- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
119 Bar - CLOSED
- Nearest Transit:
-
14 St - Union Sq (4, 5, 6, 6X)
Union Sq - 14 St (L)
14 St - Union Sq (N, Q, R)
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Music Videos
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Very Loud
- Good For Dancing:
- Yes
- Ambience:
- Hipster, Dive-y, Trendy, Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
58 reviews for 119 Bar
Review Highlights
-
"...tons of cozy vintage sofas and booths and ONE pool table." In 13 reviews -
"Great mixed crowd, cheap drinks & I really love the music..." In 4 reviews -
"This spot is just a short walk from Union Square." In 7 reviews
Loading...
58 reviews in English
-
Review from brett o.
Astoria, NY
9/15/2011
This place was an awful dive, full of weirdos, creeps, and junkies. The bar WAS dark and smelly, and the drinks were CHEAP.
IT WAS AWESOME.
It's a terrible tragedy that it has closed. Manhattan is so lame. No more Mars, no more 119. So, I guess if you want to go to a cheap bar without black lights and UNTZ UNTZ! music, you better head to the outer boroughs. -
Review from Joseph B.
Brooklyn, NY
8/17/2011
This place was bad, bad news.
RIP. -
Review from Aaron V.
Bronx, NY
3/7/2011
Simply put - dark, dirty dive.
The music is unbearably loud, the pint glasses are usually chipped, and the bartender looks like she can definitely kick my ass (Almost did once, when I didn't produce a tip fast enough).
$4 Brooklyn Lagers, furniture that was probably found on the sidewalk, and a two-block walk from my job makes this place my second home.
And, yes, the bathrooms really are that disgusting. -
Review from Pinky T.
Long Beach, NY
11/18/2010 1 Check-in Here
Yep. Blacked out I guess.
Well, sheeeeeeeeiiiiiit. -
Review from Molly T.
Manhattan, NY
12/4/2010
I hated this bar. I got taken here after an event uptown by someone I had just met and I was completely unimpressed.
The place felt dirty and the people were strange - I was embarrassed to be there. The bathrooms were disgusting and the whole experience was uncomfortable.
Now walking by 15th St at Irving Pl makes me sad. -
Review from John B.
1/7/2009
The fact that I thought 119 Bar was cool 10 years ago should warn you off it. I was about to turn 16. I have no idea whether the young set can still get in. But I know that prices at this dump have gone through the roof since the good old days. Sixteen bills for a double J&B is one thing if you're hanging with the Anna Wintour set. But when you're dealing with private school guttersnipes (and NYU "trash"), it's not so cute. Sure, there's graffiti everywhere, and, yeah, one time, some gross dude was having weird coital relations with another gross thing in the bathroom. But, really, unless your sole purpose in life is to accrue stories that you wouldn't tell your parents, I can't imagine any reason in the universe to patronize this fabricated "dive bar."
I wouldn't want to hang out with, or look at, the 16-yr-old version of myself. Especially at a bar. And while I can't vouch for the fact that this demographic is still catered to at 119, you can rest assured that most of the people inside, no matter their chronological age, probably haven't gone the week without telling their mothers to go fuck themselves. Oh, yeah, and The Clash? Nothing screams edge more. -
Review from andy t.
New York, NY
9/21/2009
Bar 119 is my go-to pre-party spot when I have tickets to a show at Irving Plaza, which is located around the corner.
This divey bar has a lodge-like feel to it, with a pool table, some couches and stools, and weathered, wooden booths. Beers on tap are solid - Brooklyn Lager and Pilsner, Sierra, Ying, Sam, Guinness, Stella and Blue.
What I love most about this bar, though, is the music. It's always loud and awesome ... Pixies, Violent Femmes, Nirvana, Bowie, White Stripes...
Bar 119 has the BEST MUSIC of any bar in the city as far as I'm concerned. This unassuming place has soul. -
Review from Nicole A.
Jupiter, FL
4/11/2009
We didn't stay here long enough for me to fully decide whether I liked it or not but that's probably because it wasn't the best place for a first date type thing...
That being said, maybe I've lowered my standards but it really didn't seem that dirty. And the bartender made us drinks named after me. But, I think she does that for all the girls. -
Review from dan s.
3/7/2007
Once upon a time, there was a dotcom company. The employees worked many, many long hours, and when they weren't working, they came to 119 to lose themselves in the darkness of the bar, the bottle, or both. Their successes, failures, and heck, even some of their product ideas, were all discussed or hatched at 119.
I joined said dotcom several years later, and was introduced to 119 as "the place we used to go to a lot". We still went there once in a while, sure, but things just weren't the same.
Nowadays, 119 still has all the basics of what made it such a hip yet non-trendy dive bar (cheap drinks, bad lighting, and ick, those bathrooms), it's definitely become better known. I read that even the famous (is Drew Barrymore considered famous?) have been known to drop by.
A recent email about a going away party for a former coworker reminded me that 119 definitely deserves a review, though I now live too far away to call myself a customer. -
Review from Danie R.
