Laura D.
Yelp
First and foremost, the business pride here is great. The owner Derek's passion for his beer and his business are top notch. He absolutely deserves praise for his charisma and dedication. The moment we walked in the door, we were welcomed and asked our story, told his story, and given samples of the beers. Derek's pride in those brews is evident in a delightful way that we so rarely get to see in business owners, post-pandemic.
Slackers is a little hidden spot with a very nice indoor atmosphere that my husband and I felt was inviting. Unfortunately when we were there, the business was out of their IPAs which is entirely how my husband makes his beer decisions. However, the owner mentioned that he'd be bringing additional brews in for the fall, which we initially planned to come back and check out when the weather reliably cools down.
For me, our choices have more to do with a balance between food, drink, and atmosphere. I want to acknowledge that the menu has a variety of choices (pizzas, paninis, pretzels, tots, chips/queso, veggies/hummus), and a rather impressive kids menu, considering the beer focus, which makes it clear that they want this to be a family place and neighborhood go-to bar. The food is decent, but the focus here is definitely on the beer, and that's fine! I think the only negative side to the level of service is that the food and drink options didn't quite live up to the hype. He talked to us A LOT (maybe a little too much) and really over-sold the quality of the food. There was also a heavy conversational emphasis on their "membership" which is $200 and allows you to come in and grab a daily beer all year long, which "pays for itself after 17 visits" according to him. If we were daily bar-goers, I imagine this might sound appealing, but we only frequent a small number of spots, and those are places we have cravings for. Living in Austin, there are so many choices constantly raising expectation levels for quality, and the ones we frequent most are for family meals where drinks are a bonus, so an annual membership at a place like this just isn't for us. The food at Slackers is okay, but it's not something we would return for specifically. We had the Italian sausage pizza with fresh mozzarella and red pepper flakes and the loaded tots with cashew queso and jalapeños. Between the two of us we had a Hefelump, a James Brown, and a couple of Milkmans. We spent around $60 with tip.
It took me a long time to write a review because I struggled with sharing feelings about the place due to the level of attention shown to us during our visit. The owner was so enthusiastic and friendly with us when we walked in which was great... but it continued at our table, multiple times, even preventing us from digging into a hot pizza that he had set down in front of us. I remember thinking to myself that I really just wanted to catch up with my husband about our long workdays and eat our meal.
The owner definitely cares about how people view the business, to the point of even saying that he strives to receive 5-star reviews and doesn't believe that customers should rate less than 5 stars unless there's "something wrong." I don't think a business owner should ever engage in conversation that makes guests feel pressured to review a certain way, or that the only reason not to receive 5 stars is if something is wrong. That's the point tho... 5 stars aren't just for when nothing is wrong -- 5 stars are for when you can't wait to go back to a place because it's SO good you would go out of your way to return. 4 stars are for good solid establishments that are repeatably enjoyable, and 3 stars are for average good places that were totally fine, but maybe just don't warrant returning. Slackers is a good neighborhood bar. A friendly one. A family-oriented one. Given its proximity to our house, we probably would have come back to check out the IPAs and other food, but we go to places to catch up with each other and enjoy a quick meal, and for those things, Slackers just isn't calling our name. Because of how much he loves his business, I initially felt bad being honest about the experience, but I hope this feedback is appreciated and serves as helpful. It is, after all, only one opinion.
