hop, and THE HIPSTERS WERE GETTING DOWN. This guy with a jeri curl mullet was TOTALLY grinding up on a girl who looked like she hadn’t washed her hair in days. It was great for people watching.
I’m excited to come back here, but wouldn’t get more than 2 or 3 drinks due to the cost.

Stopped in here for the first time… as a reindeer (a.k.a. Santarchy costume). The place wasn’t crowded on a Saturday night but the band was lively and so awesome! Plenty of room for dancing. And nice comfy booths for resting inbetween sets. Loved the retro décor.

Come for the music and dancing. That’s it. The band playing was very lively and it was refreshing to see people on the dance floor who actually know how to dance.
Drinks — really strong, expensive, and tiny
Décor — this place looks like it was around in the 40s… and hasn’t been remodeled since. The walls need a fresh coat of paint, the furniture looks old and worn, and I’m pretty sure those were real cobwebs hanging from the chandeliers.
Overall, it’s a neat place to hangout for a drink, get your Lindy Hop on, and enjoy good quality live music.

The décor looks like a Burning Man-​style dust storm hit an early 1900s town, blowing out windows and leaving everything not blown away covered in a layer of stark white that just will not come off. It works mostly, but it seems a little cavernous for that particular look. That being said, the décor is one of the things I really like about this place.
The service and drinks are the other. The bartenders were all really helpful and friendly. Actually, even the sound guy was really helpful.
So why 2 stars? Well, I’m not sure exactly who to blame here, because they won’t return my calls or emails, so let’s just say management.
My band split the bill with some other performers a few weeks ago, and we agreed that we’d split the door. Sounds fair. We also had to pay the sound guy from the door. No problem. He deserves it, because he was great.
The day of the show, I get a call from the other group saying the venue wants us there to start earlier, so they can start letting people from Barbarella in for free earlier. I’m sorry, you want to change the time of the show that we’ve been promoting for weeks on the DAY OF the show? No.
In any case, everything is worked out, or so I’m told. I’m also told they don’t think they’re going to do shows here anymore. Lord knows what they’re going to do with that nice stage.
The first show happens, and it’s great. We get set up and have a great time performing. The bartenders like us, the sound guy says he’s impressed. A nice drunk girl dances my girlfriend right into a radiator… twice. Y’know, a good show.
Even better, I notice quite a few people coming in and hanging out to hear our music. Sweet! We’ll have some money to put in the band fund.
Except that we don’t. As we loaded up in the rain and had to drive off, the rest of the band forgot to get the money. No worries, I can swing back by there in a couple days.
«Hey, we performed here a few days ago, and I was trying to find our cut from the door.»
«Oh, you need to talk to the manager. I don’t know where she is. Maybe talk to the bartender.»
«Hey bartender!»
«Hey you’re the guy from (insert band name here) the other night! That was fun!»
«Thanks! We had a great time! But my guys didn’t pick up the money. Who do I talk to about that?»
«Hm. I guess the manager, but I don’t know where she is. Plus, I don’t think there’s any money. Or it all went to the sound guy.»
«Oooook. Can you have them give me a call or shoot me an email to explain this to me? I know that at least 30 people came through while we played, plus the fans we brought with us, so at $ 7 each, we should have something.»
«Yeah, that doesn’t sound right. Let me get your info. I’ll make sure they get back to you.»
«Thanks! I just want to know what happened to it.»
So, after emails, phone calls, and stopping by with no response whatsoever, I still can’t even find out how all those people made it in and (supposedly) paid a cover, the sound guy was paid half from the other group, and there’s still no money at all for us. I call that bad form.

This place is gorgeous!
I came here for the Shotgun Party record release last year, and I can’t stop thinking about how much fun it was.
The space is decorated with peculiar metals, all spray painted white. The underside of the bar is backlit white radiators. Awesome.
It kind of looks like an Anthropoligie catalog, it’s super pretty.
There’s cozy booths to sit in, a big dance floor to get down on, and the house music is usually 20’s jazz and country.
Totally worth it to stop by and have a manhattan.

I love this joint. Big patio, rarely over-​crowded, classy décor. The live music is almost always fantastic.
The mixology seems to have gone a bit downhill; the first time I was there, they served a fairly extensive menu of mixology-​style drinks, and when I returned recently, it seems most of those had disappeared. Perhaps they’re in the middle of a menu change, as they still had the bottles behind the bar I’d expect (several types of bitters, quality gin, etc).
The beer selection is better than most in that general area, but not amazing. I’m a little sad they don’t have a better selection, as there’s clearly enough room behind the bar to stock a few better bottles, but oh well.
There’s a large area to dance, and quite a few booths that are intimate and well decorated. The music usually ranges to what you’d mentally assign to the 1920s or 1930s, which I love but you might not (but you should), and the crowd is usually pretty big on dancing to whoever is playing.
BIG AZZ WARNING: They charge cover. That’s right, boys and girls, a bar in downtown Austin that charges cover. I blame this for the apparent case of Swan Dive never being all that busy. I even mentioned it to the bartender, who said that they constantly brought it up to management, but were rebuffed. I’ve skipped the door and vetoed going to the bar more times than I can count based on the cover charge.
I’m sure I’ll get back there eventually, but that cover is a huge turnoff.

All white on the inside with a 30’s/40’s genre. Old chairs, booths and tables help complete that look.
Standard bar, though a little small for how bit the place is. I have never seen the place packed. The clubs on either side of Swan Dive are also very loud which you can hear through the walls — so may ruin a smaller venue you’re seeing here. Otherwise its a good location, and there’s plenty around to go from there.

What a beautiful venue! A great place to have a fancy drink, have a chat (it’s never super loud) and dance a bit. There are tacos in the backyard if you get hungry and always always very talented musicians on the stage. The staff is pleasant and helpful.
Don’t miss these two monthly events:
Exquisite Corpse (goth, surrealist dada cabaret) on the 1^st Thursday of the month
Vintage Vivant — a night for glamourous anachronists to dance, drink and delight at the bevy of 1920’s and 30’s themed entertainment. Join us on the last Sunday of each month as we celebrate with vintage cocktails, vintage or vintage-​inspired attire and free dance lessons (
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LOVE this place! Love the rustic white interior and classic cocktail! Love that the bartender was super friendly and helpful and made AMAZING drinks! I had the Moscow Mule and the hubby with a great Sidecar (the barkeep for sure knows his bourbons). I feel thrown back to the 1930’s. We showed up early and were the first one’s there (well practically and as you might know from other reviews this is quite common for me) so we could totally pick our spot!
It filled up a lot after 9:30 or 10. Around that time the band came on (I lost track of the time since I didn’t have my phone)…so very amazing and they fit the venue so well! Then these great perfomers — who we met and were super sweet — came on and did some aerial performances!
What a great night! I will be back!

A love affair between Eastside Showroom and Barbarella, this is one of the most beautiful places in Austin. A gentle reminder of The Peacock that is now closed, its white walls and gentle colors are soothing, to say the least.
The staff is incredibly friendly. The bathrooms are astounding. The music is delicious.
The only negative I have is that they don’t have a specialty cocktail menu YET. They’ve only been open less than a week, so I forgive them for this.
Definitely worth checking out.