A New Cafe, Cocktail Bar, Sports Pub, and Pickleball Destination Is Opening in Far South Austin

Two new sibling bars are opening in far south Austin sometime this year. There’s cafe and cocktail bar Drifters Social Coffee & Cocktails and sports bar and pickleball court destination the Pickle Pub, found at 10630 Menchaca Road. Drifters is opening on Wednesday, February 28.

Drifters is meant to work as a daytime cafe and out-of-the-home working space with coffee and Wi-Fi and then a nighttime cocktail bar with drinks. Clayton Jones, who had most recently worked at Rainey Street cocktail bar the Tipsy Alchemist, created the menu.

Drifter’s opening date is a whole event. It runs from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. with its drinks, food trucks, access to the pickleball courts, and live music.

And then, Pickle Pub works more as a sports bar. There will be a bunch of tapped beers from Central Texas breweries. And then outside, there are two pickleball courts (hence the name).

The Pickle Pub

Drifters, found in Building A, and Pickle Pub, in Building B, will share the large outdoor courtyard. Outside, there will be a big LED television for Pickle Pub’s sportness, as well as a dog park, picnic benches, and fire pits. There are plans to host live music shows on the stage too. Both bars will be kid-friendly until 6 p.m. on weekdays.

The Drifters/Pickle courtyard will include two food trucks too. There’s Italian sandwich truck I Panini, with paninis, fries, and mozzarella sticks. And then there’s and the Shrimp Boi.

South ATX Hospitality is behind the two bars, led by managing members Jason Hart and Beezer Khambati. The company, which started in 2015, also oversees a bunch of Austin and San Antonio bars: Austin sports bar Play on West 6th, downtown’s Reset Arcade Bar, temporarily closed San Antonio bar Home Room, and San Antonio sports bar Box 903.

Drifters and Pickle Pub are found along the stretch of Menchaca Road with a lot of bars and cafes, such as South Austin Beer Garden, Lustre Pearl South, Lulu’s, the Hive, Armadillo Den, and Moontower Saloon.

Update, February 21: This article, originally published on January 23, has been updated with Drifter’s opening date.