Angels and Kings

This place is now closed… and we will not miss it. Let’s see what’s next.

Just randomly stumbled into here this past Saturday and it was pretty empty, super dark. red… and dark.
When you walk in, I don’t think there’s a coat check but there IS a coat RACK to hang your coat. I of course wouldn’t trust it because anyone could just take your stuff and I’m not about that stolen-coat-on-a-winter’s-night kinda life.
There’s seating around the room which was plentiful only because it was pretty dead with less than 30 people there. The crowd in was a mix of college boys, wannabe rock artists, and wannabe scene girls. The music definitely did not match the crowd which definitely threw me off and didn’t make it anymore fun.
Not too sure how much drinks were since someone had purchased mine for me, but I’m sure it’s the NY usual.
I definitely wouldn’t go back. the vibe was just so weird in here.

Came here for a social event and it is a small venue, but I can see some appeal to it. The bartender was friendly, and the drinks were strong. Of course, this was a random night of free drinks, so it’s probably different on regular days. This is probably just a local spot to pregame before heading elsewhere. Btw, I don’t see how you could dance much in here, being that there’s such a tiny floor for it.

When I was too young to drink it was like my dream to come to this place and get hammered. Once I was old enough to drink I realized that this place was actually lame unless you have a huge crew of band guys in that night… and I’d rather get hammered at Le Souk down the street. Décor is pretty cool but I can’t stand the 80’s 90’s music… like if I wanted to hear that I’d be turning into some LiteFM station in the car, not listening to a DJ. But hey I guess that still qualifies as hipster so I dunno. There usually playing a movie on the wall, but if you’re watching the damn movie I think you’re missing the point.

This place is so lame. So very lame. I’m not wild about most celebrity endorsed things but I appreciate good quality when I see it. Angels & Kings just seemed not only not worth the trip from Murray Hill (haha) but almost kind of cheesy.

Strange
Mashup
Of a sports
Bar and indie
Scene. Good beer options. Terrible DJ.

So this bar is an example of «when Unilocal gets it just right». What I garnered from this bar’s reviews was that it is:
a.) Owned by Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy, and his lovely bride Ashlee Simpson — two human beings I would gladly gutpunch.
and
b.) Entirely populated by the skinny jeans, tight v-​neck, leather jacket crowd.
Sure enough, I was strolling by this bar one night with two particularly sake-​bombed female friends of mine, and in their drunken minds, the aforementioned points (a) and (b) sounded pretty excellent. We go in, and (surprise, surprise), every single person was wearing a v-​neck that was cut far too low, medically constrictive jeans, and a trendy leather jacket — topped off by about half wearing sunglasses (yes, in a dimly lit bar). Nostra Unilocalmus.
We had a bit of looking-​down-​our-​nose fun with the little Fallout boys and girls that meandered silently and awkwardly around the place, and eventually left, feeling reassured in the predictive power of Unilocal

4 stars for sundays
²⁄₃ stars for all other times
as of this year, a&k has become a steelers bar, and an awesome steelers bar at that. i really worry that too many fans will find out and it will turn into the next reservoir, but for now, its a great crowd and a fun place to watch the games.
other times. the crowd is a little off, but the space itself is okay, and they have a good beer selection.

Needless to say, I love Pete Wentz a hell of a lot more than his bar.
The atmosphere is laid back and it’s pretty awesome if you’re their on the right nights. Performances by artists in the industry and flowing drinks? Count me in. I suppose the one drawback I had while at Angels and Kings was that the bartender I had didn’t know how to make a hulk shot for my group… among a few he didn’t know how to make. The drinks at the bar aren’t the best but it’s really the events you need to look out for at A&K — that’s gold.

