Niagara

Terrible dj, would only play shitty music. When my friend tried to leave, they refused to give back her coat from the coat check she even paid for. Terrible service. Terrible manager. Never been more rudely treated in my life.

The best part about this bar is their popcorn (which is vegan)! I came here early on a Sunday and it was great, real chill — nothing stood out in particular, it was just a good neighborhood bar to pop into. The bartender was super friendly and nice, no complaints there. Then the music switched from background noise to punk rock. If that’s your jam, look no further — but it was loud and distracting and there were only 6 of us there. It just wasn’t the ambiance I was looking for to wind down the weekend so after we finished our drinks we moved on.

It’s crowded on weekends. The crowd is very conventional — people who work in finance and advertising who love Marvel blockbusters and don’t read books. On the positive side, they do drink a lot. If you’re desperate enough you might be able to pick someone up. It serves a need.

Giving one star since giving half a star isn’t possible. I have come here for the past 4 years since living in the area every few months. I even celebrated my 24^th birthday here. The female bartender tonight was a complete horror show. I have NEVER in 27 years been so insulted let alone CURSED out for my «f*ing last name» in my entire life. The female bartender is the worst example of a bartender, let alone CUSTOMER SERVICE I have probably ever experienced. I stopped here with a group of friends for a round since the establishment has consistently played good music. I just found out my friend also had poor service from the say tender.
I understand you are having a busy night and I can empathize with the stress having my own experience in the industry but there is no excuse for taking that frustration out on any customer let alone a paying out.
She should be ashamed but more importantly the establishment should be for hiring such a disrespectful staff member.
I, along with my 12 guests of the sty town area will NOT be returning

Strange. Drinks aren’t great, vibe isn’t particularly upstanding. There’s loads of excellent places in east village – dont bother here.

While there is nothing about this bar that is particularly distinguishable I love this place.
Many of the bartenders have a heavy hand and pre-​12AM this place a prime for dancing and getting in a couple of drinks before you go to one of the trendier (read:pricier) spots near by.
The crowd is generally young, attractive and not particularly bro-​y or hipster. Then midnight tolls and it’s like Cinderella’s carriage turning back into the pumpkin and you might as well be at Phebe’s. The crowd get very bro heavy and the dance floor turns into a maylay of heavy petting and looking for potential hook ups. Definitely a pre-​game spot.

FIRST IMPRESSION — The disgusting bouncer, on a power trip, needs to learn that you cannot PUSH a woman, it was totally uncalled for. I am completely appalled. I could also smell the stench of this place from the door — glad we never wasted our time or money here.

Go for the free Friday night comedy. Comedy starts at 8 pm (doors open at 7:30 pm — if you want a seat — get there at 7:30 pm). Happy hour deals until 8 pm ($ 4 beers). So — get there at 7:30 pm — snag a seat — and grab a few beers before happy hour ends. Unfortunately, Carlos (one of the hosts) is leaving (to become a writer for a show called redacted), but the show is pretty solid with a mix of stand up comedians. And you don’t need to worry about getting tickets so it’s a great last minute option for a Friday night.
** My hubby asked me to add the following caveat (as he was the one ordering the beers): The bartender could improve. The bartender just went down the bar — right to left — without regard to who came first.

Why does this place only have 3 stars?! Great late night bar on the weekend. They play fun music and everyone is dancing! If you’re looking for a fun bar to end/​continue your night, this is it. That being said, drinks are kind of pricey and there’s usually a long line to get to the bartender so I’d recommend pregaming first elsewhere. Also, in the winter it’s a mandatory coat check to get to the back room where the real fun is at.

Best bar in the city.
Good vibe, excellent music, on weekdays, the crowd is lay back and quiet, on weekends it tends to be a bit crowded a loud.
The staff may not be the friendliest, to put it lightly, but if you’re not an asshole, you shouldn’t have any problems.
Whenever I go there alone I can leave my stuff there and go out for a smoke without feeling like I’m going to be robbed.
In case it’s too crowded, there is another bar right next door that isn’t and they have a biggest variety of drinks, but I prefer Niagara.
Besides, Hello Sun, Goodbye Niagara Bar.

Want to get a drink and socialize a little and then go to the dance floor? This is the place to do that. I did have a good time here

The first time we came for the free friday night comedy show was the first day of spring and it was p-​r-​e-​t-​t-​y bad. We went again this past friday (not realizing at first that we were going to the same place) and were very pleasantly surprised.
There was only one comedian that was there from the last time and he was the co-​host so he didn’t do a full set. He also only repeated (along with the host) only like 2 or 3 jokes from the last time, so it wasn’t as repetitive as we feared.
The rest of the comedians were pretty darn good — there was a snl writer, a guy from Philadelphia, and some other people who were actually pretty funny! There were also a handful of women, which is nice since lots of shows are a bro-​fest.
The show takes place in the back room of the bar (it’s really tight in there with only 4 tables — 2 that seat two, and two that seat four), and 2 long couches along the side walls. If you don’t come early enough to snag those seats you can stand in the middle and back of the room, but it gets cramped because there’s a dj booth setup (apparently it turns into a party after the comedy show).

Classic East Village dive. Good, smart ownership.
Rock n roll.
Weekends get some fratty/​banker cornballs, but I’m glad to see they’ve been pushed back a bit by good music selections and more of a local, rock n roll crowd — though that crowd has now started getting a weird, fashion pretension vibe to it as well, it’s better than the frat douches, and the type of young chicks that come on Unilocal and have the audacity to choose a review score based on their whines about the «weird music they can’t dance to», etc. Ha. Get outta the neighborhood.
Pretty strong drinks, decent prices. A classic. And the Joe Strummer mural is a beautiful piece of the neighborhood.

