Open Mic: Austin Grill

The need to cash some checks, and grab a bite to eat, flushed me out of my hotel room apartment into the cold dark night... but not without checking to see if there might be some music to be heard. I entered the Austin Grill in Silver Spring, Maryland at around 9pm on Monday night and took a seat at a bar table. As I was taking note of the largely Caucasian, twenty-something crowd, I overheard someone suggest that the Grill was "pretty empty"...

Time
9:30 -12:00pm

$$
No cover
Veggie Burrito and two Dos Equis Draught... $20.00

Average Set Length
4 songs

Highlights

• Over sized sound board with plenty of plugs that feed the restaurant, the sidewalk and even the restrooms!
• Several talented musicians including Denny and Mark
• Ample stage room
• Built in crowd of musicians, music fans, corporate cocktails, suburban daters, and Joe Blow off the street looking for grub
• Crowd stayed near 40 for as long as I was there
• Metro accessible
• Plenty of original music
  

Lowlights

• Because of the size of the restaurant, the crowd seems to be isolated in pockets and the place feels emptier than a dive might
• It's a corporate restaurant with corporate prices and corporate food and well... that rant would be for another blog somewhere else

...All being said, the Austin Grill Open Mic is a place where you can feel free to show up on a Monday night with an instrument of choice and cry about whatever is on your mind... and it's a real American™ restaurant!