d.b.a.

I was here amongst a large crowd and still got my beer quickly. That’s just good bartending.
What’s the best part? The back drinking area. It features an outdoor garden and has Rock em Sock em Robots! This is a terrific spot to hang out and have some drinks.
This is high on my list of bars to just swing by and relax.

Came here for a quick beer on a recent weekend trip to NYC and had a fine time, but nothing special. Lots of cool craft beers on tap, and bartenders seemed to know the list well, as they were able to quickly recommend an alternative when they were out of the beer that I ordered. Good place to catch a football (or other sport) game.

Really wanted to like this place… great beer & whiskey selection, BYO food… but the service fell flat. The bartender was too busy flirting w/​her friends & female patrons to serve everyone else. Should it really take 20 minutes to serve 5 beers? Luckily another bartender showed up for her shift & picked up the slack. Their HH deal is 2 for 1 but when we closed our tab, we were charged full price. We asked the manager to make the correction & he gave us major attitude & blamed us for his crappy bartender’s mistake. Literally said, «Yeah she messed up but you should have known better & asked her a token or something.» Seriously? It’s our fault your bartenders suck? How about, «Sorry, we messed up. I’ll take care of it.»

Went for a friend’s birthday bar crawl, and the space comfortably fit a group of ~20 of us on a Saturday night. Awesome beer selection, too! The back patio was unfortunately closed, but I’ve heard it’s great in the warmer months

Extensive beer selection and chill vibe. Bartenders are always interesting people. Can’t go wrong with this spot

Came here for my boyfriend’s bar crawl and were met by an awesome crowd of people and staff.
Some staff member gave us a free bottle of champagne and before we knew it, the whole bar was singing him happy birthday! It was like Cheers, but a lot drunker.
One of the bartenders (the one who looks like a Game of Thrones character) ended up taking whisky shots with us (which he gave us for free). TOTALLY EPIC. We did bring a lot of business to the place that night, but that level of friendliness and VIP service is above and beyond what we expected. I love d.b.a. and I’ll be back!

My friend and I came by on a Friday night to grab a couple rounds of drinks with another friend, and as soon as I saw that they have a separate category for sour beers, I became a fan!
A bit pricy, the fact that they allow one to bring in food from the outside counterbalances it. Furthermore, their enclosed garden with a heat lamp during the colder months further lends to the generally laid back atmosphere.
I definitely would go back!

I’m a beer snob. I’ll admit it. I judge most if not all bars I visit first on their beer list and second on everything else. From that perspective, I do have to gave d.b.a. above-​average marks, since their list has some solid draft offerings including some rare local varieties, and I always love finding some new ones to try. On the everything else chart, however, this place doesn’t really stand out from the pack. It’s your average NYC dive bar, dingy environs packed with the usual assortment of hipsters and punk rockers ordering from an indifferent bartender. I was here once in warmer weather and recall the patio being a pleasant place to sit, but the bar space really has nothing to recommend it over other venues. With so many beer destinations, I’m not sure I can say this one is worth a trip, but if you’re looking for some quality craft beer and are in the neighborhood, you won’t go thirsty here.

Jenna and Brian and Cinco and Morgan and Nettie and Jeremiah and Brianna and Nico and the King of kings Jake Deter are holding it down. No better beer bar in the east village. For two decades.

There was a Swig happy hour event hosted earlier this month in the back patio. It was my first time here and it was a great set up. Felt like a mini greenhouse, you feel like your outside with all of the windows and glass doors.
They have a wide range of beers, although none of the IPA’s are on the happy hour list. Oh well. The bartenders were quick and attentive. I was unsure between two beers and the bartender gave me samples of them. Happy he offered because I definitely preferred one over the other!
Bathroom was really tiny, made me feel a little clumsy. Could potentially be awkward with more people.
Will swing by for happy hour again when I’m in the area!

I really wanted to give this place a good review because the bartenders are friendly and it’s supposedly a Saints bar (boyfriend is a Saints fan). Unfortunately, it was underwhelming.
1) No food or hot beverages. Just booze. Which honestly, for the 1pm game… ugh. They were nice enough encourage Seamlessing, but c’mon! I’d rather give THEM my money, not the Seamless guy!
2) Teeny tiny TVs that were poorly positioned. Can’t see other games across the bar. Possibly tweaked my neck looking straight up at the TV that the Saints game was on.
3) LAME Saints crowd. This doesn’t need an explanation.
Which I applaud them for trying to continue the Williamsburg DBA tradition, it’s just not all adding up.