ALLSTON, MA
1/12/2011 1 Check-in Here
Well, I started to come here when I was 18. Super divey, heavy handed bar tenders, gross sketchy bathrooms perfect for you know what.
When I was 19 I brought my friend here for her 16th birthday. Some random dudes bought us drinks.
When I was 20, I started to work next door, and would come here even more often.
Now I'm in my mid-20s, and hear that this place may be closing. It was a large part of my NYC years and I'll be sad when I walk down 15th street if it's no longer there.
Whoever buys this place... they have A LOT of cleaning to do! -
Review from Brock T.
New York, NY
9/7/2006
Go to 119 while you can, because any minute now the NYU kids are going to descend upon it, wielding hardcover textbooks and clever slogans ("Fuck Bush").
I usually go here during the week to get a quick Brooklyn, which sometimes doesn't happen so quick because the bartender is cleaning up yesterday's pee in the bathroom. However, the booths are great and it's close to Union Square, so it's a great spot to meet people before going out later. -
Review from Stephanie V.
Yonkers, NY
5/3/2010
Ample sized divey digs with a pool table and a killer music selection (Elvis Costello & The Clash).
There's good pricings (re: cheap, $4 bud lights) and it's right by the heart of Union Square. I've been here after work (sizable crowd) and in the later evening (great for catching up on some convos).
Easy, comfortable - definitely came over in here in jeans and some flats after a casual day at my internship. And I will be returning! -
Review from Anthony C.
Brooklyn, NY
9/21/2007
DIVE BAR. What else can you say? This was the first bar I'd ever been to in the city as an underaged boy--VERY easy to get in without ID. If thats your situation then I recommend this bar.
Here is a basic description: It's right next door to Irving Plaza--or The Fillmore whatever they call it these days, drinks are cheap, the music is VERY LOUD, there are pool tables, ratty couches and booths for your comfort, annoying drunk people, 2 single stall bathrooms.
It's a sticky loud dive bar--if you must, have one drink then relocate. -
Review from morecawfee M.
Brooklyn, NY
12/22/2007
Two things: I'm not the "I-need-a-drink-that's-been-lit-on-fire" type. (I'll stick to my Guinness, thanks.) Most importantly, neither is 119 Bar.
But neither of those things mattered during one slow weeknight night here, when my friend ordered Flaming Dr. Peppers (http://en.wikipedia.or...) for both of us. The bartender was intrigued (and cool enough to oblige), cobbling it together with the highest-proof liquor he had and lighting them up. (And they were excellent, may I add.)
Having said that, I doubt you'll see a scene like that play out again at 119 anytime soon...but that's the beauty of the joint. It's a nurse-your-beer-and-chat-with-the-neat-peeps kind of place, but also chill enough that you won't get nasty looks for venturing the errant odd request.
And the music kicks some booty. Buzzcocks to The Jam and everything in between. Rawkin'.Listed in: Manhattan imbibing...
-
Review from Wes T.
4/17/2007
119 nurtured me through my formative years as a bar back and floor guy at Irving Plaza. I was initiated into it's secrets through older coworkers who may or may not have been sleeping with members of the bar staff. That's the way it goes.
Make no mistakes, 119 is pretty divey. Ill lit, with a blaring rock soundtrack pumped through cheap speakers, it will leave you wanting more if you can handle it. The drinks are cheap and strong, the location is awesome.
They have a pool table in the front room, and the main room is very grungy. Shaky little booths line the walls, some of them unlit entirely. Hanky panky anyone? The back room adjacent to the disgusting bathrooms has couches in it ... hanky panky anyone? Gross. You don't want to know what's on those things.
In the old days this place didn't have the fancy little outer door thingy, it was just a place you kind of had to *know* was there. There was nary a neon sign to be seen through the darkly tinted windows. Now that there is a door there I predict NYU/New School students will be coming soon in droves. -
Review from Lexy M.
9/22/2008
119 Bar is my go to Manhattan dive destination...!
Whenever I'm forced to stay in the city and don't happen to be around Williamsburg and I'm having a "Dive Bar Itch" 119 Bar is my cure!
I really adore this rock out, funky, dirty in a good way Bar! I have only been here on Friday & Saturday nights but each time I have a wicked good time. Kinda has that college (but not frat like) hipster feel to it. Almost like your in someone's really dark & laid back living room or basement of their parents house. Pool table, dark wood, ripped up floors, booths & destroyed (I'm afraid I might catch something if I sit down) couches in the back by the bathrooms.
But funny enough, this whole setting really ROCKS! Great mixed crowd, cheap drinks & I really love the music they play there. Everything from 70's rock to 80's funk, punk & old school gangster rap. A spot to come with to end the night with a group of friends and just have a good time! ;o) -
Review from Justin V.
Brooklyn, NY
8/13/2010
We stumbled into this place a few months ago, heard some good music coming from the speakers and a couple of coke heads dancing enthusiastically to whatever they could hear, $4 Sierra Nevadas made their way down my throat. I am now a regular and not too sure what I think about it.
