Skinny Dennis

I came here for my birthday with a large group and within an hour of consuming my first and only drink realized I wasn’t feeling well. I went to the bathroom and texted my friend to bring me gum and was swiftly kicked out of the bar because the bartender claimed we were «doing drugs». I explained to her that my friend was just helping me out and she didn’t want to hear it (also add in some expletives to the conversation). And the worst part is is that my friend and I developed food poisoning from their drinks! If you want to vomit for 24 hours and feel like you were hit by a bus, I absolutely recommend going to Skinny Dennis! But never again for me.

Worst service ever. They kicked out my friend for «doing drugs» in the bathroom when she was simply asking for gum. It was her birthday. They asked us to come back inside after realizing they lost tips on checks of 30 of her friends.

I only went here once, during a weekend night, the weekend after New Year’s Day, so the timing may have led to the average rating I am giving Skinny Dennis.
The place was mobbed. And I’m not saying that because I hate crowds or am overreacting. I live in Brooklyn and am very familiar with the very tiny bars, lots of people living in that area scene. But this place must’ve been a fire hazard. You had to spend a good 5 – 7 minutes just plotting a path through the people to get to the bar. And trying to get to the ATM or bathroom, which was also totally blocked, was another adventure. They had live music which was okay, definitely not the genre I am into and it was super loud and made it pretty impossible to carry on a conversation. The prices were pretty good, even for outside of happy hour, and the service seemed good, despite the long line and difficult trek to get to the bar. Overall, it seemed cool, but there are many other bars with cheap beer specials in the area that don’t get this cramped. I must come back for the frozen coffee I’ve heard so much about though.

First night out in Williamsburg and I couldn’t have picked a better spot. Cheap 24-​ounce jars of Banquet Beer and live tunes ensured this place will be a regular haunt for me. Kristofferson and Co. on the jukebox made me confident that good tunes will abound even when the band’s not playing.

Have never come here and not had a fun time.
Great spot for random live music and the espresso coffee slushies will keep you up to have a thoroughly fun night.

Was having a great night up until I went to close out my check. As the bar tender left my check down in front of me out of nowhere he starts shouting at me
«why did you ask me to close out your check when you want to leave it open»
He continued shouting and threatening to have the Bouncer drag me out of the bar if I hadn’t left on my own accord in 20 seconds. He became very abusive and would not even let me answer him and even threatened me himself.
My two friends and I had about 5 drinks each during the night and had pretty much kept to ourselves so we were all in shock as to what had happened.
I live in the area and had been in the bar several times before. I even had been in their the night before this happened. The whole experience ruined what had been a lovely thanks giving day for me and my friends.

What a fantastic bar in the heart of Williamsburg! We stopped by Skinny Dennis for a drink before our Nighthawk showing at 10pm.
I loved the atmosphere and the fact that it wasn’t crowded. I’m not sure if it’s all Thursday nights, but there was a super dope live band. I would highly suggest it was a second or third date spot (coupled with the movie), as it’s a bit on the loud side but also a little bit quirky.
The drinks were cheap for New York and my company was wonderful so I had a grand old time.