My husband and I were really looking forward to going to this bar. Too bad we never got the chance to go in since the ignorant bouncer assumed both of our IDs were fake because we just moved here from out-​of-​state and still carry our Florida IDs. I offered to show him my voters registration as a secondary source of verification, but he was demeaning and rude.
I have a blank space at a portion of my ID because I am not an organ donor. I feel like my personal choice regarding what to do with my body has been belittled. He didn’t use a flashlight, black light, or any other device to verify his opinion. I am a business owner and would never employ someone of that demeanor or intelligence as the face of my company.

Friendly bartenders but awful music! such a weird vibe.

Love this place. I have spent many a summer afternoon hanging out in the back patio, drinking my way through the many beers on tap. What makes this place a go to spot for me is its proximity and allowance of excellent outside food that can be brought in and consumed along with beers.
Last week, we strolled over to Russ and Daughters, picked up some new catch herring (’tis the season!) and brought them back to gulp down like seals. The bartender noted us doing this and sent over vodka with our next round of beers. A+.

I loved this bar, mostly for its outdoor space, weirdly not packed on a dry and warm May Friday during happy hour, when you’d expect any place in Manhattan to be uncomfortably packed.
There are other reasons to love this bar, I’m sure – I hear tell of a great selection of beers and whiskeys and all that. I’m sure that’s true. I didn’t notice, I was too busy enjoying being outside. I’m not in this neighborhood that often, but I’d like to come back to d.b.a, and if it’s somehow consistently this chill, I’ll update my review, bump it up to five stars and throw in some all-​caps enthusiasm.

So I’ve been here twice. First time was around 8pm on Friday. Grabbing a beer before dinner at a place close by. The second time was around 10pm on Friday. The only upside – if there is one – of remembering that you left your credit card at a bar is that you can just go back and close out your tab. Noooobody needs to know, right?
Anyway – in two hours, the vibe completely changed. When I came around 8, it was laid back and ordering one of many many beers dba offers was a breeze. I chatted with the bartender about the beers that I tend to like (Belgian and/​or dark), and he recommended La Chouffe, which is as much fun to say as it is to drink. Flavorful, full-​bodied, etc. etc. I don’t have any sort of beer lexicon, sorry. But I know that when I like something, I finish it a bit too quickly, and when I don’t, I really really don’t. I tasted another beer while I was there, which tasted like a mulled beer, if there is such a thing. Drastically different from what I ordered, but still great. My point: the selection here is fantastic and diverse. They have way too many options to choose from, hence me needing to enlist the bartender’s help. Beer selection alone, 4 stars. But the other factors here fall short for me.
When I say the vibe changed, I mean that when I returned to abashedly retrieve my credit card, this place was a madhouse. Closing out my tab became an ordeal («just the one beer?» «yes yes, I was drinking one beer over the course of two hours… that’s not strange at all…»). When I first came, I remember thinking that the space was quite small given that it seems like the type of place that beer lovers would flock to. And flock they did. If you’re going to offer such a stellar selection of beer, you need to be better equipped for the volume of people that will want to show up. This is New York, people. That said, I didn’t make it out back, so I can’t speak to the space there. I’d definitely come back, but definitely not at peak hours.

This is one of my favorite bars in the neighborhood. The vibe is unpretentious, and I’m a big fan of the patio out back. The beer selection is extensive, so it’s a great place to go if you want something a little different. All the staff are pretty knowledgeable about their offerings, but if you have questions or need a recommendation, Brian is the guy you want to see behind the bar. That man seriously knows his beer, and is a lot of fun to chat with when he’s not busy.
If I had to point to a negative about the place, I’d say the bathrooms aren’t great. They have a super cramped outhouse-​on-​an-​airplane type of feel, but at least they’re clean.
TIP: They have Trivia Sunday nights at 8pm. Most bar trivia I could take or leave, but this one is a lot of fun!

Regulars waited it impatiently for DBA to re-​open over Dec/​Jan and pretty much are disappointed in the «new» DBA that was supposed to sort of stay the same with some minor improvements. While the interior has had some much needed work done. The things that made DBA special are being nixed. Such as no more spiked cider and no more bagels on Sundays.
This and the inexcusable fact that there has been NO RED WINE for an entire week has had many loyal regulars searching for a new home.
I saw a few people walk out while there the other day between the no red wine and the closed garden. Get a clue new management!!!

