Elephant Room
The house espresso martini is called Brewed in the Basement, and there is a cocktail named for the Texas saxophonist Tony Campise.1
Why go
Down a set of steps off Congress into a low-lit basement with a jazz ensemble playing, seven nights a week, since 1991.21 There is also a long draft-beer list, which is a more useful fact than it sounds in a room where most people are here for the music. No published assessment of the cocktails themselves exists, so treat the drinks list as unexamined rather than proven.
Order this / avoid
- Brewed in the Basement, the bar's own spin on an espresso martini.1
- The Tony Campise, named for the Texas saxophonist.1
- Or a draft beer, which is the third route Jacobs points at before you settle in.1
What locals & experts say
- Matthew Jacobs, The Infatuation Austin, August 2025:
The Elephant Room is a refuge from the commotion of Downtown. Descending the steps that lead to this basement bar leaves the world of Lime scooters and Amazon Prime trucks behind.
1 - The page shows no score, and that is policy rather than judgment. The Infatuation only rates venues where you can eat a full meal.1
Good to know
- Walk-in, live music seven nights a week. The bar's own site publishes no hours.2
- Hygiene: no finding. Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 96 on 19 May 2026 and 93 in April 2024 (315 Congress Ave). Nothing below the 70 threshold, and that May 2026 reading is within three days of the newest inspection anywhere in the register, so it is as current as this feed gets.3
- Not the Singapore bar of the same name. The Elephant Room on Asia's 50 Best Bars is a different business.
Verdict
could-visit — Basement jazz bar on Congress, open since 1991, live music seven nights a week, and a short list of named drinks: a house espresso martini called Brewed in the Basement and a cocktail named for the Texas saxophonist Tony Campise. No published review assesses the drinks in any depth, so go for the room and the music and treat the cocktails as unexamined.