Sly Fox

Came here one Saturday night with a group of friends, 6 – 7 of us. We were standing at the front of the bar enjoying a pitcher when we got a lime thrown out way. Coincidentally (not) we were the only group of all people of color at the bar. I could have brushed it off as just normal assholes at any crowded bar, but it happened again twice more. Talking to the door guy and bartender were useless as they accused us of making it up. All in all, horrible service and racist treatment. Do NOT come here if you’re a person of color and value your dignity. Can’t believe this still happens in 2016.

You either love it or you hate it. I love it. The bartender (s) are awesome, the spiced vodka that most people find repulsing but reminds me of home is a plenty, the music is good, and I think hipsters overlook this place which is a relief because the east village is unrecognizable these days.

Went out here for drinks last night. It was super busy because of Ukrainian festival right outside. The vibe is like groovy dive. Mirrors on the ceiling have a cool effect. Drinks were cheap. Also like that there’s a Ukrainian restaurant in the back. We didn’t eat there but it looks very chill and private.

Go at Happy Hour! $ 4 for a beer and shot!!!
Fun people come in. Often with a connection to Ukraine. So as a solo traveller, sitting at the bar gives you a fun evening. Had a great time. Came around 5pm and stayed past 10pm ;)
PS: The «real name» of this bar is ‘Lys Mykyta’

Sly fox has incredibly inexpensive drinks ($ 5 for a vodka soda) and is a great place to pregame before you go out in the lower east side. Also, there’s an interesting polish motif happening that I’ve never seen elsewhere!

Good sort of hole in the wall in the East Village. Weird walk to the bathroom but good for quick drinks and only if you can get a seat.

Make fun of Sly Fox all you want, but I’m a fan. Yes, they tape up paper printouts of the Ukrainian flag on the walls, yes the tables are sticky, yes the bouncers wear Adidas tracksuits. But seriously, where else in Manhattan can you get a shot of whiskey and a PBR for $ 5? Insanity. Also, the bartenders are courteous but not super chit-​chatty, which in my eyes is a plus. It also doesn’t hurt that this bar is right next to Veselka – the beau and I like to get tipsy here and then go next door for some late-​night pierogi and borscht. What more can you ask for???

If you’re looking for a dive that isn’t putting a dive bar façade, Sly Fox is your real neighborhood dive. In my opinion, these are the signs of a true dive:
1) No premium beer
2) Bar staff doesn’t seem to care what they look like (or at least not care about being trendy)
3) They don’t care who you are or what you look like
4) Many of the regulars look like they’ve got a story you don’t want to know
Sly Fox fills all 4 criteria, and that’s not all: It’s a great mix of people if you’re into people watching. On a weekend night, you’ll be sharing your drinks with a young, probably just of drinking age, college crowd crawling in for $ 2 PBRs in plastic cups along with some «interesting» looking locals perched at the bar like the guy wearing a comically fake looking toupee pouring water in his beer to always keep it looking full.
Like the toupee guy at this bar, there are a lot of reasons to see this place half full of dive bar kitsch instead of half empty.

Great prices, great tunes, great decore, slightly questionable ukranian nationalism.
The nerds giving this place bad reviews just aren’t sly enough.

This might be the best dive bar around Manhattan. $ 2 PBR that isn’t served by a guy with a bowtie or well-​waxed mustache. Sure, going to the bathroom means walking down a hallway where you may be either stabbed or receive a forced handjob, but…$ 2 PBR. The other beers are cheap as well.
Come if you are looking for a drink that you can pay for in cash that won’t leave you broke. Don’t come if you are a beer snob, looking for people to pick up on, or have a need to see and be seen.