If Dba had a spirit animal, it would be the turkey. Clueless.
We stopped in Dba after dinner at Upstate; I thought I had bookmarked it, but was obviously thinking of another place. We were greeted by a bartender who had just started; she was extremely green, I couldn’t believe she was basically covering the bar herself. Ordering drinks was like a game of charades. If you asked her a question about something on their beer or liquor menu, she didn’t know hide nor hair about it. I don’t know why they didn’t have someone more seasoned actually supervising her. Another patron a few seats over was concerned the new bartender jacked up her tab and based on what we saw and experienced, odds are she was right. Eventually another bartender appeared, but he wasn’t much better. Less clueless, but far more apathetic.
They were out of a number of things when we were there. Manfriend ended up going with his third choice of beverage and me, my second. Prices were kind of all over the map, some prices seemed stupidly high and others in line with what you’d expect.
Not impressed with the bar’s ineptitude, we moved on after a drink.

«…the odor of piss wafting in from the outdoor jakes where many a man puked up his week’s wages.»
Oh wait, that’s an opening line from Frank McCourt’s brilliant book Angela’s Ashes, not a reference to the bathroom at Dba. OK, not quite 100% true, but a bathroom truly in the top 10% of gross bathrooms in the city. The bottoms of my shoes wouldn’t lie to you.
That said, the drink menu here is pretty remarkable, the reason I came. Specifically I was relying on a recommendation from Jeffrey Steingarten’s now 16 yr. old book The Man Who Ate Everything. I’d stayed in this neighborhood many times, walked right by this watering hole and never noticed it. Happy to say all these years after he’s still right. Good selection, although I came really for single malts and found them to be pretty much what everyone else offers.
So here’s the thing. This is your classic dark, dark, kind of watering hole. If you want to disappear and relax during the day, it can be accomplished here. There’s also a covered outdoor patio in the back but on a 30 degree night I opted for a seat at the bar with Mr. Semi-​Surly, unfriendly bartender. Pint of Old Speckled Hen from England, why yes, that’ll do just fine.
If you’re looking for engagement with staff, move on. It’s not here. If you’re looking for a wide selection of beers from all over on tap, good choice, as it is for the spirits. Can’t say I’d stop in again but it was an interesting experience. Proper neighborhood watering hole but not a destination in my opinion.

GREAT for a quick happy hour if you’re in the area. And if you happen to like beer, even better!
Happy hour is until 7:30, which is a weird time, but I can’t complain — it lasts longer than most NYC happy hours at 7.
I’ve been here on both a Thursday and Friday around 6 and neither time was packed, which I like. They also have a back patio, which I’ll deffo check out one of these days.
ALL of their draft beers are $ 5 (except for their 2 special drafts of the day/​week) And I’m not talking about your average shitty Bud Light. It’s the good stuff. I recommend the Belhaven Scottish Ale. And if they have the Mad River Flor de Jamaica, get that! It tastes like a beer version of Starbuck’s passion tea.
But of course, if beer isn’t your cup of alcohol, their well drinks are also $ 5.
I’m just sad that I didn’t find out about this place sooner. Will deffo be back to try some other brews they have on tap!

I came here with my friend and both of our pups! We sat in the garden area outside and had so much fun drinking (their raspberry lambic beer and cider) and hanging out for over two hours, hehe.
They don’t serve food and you get your drinks yourself at the bar, which I ended up preferring! No one’s rushing you and I let my pup walk around off leash outside which tired him out completely afterwards, yay.
Come hang out, chat with those around you and enjoy the sunshine!

Great beer list, both on tap and bottled. Everything goes for around $ 6 – 8. Bartenders were pretty friendly although I tried to make a little joke about my name (a friend said the one bartender already did), but he didn’t find it amusing haha. Either way, the real gem here is the little covered back patio and the outdoor area. It was real hot, but the tree and building coverage helped a ton. Was able to sit out, have a couple beers, and play some cards with some friends. Great time. Recommend this spot for anyone looking to have a relaxing afternoon with friends and enjoy some not so ordinary beers. Oh yea, and you can walk to Katz’s for some eats too.