The Thirsty Scholar

They do still have that free pizza here at certain times. Just make sure you get it quick & note it’s not the most filling stuff in the world. I’m not really a drinker but this seems like a chill, relaxed kind of place. I had no real issues here & who can bash a place where you can get free pizza?

I Think I brought everybody and their mama here. I love this place. Zach and Tim are so awesome. They always give me some type of free drink., I am also always leaving with them as soon as they close. Today was my birthday and I went there again and he gave me so many free drinks that my tab was only seven dollars. I would consider that an awesome deal I love them and I love this place I am a regular and I will never stop coming here. Awesome place and awesome drinks thank you

Apparently if you tip them only a dollar for opening up a simple beer bottle, they get pissed off and stop serving you. Go somewhere else. Where bartenders dont act like little girls.

Hmm… not sure what to make of this. I came here because New York Nightlife article said they had a great happy hour, and free buffet.
There was no buffet to speak of. In fact, there was no food at all! As an out of towner, I was thoroughly disappointed with that, and ravenous hungry. Never heard of an Irish pub that didn’t at least serve bangers or fish N chips.
Thankfully, they at least had decent free pizza someone brought in, and the beers are large, for a decent price. Also, the bartender is cool and can make a drink well. The cool bartender gets you 3 stars. Add some food, and an actual free buffet, and you will get more stars.

With a name like The Thirsty Scholar, you’d think this place would warrant an automatic 4 – 5 star rating for me. Sadly, I had to dock them down to 2 stars, even though it seems everyone else has had a wonderful time here! Loss of stars is mainly due to faulty advertising. I do hate being lured into places by faulty deals!
The décor in the place is right up my alley… dusty books tucked away in high up shelves, and random (but cool) decorations, like a tiny suit of armor. It wasn’t too loud, and it wasn’t too quiet, just right actually with the volume. We (me and my SO) could hold a conversation without yelling at each other.
So why only two stars? Honestly, I think it’s good policy to have straight up honest advertising. I’m really quite opposed to places that lure you in with false advertising, particularly if the advertising confuses the staff themselves (c’mon, how are WE supposed to figure it out then?) So the sign outside said $ 3 Coronas and we spent a long time pondering the sign and making sure we were getting it right and not missing some sort of time limitation (i.e. happy hour times). After we confirmed no time limit on the sign, we proceeded to have a nice time… until we got the bill and saw, not $ 3 Coronas, but $ 6! Even the bartender was confused himself about the charges and had to defer to the other bartender to figure out how much we should have been charged (which in the end was $ 6 per Corona).
All in all, the name is great, the place is great, the drinks are normal drinks, but I’ll probably visit a place where I can figure out how much I’ll be paying for what I order!

This is honestly one of my favorite spots in the area. My friend and I like to call this place the Olive Garden of the east village bc «when you’re here you’re family.» It’s a super cozy and comfortable atmosphere. Great place for cheap drinks to start your night off. The bartenders are so friendly and attentive and even the patrons are fun. Guaranteed good time.

I really enjoyed this cute little bar. The vibes here are only good ones and the bartenders are friendly and quick to fill your glass.

While the Scholar has been on my radar for awhile I just never happened to happen upon it, so while walking around one Sunday I decided to give it a shot. The moment I come in one of my regulars from another bar lumbers over and gives me a hug. Home is any bar stool next to a friend, true facts.
Pete the bartender is the man. Made friendly conversation, played great music. And free pizza at 6pm from 2 Brothers. Nice. I’ll be back.