I haven’t been back to Sly Fox in a while and the reason my rating has gone down is because they have a new bartender who is absolutely grating. They normally have a $ 20 card minimum, but with the regular bartenders I know they usually let is slide for me since they know I’ll be back another day. This new girl was a complete hard ass about it. Normally I’d understand, but I know for a fact that they don’t follow that rule all the time. So instead of staying at Sly Fox for just a short period of time I was forced to stay there until my card had been charged enough. A difficult feat considering everything is super cheap.
My boyfriend and I had arrived sooner than our friends and she didn’t bother to check our ID’s, again, something I’m used to at Sly Fox as a regular. Then one of my friends arrived and she’s a tiny person, guess who wound up getting checked? Her. This was just amusing to me considering my friend is YEARS older than I am. And no one else in our group got ID’d.
Since my boyfriend and I were a pitcher ahead my friends decided to do shots to catch up to us, and although I didn’t see it firsthand, they relayed it to me the second they came back to our booth. Apparently midst their shot taking my guy friend had received a phone call, and without moving from where he was standing he answered it. The bartender then said «Can you just pay me already?» He literally hadn’t gone anywhere.
When we were all grouped up at our booth we could tell that she disliked us, she was huffing and puffing while glaring at our general direction. We had no idea why she was acting like this. We’d all ordered drinks and had three pitchers at our table. We weren’t even being loud. Because I had my card open my friends and I put everything on my card, just so we could get out of there faster. Because of her poor service I admittedly gave her a shitty tip, but she hadn’t deserved anything better than that. The second she saw what I’d given her, her attitude got even worse. She started slamming things onto the bar. It was like a child throwing a temper tantrum.
Usually they have good bartenders are Sly Fox, but if she’s the new regular bartender I highly doubt I’ll be wanting to come back soon. Yes, they have great deals. But not great enough to deal with that much attitude.

–Ukrainian dive bar
–cash only
–full of NYU kids because of the price point
-$ 4 pbr and well shot
–coldest beer in NYC
–an elderly Asian woman will try to sell you cigarettes and pornography from a suitcase
–the bartenders all have scowls
–but they’re pretty chill

It’s a dingy, cheap, sketchy bar full of college bros.
The bartenders are great except for one female who is just rude. I want to buy her a shot so she can loosen up.
They should definitely have a food menu, but I think they let you order or bring food in which is pretty cool. Don’t pay with card here because it takes forever since they don’t have a credit card system in front– they have to go in the back where there is a random restaurant attached. Bathroom area is down the hall and down the stairs and is also pretty sketchy.
This bar is never, ever going to be my first, second, or third choice– but if you only have 10 bucks you can buy a pitcher of PBR and get wasted, so you can’t expect much?

$ 3 for a shot, $ 2 for a PBR, $ 4 for a shot+PBR.
It’s so kitchy it’s *almost* charming, particularly the Ukrainian flags that were printed on regular computer paper and taped above the bar. Yes it’s a dive, but the service is fast, noise level is perfect, and if you get hungry you can order some pierogis from the restaurant upstairs.

$ 2 PBRs. Get some.

I can’t believe I actually went back to this place after all these years. I remember going here back in high school. The ceiling mirrors helped me remember.
Not a great beer selection. Very beat up looking booths. And a bathroom shared with a Ukrainian restaurant.
Definitely a place where you bring the good company with you. Otherwise it’s a sausage fest, albeit a more low key one.
They take credit cards but their signature system is weird. They give you a handwritten receipt to sign and then they swipe your card.

A little backstory: Leading up to our trip to NY, my friend had been talking about Yuengling beer and how she remembered it as being a really good domestic beer only found on the east coast. Naturally, as a beer lover, I was interested.
Fresh off the plane from Portland and with a belly full of Ukrainian food, my friend and I were walking around looking for a place to go. «There is someplace we’re supposed to be right now, we just need to figure it out,» she says. Right then we walk by and I notice a chalkboard outside that said «$ 4 Yuengling.» We knew at that point we needed to check it out.
We were met with a polka rock band playing in a relatively small place and were instantly reminded of home. We had a couple pints of beer (as far as domestics go, Yuengling is pretty damn good), and headed out. It was only then that we noticed we were next door to where we had had dinner, and had only come across this place after walking around the block.
I will definitely be back when I find myself in NY again!

If you like dives, you’ll like Sly Fox. Unfortunately, it’s a dive that doesn’t have a lot of options. You’d think they could sneak in a good tap beer or two, but they don’t. Closest you can get is a Yeungling or a Brooklyn Lager, which are middle-​low and middle-​tier beers in my book, respectively. But it’s good for cheap PBRs and drinking games and such. And if you like touching sticky surfaces, this is your place.

4 dollar pbr and shot special!
Thats all the info you really need to know for this place. They give a generic house whiskey with it.
Bar is ok inside. Definitely more on the divey side. The bathrooms are located kinda far. You basically walk out into a hallway and its shared with another restaurant right next door.
The crowd was more on the quieter side. We came here early and left just as early to go to a more lively bar.

Cheap drinks.
It’s a place people come to when they’re already wasted/​getting there.
It’s pretty crowded. Lots of young college-​aged folk.
That’s all I’ve got.