Subterra Agave Bar
The tequila martini here is built with sherry, olives, zucchini, cardamom and celery.1
Why go
Subterra sits downstairs from Ember Kitchen in the Seaholm District, and the list runs from straight classics to constructions that read like a savory salad on paper.1 Nicolai McCrary says they work: when paired together by bar staff that clearly knows what they're doing, the end result is something truly unique.
He also says the bar staff make the tamer drinks with the same care, so the bar is not only for people who want to be challenged. The bar calls itself an agave bar, and that is where the record stops. Nothing published names a bottle, a producer, a region or a house buying rule, and the operator's own account of what it is trying to do could not be read on the day.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tequila martini, sherry and olives and zucchini and cardamom and celery. It is the drink the review builds its case on.1
- Avoid: arriving expecting a mezcaleria's back bar. Everything documented here is a cocktail; the sipping shelf is undescribed.
What locals & experts say
- Nicolai McCrary, The Infatuation (2023): the list means that
for every Mexican Firing Squad (made with tequila, lime, grenadine, and bitters), you'll also find a tequila-based martini with sherry, olives, zucchini, cardamom, and celery.
Unrated, because the outlet does not score bars.1 - The aim is on the record, but in a critic's words and not the operator's. McCrary describes it as
an agave bar with a menu of classic cocktails and inventive Latin America-inspired creations
.1 The Subterra domain does not resolve and the operator's about page would not extract, so nothing the bar says about itself is carried here. - One desk, one page, March 2023. That is the entire approved record on this room.
Good to know
- Where it is: the lower floor at Ember Kitchen, 800 West Cesar Chavez, Seaholm District. Easiest as an after-dinner move from upstairs.
- Hygiene: no Austin Public Health record exists under this name, held by Ember Kitchen upstairs.3
- Price and hours: not published on any page that could be read.
Verdict
could-visit — Subterra is the downstairs bar at Ember Kitchen in the Seaholm District, working agave into cocktails that run from a straight Mexican Firing Squad to a tequila martini carrying sherry, olives, zucchini, cardamom and celery. That second drink is the reason to go, and Nicolai McCrary's judgment is that the staff can land it. It sits mid-ladder because the shelf behind the bar, which the name is about, has never been described by anyone, and the operator's own account of the place could not be read.