Had high hopes for this place. Reviews are really good, pictures looked awesome. As they say, expectation vs. reality, right?
Showed up last night and the place was MUCH smaller than the pictures made it out to be. The band was already going so the place was packed to the brim.
The bouncer standing outside the door should have been our grim warning for the evening. Stared us down, didn’t speak, didn’t even crack a smile. Way to be personable, guy, you’re not intimidating anyone, you’re just kinda nasty.
We proceeded past him anyway and walked into what I could only refer to this bar as a steel-​tinned sardine can stuffed with way too many sardines.
Took us probably eight minutes to try to navigate through a crowd of some of the NASTIEST and RUDEST people I’ve ever had this displeasure of encountering in my entire life. People who don’t know the phrase, «Excuse me» or «I’m sorry.» Elbows being thrown left and right, shoving, people blatantly looking you dead in the eye as you’re trying to move to order a drink and they just stand there, do not attempt to let you pass, just look at you and turn back around.
We finally get to the bar, which is literally probably 10 to 15 feet from the front door, and my friend gets close and says to a guy who already has a drink, «Hey can I get in here to order a drink?» He looks at her and says, «Oh, no. You can go to the other end of the bar.» The other end of the bar being where the band was playing, with no possible way of even getting there. My friend had this look of shock, and then it was my turn to take matters into my own hands, I made my way through and pushed him out of the way. As soon as I got to the bar the bartender asked for my order so that was good service.
Here’s a tip patrons. It’s called BAR ETIQUETTE. If you have a drink, STEP AWAY FROM THE BAR. You’re just being an a-​hole to everyone else trying to order something.
My friend ordered the cider, I got the margarita. She took one sip and left it on the bar. Not a good cider, more like apple cider vinegar. Margarita was pretty good, very tart, but very strong. One pint glass and I was definitely feeling it.
I can’t say we experienced any part of Skinny Dennis. We didn’t even get to listen to the band. I pounded back that margarita and we high-​tailed it out of there.
On the way out we got stuck behind a guy trying to leave as well. He was dwarfed by two larger guys and neither of them would let him through. He was being very nice, trying to tap them to say excuse me, trying to get them to notice him to allow him to pass. Nothing. I asked him if he was trying to leave, and he said yes. I had to physically grab the guy to my right and push him out of the way to clear the path for the three of us to get out of there.
No one in this place had any manners, any etiquette, or any consideration for anyone. Way over capacity, no room to move, no room to do anything. Very let down. I also noticed that the crowd was very young. For reference my friend and I are in our 30’s. The people around us looked like kids. Probably a spot for a younger crowd.

I had a bad experience and still wrote a 4 star review, minus one star for the bartender that made us uncomfortable. Then I got a message from seemingly the bartender who served us, threatening to report my review to help for slander. So, Unilocal is an experience/​opinion based website. The bartender alluded slander which is funny because I didn’t even know the bartenders name or anything. Like, what? I had a shitty experience and could say that I would go back but I would avoid going back if this bartender were there… I do not feel that way anymore. Thx!

Skinny Dennis-​Hipster Honkey Tonk Dive Bar and I mean that in a good way.
Maybe it’s my reaction to getting out of Mid-​Town but my visit to Skinny Dennis was the perfect medicine for $ 9 beers and tourists.
It’s really hard to tell whether it’s a purposeful Dive Bar or Genuine Dive. I’m going with the former.
Free semi-​rancid peanuts, cheap strong drinks, and country music… what’s not too like. $ 7 for a vodka cram and a IPA. Oldtimey Juke Box.
The crowd is typical of Williamsburg-​30 year old women dressed like a cross between Rosie the riveter and Bettie page/​a black guy who loves country music/​confused tourists/​a guy who I swear said he lived with 9 other people/​and the ubiquitous man bun.
Report here immediately to intoxicate Manhattan out of your brain. Who are you too resist?

Wouldn’t play wagon wheel. Love this place. It was an old school country night, and some girl kept insisting on hearing what she wanted. She was told, just like every other bar patron, NO REQUESTS! He continued to play his other music. I like his style. I therefore totally enjoyed my time.

Wouldn’t play wagon wheel. Fuck this place. It was old school country night and the guy refused and continued to play his other music. I therefore did not enjoy my time.

This is the bar. This is it. I no longer need to bar hop because I found Skinny Dennis.
The bar tenders are so nice and chummy. The musicians are insanely talented. And the frozen coffee is so damn good that my «anti-​iced coffee» boyfriend drank half my drink.
The free peanuts are great. And you’ll find yourself signing along to the best of the seventies country and rock.