NO lie, I LOVE this bar. Thanks to my friend Z for introducing me to this kind of seriously awesome dive cocktail bar and its free pizza.
Yes — they serve free pizza at 6PM and at 10PM.
The bartenders are all really sweet and overall great people, as are most of their regulars/​patrons. I left my phone in the bathroom and some guy picked it up and gave it to the bartenders… who proceeded to take pictures but that’s totally okay. I’ve been here at 4PM when it opened (thank you summer Fridays), and I’ve been here at 10 — and it’s quite fun no matter what time you arrive.
My favorite thing to do is sit at the bar and chat with the bartender when it’s slow/​early. Pete was really fun to chat to, and quite pleasant seeing how my friend and I were already quite drunk from the wine we had at lunch. (Did I mention how much I love summer Fridays?) I’m looking forward to one day trying his cucumber margaritas and his cosmopolitans. Plus, he knew all of the good old bars and is just an overall good guy. The other bartender I’ve met (kind of — I have a picture of him on my phone from when I forgot it) is named Zach maybe? He’s great, especially with his regulars.
Another thing I love about this bar — they don’t make a fuss when you want a cocktail… unless it’s a frozen one (I’m assuming. I haven’t seen a blender out on the bar yet.) Pete’s actually the one who called The Thirsty Scholar a «dive cocktail bar.»
Come for the free pizza and inexpensive drinks (I love love love the John Daly, my friend J loves their bourbon lemonade) — stay for the great bartenders, the sports on all the screens and for the good times you’re going to have.

I love this place. It’s a great local bar, very friendly and filled with characters. The drink specials are pretty great too.

i’m hardly thirsty cuz i know the benefits of staying hydrated.
and i ain’t no scholar, despite my leagues of green ivy strollzzzzzzz.
any/​s/​ways…
the Scholar is a chill bar that isn’t divey but has that divey charm and an air of non-​pretentiousness.
the Scholar does three things well: low prices, great service and cool environment.
the key to any good time there is taking advantage of the above three and bringing non-​entitled fun people there… it’s that simple.
i’ve been here a bunch as i am a ghost (just not pale yo) within the East Village. the bartenders are good with the banter and conversation – and superfriendly. they pour mean stiff drinks and generally have various beers at a great price. buybacks are NOT dead here! they occur fairly regularly here if you are nice, well-​behaved, and not a dick… which mean means i never get buybacks (doesn’t matter… i steal my friends drinks. zzzzz.).
the happy hour special here can be a fairly generous one for the EV. and i believe they buy pizza around 6 or so for bar patrons and then it’s a free for all for those saucy cheesy carbs.
this is a good group hang place. after work. post-​drunk-​brunch conduit. or a place to hang with your bestie/​gf/​bf/​etc.
the décor and layout is open space. dimly lit. copper bar top. exposed brick. lowkey decorations. there’s flatscreen/​s for game watching. it’s a good place to fade to the shadowy drunk recesses of your mind. ha
dropkicks mic so i can two fist these PBR tallboys that my friend bought (i mean i stole from them). smoooooth criminal
i out.

I walked in here with my girlfriend one night because we just wanted a quiet place to sit and talk. We went in and ordered a drink each– her a beer, me a whiskey and coke. The bartender asked us to see our ID. When I showed her my ID, she flashed a light on it and laughed and said «This is a fake ID.» (???) I was like Uh. no it’s not. It’s my ID. She was stubborn and kept insisting that it’s fake. She said the blue light didn’t shine as much as hers did, and that meant it was fake. So she showed me. She shined the blue light on hers, and then on mine. It shined the EXACT same way, and she realized it, too! She was like «Oh. Well, from the angle I’m standing in, it looked different.» And then tried to make me see it from her angle. What a dunce. I turned 21 in October 2013. Anyway, she ended up letting us stay.
We sipped our drinks slowly, played darts, and just sat and the bar and talked.
After about an hour and a half, she told us she was closing up and we needed to leave. We said okay and got our stuff together. As I was going to the bathroom right before heading out, I noticed she only asked us to leave, even though the bar was full of people.
What’s your deal, lady? Is it because we weren’t ordering more drinks? We still weren’t finished with ours, we were taking our sweet time.
Anyway, I felt pretty attacked by her, although I’m sure she’s a nice girl and was just trying to do her job since I do look pretty young. But don’t accuse someone of having a fake ID, then kicking them out because they’re not ordering shot after shot. I won’t be coming back.
Plus one star for being the only other bar (aside from Bull Mccabes, which is close by) for having a computerized dart game.

