Houston’s Best Wallet-Friendly Happy Hours

Fortunately, Houston is brimming with restaurants and bars that feature special deals on drinks, dishes, and full-blown meals during set hours. Everyone has their favorite haunt, but with the city’s seemingly endless happy hour deals, it’s never been easier to discover new venues.

Here’s an updated list of happy hours in Houston that deliver some of the best cold cocktails, smoked meats, and everything in between without breaking the bank. After a long day at work, there’s nothing better than bellying up to a bar for a cocktail or two and snacks — especially for the right price.

Fortunately, Houston is brimming with restaurants and bars that feature special deals on drinks, dishes, and full-blown meals during set hours. Everyone has their favorite haunt, but with the city’s seemingly endless happy hour deals, it’s never been easier to discover new venues. Here’s an updated list of happy hours in Houston that deliver some of the best cold cocktails, smoked meats, and everything in between without breaking the bank.

The Blind Goat

Christine Ha, the MasterChef season 3 champ, helms this Spring Branch restaurant that dishes out Vietnamese cuisine and happy hour deals.

Classic cocktails, including a Negroni, Old Fashioned, and Daiquiri, are easy on the wallet at $6, and make an intuitive pair with food deals like pork skewers in a lemongrass fish sauce glaze or the ever-popular sticky wings. Stop by Monday for an all-day happy hour and $6 sparking wine by the glass, while Sunday through Thursday, happy hour runs from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Feges BBQ

A few doors down from the Blind Goat is Feges BBQ and while there isn’t a bad time to dine at the joint, its happy hour is a steal of a deal.

Enjoy $5 frozen margaritas and half-off select glasses of wine on Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. and all day Sunday. It’s also an economical opportunity to sample Feges’ food, including 10 smoked chicken wings for $10 and a $10 sandwich of either chopped brisket or pulled pork.

Starduster Lounge

This bar and lounge is a moody, cowboy-esque Heights spot inspired by West Texas aesthetics, where all cocktails are half-off for happy hour. With most sips normally hovering around the $13 range, the discount makes the signature drinks even more enticing.

Stop by on weekdays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. for elixirs like Chipotle Palomas, Old Fashioneds, and frozen Cosmos. The neighborhood bar is also dog-friendly, with happy hour prices for four-legged patrons and their humans from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Loro Heights

Happy hour gets going midday at this buzzy Asian smokehouse. From 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, diners can expect $5 cocktails, wine and sake on tap, and $4 boozy slushies like a spicy watermelon margarita, frozen G&T, and an alcohol-free pink lemonade.

Bites such as charred pork skewers, smoked wings, and a crunchy cabbage salad all go for under $10. Check out the Heights location’s spacious patio with hanging egg chairs.

Best Regards

Head to this trendy woman-owned bar in the Heights for $10 cocktails during happy hour from opening to 7 p.m.

Tuesday through Friday. Bring a friend to share the bottomless fries for $20, alongside $10 cocktails, $5 beers, and half-off select bottles.

The large patio is outfitted with curved sofas and string lights, while indoors, abundant greenery brings the outdoors in when Houston temperatures climb.

Camaraderie

It’s barely a year old, but this Heights restaurant from chef Shawn Gawle is already earning accolades, including a James Beard Award semifinalist nod for Best Chef: Texas. Its happy hour deals are enticing as well, with half-off cocktails, mini cocktails, and mocktails.

Choose from libations such as the Bugs Bunny with gin, amontillado, apricot, and carrot piloncillo, and the Mosquita, a mini cocktail of mezcal, Campari, ginger, and lemon. Happy hour at Camaraderie runs Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., and Sundays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Eight Row Flint

Find $7 select cocktails, $6 select beers, and $8 wines during Eight Row Flint’s extra-long weekday happy hour from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m and all day Wednesday.

The Heights outpost, housed in a transformed mid-century gas station with seating that spills out onto a wraparound patio, is a popular go-to, but the newer location in the East End is just as worthy. Here, patrons will find happy hour specials such as $4 off wells and $7 Kentucky mules Tuesday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., all day on Mondays, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends

Better Luck Tomorrow

One of Houston’s most beloved bars also boasts an impressive weekday happy hour. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., beers, glasses of wine, and house cocktails are half-off.

