Tequila Cowboy Pittsburgh Review – Where Every Night is Country Night

Tequila Cowboy is a country-themed bar on the North Shore that features a mechanical bull, karaoke room, and live country music.

This spot is perfect for those who like to sing and dance to country music when they go out- be it for a birthday or bachelorette party or even for varied drink specials with a lively ambiance.

It's also the kind of place that most people will either love or hate.

And we can safely say that we sway towards the latter.

Tequila Cowboy is a Hot Spot in the North Shore

We recently visited on a Friday night when things were just starting to get lively. One of the tricks to enjoying Tequila Cowboy is getting there at the right time in the evening. If you're here too early, it will be super quiet. If you're too late, the line just to get in will wrap around the block.

Luckily on our visit we hit the sweet spot and walked right into the bar with no line, and there was just the right amount of activity. I wish I could tell you exactly what time is the sweet spot, but I have a feeling it varies from night to night especially depending on what other events are going on in the North Shore.

We decided to check out the karaoke bar WannaB's first, which is a separate bar in the back of the space. Earlier in the evening everyone seemed to be doing country songs, so we put in our request to sing some Dixie Chicks and settled in with some drinks while the venue began to fill up.

While waiting, we started to dive into the drinks.

Overpriced Beer, But Cheaper Shots and Specials

When it comes to the bar at Tequila Cowboy, it is the kind of place where the type of alcohol you're drinking is an afterthought. Hence, the closest thing to craft beer on tap is Blue Moon, and people may look at you strangely if you just order a shot of Maker's (what do you mean, you don't want a hot pink skittle shot?).

Draft beer was definitely on the expensive side at around $7-8 for a pint, and a friend who ordered a shot of Maker's later pointed out it was cheaper than the beer as far as she could tell.

So perhaps it is better to stick to the shot specials or else you may find a hefty bill creeping up on you when it is time to close your tab.

After waiting in the karaoke bar for a while without our song coming up, we roamed around the bar some more.

We looked for the 90's themed bar, Little Red Corvette, but didn't see it. At this point Tequila Cowboy was far too packed for exploring which kept us a bit contained. We listened to the live music for a bit, danced, and did some people watching before heading back to the karaoke bar to continue waiting for our song to come on.

At this point, people had entirely shifted away from singing country songs in the karaoke bar. That made it quite awkward when our Dixie Chicks song popped up, but by that point most people in the room were probably too many drinks in to care. After our hour-plus wait for the song to come up we didn't much either, so we let it all out to have some fun on our own.

Just as it should be.

Overall, Tequila Cowboy serves a few very specific purposes. Want a late night in Pittsburgh when other venues are closed? Love country music? Thrive on the energy of a crowd? Looking for a group outing with numerous options all in one spot? If you are in one of these groups, Tequila Cowboy could be a great choice for you.

But for others looking for a fun night out on the town outside of the above cases, we simply have to recommend going somewhere else.

Tequila Cowboy is located at 380 North Shore Drive in the North Shore near the stadiums. Tequila Cowboy also has other locations in Lansing, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville, TN. Photos in this article were taken after our visit earlier in the day when the venue is not as lively as the photos at night did not turn out that well. 

Looking for more to do on Pittsburgh's North Shore? Why not grab a burger at Burgatory, a craft beer at Southern Tier, or take in a game at PNC Park!