Longbranch Saloon

Boerne, Texas

Longbranch Saloon - Boerne Dive Bar - Exterior

Field Rating

7

out of 10

Smoky, Texan and rustic in just the way it should be.

The Basics

817 N Main St
Boerne, TX 78006

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In Short

Texas Hill Country is filled with no-frills gems, San Antonio’s spiderweb of routes working through a number of small towns populated by attractive drinking spots. Longbranch Saloon is one of Boerne’s best options, the dive bar’s refined exterior hiding two rooms of hard surfaces, rustic amenities and a one-of-a-kind glass bottle chandelier.

Field Note

The roads leading into and out of San Antonio form a spider web of sorts, continuous concentric circles digging further and further into Texas Hill Country. These circuitous routes make for good road-tripping territory, Boerne a familiar anchor for exploratory drives northwest of San Antonio’s urban core. Among Boerne’s drinking options, cash-only Longbranch Saloon is one of the city’s best, a structure that has a refined exterior that gives way to a rustic, Texas-classic atmosphere.

The curb appeal of Longbranch Saloon is almost too strong, dive bar credentials endangered thanks to attractive exterior lighting and a clean sign above the front door. Along one of Boerne’s main thoroughfares, a short, gravel drinking area out front includes a picnic table and a few other Texas-appropriate features including a pair of grills and a well-placed cactus. This overflow area is attractive to the point of raising suspicion that the Longbranch Saloon interior has been gentrified.

Longbranch Saloon is smoker-friendly, meaning that when the garage door up front is closed, the air can certainly be smokey.

Thankfully, those fears are unfounded, the Longbranch Saloon interior every bit the rustic, no-frills environment that has kept the Boerne staple in business for over 50 years. The surfaces in the front of the space are all hard, from cinder block walls to polished concrete floors. But this is a deceptively sprawling Boerne dive bar, Longbranch Saloon distributed across a pair of rooms with distinct purposes. Be warned that Longbranch Saloon is smoker-friendly, meaning that when the garage door up front is closed, the air can certainly be smokey.

But the main room in front houses the hub of everyday action, the three-sided, wood-lined bar lined with tall, backed chairs. The hard concrete overhead is here hidden by a short drop ceiling that, together with a strand of string lights, makes for cozy drinking quarters despite the room’s square footage. A garage door here extends the main room when the weather accommodates, making use of the picnic table and gravel area in front. A stained-glass style hanging lamp again adds the soft lighting that makes for a good drinking vibe.

This front room plays host to a number of the Boerne dive bar’s numerous rotating events, including pool and dart tournaments.

The balance of the main room is filled in with a pair of red-felt pool tables, a few scattered tables and the bar’s two dart boards. This front room plays host to a number of the Boerne dive bar’s numerous rotating events, including pool and dart tournaments. But behind the bar sits the long, secondary room that houses the bar’s unassuming stage, a slightly elevated platform backed by the name of the bar, a few hand-drawn horseshoes on either side of a large mirror and of course a touch of taxidermy to set the mood.

But the marquee element in this rear space is the blue chandelier constructed out of upside down glass bottles that hangs just in front of the stage. Against the white, concrete ceiling and the pale, hard surfaces present in this rear room, the blue pops and adds a fun visual element to the unexpectedly cavernous space. An additional pool table can be found here in addition to a long shuffleboard table, drinking ledge and a host of tables that serve as viewpoint for the events staged here, including weekly karaoke.

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