Punch Bowl Social — Restaurant in Austin

Punch Bowl Social on Congress Ave delivered a fantastic experience for our team outing. From the moment we arrived, Antonio greeted us with a warm and cheerful welcome, guiding us to our bowling lanes where the setup was already prepared with an array of food. Once settled, Peter took over as our host for the evening, ensuring everyone had their drink orders sorted, troubleshooting any bowling lane issues, and staying attentive to our needs throughout the evening. A big shoutout to Antonio and Peter for their outstanding hospitality—they made us feel completely at home.

The food setup was generous, catering to both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Highlights included the Falafel Sliders, which were a hit, and a variety of veggies served with hummus and other dips. The Sweet Potato Fries, Brussel Sprouts, and Guacamole were all solid choices for casual bites. While the Pretzels were hit or miss, they added to the variety. I didn’t personally try the chicken or meat sliders, but teammates mentioned they were decent. Overall, the food was surprisingly good considering it was served in a bowling alley setting.

This was my first time experiencing Duckpin Bowling, and it was such a fun twist! Unlike traditional 10-pin bowling, duckpin involves a smaller, finger-hole-free ball and allows for three rolls per frame, similar to candlepin bowling. The unique format added an exciting element to the game, and our team thoroughly enjoyed it. This is definitely something I’d love to try again when the opportunity arises.

Beyond bowling, the venue offered plenty of activities. There’s a karaoke section, a small-sized arcade area, and even a cornhole/beanbag toss section. The variety of entertainment options makes it a versatile venue perfect for team outings, parties, or just a fun night out with friends.

The place was lively and bustling, with a vibrant energy that added to the experience. It’s clearly a popular spot, so reservations or early arrivals might be wise.

Punch Bowl Social is a great choice for a fun and engaging outing. The combination of good food, excellent service, and unique entertainment options makes it a must-try. Thanks again to Antonio and Peter for elevating our experience. We’d definitely love to return for another round of duckpin bowling and good times!

Highly...

I wish that Punch bowl social was actually Punchable social,🤣

My friend called ahead as she actually really wanted to play ping pong, yes, I know, ping pong is a strange request and all, but they neglected to tell us that there was a group business party that had reserved basically the whole place for an event, including the ping pong which we were not able to play. We got a couple appetizers, drinks and waited. Both appetizers were terrible. See below. The whole ground level area was effectively roped off for the event, and we had to go downstairs into what felt like a basement, in spite of the fact that it was roughly happy hour timelines, And the natural light was nice upstairs.

The drinks were expensive compared to most of Austin.

The bartenders were nice, but were clearly overworked, And every single one of them asked if we were with the event.

The food we ordered were bison fries and the vegan nachos. Both were a miserable excuse for an appetizer. If we wanted french fries and tortilla chips we would have gotten what we wanted. But all of the toppings/ bison/vegan cheese/ anything else that was supposed to be on there was almost not present. Pictures attached, though the pictures make it look like there is more topping than was actually there. You had to dig to find anything other than either a french fry or a tortilla chip. And even at that they both were just mediocre tasting food.

Overall, if you want to play games and chill, this might not be a bad spot. If you want food or drinks, plan to get terrible food, and very expensive drinks. You could walk to Velvet Taco next door to eat, it's actually pretty nice on the food. Try the buffalo chicken taco at Velvet Taco. Just dont eat here.

Also downtown, there is no parking included so you'll have to pay for that separately, however, that's par for the...

We had a disappointing experience on our recent visit here. I had schedule a team outing here for yesterday, I was working with the event sales manager to set up the contract over a month ago via email to reserve a private space. All seemed to be going so smoothly and my team was so excited for our celebratory outing. We arrived yesterday and they did not have us in the list. Upon check in we stated our company name and were responded with, “we have a lot of companies here tonight and you are not one of them”. Upon showing them my contract they pointed out it was not signed. I had put my credit card down at the time of planning the event and unfortunately missed where I needed to add a signature at the bottom of the page. The event sales manager I was working with never provided direction on this, and did not notify me that this was outstanding so I could take care of it and secure the outing for my team. Instead, they released our space due to “high demand for other parties”, and did not even notify me that our space was given up. We closed our business 3 hours early to allow our team to go to this outing. They were able to squeeze us into some booths and offered us free karaoke for 45 mins and the darts (which are already non exclusive and complementary). Overall we had a good time because my team made the most of it, the food was also great which helped soften the disappointment. All being said it was incredibly frustrating for all the work put into this team outing to totally fall through the cracks. I emailed the event manager and was offered complimentary activities at our next event, but I can confirm we will not be having an event here in the future after seeing how this was handled. I wanted to share my experience to make management aware as I was not sure if there was management...