Southtown Joes Bar and Event Center — Restaurant in San Antonio

Owned by the St Joseph Benevolent Society, this is a small conversation bar that caters to the locals, and offers an event center with free parking, next to the King William neighborhood. Generally four beers on tap, but lots of different bottled beers available. No food or music (conversation bar remember), except on Mondays when The San Antonio Liederkranz gets together for practice. Bar does offer some chips & nuts for snacks. You can bring your own food.

The venue/hall/center is great for get-togethers, trainings, competitions, weddings, birthdays, retirements, etc... It fits up to 200 people and has a kitchen. You can cater, or bring your own food; you can hire a decorator or decorate yourself. There are 8 large round tables that seat up to 10 and about 20 large rectangular tables; includes padded chairs or folding chairs & security. King William Park is across the street on one side, and the River Walk on the other. The Oge House Bed & Breakfast is next door.

My daughter had her wedding reception here. We bought a couple of kegs of beer & had dinner catered from Fratello's. The ceremony was at King Williams Park, then every one just walked over. Tables & chairs were set up for us, we decorated & brought in a DJ who had everything he needed to set up.

I highly recommend this place if you're looking for an inexpensive venue near downtown and flexibility...

This is a revamped hole in the wall from back in the day that was formally St. Joe's. Some of the areas in here have been updated. The foyer now has a little sitting area when you walk in the facility. More tables were set up than previously once was. An area was opened up where there are pool tables and a couple of electronic dart boards. It was a little warm in the pool/dart room. There was a portable A/C unit but it was barely keeping things cool in this South Texas heat. There is a jukebox in there to put on music, something that wasn't there before. The bar area is pretty much the same, dimly lit with the red bar stools. The bar stool with "Norm" doesn't seem to be there. I've drank many beers there in the past, being that I did not work too far from there. They now serve liquor now, which they previously didn't, and you were able to bring bottles of liquor and buy the soda to make your own drinks. There is still a hall there, which I believe you can still rent. It seems it is now catering to a younger crowd since more condos and apartments are being built downtown. I hope it stays open since it is a nice...

We had an event in their hall, and it was absolutely miserable. They guaranteed things like the audio system being available for our DJ and it was not; none of the speakers worked so we had to use our own Bluetooth boombox for the night. They offered a Nacho Bar for social hour and it was just out in crock pots that looked like they came from someone’s house. The meal was very bland and served with the cheapest plates/silverware, and the kitchen was very unclean looking which would explain my wife and I having stomach issues for the next day. The absolute worst part, was that the A/C did not work at all, in South Texas during the Summer! It was over 80 degrees with no airflow the entire night and was awful! We left the event half way through because we were miserable and sweaty just sitting there. The only good part was that the bar staff was very kind and did their best, but even then the drinks were very poorly made unless you got beer (which was not cold). Would NEVER recommend this venue for...