RADIO EAST

Radio East is the second location from the Radio Coffee and Beer team, the same folks who built one of South Austin's most popular coffee-shop-slash-bar-slash-music-venue combos on Manchaca Road. This outpost opened in late 2023 on Montopolis Drive in the McKinney neighborhood of southeast Austin, sitting on two acres with space for around eight hundred people and a five-hundred-foot covered outdoor stage. The concept carries over from the original: espresso and breakfast tacos in the morning, cocktails and live music in the evening, with a full day of reasons to be there in between. The bar runs a wall of taps with craft beer, rotating cocktails, wine, kombucha, and cold brew from their in-house roasting brand, RCB Roasters. Hot coffee gets proper attention too, with multiple Synesso espresso machines behind the counter. Radio East won the Austin Chronicle's Best New Club award in 2024, which is notable for a place that is technically also a coffee shop. The outdoor stage hosts local and touring musicians most nights of the week, and community events like swing dance nights have become regular fixtures. The whole operation is all ages unless a specific show says otherwise. For a part of town that has historically been underserved when it comes to live music and quality coffee, Radio East fills a real gap. It feels like a neighborhood gathering place that happens to have excellent sound and a genuinely good latte.