I’m not a bar type of guy. You won’t really catch me in any bars unless it’s a bday party or I have no choice.
So, last night I found myself in here because I helped promote my brother’s latest comedy show (look up Alex Carabano /​MakeFunNotWar on YouTube).
It’s nicer looking than many bars in that area, but the bike randomly above the doorway was weird.
Also (and this is something bouncer hated, too), the entrance opens to a dangerous step down AND there’s a vent that sticks out of the ground right at crotch height.
Apparently, the vent belongs to the building next door. The fuckers could have put something more practically, but noooo they wanted to be dicks.
By the way, I only gave three stars because of the following:
— It’s a bar
— The drink I ordered was crazy expensive for this area ($ 12 for patron on the rocks)
— The weird vent thing

The DJ is the only thing that saved this mediocre bar /​wannabe club from a dreaded 1-​star review.
My partner and I went as a special date. My boy thought the bouncer was hot. We both enjoyed some of the eye-​candy clientele. We both liked the exposed brick and wood-​finished décor, even if the place was too dimly lit. But rock & roll theme? Meh. Decent try.
And yeah. Rock is loud (mind you, not one song the DJ spun was rock. It was all dance, progressive, or r&b). But there’s «NYC bar on a weekend» loud and «Splash» loud. A&K would be better off sticking to the former especially in such a tiny, reverberant place.
I mean, I love snugglin’ up on my baby bear’s ear… but we couldn’t hear each other speak unless we did just that. I’ve actually had easier times having conversations in Splash. We like music that loud when we’re dancing, not when we’re chilling. And, while A&K haS a WEE bit of open space where on could dance, it’s impossible to do so with a full bar. Still, the DJ spun excellently.
Moving on to drinky time, I had five of my famed Groupons. Each entitled us to two of any drink on the menu. Mix and match as we please. The bartender knew nothing of the Groupon site let alone A&K’s specific Groupon deal. So he argued that he didn’t know it he should take them but would go ahead and give us $ 9 off of our total bill per Groupon.
Painting yourself as the hero when in actuality you’re not educated about what your business has offered to its patrons? Hell to the no!
The ONLY reason we were eventually given the deal I paid for was because I told the bartender, «Look, man. I’ve been a server since I was 14 years old. I’m going to tip you on the full value of what the bill would have been. But I’m not settling for anything less than what I paid for.»
At that point the bartender stopped disputing the value of the coupon to us and made the drinks we requested… but kept pulling aside various employees and pointing to us during the entire 3 hours we were there. He also purposely kept avoiding our signal for more drinks, only coming over to us when every other customer had been served. This crap made it mostly impossible to just relax and enjoy the environment! Big not cool boo!
But I was determinded to have a good night. So I told myself that I was willing to move past everything else if the drinks were on point.
NOPE!
The $ 11 drinks were served in 8 oz. tumblers, which were filled to the top with ice before being filled only half way with liquor (s) and the other half with mixer (s)!!! This included the Long Island’s which are served in pint glasses!!! These were $ 5 happy hour sizes/​liquor quantities anywhere else, y’all! To us, that’s shameful at those prices.
Of course we thought we were getting bent over because of our Groupons. But this is how he poured EVERY drink! And check out the mini-​Cosmo pic I posted. That amount of liquir wouldn’t have filled a martini class… yet was served in a huge wine glass. I would’ve laughed and walked out had I been paying full price.
At the end of the night I asked the bartender to put the tip on my credit card. He said, «I’ll have to run it for $ 1 and then put a $ 20 tip.» Dude just poured us the weakest drinks in the history of the world after hassling us about our Groupons and then would only accept a full 20% gratuity??? Really!!!
In our opinion if you’re thinking about going to A&K do yourself a favor first. Go right around the corner to Bar on A, get proper service with heavy-​handed pours and twice the liquor for less money… and then, if you must, make A&K your end of the night pit stop so you’re nice and sloshed and won’t care where you are or how far you’re being bent over each time you pay for a drink.

I had my birthday part at Angels and Kings and it was pretty good. I got there around 1045pm and it was rather empty, which isn’t a surprise for NYC on a Friday night. I called about 2 weeks ahead to reserve a table, and I was able to get a nice long area of the black leather couches (which was nice, since it was January and we all had winter coats). Overall the decorations were pretty cool.
The DJ music selection was a mixed bag and I wasn’t really digging it. If you’re looking for pop music (like Fall Out Boy’s music), you won’t find it here.

