Vigilante Gastropub & Games — Restaurant in Austin

Natural 20 on bar food, drink choice, classy geek chic ambiance, plus the critical boardgame curation app and presentation. It's just about everything I could think of to want in a boardgame bar. I love the idea of the switch at each table to invite other players, plus the button to call a server. If they sold those little wooden card holders I would buy four for use at home!

We paid more than $45 for two people for two hours. My friend had a porter he liked and I had the Frontier Mead from the local and excellent Meridian Hive Meadery. We enjoyed the surprisingly moist and delicious texture of the falafel bites. We ordered the potato wedges and awesome spicy ketchup without parmesan because my friend was vegan. They were very conscientious in checking with the kitchen and made sure he understood the fry oil wasn’t vegan, and were great about helping us come up with good options. Their samosa bites were freaking delicious but hard to eat without the wrappers. The panko bread crumbs barely helped hold them together, and we eventually asked for a spoon to get the chutney on them. Too messy for a repeat order (we were worried about keeping the boardgame clean) but absolutely scrumptious. Would order again if they came smaller on skewers. Liked that everything was served in upright metal cups to save table space.

We played Forbidden Desert because the app recommended it based on our filters of cooperative, 2 player, and medium length of time. All around, a fantastic time. I will definitely be back!

UPDATE: Came back with three new friends and had a good experience. I think they rolled a 15 this time. I was surprised how many non-alcoholic drink items were out of stock. I was sad to learn they weren't able to move their cheese plate fast enough to keep the ingredients fresh on hand, so that was off the menu as well. With that being said, we were all blown away by every food item we ordered.

Everything I had last time, the falafel, steak fries, samosa bites (this time served with forks and knives in a larger dish) was consistently delicious. We also loved the spinach strawberry walnut goat cheese spring salad wraps, those were SO AMAZING! There were house-made vegetarian taquitos that were perfect. Do you know how rare it is to find veggie taquitos, let alone house-made, let alone delicious?? Our friends raved about their chicken satay and pho beef sliders and the beer and cider, which they thought were quite affordable. Definitely a scrumptious meal!

This time we played a couple shorter games, Coup and Codename Pictures. Both were really enjoyable and easy to learn and play. I hope they offer Tsuro soon, it's my favorite "appetizer" or warmup kind of game, so elegant and easy to learn, but with strategy to keep things interesting. I was intrigued to see their traditional Go set, and want to come back to give that a try. I also think four-person chess would be perfect for this setting, a great "gateway" boardgame for folks who want a new twist on something familiar.

They have some kinks to work out of the system, I think, but I really hope it works out for them. It's clear they love gaming and good food and drink and want to make this the best experience for gaming folks that they possibly can. We will...

I've been here a few times but I don't think we will be returning. It's a cool concept but the service has definitely declined. My husband and I decided to go there last Saturday. This was our first time going in about a year. From our previous visits, we thought that there was a $20 charge for the gaming tables no matter how many people were at the table. We anticipated on paying this. So we show up early knowing it gets busy and hard to get a table later in the evenings. When we get there, it's not too busy and there are several empty game tables and a couple of tables with only two people. The host tells us we can either sit at the bar or sit at a regular table. I ask if we can have a game table. He says no because there is a 3 person minimum and it may not look busy right now but "a lot of people are about to come in". Seemed weird since we all pay the same and planned on paying the $20+food+drinks and there were several tables with 2 people already. So we sit at a regular table. Then a couple comes in right after us and they flat out offered a gaming table to them. So my husband complains and they say there was a confusion about how seating was going. They move us to a gaming table but now the host was clearly annoyed. We try to enjoy our date night and order a couple of drinks. We are in our 30s and just got married so I had recently changed my last name and gotten a new license. So the host asks to see our IDs, not that unusual but also seems more like a formality at our age. So the hosts questions the expiration date on his license which seems like a ridiculous question, who memorizes the expiration on your license. Then they say they can't serve me alcohol because it's a temporary license. I tell them the story and show them the old license which the DMV cut because they told me it was no longer valid and only the paper license was to be used. The other sever, who the host brought out allows this to be served but it was pretty embarrassing to first, not be allowed a gaming table and then to be needlessly questioned about our licenses. The rest of the night was definitely an uncomfortable experience with the server obviously annoyed that we were allowed a table and then allowed alcohol. He also didn't bring one of our drink orders then claimed to have lost it. We had to alert a sever for every little thing like napkins, forks, etc. The other severs were very attentive and much more friendly so we left a tip but it was a very uncomfortable situation. We realized later that the game fee is now $5/person instead of $20/table so we now understand why they would only want bigger groups at the tables but if you are buying food and drinks and spending $70+ seems like that would make up for it. As we left there were several open gaming tables so I'm not sure where were all those people the host claimed were about to come in but we were done and ready to leave...

We visited Vigilante on a weekend visit to Austin. I've been to other game cafes in California, Canada, and Arizona and enjoyed them all, but Vigilante is the most comprehensively and thoughtfully designed place out of all I've been to. It's clear a lot of thought went into the custom game tables, with a special button to flag down servers, buttons at some large tables to signal you're looking for others to join you, card holders, dice cups, and cupholders all built in for the best gaming experience. When we arrived Sunday brunch and a fun Cards Against Humanity tournament was going on, and the sound system was designed so that it was less loud in the other side of the bar where we were for 'regular' gaming - very nice! We enjoyed snacks and drinks while we were there, although I can understand the reviews that it might be hard to make a dinner meal on the small plates. The game selection is pretty good especially for a place that has only been open 2 or 3 months. The $5 game fee to use their library is reasonable in my view and very much on par with the other game cafe's I've visited. Especially reasonable if you hang out for hours and play several games you don't own, as we did! We got to peek into the two private gaming rooms which weren't in use - these are totally secluded behind the giant game bookcases almost like a secret room. One is completely Cold War themed including maps, props on bookshelves, and an old school 'throw' switch to call the server. The other room is wizard/fantasy themed and final touches are still being added. This again is something I haven't seen at any other board game establishment I've been to, and really sets this place apart as adding something different. We hung out for around 6 hours on a Sunday afternoon and the place was pleasantly busy/lively the whole time, which is great to see for a new and cool place like this. People continued to come and go, but it was never unpleasantly packed while we were there. I highly recommend Vigilante for any game fans in the area for a place to go to try new games, meet new people, and enjoy a relaxed time. I'm just jealous that I was only visiting town and can't...