Great dive bar with cheap drink specials and a poppin crowd. It’s pretty small and gets hot and crowded and you won’t really be able to find seating, but it still manages to be a great time!

No complaints about this place. Pretty standard East Village spot. We stopped by around midnight and it wasn’t too too crowded. While the scene was a little bit «bro“ey/douchey for my taste (the girls I was with were hit on by drunk dudes at least 2 x) the drinks we’re strong and not that pricey. To fit in with the vibe of the joint, we did a couple rounds of Fireball shots (par for the course, really). Another bonus? The music selection was on point. Even the bartenders were getting into it. A decent spot to end the night.

Great little dive bar with cheap drinks and a friendly staff.

My favorite hole in the wall in NYC. Small, intimate, good drink specials, friendly staff, and in a great location. Laid back environment and not at all pretentious. My kind of place. Haven’t really bumped into too many tourists there (in fact, I never have) which makes it a great place to chat with locals and find out about the hidden gems of the city. Can’t really ask for more.

We tore tho place down on a Friday night and closed with it @ 4AM… awesome 4AM bar that plays great music and has a pretty standard selection of beer. Great crowd as there were peeps there from all boroughs!
Bartender was crazy cool and yelled last call for about 30 mins… yeah we wouldn’t leave

More of a 3.5 stars than a 4 star but pushed it to 4 because the staff are pretty friendly. The place is a bit of a dive and sports bar. It isn’t overly crowded when I went on a friday night but still have a good amount of people. Happy hrs goes until 8pm and drinks after that still aren’t crazy expensive.
They have a dart board as well. Great if you are looking to chat and drink with friends and also watch some sports or not as it wasn’t extremely loud.
Nothing too crazy about the place but a good place to hang out with friends.

Five long years ago, my roommates and I signed a lease for our first apartment in Brooklyn. Just a few hours later we met a few friends in a little bar on 2^nd ave for the second of soon to be hundreds of times. When you walk in you will notice the décor. Brick walls, copper bar top, candles. But then you look up. There, across from the door is a suit of armor. To your right is an Einstein-​esque dummy pondering life’s great mysteries.
If you take nothing else from this review, take this: The bar is one of the friendliest, most welcoming places I have ever been. From the first time we went, the bar tenders greeted and introduced themselves. It certainly helps that they can pour a good strong drink all while keeping up all the conversations they hold along the bar. It started with late night parties with the younger staff. They were fun, drinks flowed quickly and efficiently down to our stomachs, and people were loud, but in a good way. Slowly, I realized how much more i enjoyed the slower paced, low key happy hours and weekend afternoons. This is the perfect place to sit down and relax. You can hold an actual conversation with everyone’s favorite behind the counter bar host, Pete. Not only a knowledgeable New Yorker, but also a great bartender and willing to help you find your new favorite drink.
I am so glad that I was able to find a bar like this. Not only have they kept me coming back time and time again, but it holds up as a great bar for anyone that we invite. Enjoy this gem!

Waking down the stairs into the scholar, you can’t help thinking that this is how a bar should feel. Low lighting, old stools, coat hooks under the amazing copper bar. Classic.
This place has been my unofficial start of the night bar for a while now, and there’s many a reason why. First of all there’s Pete, my favorite man behind the bar in the whole city. A genuinely awesome guy who remembers your name, knows what you’re having before you ask, and takes the time to get to know you. Happy to call this guy a friend. Next let’s go over the drink line up. The tap selection is extensive; you’ve got old favorites like Goose Island and Shocktop, and some new classics like Sixpoint Bengali Tiger. There’s also a seasonal on rotation that they keep interesting, right now it’s Sierra Nevada Celebration (Solid beer). They also have a great can and bottle selection, $ 4 PBR tall boys never go out of fashion right? The house drink list is long and covers all the bases, the LIT will knock you off your stool.
Couldn’t be happier calling myself a regular here, this place rocks — Come in for a game, play a round of darts, and hang out with Pete