Murray's Tavern
The burger comes with goop on request, which is French onion soup reduced down to a gravy and spooned over a thick seared patty.1
Why go
Travis Tober built Nickel City and this is his tavern, named for his grandmother; Nic Yanes of Uncle Nicky's wrote the menu and managing partner Brett Esler, out of Hestia and Kalimotxo, runs the drinks.2 The bar is fifty feet long and the drinks list is East Coast classics with a few odd ones: a Rob Roy, a New York Sour, a frozen Brandy Alexander, a Negroni built on olive oil-infused gin.1 Nicolai McCrary rates it 8.4 for The Infatuation and calls it the only place in town where you can order a half-dozen oysters and sliced-to-order prime rib at a communal bar table.1 The Austin Chronicle disagrees about the kitchen, and that argument is worth reading before you book.
Order this / avoid
- Drink: the New York Sour, which Melanie Haupt called her new favorite drink in a review that otherwise took the food apart.2 The dirty Negroni on olive oil-infused gin is the house's own.
- Order: the burger with goop, and the prime rib if it is a Thursday craving or a Wednesday steak night.1
- Avoid: the fish and chips. The cod is a good piece of fish and the batter came out thick and greasy on both of the Chronicle's visits; the fries were excellent both times.2
- Also skip: the spinach artichoke dip, runny and vinegary with tortilla chips too thin to lift it.2
What locals & experts say
- The Austin Chronicle, Melanie Haupt, 22 March 2024:
As a bar and a local hangout, Murray's is a success,
and on the kitchen,I hesitate to recommend it as a dining destination, especially when dining out is such an expensive proposition.
2 - The Infatuation Austin, Nicolai McCrary, 8.4: the bar program comes from the Nickel City team and the drinks are just as solid, and the goop on the burger
should absolutely be the way you order it.
1
Good to know
- Cheap nights: burgers are half price on Mondays and there is a weekly steak night on Wednesdays.1
- The room: it gets very loud at the front. The carpeted back dining room is the quiet seat, and both reviews say so.2
- Hygiene: Austin Public Health scores the kitchen 89, inspected 28 January 2026. The run since October 2024 is 80, 87, 89, 89. Austin scores on a 100-point demerit scale where higher is better and 70 is the failing line, so this is not a finding and the trend is upward.3
Verdict
could-visit — Go for the bar and stay wary of the kitchen. Travis Tober built Nickel City and his team runs the drinks here, and both reviews like them: East Coast classics, a New York Sour, a dirty Negroni on olive oil-infused gin. The food splits them. The Infatuation rates the place 8.4 and singles out the goop burger and the sliced-to-order prime rib; the Chronicle's Melanie Haupt got greasy battered cod on two separate visits and said plainly that she hesitates to recommend it as a dining destination. Half-price burger Monday and the Wednesday steak night are the versions of this room that make the bill make sense.