Emerald Tavern Games and Cafe — Restaurant in Austin

Tldr; manage your expectations and pay cash.

I'll start with this: the food is very, very good, and reasonably priced. That's the main attraction.

As a game store, it's fine. Prices are kinda high but pretty on par with the average brick and mortar game store. You can pay $10 to have access to some board games for the night, but selection is pretty limited and process is kind of awkward since you can't look at them up close on your own. The guy who runs the counter also has to do other jobs so it feels bad to monopolize his time trying to actually read the boxes before you choose one. We usually have our own games though, so it's not really an issue, and it's nice to at least have the option.

Experiences with the staff have been super hit or miss. Most of the folks there are great, but we have had a lot of bad experiences too. My first time there, the bartender somehow accidentally charged my friend's card $80 for a single drink. The manager was quite dismissive - they apparently use some weird third party service to process credit card payments and he just told my friend he would have to call them during business hours to deal with it on his own. There was no apology made or even any offer of minor compensation, like a free drink or something. To be clear, my friend was NOT rude or belligerent at any point dealing with this - he was completely calm and respectful. A system that doesn't allow them to refund or correct messed up orders in house seems pretty insane to me.

The next time I went in the same manager was running the bar. I tried to order a hot drink and he looked deeply annoyed and insisted that I go to a table and order through the app. (It's pretty sketchy to avoid letting customers pay cash, considering the aforementioned experience). I did, and waited 30 minutes for one cup of tea, which was completely cold by then. That same night they closed the kitchen early without notifying anyone, which was frustrating.

One of the servers has been inexplicably antagonistic several times. In particular she seems to have a personal problem with vaping. When I take a break to vape I go waaaay out into the parking lot where I can't bother anyone.  But she will straight up interrupt my group to yell at me for just having a vape present. It's uncomfortable to have in my pocket while I'm sitting, so I usually sit it on the table. I really don't think that should be an issue.

My friends and I aren't rowdy or rude; half of us don't drink at all and those who do stop at one or two drinks max. We spend a lot of money and we tip. I just want to be clear that this isn't a case of a server being cold to us because we've been problem customers. We just wanna hang out peacefully and play a board game.

We still go here because, as I said, the food is great and most of the staff are perfectly pleasant. There really isn't anywhere else in Austin suitable to have a board game and dinner night (that I'm aware of) and everywhere else we have tried has been considerably worse.

I really WANT to love this place. The concept is great. We've just yet to have a night without some sort of bad...

We have booked one birthday party a year here for the past couple of years and also come in every few months to play games with smaller groups. I love being able to pay $10 to play any of their extensive collection of games! The drink menu is also fantastic – coffee drinks, teas, beer, cider, mead, cocktails, mocktails, Italian sodas – the drink specials are delicious and there’s something for everybody.

The food has always been sort of… meh. The best dishes have typically been traditional pub fare. As someone who eats gluten-free and minimizes dairy, I have always struggled to find food here that works for me, and the new menu changes took away a couple of dishes I had relied on (such as the latkes -- I loved those! D: ).

My partner and I came in this week to celebrate an anniversary, and it was the first time we’d been in since the kitchen dropped the electronic ordering system. I miss that system a lot. It was a great way to keep food and drinks coming while concentrating on a game. Now we either have to chase down a server when we’re ready to reorder, or have them interrupt what we’re doing at random times, neither of which is ideal for gameplay. Our server was friendly and efficient, so that part of the evening was on point.

I was uncomfortable with the price hikes on the food since my last visit. There didn’t seem to be any real increase in quality, although the names of the dishes and the descriptions are much fancier. We had rented a booth for the evening ($55) and already ordered an appetizer, entrees, and several rounds of drinks, when my partner got an Italian soda they didn’t really like. (I didn’t either – the flavor was strange and cloying.) They asked if they could trade it for something else. Word came back from the manager that the best they could offer was a 20% discount on another drink. We didn’t say anything, but what I thought was – seriously, you can’t comp a $4 soda for customers who are dropping $150 a night?

I really want to love this place, and maybe there are some serious financial struggles going on that I don’t know about. But an evening out here is EXPENSIVE, and I didn’t come away feeling that my business was valued. As much as I love the idea of a board game pub, I don’t like being nickeled and dimed when I’ve already put down over $50 just to reserve a table.

Drinks 5/5 Food 3/5 Waitstaff 5/5 Overall Customer Service...

I’m saddened to give this place that I used to love so much this low of rating, but the recent changes have made it a horrible place to go to.

The seating arrangement used to be first come first serve, now they’ve implemented a reservation system with a mandatory reservation fee of $35 (for 2 ppl; it costs more for 5-8 ppl parties). Since we didn’t know about this new reservation system, we were put on the waitlist without any way of checking our place in line (no link in their automated texting system). The hostess gave us an estimated time of 45 mins, but instead we waited for THREE hours to receive a table, having to go back to the hostess to check our place in line throughout our wait. So either spend $35-$55 to reserve a table or wait multiple hours before getting seated; those are your options.

This reservation system wasn’t the start of their downfall. When we were able to get seated in the past, we have been harshly told about their no water bottle policy, something that is also relatively new. While I understand this ‘no outside water and food’ policy is due to the alcohol on the premise, I don’t understand why it takes so long (sometimes upwards to 40 min or never getting them at all) to receive glasses of water after several attempts to request them from a server. Before, they had water stations easily accessible.

The food menu has also changed at least 3 times in the past couple of years with a significant increase in prices and decrease in size/quality. While a small number of their food is quite tasty, I’ll give them that, their prices are way too high to justify their small portions. You easily spend $40+ ordering a main dish, a non-alcoholic drink, and tip. They also used to have a seamless QR order system that has been replaced with a slow, often mistakes-ridden, service system. There are kind waiters who are trying their best, and I’m all for more human-forward efforts, but the quality of their service needs to get better.

Overall, I feel as though greed and lack of care for this place that used to be such a magical gem has made it a place I will now be boycotting until they address concerns from their local community, as I’m not the only one who feels this way (see other comments). This used to be a good place- I’m sad to have to say...