Valero

Great selection of beer and wine and special sodas and snacks. What makes this place special though is 3 things– 1. The pizza stand Giovanni’s (such amazing pizza) 2. The taco stand that occupies Giovanni’s spot in the morning (awesome tacos) 3. The sandwich booth that whips up fresh sandwiches in the afternoon. You don’t really expect good food from a gas station and these just consistently blow me away!

I had no idea! Honestly no idea! This valero is unlike the rest — I promise!
I went in here to find the Giovanni’s pizza stand and walked into local heaven. They have all kinds of specialty drinks and snacks from your local vendors. They had sandwich stand in addition to Giovanni’s too. Plus there was an freaking awesome selection of craft beer and wine. wow!
Now that I know this spot exists I will stop in here again for sure!

This place is awesome sauce! The staff is always friendly. Amazing beer/​wine selection. They do breakfast tacos to order in the morning. Pizzas to order all day long, and a sandwich shop too! Best «gas station» ever! I’m here usually once a day. If you’re on South Lamar, swing by a take a look for yourself! You won’t be disappointed!

Giovanni’s, craft beer, and a great selection of sunflower seeds. And walking distance from home.

This is more than just a gas stop. Come inside and check out the unique soda and beer selection! They have great regional brews ranging from Shiner to Brooklyn to Great Divide, and several seasonal varieties of each too! Then there’s the deli and next to it Giovanni’s, which I regard as one of the best pizza pies available in Austin today. All in one store!

I hate beer but their beer selection makes me wish I liked it.

Best kept secret in Austin! I wandered in at the start of a road trip, expecting a standard gas station experience. Much to my surprise, it was anything but! As noted in other reviews, the beer selection is nothing short of amazing. The cashier let me know that they have a twitter feed where they update anytime they get a new beer, so if you’re a frequent visitor or a beer enthusiast, I’d sign up for that.
I was there in the morning so I didn’t have a chance to try the sandwich counter or Giovanni’s pizza, but they did have really excellent breakfast tacos! Somewhat non-​traditionally made with mozzarella (it’s a pizza joint!), they were delicious, hot and came with great salsas, and friendly service.
What a great surprise, and so convenient to the Barton hills neighborhoods.

This is a poorly advertised secret spot for amazing sandwiches. Reasonably priced, and good enough to get you full, I don’t know why people don’t eat there everyday.

I shop here almost daily and am always pleased. Great beer selection, decent grocery selection. Giovanni’s is awesome and the sandwich place is great too! All in all a fantastic grocery store!

Forget that this is a Valero station. I don’t give a damn about Valero, and neither should you. The Barton Hills Food Mart, with Giovanni’s pizza inside, is an excellent business that deserves your support. The pizza is excellent, but I don’t even care that much about that either.
What do I care about?
The beer. Oh Lord, the beer.
This specific Valero is one of the best places to buy gourmet beer in all of Austin, and certainly in south Austin. They carry many of my favorite breweries (Deschutes, Boulevard, Dogfish Head) and, best of all, they showcase some of Austin’s most excellent new breweries (Jester King, Austin Beerworks). Also, they have a very decent wine selection.
Best of all: the prices are downright reasonable. That NEVER happens at a convenience store. The prices are comparable to HEB, and the selection is far superior. Please, support this excellent little business. They deserve it.

I just reviewed the other Valero on Barton Springs thats way at the bottom of the hill by Lamar and it was totally lackluster and didn’t take Valero gift cards. However, this location does! In addition to the totally standard gas station fare, this location has a Redbox inside, and the bathrooms were decently clean. In addition, the location is pretty nice but its way at the top of the hill and can be a little nervewracking if your gas light just came on :)
Woo gas!

Gotta agree with the two other reviews up presently: this Valero, a.k.a. the Barton Hills Food Mart (not to be confused with Barton Hills Market), has BY FAR the best beer selection around outside of Whole Foods, Central Market or Spec’s — and at great prices to boot. I’ve previously price-​shopped comp brands at a number of other mini-​marts in the ’04, and Valero trumps not only them but in some cases Spec’s — a rarity, to put it mildly, since Spec’s generally has the lowest prices by far on anything alcoholic. A definite added bonus was moving Giovanni’s inside during the gas station’s conversion to a Valero outlet (my memory’s short, but I think it was previously a Diamond Shamrock); it’s separately reviewed, but let’s just say it’s easily the best non-​chain pizza value in Austin, and I’ll dare heresy by stating that I prefer it over Home Slice.
Other notables: Valero has, to my surprise, the widest selection of locally made Beanitos in town, which if you don’t know are snack chips created by the founder of Guiltless Gourmet that are actually good for you. (No, really.) Whole Foods is usually out of their newer flavors, but Valero has them all. Also, I appreciate the installation of a Redbox-​like movie machine inside the store, for two reasons: 1) as noted, it’s inside the store, which is a nice alternative if it’s super-​hot or super-​cold out, and 2) they have Blu-​ray films for 99 cents vs. $ 1.50 at Redbox. (Regular DVDs are the same 99-​cent price.) Furthermore, it spits out the actual DVD box, including bonus discs — rarely seen at rental places in these Netflix and Redbox times! (particularly now that the Blockbuster across the street finally went out of business)
I was tempted to bump the Valero down to four stars for having unusually pricey gas — for the super unleaded my car requires, it’s usually at least 10 cents more a gallon than at the former Phillips 66 (now an Exxon) up the street across from Maudie’s — but concluded that its non-​gas amenities merited a full five stars. To my knowledge, the only other gas station in town with anything close to it is the new-​ish Rosedale Market at 45^th & Burnet.

Best beer selection of any convenience store in South Central Austin. The guys working here are very polite and helpful and they bring a lot of great products in. This is the only convenience store I’ve seen that offers craft beers that are actually comparable in price to the bigger retailers in town. On many occasions I have found beer prices to be cheaper than Specs, Central Market, and Whole Foods. Great store, good selection, nice people.

The beloved Giovanni’s moved into the Valero kitchen recently. That’s what brought me into the store. After placing our order for a pizza and a pasta dish, the beau and I decided to check out the beer selection.
We were in for a surprise. The first fridge had the typical generic beers, but beyond that was a craft beer lover’s paradise. Dogfishhead, Ommegang, Chimay, Harpoon, New Belgium, Delirium, Brooklyn Local 1 and Local 2, The Great Divide, Brooklyn Brewery 6 packs, Stone Brewing, Breckenridge, and Lagunitas lined the rest of the fridges. Additionally, the prices were fairly reasonable. Some prices were middle of the road (9.19 for Brooklyn Local 1 & 2, typical range is 8.99−9.99), and some were definitely cheaper than even Specs (10.99 for Delirium). I had just bought some Delirium at Specs not 30 minutes earlier. Additionally, this Valero had Dublin Dr. Pepper — made with imperial sugar instead of corn syrup. I didn’t see a price on it though.
Good beers. Good pizza (in a separate review of course). Make for a good date.