Austin Eastciders Opens a New Restaurant on Barton Springs Road

Popular local cidery Austin Eastciders opened its new casual restaurant as part of its taproom in South Austin this week. The 1530 Barton Springs Road taproom, right next to Zilker Park, made its debut as of Monday, July 27. The restaurant is open for dine-in service, and takeout orders can be placed online.

The counter-service restaurant focuses on casual dishes. There’s an array of pizza, with optional cauliflower crusts and dairy-free mozzarella. The Zilker pie, which is named after the nearby park, comes with smoked broccoli. Sandwiches include a smash patty and one with roasted cauliflower; and there are larger entrees of smoked meats and vegetables that are brined in cider. Then there are appetizers and snacks (smoked chicken wings, cider queso, fried pickles), salads, desserts (a rotating pie, a vegan banana split), and breakfast items, including breakfast burritos made with bread from local bakery ThoroughBread.

Then there are Eastciders’s stable of ciders, ranging from the original to the pineapple, as well as its hard ciders. There are also some guest ciders on tap available, including several from fellow cidery Texas Keeper. For something different, there are a few cider-based cocktails, and the restaurant will add more cocktails made with cider and spirits later on.

This new taproom includes a bar, dining room, the cider production area, indoor performance area, a retail bar featuring local vendors, including lifestyle brand Katie Kime, who is also creating Eastciders merchandise too. Outside, there’s the cider garden, a children’s play area, stage, and a walk-up window for cider and coffee orders.

Overseeing the menu is consulting chef Page Pressley, who just launched a virtual fine dining restaurant, Foxtail Supper Club and is a potential Bachelorette contestant. Rounding out taproom/restaurant team are hospitality consultant and operator Harlan Scott, who is the founder of San Marcos restaurant Industry; and Ben Cachila, who is a current partner of Chinese restaurant Old Thousand and pizza restaurant 40 North. Designing the space are OPA Design Studio and Lilianne Steckel.

Eastcider’s Zilker address had been home to Uncle Billy’s Smokehouse, which closed in October 2019. It was planning on relocating to Dripping Springs earlier this year, but that hasn’t happened yet.

Austin Eastciders was founded in 2013. Its first taproom opened in Govalle in 2017.

Austin Eastciders/Facebook

Austin Eastciders/Facebook

• Austin Eastciders Barton Springs [Official]
• Barton Springs Brewery and Restaurant Uncle Billy’s Is Now Closed [EATX]
• All Coverage of Austin Eastciders [EATX]

Update, July 28, 10:04 a.m.: This article, originally published on Thursday, May 14, has been updated to include Eastciders’s opening details.