Grassroots Tavern

This place hasn’t changed in over 23 years. I know as I met my now husband here that long ago. We came back recently to visit, and it’s the same as it always is. It’s a dive bar, what do you expect? It’s going to have beer and drinks and no frills. It’s exactly what you are looking for if you are looking for a dive bar. There are darts in that back if you are interested, plenty of tables or sit at the bar. The lighting is dark and it’s filled with an eclectic bunch of people.

Fake, phony frauds all around. Loud «edgy» wannabes. At least it’s relatively cheap.

Love this place! Come regularly for happy hour and the staff is usually friendly. Chloe is always a delight.

Dive bar!
Perfect place to pop in for a quick drink before you jet off to your Asian fusion dinner on this side of the block. There’s plenty of space and you can semi-​quickly get the bartenders attention.
Honestly there are no other perks besides the divey-​ness of this bar, but if you’re looking for somewhere close on St Marks this is the place to go.

You can see the other reviews about how this is a classic dive with no frills. I completely agree with the other reviews with one exception, an exceptional frill: HOT CIDER. You can get delicious hot cider with bourbon or rum, and they pour a mean drink!
This winter, I’m making Grassroots my spot for hot bourbon cider; and you should too.

So, I rarely give dive bars bad ratings. I mean it’s a dive bar, you kinda know what you’re getting but this place is just kinda weird.
Occasionally I’ve gone to bars where the bartenders are surly, but it’s kinda charming in that grungy, grumpy, curmudgeon bartender who’s kinda funny. Not here, they just look like they hate their lives. And it’s kind of off putting.
Like most dive bars they have a limited and cheap beer list. Unlike bars who actually care about beer they have dirty taps. You know that little headache you get after drinking draft beer or when you get a beer with super thin or no head. Yeah? That’s because of dirty taps. It’s always disconcerting when places don’t care about the sanitation of things that directly touch food and drink. Yuck.
Also, the tables were gross and weirdly sticky, it seems pretty clear that they don’t get cleaned often.
It’s also super loud, which is great if you like screaming to have conversations or prefer your date/​friends to be seen and not heard (hey, I don’t judge everyone likes a little arm candy from time to time) but for those of us who like to have conversations it’s uncomfortably loud.
They also burnt the popcorn.

I give it two stars because it is fairly spacious and I liked the mixed atmosphere (hipsters, funny old drunks, hispanic, europeans, etc all mingling instead of one pre-​dominant group) as well as good music. It’s just a chill, cheap dive bar. But I echo what several others have said, the bald bartender with the glasses is needlessly hostile. He was a huge dick to my friend. He flips out at people for making innocent mistakes like grabbing an empty glass for a pitcher on a busy night, he rudely says «I have no idea what you’re saying» with an angry look if he can’t hear you in a crowded bar, and you see the other stories. Luckily I was not in the way of his aggression, but REALLY? Do the owners not see all the comments here or get any complaints in person to not realize this guy is turning business away from them and making an unpleasant experience? I walked in another time on a different day besides a friday and sure enough saw him– I really didn’t feel comfortable having to deal with him again considering how easy he sets off with others. Not a good sign.

HOMOPHOBIC ASSHOLES. Bartender refused service to my friend because she is gay. This isn’t speculation, management actually told us that.

Wow. Where to start? It begins and ends with the most disturbed, angry bartender that I’ve ever encountered. This fella has some crap in his life that he brought right into this bar and represented to us all.
My first friend got there and ordered a beer. I walked in a bit later to join, and I can tell right away that this guy is in more than a bad mood. He looked downright angry at everyone and complained, unsolicited, to every person he served. I got a beer and soon thereafter, our third friend joins us and orders a beer. The place was not crowded, 6:45 on a Wednesday afternoon, and the bartender starts the pour, then lets it sit there for 10 mins. He counts cash, does some cleaning, doesn’t serve anyone else because no one is asking, then we flag him politely and my friend says with a smile «ya forgot me» so he can start his beer.
The Bartender gives a BS excuse about a double pour, which he didn’t do for our prior beer which was the same brew. He doesn’t like that we mentioned that and he gets very aggressive with us. He starts spouting a stream and refers to my gay male friend as ‘she’ repeatedly, the tell-​tale sign of a small-​dicked steaming pile of insecurity, right there. My friend, with a gentle smile, says, «it’s okay if you forgot me,» trying to diffuse the situation. The bartender then GRABS MY FRIEND’S fresh beer from him, and says «if you’re like this now, I don’t want to see you drunk!» My friend hadn’t had a drop all day. That was the F-​ING KIDDING ME?! moment. We grab the tip money that we laid down for him, and he throws down the cash for our last two beers, and says «take it!» We get the hell out.
We’ve all had a bad day at work, especially in the Service industry. This guy was not having a bad day. He was disturbed. He was outwardly angry, aggressive, and picking arguments out to have with customers, not just us. You could cut the tension with a knife. He kept escalating everything himself. You know that feeling you get when a person near you is unhinged and is about to go off? That’s this bartender. A walking powder keg of emotion. I honestly thought he might have thrown something if we’d said anything else to him. Nothing that he did or said made sense on any level.
Screw this bar. Don’t go there. There are plenty other dive bars on St. Mark’s with the same deals that have kind, friendly staff. I hope this guy gets help before he goes ballistic and hurts someone slightly less reserved than we were. I hope Mgmt and Ownership knows that this guy is the face of their bar in our eyes, on here, and to everyone that we know. This guy seems to be the same bald guy with thick glasses that was mentioned on the 4÷30÷15 review. Dumbfounded, indeed.