Those imbibing can indulge in BLT’s unique creations, such as the Fig Daddy that layers a cardamom-infused rye with sweet vermouth and spiced fig, while the Monsoon Season is a silky sip of blanco tequila, clarified milk, pandan, and lime leaf.

Hungry Like the Wolf

This ‘80s-themed diner transports patrons back in time with its happy hour deals from Tuesday to Friday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. It’s easy to imagine the cast of Saved by the Bell walking through the door and settling down in the neon interior filled with glass bricks and portraits of pop icons.

The happy hour prices are as enticing as the quirky atmosphere, with $6 wells, $11 specialty cocktails, $4 beers, and $5 shots. Snack on $12 jumbo wings and $2.50 tacos before sticking around for karaoke at 8 p.m. on Fridays.

Urbe

Grab a friend and fill the table with Mexican street food at this lively Hugo Ortega restaurant.

Diners can enjoy $9 classic cocktails, which include an agave flight featuring tequila, mezcal, and sotol, plus house cocktails like the Urbe margarita for $10. But the bites are the true stars with tacos ranging from $5 to $7 each and the Urbe Trio of brisket queso flameado, guacamole, and salsa Mexicana for $22. Happy hour is Tuesday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Mi Luna

Patatas bravas, jamon serrano y manchego, croquettas, empanadas — the happy hour menu at Mi Luna is brimming with Spanish tapas priced from $5 to $12 each.

Pair bites with essential sips like frozen sangria for $5, house cocktails for $8, and draft beer for $5. This Montrose Collective restaurant’s weekday happy hour is from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Toga

Toga is Comma Hospitality’s most casual restaurant, joining the group’s portfolio alongside Neo, Kira, and Oru.

The restaurant’s bird logo is a clue to its specialty: 13 varieties of yakitori made with nearly every part of the chicken and grilled over Japanese binchotan charcoal. The menu isn’t all poultry, though. Standouts include pickled Gulf shrimp served with a sesame rice cracker, crispy katsu with Kanazawa curry, and a wagyu burger made with a brisket and beef heart blend.

Azumi

Bring your appetite and a drinking buddy to this River Oaks District Japanese restaurant, which offers a sake-fueled weekday happy hour from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the bar and on the patio.

Alongside bites like $14 handrolls and $2 oysters, the restaurant features $5 lychee, dirty, or classic martinis and $10 hot sake bottles among its many drink deals.

• Order delivery from Grubhub
• 4444 Westheimer Rd Ste G130, Houston, TX, 77027, US
• (830) 830-0220
• Visit website

Doris Metropolitan

This Middle Eastern restaurant is known for its dry-aged beef, but visit during happy hour for a more approachable way to sample the upscale meat, as in the $16 Doris burger with truffle fries, which is only available during happy hour. Happy hour runs until 9 p.m. on Mondays and 7 p.m.

Tuesday through Saturday, which makes it an easy date-night option — try the $50 deal that includes the burger, fries, and a bottle of Justin Cabernet. Other highlights include $10 highballs, caviar blinis for $20, and $10 espresso martinis.

Winnie’s

This Mid-Main gem boasts $6 happy hour food and drink specials from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.

Snack on the likes of fried pickle spears and pepper jelly fried catfish nuggets, while sipping on house cocktails. Beyond the happy hour menu, there are daily specials like daiquiris for $1 on Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Axelrad Beer Garden

When it comes to drinks, this Midtown beer garden keeps happy hour simple, straightforward, and inexpensive.

Head to Axelrad from open to 7 p.m. on weekdays for a $3.50 beer of the day, $3 mimosas, $2 off frozens, $4 wells, $5 margaritas, and $5 Michel-Rad-As (the bar’s take on micheladas). Check the calendar to see what food trucks will be on site if hunger hits while catching live entertainment in Axelrad’s expansive garden.