Casino El Camino
The patty is three quarters of a pound,
incredibly thick, with a char-grilled crust and a pink center.4 Chronicle readers have also voted the jukebox the best in Austin twenty-five times.1
Why go
The burger menu is organized by American city, which is a cleaner ordering rule than most burger boards give you. Buffalo means wing sauce and bleu cheese. Pittsburgh means mushrooms sauteed in Guinness and sherry. Chicago is the plain build of bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato.4 McCrary on the patty: this is the arch-nemesis of the smashburger.
4 The Chronicle's case is the room: Unpretentious and enduring, Casino is that rare thing: a bar on Dirty Sixth that locals actually go to.
1 Brandon Watson described the same room in 2017 and nothing in it has needed updating since: The bartenders (and clientele) are still pierced, tattooed, and dressed in black, the guys behind the burger counter are still a little bit surly, and the jukebox is still filled with the most eclectic selection in town.
2
Order this / avoid
- The Buffalo burger, under spicy wing sauce and bleu cheese.4
- The Pitts burger, topped with Guinness and sherry sauteed mushrooms.4
- Wings, ordered anywhere from mild to explosive, on juicy meat with crisp skin.4
- The lemon pepper chicken sandwich, which McCrary calls juicy and perfectly seasoned.4
- The afternoon bloody mary, which is the one drink here built to be good rather than strong:
covered with enough garnishes that you could probably make a light meal out of it.
4 - Avoid the cocktail list.
The drinks play by dive bar rules—heavy, cheap, and simple. Ask for a cosmo, and we're pretty sure you'll get kicked out, or politely asked to leave.
4
What locals & experts say
- Nicolai McCrary rated it 8.1 for The Infatuation on 29 January 2026.4
- The Austin Chronicle reports Guy Fieri's verdict on the burger, which is that this dive bar has
the best burger in town
.1 - Chronicle readers made it a finalist for the city's best burger in 2026, alongside Hopdoddy, JewBoy Burgers and Mighty Fine.3
Good to know
- Walk in, and late. No booking route is published anywhere, so turn up. Expect to queue to order, in the dark.4
- Go to the back. There is a small patio with saltillo tiled floors, fountains and an Aztec mural, which is the quiet part of the building.4
- Austin Public Health has inspected this kitchen five times, scoring 83 on 23 March 2026, then 81, 70, 79 and 81 back to November 2023. Anything below 70 fails, and one of those five is exactly 70.5
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Burgers wings all the things. Bartender rec"
Verdict
should-visit — Walk in late, sit at the bar and order the burger before the drink, because a three-quarter-pound patty cooked to pink takes as long as it takes. Ask for the wings at a heat level one notch under what you think you want; explosive means it. Two people can split one burger and a plate of wings and still leave heavy. This is the East Sixth kitchen I would eat in at midnight, and the bloody mary is the only drink here I would order for its own sake.