Getting By, Dreaming Big

This is a blog for me to share my thoughts on my favorite things: books, traveling, food and entertainment!

Catch-All Fridays: Bar Review, Legends August 14, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 11:58 am

Last night was L Bar in ABC Club NYC’s famous quest to visit a bar for every letter of the alphabet in NYC! For L Bar we went to Legends, 6 West 33rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenues. This is a great sports bar and Jon and I usually come here during the football season to watch the Patriots Games. I have never been though at night – wow, what a different place!

I got there at 7PM and Legends was hopping. They apparently get a great after work crowd for dinner and drinks. It’s a nice looking bar, new, clean so I could see why people would want to hang out there. We were upstairs in the lounge area, which I had reserved. The lounge had all of these great chairs & comfy couches. It was a pretty cool layout.

The best part of the night though was that they had a DJ there spinning tunes primarily from the 80’s! And when he would play a song he would simultaneously play the video for that song on the screens in the bar. It was awesome!!!! It was a total party atmosphere. It was a little loud but it was a lot of fun. I would definitely return to Legends on a Thursday night for drinks and dinner and I’ll be back all fall cheering on the Patriots.

If you’re looking for a sports bar with lots of televisions, good food, and a great atmosphere this is definitely a place to check out!

Post in Comments:

What’s your favorite sports bar in NYC?

 

Catch-All Fridays: Catching Up on Bar Reviews July 31, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 10:45 am
(Interior shot of Galway Hooker)

Last we left off in my bar reviews from ABC Club NYC was at Fiddlesticks many months ago. I thought I would provide a run down of G, H, I, J & K for you all! We’ve been to some fun places and had some great nights!

Galway Hooker (on E. 36th Street between 5th and Madison) was a good time. I have to say that we received the best reception and service as a group from Galway Hooker. They gave us great drink specials. We had a semi-private area on the 2nd floor with awesome comfy little booths. The downside is that this place is a popular hang out so it definitely good really crowded!

(Interior shot of the bar area at Half Pint)

Half Pint was definitely a smaller crowd. We had originally wanted to go to Havana on the Upper West Side but they had like 3 parties booked that night. Unfortunately they didn’t get back to me in a timely manner and so we had to scramble to let everyone know about the change of location! Half Pint (at 76 West 3rd Street) is one of my sisters favorite bars. It’s a small Irish pubby type place. Even though we had a smaller crowd we had a good time at Half Pint (perhaps too good a time…!)

(Interior shot of the private room at Inc. Lounge)

Inc. Lounge was the largest turn out we’ve had for ABC Club NYC. We had about 50 people so it was great that we had this awesome private room at the back of the club. Inc. Lounge (at 224 West 49th Street, between Broadway and 8th Avenue on the 2nd Floor of the Time Hotel) was so much fun. The private room had a pool table and Wii (so people were bowling, playing tennis, baseball, golf, etc). The staff was very friendly and the food from Serafina’s downstairs was delicous. All in all this was definitely one of my favorite ABC Club events!
(Semi-private area at Jadis Wine Bar)

That was until we hit up Jadis Wine Bar just two weeks later! This is hands down my favorite bar that we’ve found for ABC Club. Jadis (located at 42 Rivington Street in the LES) is a wine bar (although they do have beer). We had the back area reserved which was filled with plush leather couches surrounding a large coffee table. The decor was awesome and the food & wine were delish! They have scallops wrapped in bacon on their menu…I mean are you kidding me…best wedding appetizer ever! I’ve never seen them on a menu before. I also had a pear and goat cheese salad that was so good. This is a bar I definitely want to go back to again and again and again.

(Exterior Shot of Kings Head Tavern)

For K Bar we ventured to Union Square (222 East 14th Street) for the very fun Kings Head Tavern. They reserved the whole back area for us and a beruit table (what could be better than that!) They also had a jukebox so of course I put in 5 bucks and Shion, Emily & I got to pick out a ton of good music to play. Kings Head Tavern gave us great drinks specials (basically extending their happy hour). So it was an affordable and fun night.

Where will L Bar take us…I know…but I’m not telling…you’ll just have to wait and see!

Post in Comments:

Have you been to any of the above mentioned bars? If so, what’s your favorite one?
 

Catch-All Fridays: Fiddlesticks Bar Review June 5, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 7:55 pm

I could not find a cool picture of Fiddlesticks Pub but I couldn’t leave you guys hanging – so hence the letter f – representing Fiddlesticks!

A couple of weeks ago ABC Club visited F Bar – which was Fiddlesticks in the West Village. Let’s face it if you’ve lived in NYC for at least a year and you’re under 30 you’ve been to Fiddlesticks!

Fiddlesticks is a HUGE bar with indoor and outdoor space. It’s segmented into like 3-4 different rooms inside. They play awesome music, they always get an awesome crowd, and you can’t beat drinks in an Irish pub.

We certainly got a great crowd and Fiddlesticks hooked us up with awesome drink specials! We celebrated 3 bdays, had some parents in attendance for the 1st time ever and rocked the pub until well after midnight!

If you live in NYC or just visiting and you are under 30 I would definitely recommend Fiddlesticks for a good time. It’s definitely a younger crowd then most places!