Had an awesome time at this honky tonk bar! I didn’t even know places like this existed in Williamsburg!
Cheap drinks — I had some kind of mixed drink that supposedly contained three shots’ worth of vodka. I asked the bartender if she could make it a little weaker since I was already four bars and god knows how many drinks deep into the evening… er, morning… anyway. She laughed and said that was no problem.
The three of us spent some time at the juke box trying to decide what to play. Once we made our selections we were rewarded with murmurs of approval. Also discovered the peanuts later on, which made me more happy than they should have, but how fun is it to throw the shells on the floor?
Great crowd, so happy and friendly. We had strangers just coming up and talking to us. It was not creepy (okay, one of them was). We enjoyed ourselves so much that we ended up closing the bar down, which may or may not have been the second time this happened that evening.

Wow! What a kickass gem in Williamsburg. I came here on a Thursday night and LOVED the band that was rockin’ so hard in this honkey tonk bar. They were called the Young Ponies and it’s been SO long since I went to a chill, dive bar with amazing live music.
The beer is cheap, cold and the service is quick. My mature self could not help but order the beer called Raging Bitch. It was a hoppy delicious beer. And did I mention cheap? I don’t remember paying anything more than 6 $ for a beer. I really wish I didn’t come from eating dinner because their frozen coffee in those old school bodega cups looked poppin.
Til we meet again skinny dennis!

As an expert I bars, particularly country music honky tonk bars, this is my favorite in all the land. You put this place in Dallas or Fort Worth and it is instantly the best dive in town.
The place is so good that it rates a five despite the Lone Star drinking hipsters that were not born when we used to buy it for $ 6 per 20 pack.

As I continue on my quest of writing a fabulous taxidermy NY establishment list, I am more than happy to add Skinny Dennis to the list. Where I think some animal was giving me the «hoof» at the bar. Ha! There’s also a sweet warthog type creature hanging from the ceiling. Spying on all the intoxicated booze hounds.
As many have mentioned. this is the place to find hot nuts, cheap drinks, honky tonk live music and a velvet painting of Willie Nelson. One of my favorite splurge drinks has to be the boozy coffee fr $ 7! What genius work to make an alcoholic frapp.
The only tough part is coming in here on a Saturday afternoon hoping to enjoy all Skinny Dennis has to offer and not finding a spot to park your booty.

This. This is a real bar. A bar you could fall in love with. Evidence:
The beer is cheap (it’s $ 4 for 24 oz of Coors Original).
The music is live (in more ways than one). No cover either.
There are free peanuts (and you can toss the shells on the ground).
The bartenders are cool, but still hospitable.
And best of all, the vibe is so damn friendly and welcoming. It is more reminiscent of Nashville or New Orleans than this oft-​jaded city we call home.* Evidence:
I drank some dude’s beer by accident. Entirely my fault, and I was fully prepared to buy the man a new one (once again, the beer is cheap) if only because this is grounds for violence in some situations and I’ve already killed a man this year. But he just smiled, confirmed that we both already had the mouth herp, and laughed it off. We’re best friends now.**
The only downside to Skinny Dennis is that there’s such an obvious demand for a kickass bar like this one that it gets seriously packed when the band is rocking. I find that if I drink enough though, it doesn’t even bother me.
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*I blame the transplants, personally.
**Not really. Just lovers.

As others have mentioned, get the coffee drink. Maybe multiple cups. They’re served in those blue Anthora-​style NYC cups, which is a nice touch.
The bar itself is pretty small, but seems to attract a lively crowd. It’s honky tonk themed. Or maybe Willie Nelson themed.
While we were there, there was a large group of true-​blood Texans, cowboy hats and all. So I guess it’s somewhat legit.
Ms. Pacman machine. Some weird tabletop bowling game.
Oh, and free live music most days. Can’t beat that.
Just don’t get the Dr Pepper/​Guinness drink. It is decidedly not good.

You like honkey tonk music? Free peanuts? Cheap beers and stiff drinks? Then you’ll certainly like Skinny Dennis.
It’s a dive bar’s sort of dive bar and always a good time. Great vibes, friendly regulars, plenty of seating… all that jazz.
As Williamsburg continues to become a giant strip mall, it’s nice that spots like this can still thrive.