The Annex

Comfortable. friendly. awesome service
strong drinks. hot bears. Within 5 minutes of walking in we made new friends and talked all evening. Good time for sure.

I brought a client in for Madrid Spain. He wanted to see the Alamo. we did some barhopping. Stopped at the Annex. Went into the annex came out my car was broken into! The place is unsafe. Our car was broken into. If you dial 911 you get a message from the police they’re too busy to come. I drove back to the Marriott. There are no 24 hour glass repair places in San Antonio. My client from Spain went back to Dallas five hours without seeing the Alamo. We drove all the way with no window! Thank you San Antonio we won’t be back will go to San Diego or California where it’s safe

Eddie the bartender was amazing. The assistant manager was an ASS! No personality at all.

This place puts the «d» in dive bar. I’m not the typical clientele of this type of place. Upon arriving, I was informed that this was a «bear den.» Large, hairy gay men. Not my scene. I fully support the gay community, but this just wasn’t a good bar. However, I had some time to kill, and wanted a cold beer.
$ 3.50 for a Lone Star long neck seems kind of steep in my book. The beer was cold.
Announcements were periodically made by a man in drag with his face painted white.
The restrooms must be addressed. What’s with the mirror by the urinal?! I couldn’t pee. Stage fright. One of the scariest restrooms I’ve ever been in. I left as soon as I saw the mirror, and peed elsewhere.
The place wasn’t clean. The floors are uneven, and there are low ceilings. The place just kind of meanders through whatever space they have in a long layout. It seems that the place was once very smoky, but is no longer due to the smoking law. It still kind of smells of old smoke.
There’s an outdoor patio with plenty of seating.

If you like it a little on the trashy side this may be your place… It feels like you are locked away in bubba’s tool shed with a juke box… Although the drinks were cheap and strong and the bartender was very friendly… It was a very mixed crowd and this place puts the «D» in Dive bar

This is a dive, hide away from the rest of the gay bars that isn’t too far if you’re avoiding the crowds/​younger people. Great drink specials, there’s a juke box, and the staff is always friendly.
It’s rather dark, and there’s a smoking patio, but this place is open early and the clientele is never outrageous as they’re usually older.

Drinks are always cheap and strong, definitely a plus.
The layout is a bit on the strange side, very uneven floors and unusually low ceilings. It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever seen a window A/​C unit inside of a business!
Going to the bathroom is always interesting here… you’ve got one men’s restroom with a huge «take-​a-​peek» mirror running alongside the urinals, and then you have a single person restroom that always has at least a few people ahead of you. The place is so old I can never tell if the restrooms are dirty or just old. Probably both.
I’ve always been tempted to order a burger from their BBQ pit, just unsure of the quality and cleanliness.
It’s a predominantly older crowd here, if you’re into that. Jukebox music is pretty good, bartenders are friendly.

Okay I do agree with Vinny H on a lot about this place. They do have really great happy hours and the prices are so cheap that I think I paid for a martini once with my full tooth grin and that was it. Its a cool little place to stop in for a quick drink and head on to nicer things. These bartenders do pour heavy though so be fore warned. The bathrooms are dodgy as fuck. Girls should come but preferably with their gay friends. This is a semi leather bar/​bear bar and its open to all. Has a great juke box and they play music and have a small smoking patio. Its worth a visit, just wash your hands afterwards :)

The Annex is a small dive that you can run to if you just wanna avoid the craziness of The Strip. Not the most attractive clientèle (as one should expect with this type of joint), and it’s not the best of its genre, but this bar is as butch as it’ll get in San Antonio. All of the bartenders are very nice guys and are great at what they do. The drinks are as cheap as they are strong. Plus, they’ve started doing monthly Gear Nights, which have been fun. Of course, it can be cruisy at times, especially in the men’s room. If you can manage to find something attractive to fool around with, it’s a good enough place to get a bit «warmed up» before taking your prize home.
This is a bar that knows what it is and (hopefully) intends to stay that way. If you like an older, more laid-​back crowd, this is the place to be. But please, if you have a Fag Hag, leave her at The Strip… this isn’t the place for her.

THIS IS A GREAT SPOT! people are friendly and the place is small and quirky. I really liked it.

Great daily happy hour and amazing bartenders. David is my fave. Always a cool place to stop in for a drink.

If this is dodgy, then I like it!
I haven’t been inside a bar that allows smoking for probably five years, so entering this place was awkward for that fact. Otherwise, the clientele were polite and the bartenders were, by and large, amazingly hot. But I’m a huge fan of dark meat so that goes without saying. The drinks were cheap and somehow all the bartenders knew what we were drinking without having to ask (I was drinking cran and Goose). We enjoyed ourselves so much Friday night, we returned Saturday and had just as much fun.
This is more of a dive/​neighborhood bar, which is totally my flavor. So, if you’re looking for hi-​NRG this won’t satisfy your needs.
Perhaps the only complaint is beyond the control of the bar: if you’re going to have the balls to cruise me, making fruitloops and making eye contact, at least have to balls to engage me in conversation when I approach you, sitting in the bed of your truck out front. Because I might have shown you a real good time. That’s all.

I’d describe this as San Antonio’s closest thing to a leather bar. The crowd was skewed towards the hairy and the older… but not exclusively.
Dodgy bathrooms.
Cheap drinks.
The first queer bar that I’ve been to in San Antonio where I actually saw attractive people if that’s any consolation (though they were certainly NOT the majority).
I can’t wait till the smoking ban goes into effect though!

It’s dodgy but I love it!!!

Used to go meet co-​workers/​friends there for drinks before one of them turned psycho! Draven is a great bartender and makes great drinks. Other bartenders are great too, don’t know their names. It’s an older crowd, a bear type crowd. Some younger people go there. Small place and 2 places to go to the restroom: the safe 1 stall and the steamy (not in a good way) room with a trough that has a full length horizontal mirror in front of it. SCARY. If you’re into anonymous people groping you while you try to pee this will be your cup of tea. I’m not knocking this place since I used to frequent it, I always waited for the single stall to be safe. There is also a pool tabel. Give it a try and see for yourself. Oh yah, drinks on Sunday during the day are super CHEAP!