Downtown El Paso has a new place to hunker down for the night. Oak & Antler American Tavern has taken over the former Berkeley cocktail lounge at 317 E. Mills Avenue, turning it into a lodge-style retreat where the room leans cozy and woodsy and the menu leans Southern comfort with a polished touch. With a focus on craft cocktails and Friday-night live music, the tavern is aiming squarely at that sweet spot between date-night destination and neighborhood hangout.
Owner, chef and early timeline
The brains behind the makeover is owner Lawrence Davenport III, who previously ran The Berkeley in the same space before remodeling it into Oak & Antler. Davenport moved his family to El Paso around 2017 and later rolled out the new concept. In the kitchen, chef Freedom Flores spent roughly six months tightening up the menu before the restaurant opened for dinner service in late 2025, with Davenport signaling that lunch could be added down the line, according to the El Paso Times.
Menu and drinks
The food program leans into big, shareable plates while the bar keeps things cocktail-forward. Drinks skew toward daiquiris and strong, spirit-driven builds that tend to start with tequila, vodka or rum. Early local coverage tagged Oak & Antler as an “elevated dive bar” that was layering on a full kitchen and committing to regular live music on Friday nights, as previewed by KTSM.
Practical details
Oak & Antler sits at 317 East Mills Avenue and lists its current hours as Tuesday and Wednesday from 5 to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to midnight, with the kitchen calling it a night before the bar does. Reservations and online ordering run through the restaurant’s booking page, and the site also highlights options for private events and party bookings, according to Oak & Antler.
Standouts and prices
The menu’s headliners include braised short ribs ($35) set over sweet-potato purée with chimichurri, a smash burger ($16) finished with sharp white cheddar and bourbon bacon jam, and crispy Brussels sprouts ($15) dressed with hot honey, bacon and goat cheese. There are also rotating mains such as pan-roasted Japanese seabass and a double-cut pork chop. Those dishes and prices were detailed by the El Paso Times.
Reception and what it means downtown
Online listings and local guides have already started flagging Oak & Antler as a downtown go-to, with early reviewers calling out the cocktails and the room’s vibe in particular. Its arrival adds one more option to downtown El Paso’s growing evening dining scene, landing somewhere between a cocktail lounge and a full-service restaurant. Local listings and early write-ups can be found on platforms such as MapQuest.
