Mama Dearest
A Mountain Dew margarita called the Tickle Fight, and a purple drink that arrives in a styrofoam cup.1
Why go
The Infatuation's Nicolai McCrary walked into the corner of Sixth and Pedernales in March 2023 and found taxidermied animals, vintage Playboy magazines and a giant Arkansas flag on the ceiling, plus draped rawhide lamp shades and baby dolls hanging off the walls. The name is a nod to the 1980s film Mommie Dearest.1 What makes it work is that nothing is half-committed. The bar names and pours its drinks to match the room, so a Tickle Fight is a Mountain Dew-based margarita and the #PURPLEDRANK comes in a styrofoam cup, and there are animal spring rides out back. McCrary's verdict is that this is a bar simply having a good time.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Tickle Fight, then the #PURPLEDRANK for the vessel as much as the drink. The March 2023 review names both, and a list like this moves.1
- Avoid: studying the decor too closely. That is the reviewer's own advice and he is talking about the baby dolls.1
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 14 March 2023:
This is a bar that's simply having a good time.
1 - There is no score behind that by rule, not by verdict. The same page states the outlet only rates places where you can eat a full meal.1
Good to know
- Food: nothing is claimed. Nothing published describes food at this bar, and an ordering platform listing a separate operator at the address is not enough to say there is a kitchen.
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health scores the kitchen 90, inspected 11 March 2025, under the register name Mama Dearest. That is the only inspection in the register for this bar, so there is no trajectory to read, only a single reading about seventeen months old. Austin runs a 100-point demerit scale where higher is better and 70 is the failing line, so nothing here is a finding.2
- Price and hours: not published.
- Getting there: Pedernales at Sixth, across from the HEB Digital office.1
Verdict
could-visit — A backwoods bit played completely straight on the corner of Sixth and Pedernales, with taxidermy, rawhide lamp shades, vintage magazines and an Arkansas flag pinned to the ceiling, named after the 1980s film. The drinks match the room: a Tickle Fight that The Infatuation calls basically a Mountain Dew-based margarita, a #PURPLEDRANK in a styrofoam cup, and animal spring rides out back. Nicolai McCrary's line is that it is a bar simply having a good time, and that is the right level to take it at. It sits mid-ladder because the fun is the point rather than the drinks, nothing has been published about the place since March 2023, and the inspection register holds exactly one reading on it.