Mona’s

Only place to be in the East Village on a Monday or Tuesday night; if it’s Wednesday-​Sunday, in the words of Dionne Warwick, «Walk On By.»

A hidden gem, fantastic house band as well as a jukebox (not digital) of 70s to 90s favorites, a ski ball and arcade area and great drinks at a reasonable price. Sure to become a regular after happening upon it your first visit

I’m a big fan of Mona’s — it’s my go-​to East Village dive bar! Cheap drinks, great jukebox, pool if you want to play it, and I’ve never had trouble finding a seat. Service can sometimes be a bit gruff but it never bothers me.

What the heck was going on in here? It was Friday night! Everyone was literally watching a black and white movie.
2 stars for letting me use the bathroom before I went to any other bar in the east village.

Not sure if they have a kitchen but I had an amazing time here on a Tuesday night. They show old black and white and 60’s movies on the tv and everyone loves talking about composers of movies, actors, soundtracks. Great movie lovers bar!

So it’s been almost a year since I was treated poorly at Mona’s aka Sophie’s bar. You think someone would have reached out to me and rectified this whole thing. But nope nothing. No contact nothing.

I had a very uncomfortable, inhospitable experience at Mona’s on Thursday (3÷19÷15) at around 5:30 pm, and I was in the bar for literally less than two minutes.
My wife and I were looking for a laid-​back place to shoot pool and watch the first round of March Madness. She found Mona’s online and we planned to meet there after work. I arrive before her. When I entered the place, it was quiet (no music) with around 8 to 10 folks who looked like «regulars.» The first thing the bartender said to me was, «Hey, you got DVDs!» When I didn’t respond, he said it again. It’s probably important to note here that I’m a 37 year-​old Korean American male.
As the bartender — who was white, bald and looked to be at least 50 years old — said it the second time, I could hear a woman saying, «No, no, no!» (as if to say to the bartender, «Dude, don’t go there, this guy is obviously here to have a drink!»). The woman was with a small group of people clustered near the end of the bar and at least one of the members of her group was laughing. When the bartender realized what he’d done (ie. act like a racist a – hole) he murmured something about DVDs that I couldn’t make out, and then someone else from the group said, «Nice recovery!» And then they all had a hearty laugh about it. I turned around and walked out.
So, needless to say, if you’re an Asian person — or any person of color — I don’t recommend Mona’s. Establishments like this who employ people who still apply lowest-​common-​denominator stereotypes so quickly and openly — especially in 2015 in a place like New York City — shouldn’t be in business.
If you’re the owner of Mona’s and you’re reading this, I’m going to make sure none of my friends or close acquaintances ever patronize your crummy establishment.

Eh, I wasn’t a fan.
Definitely a dive bar.
Bartender was rude, when i asked for a menu. said they don’t have a menu and only serve well drinks. And when he eventually did serve my drink, it was in a smaller drink than the almost identical drink that my friend ordered… -.- The drinks were only $ 5 though.
Crowd was very typical of a dive bar, ie not too young and not too many career types. Still decent number of people though so that’s good (went on a Friday night around 10:30pm, btw).

so, once upon a time, not so very long ago, the east village was cool. and Mona’s is like a time capsule within which you can kind of relive what that felt like. I really love the back room. And the hard exterior/​soft interior bar tenders. I like it all, honestly.

Great dive bar with awesome bluegrass. Bartender told us to «make up our minds» and was very rude to us, so we did not tip. He then refused service. Great place as long as you tip the terrible bartender.

Jazz do mais alto nível as terças. Um pouco apertado mas as cervejas baratas compensam.

The bartenders are horrible. I understand its the mood of the bar to be laid back and divey but to treat customers less than human is never what people want. I went here for a friends birthday. I wasnt feeling well and had chugged a ton of water which made me feel full and I was trying to get to the bathroom and a little bit of WATER came up. The bartender was a complete B. I had one drink the whole night and since I had no cash I used my card but there was a $ 10 minimum so I told them to charge $ 10 because I knew I didn’t want to drink anymore. She kicked me out of the bar, yelling at me. I apologized and said I would clean up the LITTLE BIT OF WATER. Honestly, I’ve worked at bars and restaurants in New Orleans and have had my fair share of drunks and cleaning up puke but I NEVER treated anyone of those sick PAYING CUSTOMERS the way this woman did. I understand getting pissed but you work at a bar, it comes with the territory.
The drinks were over priced. I love a dive bar but I will never return and caution people to stay away. There’s so many better bars in the neighborhood. I don’t go to a bar to be treated like crap by ratchety angry bartenders. Even before everything that happened the bartender was a complete a-​hole. I don’t need to waste my time or money on this place.

Good neighborhood dive bar with a casual feel.
I’ve had some of the best nights of my life here on ragtime jazz night tuesdays (Starts at 11). They use an old sound system so when the women get up and sing they sound just like Billy Holiday. Very skilled musicians and they play to all hours of the night.
Tues here are a must go to before you die or leave NYC.