I ended up in Niagara at around 1 am to celebrate a friends birthday and it was probably the weirdest bar I’ve ever been to. Picture a long packed hallway filled with people that has a little dance room at the end — yup not that great. As for the music selection –it was weird, I really didn’t know what I was listening to. At times they played 80s hits then they played some other type of music that I just couldn’t figure out how to dance to — this is coming from a person who dances to everything. As for the prices, I didn’t drink anything so I’ll have to skip over reviewing that part.

This place sucks. Came here for a friend’s birthday last weekend. She loves breaking it down on the dance floor, so I expected this place to be popping with good music and a huge dance floor.
When I walked in, it was surprisingly small in the front. The bar took up a lot of space. If you keep walking towards the back, there’s a small coat check area and bathrooms on the side and a large dark room in the back. It looks like a dance floor, but there’s an awkward divide in the middle that cuts the room in half.
Oh and don’t even get me started on the music. I have no idea what they were playing, but it wasn’t music you could dance to. It wasn’t something you could ignore or talk over either. Anyway, I didn’t want to say anything to my friend since she chose the bar and it was her birthday. But when she arrived and heard what I heard, she immediately wanted to bounce. Apparently, her friend gave her a recommendation and she took it. Luckily, we got out within half an hour and went to another, better bar instead.
Would not recommend coming here. Ever.

This is a pretty good bar. They have a free comedy show every Friday; I’ve been about 3 or 4 times now and have never been disappointed. They have a 2-​for-​1 drink deal for their happy hour and the cocktails are not watered down, which is always a plus. It can get pretty busy later in the night and it’s a small space so the earlier you go, the better. The bartenders have always been friendly and there’s an ATM in the bar so you can’t beat that.

Fun dive bar with a dance floor in the back! I always have a good time when I come here.
Pros:
Fun and often corny music that will make you want to dance all night
Pretty decent prices for drinks
Cons:
Overly crowded on weekend nights, like seriously can be hard to move around
DJ’s say they’ll take your requests, but usually don’t (womp womp)
Just a tip, watch out for the girl bartender in the back, her pours are crazy heavy and she WILL get you wasted!

…it is what it is. Good energy though

Neighborhood dive bar in Alphabet City. Frankly, the only times I come here are for the free comedy shows on Friday nights (with a solid 2-​for-​1 drink deal).
Bartenders are hit or miss. Sometimes they’re attentive, other times they forget your existence.
Beers are a standard selection, and the well drinks aren’t too strong. All in all a decent watering hole but nothing that makes it pop.

Having spent more than a few Saturday nights here I feel it’s time for a review. This place from what I’ve seen is completely different on weekends, more bro’y even then during the week so take this review with that in mind.
PROS:
1) Strong drinks (props to the girl bartender in the back)
2) Great music (80s/​90s/​Top 40s)
3) Cool crowd, everybody’s looking to have fun.
CONS:
1) Packed, seriously at 12:30 AM I could hardly walk through the bar
2) Wait for said «strong drinks» can take a while.
3) Forced coat check to go in the back dance room (only notable during the colder months).
OVERALL: A fun spot to check out, but it can be hit or miss depending on how crowded it gets. Above average but by no means my favorite bar in the area.

Thirsty Thursday is a special night every week. People gather because getting through Friday is WAY easier even when hungover than say, drinking on a Monday night and having to make it four more days. I went to taco dinner with some friends and we decided in the spirit of the Thursday night holiday, we might as well have a nightcap.
Niagara was across the street, so we let ourselves in because it was empty enough to find a spot to all stand together near the bar.
Almost all the seats at the bar were taken, by what looked like regulars. Cool. Other than those in seats, it was completely empty at 9PM. We ordered a round from the not unfriendly bartender. We stood around drinking, and no one else came into the bar the entire time we were there. A group of four did exit at some point though.
After about a half hour, some woman throws herself through the doors like a bat out of hell. She jogs over to the bar, turns the music up so loud it was deafening, grabs a few things from behind the bar and slings a few drinks.
We were surprised the music was thrown up as loud as it was. It gave me an instant headache. Especially for such a mellow, empty bar on a Thursday night. I mean if there were twelve people there that would be a lot. We still had some drinking left to do, so we soldiered on. It’s Thursday night! If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Amiright?
But it was just too loud. We were literally shouting and screaming over the absurdly loud music. I’m not that old. I don’t mind loud places. My regular inside voice is loud by most people’s standards.
It was also bizarre that this woman came running in, turned up the volume as loud as it could go, made a few drinks and then… left. With her coat. I sort of assumed she went out to smoke or something, but after 20 minutes passed and she didn’t return, one in our party went up to the bar and said «Now that she’s gone, would it be possible to turn the music down a little?» He had to shout this to be sure the bartender heard him. The bartender shouted back «Yeah, I guess not!» and turned his back on us.
You would think such a divey, dirty bar with virtually no one in it would be okay, you know, adjusting the volume just enough so the few and brave who were there would stick around.
We put our drinks on the bar and walked out. I will never, ever return. Ever. I don’t say that lightly. I like divey places, this is near my apartment, near restaurants I frequent often. But to cater to the woman who ruined the bar for everyone else and then left? No. Just… no. There are so many great bars in the area. Skip Niagara.
HARD PASS.

After hearing really good things about Niagara, my friend decided to go here to celebrate her birthday. Everyone in our group was disappointed. This place is your typical dive bar, there is absolutely nothing special about it, so I’m not sure why so many people raved about it.
It’s a small, cramped, cluttered space that just happens to be in a great location and plays some fun 90s and top 40 music. There’s also a photo booth but that’s about the it when it comes to its «cool» factor.
If you’re looking for a casual scene, this is your place. If you want something a little more distinct, skip it.