It just does not work for me, it is a fraud I do not feel authenticity flowing from the place. «But it tries so hard» you say, yes I know and it is sad, but true. I want to like it, I am a fan of Pete Wentz but too much is lost in translation, alas, I likes not. It has no vibe or if there is one I do not like it. When I came here I was practically three sheets so me disliking it so is saying a lot as I am a lot less particular at that point.

Why did I get dragged here on a Saturday night? I usually love coming to Angels and Kings. The music was Top 40 and the crowd was young preppy college kids. PBRs overpriced and people just standing around just wanting to dance but didn’t want to be caught embarrassing themselves.
I tried to stay here for the shortest amount of time before running out with my ears ringing…

There is a gong behind the bar, and apparently they use it to celebrate little things, like a big tip, or a really bad tip, or when the clock strikes closing time, or whenever they feel like it. But we couldn’t get them to bang it.
I’ve met friends here before, but never really stopped in. This time I did for a bit. It’s kinda a generic east village bar, but seems to get a good mix of people. Spacious couches on one side, bar on the other. Dark and cozy, but probably a bit loud and rambunctious for a date spot…

I was drunk by the time we got to Angels and Kings, but I wasn’t as disappointed as the other reviewers here. What I didn’t realize was that I had already been here before during fashion week last year and apparently hated it (my friend had to remind me of that one).
We didn’t pay the cover charge because we had missed our friends who had played an hour prior to our entry. I thought the crowd was unexpectedly attractive, and my beer was free so I can’t complain about pricing.
The band who was on stage while I drank that beer is another story. They sounded like the Goo Goo Dolls without voice lessons, and looked like the Strokes before puberty. They were terrible. Unfortunately you are stuck once you’re inside because the stage is at the front door. There is no escaping a shite band, so we stayed for their set and left immediately after their final song.

My friend and I went here for her 21^st b-​day back in February. (Forgive me since this review is way late!)
I had never been here before, but she had bought into all the fame (Apparently the Real World had been there or something?) and insisted that’s where she wanted to celebrate her b-​day. Fine, you’re the b-​day girl; you can call the shots.
I don’t think we paid a cover charge; something about over 21 not having to pay? Anyway, the coat check was a roped off section by the door with a make-​shift 2-​level rack hanging from the ceiling. A little odd, but okay.
The overall ambiance of the room was cool, especially with all the stuff above the bar. There was even a silent movie/​film screening on the wall in the corner.
I personally did not drink anything here, plus I thought the music selection was all over the place. A few older songs I do remember dancing to with David Carl, our gay man in residence (who has since moved back to Texas, sad face). All the guys we met that night thought he and I came together and thank god for that, since the crowd was definitely very touristy that night.
I personally remember wanting to leave within an hour of being there, though we ended up staying for close to 3 since my friend Stef wanted to hang out.
Chances are I wouldn’t visit again though; it was all reality show hype when in reality there was nothing to show.

Crowded and overpriced ($ 16 for a ketel and tonic) but what bar in NYC isn’t?
The doorman is a massive Douchebag who has a God complex and was upset that the line wasn’t 15 inches closer to the building but what NYC bouncer isn’t a raging self hating ahole?
Bartenders care about your order if you’re a girl so have your girlfirned order for otherwise have fun fighting the crowd to get to the bar. Gay bars aside when isn’t this the case?
Pretty standard review huh? Well this place is so cookie cutter boring and soulless it doesn’t warrant much else.

LOL!!!
WHY DID WE COME HERE?
cheap beer? ha!
not worth the pain of setting foot in pete wentz’s bar or hearing some d-​bag nyu student show off his AWFUL rendition of «The Humpty Dance», or watching this Finnish girl sing «Mambo No. 5». I mean, seriously? MAMBO NUMBER 5???
WHERE AM I???

gross.