A sister bar of Sophie’s, I can’t believe it took me 4 years to come to this, despite being «home» at Sophie’s for so many years, only blocks away.
A simple and wonderful dive bar. A decent beer selection, pool table in the back, and surprisingly not too crowded (unlike Sophie’s on every weekend night).

Exactly what it is supposed to be. A neighborhood bar, for the neighborhood it lives in. I have a feeling most of the people who don’t like this place probably don’t live in the neighborhood.
Been coming here for years for a great Guinness, great people and a killer juke. Not sure what else you expect from a neighborhood bar. Not to mention they are dog friendly. If you need a trendy scene you are looking in the wrong place.
Pull up a chair and a have a drink.

It’s good to have tolerable, Manhattan bars like Mona’s in your internal filofax for those times when you’re showing visitors around the city or you just end up caught in Manhattan for any reason and need a drink. This is especially important at a time in this city when literally every bar between Jimmy’s Corner on 44^th St and the Old Town Bar on 14^th is fucking unbearable.
Mona’s was good for a drink — felt like a local bar (dying trend in NYC), with a diverse group and wide range of ages at the bar. More importantly, it was quiet — devoid of the mindless, drunken bawlings of NYU students, the nasal whining of trust funders or the guttural, bro-​out rumblings of junior lawfirm execs etc. Also liked the Irish bartender, she was pleasant, quick but not rushed.
I hope it’s like that all the time, because I’m coming back soon.

This bar was cute and okay for us to just sit and hang.
Not much else to say…
They have a pool table as well.
People that come here look like regulars and pretty much know the bartender and stuff.
Your basic naighborhood bar. (as one Unilocaler mentioned)
I was invited here for like a group gathering it was way back in the summer time.
Don’t remember the beers being ice cold and that annoyed me a little.
Switched to a drink and that was kinda week but whatever, the company was good.
Good to go if I lived down the block from this place but not somewhere you would go out of your way to go to.
Just «ok»

Good:
— Perfect laid-​back, slightly grungy space for a small group of people who like each other. Looks small when you walk in, but widens up toward the back
— Not terribly crowded on a Friday night
— Pool table, jukebox (gets loud)
— Dark corners and no one bothering you
— $ 13 pitchers for all your beery shenanigans
Meh:
— Dark & Stormy was not great
— Bartenders are a little gruff. I prefer people to be outwardly pleasant on behalf of a business…
$ 15 minimum for card. The «real» bartender seems to come around later in the evening, after 9pm, so if you want something more complicated than [1 alcoholic liquid + 1 non-​alcoholic liquid], you’ll have to wait.

Nope. Turn around. Do not pass go, do not collect $ 200, do not, I repeat do NOT go to Mona’s. Go to Revision Lounge or Manitoba’s (definitely go to Manitoba’s) or Otto’s or something, ANYTHING but whatever you do do NOT go to Mona’s.
While it’s not overpriced ($ 7 for cocktails) it’s not as cheap as it’s overall blah and clientele would suggest. Pool tables in back, relatively clean bathrooms… but the bartenders! Man oh man what a racket! It’s one thing to be ignored at the bar, it’s another thing to yell at people. These bartenders have no manners, and not in a charming, salty sort of way but a rude why-​the-​hell-​am-​I-​here sort of way.
Did someone go outside with a drink? How about getting out from behind the bar or asking a patron to fetch the offender? No, you need to yell and scream to disrupt the evening of everyone in the bar. And then you have the audacity to tell me and my friends we’re being to loud? It’s a goddamn bar, not a library. The same bar you were screaming your tits off in only minutes earlier.
This bar would be another easily forgettable decent spot in Alphabet City to have a drink but the bartender’s made it a place I disliked so much that I still felt compelled to write a negative Unilocal review about it four days later.

Mona’s is the type of place that makes me want to live in Alphabet City. I probably never would have known it existed if I weren’t brought here by a couple of CouchSurfers. Tuesday is ragtime night and there was an awesome troupe there on piano & ‘bone with a vocalist tearing it up.
The drinks menu is a prudent mix of pint/​mug pricing, hipster favorites like PBR, well specials, and even Dogfishhead on tap in 60 minute and 90 minute varieties. There’s a pool table in the back and an attractive young crowd. The hipsters here seem pretty innocuous. I wish this place were a little closer to me because I’d love to return!

Besides this one, the only ever Mona I’ve ever known was Angela’s mother; that wise-​crackin sex fiend.
This Mona, Mona’s the bar, is my favorite Mona ever. This love is based on the fact that, over the years and many visits, I’ve seen all kinds of live music from punk to bluegrass here… and then there’s the $ 3 Guinness on Thursdays. They’ve been runnin that deal for yeeears and years and I sincerely love that it still is happening. The bartenders are consistently cool and I also have to be the millionth to remark that Mona’s has a pretty dope jukebox too. Seriously, one of my favorite bars, divey or otherwise, anywhere anywhere. Anywhere.