Easy Tiger to close East Austin location due to rent, weather

Easy Tiger, a classic beer garden and bakery, is closing one of its three locations across the capital city. Located at 1501 E. Seventh St., Austin, TX 78702, the Easy Tiger eatery will be open until the end of April, when it plans to shut down for good, the restaurant confirmed to Eater Austin. 

“Due to a combination of challenging weather conditions and increased costs, we cannot see a path forward for Easy Tiger at this location,” David Norman, Easy Tiger co-founder and head baker, said in a statement to Eater Austin. 

Norman told Eater Austin that the restaurant is trying to move staff at the East Austin location to Easy Tiger’s other storefronts off of South Lamar Boulevard and North I-35 Frontage Road at The Linc shopping center. 

Although Easy Tiger makes its own pastries and other bakery items in-house, Norman also told Eater Austin that the bakery production would not be affected by the East Austin closure because that location did not have a bakery.  

Now, it appears that the location has been acquired by the Weitzman Group, a Texas-based retail real estate service. According to a sign hung outside the East Austin Easy Tiger location, the Weitzman Group is planning to open a new restaurant with a patio at the spot, one Austin Redditor, u/singletonaustin, posted to the r/Austin subreddit asking about the Easy Tiger closure.  

The upcoming Easy Tiger closure was met with mixed reactions from other Austin Redditors, who reminisced about what the bakery used to offer residents.

“The original Easy Tiger on 6th pre-corporate acquisition was incredible. All locations post-acquisition and expansion have been a disappointment. Not surprising that this one didn’t hang on,” u/fe7nn3r replied.

“Every time I went to Easy Tiger since they’ve sold out I’ve got the distinct feeling of ‘I’m too poor to drink here.’ A stark contrast to the great $3 happy hour they had at their 6th street location. That was so great for after work meetups with coworkers,” u/The_Lutter replied. 

“For me, the draw to the original easy tiger was their EXTENSIVE beer selection, pub like atmosphere, creekside seating, and amazing cheap fresh baked pretzels. Food was decent too,” u/xalkalinity replied. “At the E 7th location, there are few beer options and they don’t even really seem to care that much about beer, prices are too high, and the place overall is too big and doesn’t have that neighborhood feel of the many other bars in the area. I used to love Easy Tiger because it was a place I could go and get rare beers and try new beers (anyone remember Gingerman? That was my favorite beer bar before it closed, then I started going to Easy Tiger instead).”

MySA reached out to Easy Tiger and the Weitzman Group for comment.