Love the lady with a perm behind the bar giving me attitude. I’m not asking you to be my bestie, but can you at least not be a jerk when I ask if you have a certain beer in a bottle/​can. Oh, and the list you pointed me to was your draft list, which was the opposite of helpful.

This is the best bar I’ve ever been to in Manhattan. Take it with a grain of salt, because I like a bar that has history, is chill and old-​timey. Definitely come here if you like hanging out/​talking with your friends on a weeknight over a pitcher of beer or some whiskey. Sometimes the music can get loud and people can be too much on the weekends, but I avoid bars in the city like the plague on these particular nights. Sunday nights are the best because there’s jazz, and it’s top notch! The popcorn is a also a plus, although I heard the machine caught on fire so it’s on hiatus for a minute.

I have never met anyone (especially in service) so confrontational as the bald bartender with the thick glasses who was working at this bar on Friday evening.
He was the only one serving so he took 15 minutes to come over to me (which i understand) He then served me a pitcher and did not ask if I needed any glasses as he moved on. I saw there were glasses right next to me (clean, not stacked) I took two as he was extremely busy. That’s when I was scolded and told «I do not take things without asking». I would be fine with a kind word that he could get them for me next time. But he kept scolding me for taking things without asking. I told him that I was just trying to make his busy day a little easier which is when he further went on a tirade that i’m actually making his life harder and that I don’t know «how things work around here». I kept «okaying» him as I walked away as he kept arguing.
He finished things off with screaming across the bar «Have a drink, you need it!».
I was dumbfounded with how that could have escalated so quickly and especially how much time he spent dedicated to arguing when there was a packed bar. Mind you I still had tipped him 2 bucks before this «argument» occurred.
We took our evening plans elsewhere. This guy is not cut out for dealing with humans in any service capacity.

The Grassroots is an East Village institution, and it makes me sad that I just made it there for the first time over the weekend.
Nestled below street level on St. Marks, the atmosphere screams ‘basement dive’ and it is. In the best way possible. Dark, dirty, and crowded without a trace of hostility or pretention. Come in with a group of friends, snag a pitcher of beer for $ 10-​$ 11, snack on some popcorn. Good times will be had.

It was a Saturday night. I was trying to order a drink. You were a bartender. AND you were a giant fucking unbelievable asshole.
Some of the most disrespectful, shittiest, rudest service I ever experienced in two decades of drinking was at this bar tonight – Saturday April 18, 2015 – at the hands of a pudgy, bald, ironic-​eyeglasses-​wearing, wannabe-​hipster (why?!) loser.
I should have tossed my glenlivet into this asshole bartender’s face for being so antagonistic for absolutely no fucking reason. How does this guy have a job in customer service???
I used to come here a lot back in the day but I will never give this place another red cent as long as I live!

Yep, it’s a dive bar. dark, dirty but you’ll feel right at home. Sunday nights feature the regular house band playing a wide repertoire of jazz standards

A nice dive bar tucked away downstairs on St. Marks place. Come here on a weekday and play darts (bring your own darts on the weekend.)
Decent beer selection, but always a good price– I don’t even know why this place has happy hour, which ends at 8 by the way.
They have a whole row of tables on the right side for groups of 4 – 6 people, and 2 larger tables in the back near the dart boards and one long bar with plenty
Of seating end to end. Place is chill on a weekday but can be packed on a weekend.
Definitely one of my go to spots in the area.

This place is phenomenal if you’re looking for a good dive bar in the East Village. Great place to start or finish a night of drinking as they have cheap beer pitchers, darts in the back, $ 1 popcorn bowls, and spiked ciders in the winter time. Make sure you bring your ID as they’re normally very quick to check your age. Also be sure to bring plenty of cash since they don’t accept credit or debit cards. I’ve used this place as a spot to chat with friends I hadn’t seen in a while as well as the last stop on a long night of drinking and it works perfectly for both.
Forewarning, it’s on the darker side, it’s pretty filthy and has nasty bathrooms, and doesn’t have space for dancing or anything like that but it has plenty of charm. One of my favorite things is the jukebox in the back. Four songs for a buck might be the best deal in Manhattan and coupled with a $ 9 pitcher and $ 1 bowl of popcorn, you’re looking at a great night for a cool $ 11.

A typical dive bar. This was my last stop on a night of Saturday fun. We had leftover belgian fries from pommes frites and the doorman and all the bartenders joked around with us. Asking us where there’s were and we even offered them some but they were professional and didn’t take any! Their loss, we were literally handing the fries over to them!
Since it was the end of our night we came in here to hang out and didn’t even order drinks. We sat at the end of the bar and the bartender checked on us a couple times. We then proceeded to eat the rest of our fries at the bar. We didn’t even order ANYTHING!!! They just let us hang out down there and eat our food from another restaurant! Now that is super chill. I’m a fan of this place just for that!

We live in the street just next to this amazing and typical bar
They have traditional darts and really good beers
The waiter is very nice
We love it :)

A very strange bar. They have some good beers, and offer pitchers. The clientele isn’t quite NYU kids, as there are also traveling hipsters, older folks, and other Bohemian types.
They charge money for popcorn, which is lame. But at least the portions are big.
They have a decent top shelf whiskey selection as well, so they have that going for them, which is nice.