The Highball — Restaurant in Austin

As you may have heard, the redevelopment plan for Lamar Plaza was made official yesterday on September 17. The Highball will be temporarily closing on November 17th and moving next door to the Alamo Drafthouse to re-open in the late summer of 2013. While we are sad to miss out on so many good times while we’re under renovation, we look forward to hosting even bigger and better parties and events in 2013. We’ll still have a fantastic bar, ballroom and our themed private karaoke rooms, but unfortunately the real estate for our bowling lanes makes it too costly to keep them.

We hope you’ll come by and visit our original space before we close so we can reminisce as well as dream about all of the fun ahead. And you better start preparing now for our epic closing night party!

Here’s the official press release:

Alamo Drafthouse is pleased to announce plans for the re-development of Alamo South Lamar and The Highball in the South Lamar Plaza Shopping Center. The Highball will close for the re-development on November 17th and Alamo South Lamar will follow on January 3rd, 2013. Both locations are slated to re-open in the third quarter of 2013.

“As much as I love the current shopping center, the redevelopment of South Lamar Plaza will enable us to execute much-needed lobby renovations and increase the parking capacity for the complex. I am very excited about the design of the new space and I feel that after a brief closure we will re-open with the best Alamo Drafthouse yet.” Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Founder and CEO.

The Alamo South Lamar will undergo extensive renovations including the construction of three additional screens, a new lobby with additional capacity, and greatly increased parking capacity. The new Alamo South Lamar will continue to support both 4k digital as well as 35mm archival screenings.

The Highball will re-open in the third quarter of 2013 and will be rebuilt adjacent to the new Alamo South Lamar location. The new Highball will still feature multiple private karaoke rooms, a stage for events and live performances and a menu featuring beer, wine and specialty cocktails from Beverage Director Bill Norris. The new incarnation of the Highball, however, will not feature vintage bowling, but will include ample...

I was really disappointed in this place for my private karaoke room. It was clearly a very busy night as it was freezing outside and they had a 90s band inside preforming. The line to get in was stretched all throughout the Alamo Drafthouse Lobby. So we understood it was busy and the staff was going to be a little overwhelmed. Not a problem, my entire party works in the service industry, so we totally get it, and tired our best to give everyone appreciation and make their night with us a little easy. The hostess was still pleasant despite the crowd, and the guy working the door was very friendly despite all the people in his face. I really want to comment him on his patience and kindness. However, I couldn't help but get over a few things about the experience, service included:

The rooms were definitely not as advertised, as we walked in on sticky floors with puddles of god knows what around some areas. The whole room itself was just dirty. We had some technical difficulty with our karaoke machine, and was rudely told not to touch anything until their AV guy came in the room. I could get past the servers tone seeing as it was busy, but we waited for 25 minutes before someone came and fixed it. That was 25 minutes I was paying for a room we couldn't do anything in. Our server did tell us that because of the wait, we would get an extra half hour in the room. Great, right? Nope. Once our end time came, she promptly walked in, turned off the machine, and told us it was time to go. I was in the middle of a song. Seriously? To top our night off, and the reason why I decided write in: My boyfriend was given the bill of both drinks and the room, despite very clearly stating to our server (twice) that I was to pay for the room and he was to get the drinks/food.

Needless to say, our experience there was very disappointing despite going in with respect and understanding during a busy night. We will surely not recommend nor bother with this karaoke...

I have given them a five star before but after the experience I had I have to re-review them - sadly. I have gone dancing there since long before the remodel. I almost always dance alone. I was dancing Swing at the Copa Kings and had several men back into, step on, and throw their partners into me. How do I know they were doing it on purpose? Because one of the guys from the group got right in my face and said I needed to get a man to dance with or to get my *ss in the corner to dance by myself or he was going to knock my *ss to the ground. Another of the group came up and yelled at me "how much room do you need to dance anyway?" I retorted, "More than you would give me". I have an extensive dance background and a lot of training. I do not drink, I am very conscious of the people around me and on the rare occasion I do accidently knock someone I always apologize as I have respect for dance. I brought management right in front of the horrible guy who started cursing me out right in front of the manager. The band had also seen what he did and told me so. Even with all that, the manager would not ask him to leave. If it takes someone actually hitting someone for them to take action, I am warning them - if a physical altercation ever happens, I will sue and prosecute both the patron and the venue. There is no excuse for not supporting someone trying to de-escalate a situation. I was uncomfortable the whole time and why should I leave? I wasn't the one making...