Fiddlesticks
56 Greenwich Avenue
New York, NY 10011
212-463-0516

Post in Comments:
Have you been to Fiddlesticks? Do you have a Fiddlesticks story?
 

Catch-All-Fridays: Bar Review of Bourbon Street Bar & Grill May 22, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 8:44 pm

Our B Bar for ABC Club NYC was Bourbon Street Bar & Grill on West 46th Street between 8th and 9th. I picked it because our first bar was in Midtown East and so I wanted our 2nd bar to be in Midtown West. I figured that Midtown was the easiest place for people to get to so that we could begin to build a following. (A following of what – ABC Club NYC of course!)

Bourbon Street Bar & Grill has a great raised back section that we reserved for the night. It’s part of the bar but separate enough as well. Every night Bourbon Street has $5 hurricanes – can we say danger, danger, danger.

It was a great space, a great atmosphere, really fun music (REALLY FUN MUSIC!!!) It is definitely a place I would go back to!

Post in Comments:

Have you been to Bourbon Street Bar & Grill?

Do you love hurricanes (the drinks, not the storms)?

 

Catch-All Fridays: Bar Review Artica Bar & Grill May 15, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 10:47 am

I mentioned when I started my bar reviews with Donnybrook Bar that I would backtrack and review bars we had visited prior to D with ABC Club NYC!

Our first outing back in March was at Arctica Bar & Grill. I had never been there even though it’s in my neighborhood. There were not that many “A” Bars to choose from.

The owner of the bar was awesome. We were able to use the private room in the basement level of the bar for free and he extended the Happy Hour for us till 10PM. Can’t beat that!

I definitely like the upstairs part of the bar (in the above picture) better – it has a lot of character and there is this great seating in the back with big couch type chairs and a fireplace, which would be cozy for a cold winter night. I love the decor. The downstairs room was big, had a couple of high top tables, a pool table and of course TV’s! It was the perfect spot for an event for 40 people.

Arctica Bar & Grill is definitely a bar I would return to most likely during the winter months! If you haven’t been you should check it out.

Arctica Bar & Grill
384 3rd Avenue (between 27th and 28th Streets)
New York, NY 10001
(347) 329-4277

 

Catch-All-Fridays: East End Bar Review May 8, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays — readerbean @ 9:06 pm

As you know from my bar review of Donnybrook a couple of weeks back, I’m part of this group called ABC Club NYC. This is my review of our “E Bar” which was East End Bar and Grill on the Upper East Side.

The place was a decent size and we had this little section up in the front to ourselves. We didn’t get as big a crowd as we had when we hit up the bars in midtown and downtown. People felt the Upper East Side was a bit far.

While the atmosphere of the bar itself isn’t anything to write home about their drink specials certainly are. Every Thursday you can pay $15 and have an open bar from 7-10PM. Granted the open bar only consists of Bud Light and Well Drinks. But hey, I’m a Bud Light kinda of girl, so this is my kind of deal!

They have a juke box and so there is always a good selection of music playing and it definitely gets more crowded the later it gets. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go hear again but if I found myself on the UES on a Thursday night I would certainly take advantage of the drink specials.

For more information you can click here to visit their website.

East End Bar & Grill
1664 First Avenue (between 86th and 87th Street)
New York City, NY 10028
(212) 348-3783

 

Catch-All Fridays: Bar Review, Donnybrook April 24, 2009

Filed under: Bar Reviews, Catch-All Fridays, NYC Experiences — readerbean @ 10:18 am

Friends of mine in Boston started ABC Club last year. The premise is that every other Thursday a group of people get together at a bar and over the course of the year you work your way through bars A-Z!

Recently, Shion, Jenn and myself started the NYC Chapter of ABC Club. So I’ve decided that every other Friday (or every Friday until I catch up) I’m going to review the alphabet bar that we visited.

ABC Club is awesome for a number of reasons: 1) It’s the perfect excuse to get together with all of your friends on a Thursday night. 2) It’s a great way to explore the bars of Manhattan. Not only are we working our way through the alphabet but we’re also visiting different neighborhoods in NYC. 3) It’s a great opportunity to meet new people whether it’s to network for work, make a love connection or just make a new friend! 4) It’s just a fun time!

Last night was D Bar, we’re already 4 letters in. D Bar was Donnybrook in the Lower East Side. Donnybrook is a relatively new bar with an upscale Irish pub interior. The set up is great for a large group because there are tables that line the wall and chairs that line the bar and a lot of empty space in the middle for people to congregate. Meghan the owner was very accomodating. I called before hand and she reserved two large tables for us, arranged happy hour to be extended from 7-10PM for ABC Club NYC members and then even showed up and introduced herself! The bartenders were very attentive and the music was perfect – a little bit of DMB, U2, music you want to hear when you’re out.

All in all Donnybrook was a great find. Everyone that was there last night seemed to really love the bar and I would definitely return for a chill night in the LES. The one downfall I guess is that they do not serve food. In typical NYC fashion they do have take-out menus at the bar and you can order food to be delivered to the bar.

We had a great time there. I would definitely recommend it.

Post in Comments:

Are you a member of ABC Club NYC or ABC Club Boston? If so, what’s been your favorite bar so far?