I feel comfortable there. It isn't pretentious, but doesn't make you feel all that good about yourself either. Okay, I can afford to drink here...I suppose. Oh, I heard this band last time, last week, three beers deep. Damn, these dive bar restrooms! There goes my cash; back to the bank. Maybe I'm just tired of Union Square. I shouldn't take it out on this place which is just fine. Reasonable drink prices, great music if it isn't repeated, and most importantly: space!
One side note: whenever you enter, you will feel a heated blast no matter what is going on outside. -
Review from Melissa L.
Brooklyn, NY
2/7/2009
Not as gross as people say. Been in grosser and dirtier places.
Went in to have a beer with friends. Music was decent, not distractingly annoying, although pretty loud around the bar area, but not too loud in the back room, where we were, allowing us space to chat. Plenty of open space and good amount of seating.
I sat all night on this couch that was sinking in the middle and looked like the shabbiest thing ever. Still it was pretty cozy and oddly enough, I didn't really think about it or get grossed about by it. -
Review from Arthur O.
Greenwich Village, New York, NY
12/4/2007
119 is kind of amusing because it reminds me a lot of Alibi http://www.yelp.com/bi... in Fort Greene. Well, except that it's not AS run-down as Alibi (aka not half burnt-down). But don't get me wrong, there IS a reason why the two are brothers in my mind: 119 may soon need to dial 119 (in Korea, 911 is 119).
Pool table? Check.
Worn-ass chewed-up couches? Check.
Half-empty bar? Check.
Random open space, like some shit has been gaffled out of the joint? Check.
Semi-underground? Check.
Cheap? Check.
Smelly? Check.
Good music? Check.
There. -
Review from Ransom B.
Brooklyn, NY
10/16/2005
There's only one reason to go to 119 - to get stinking, filthy, throw up worthy drunk. This is the place you go when your girlfriend has run off with a woman (not another dude) or you just found out you're getting laid off.
The main room is pitch black and the smaller room is light brown. The soundtrack is heavy metal and your sneakers will defintely stick to the floor. I suggest not going to the toilet until you are good and drunk. That way, you won't notice the dirt, grime and filth that surrounds you.
Drinks are cheap and surprisingly, the liquor selection is pretty good. You'll have a good time at 119 if you keep in mind that it's a place for drinking and not much else. -
Review from Emily D.
Brooklyn, NY
4/11/2010
A real hole in the wall. I mean, there's a hole in the wall.
119 gets kind of loud what with the bass from "The Filmore" fka Irving Plaza beating through the walls. The bathrooms are shit, the furniture is dilapidated and the place is really dark.
I almost didn't think they had any beer on tap, but they're beneath the bar in the middle room. A friend and I sat near the bathrooms on a couch and had a view of graffiti on the wall and Dirty Jerz stickers, instead of in a booth near the bar. The tunes are hit or miss, but really and truly, this place wasn't crowded at all for a Saturday night and was pretty chill. -
Review from Mickey M.
2/5/2009 1 photo
one of the dirtiest, smelliest dive bars I've ever been in. I can only imagine how many people have run away from this place. I like it. The crowd is friendly and the beer is reasonably priced.
The bathroom was so unbelievably disgusting, I had to take a photo. Doesn't matter to me, but it must suck to be a woman in this place. -
Review from Gloria C.
12/8/2009
Looks kinda funky, especially since it is in such a nice upscale area. Beers are cheap, place is SUPER dark, and bathrooms are super funky...
Good music though. Pretty ok to go to if you just need a place to hang out with some people without spending an arm and a leg. Do not come here if you are looking for a fancy spot. -
Review from Keiko T.
New York, NY
8/9/2009 1 photo
This place is OK.
They have a pool table and some comfortably couches.
The table and seats by the bar is not comfortable, very squishy and the speaker above is very loud. -
Review from Jason H.
New York, NY
4/12/2009
I am an NYC dive: beat up furniture, loudy indy music, skinny jeans, laid back bartenders, not amazingly expensive, pool table
convenient
(this should have been a haiku) -
Review from Justin L.
Brooklyn, NY
2/18/2010
Dark
Dirty
Cheap prices
And a decent
Shot at having a strange story by night's end. -
Review from Martin O.
ROOSEVELT ISL, NY
5/9/2011
Been coming here for years for the grime and pool table. Always a fan of coming here after work and never on the weekends.
-
Review from B H.
New York, NY
6/15/2010
All across this city.....there are corners and cubby holes that any man can slink himself into when he's looking to do some damage. One of these particular places is 119 Bar....its glowing red neon sign winking to patrons and hanging low on a window that looks into a side area lounge with pleather couches covered in duck tape......a lonely candle on the nearby table burning up its black singed wax and flickering for no one. And I was the shining beacon of light sitting by my own lonesome in the main room.........singing along to tunes I knew....my fingernails rapping on the table against the click clack sound of pool balls crashing into one another. "one more please" was all I uddered to anyone and as the night wore on, my New York Times went from interesting to infuriating to i can't read the words.
Well no news is good news and with my eyes black, grey, and read all over, I continued on my path.....head down and cocked to one side....lifting it only once in a while to hit the head. "I want to do right, but not right now" comes from the mouth of Gillian Welch and I'm doing a whole lot of wrong.....trying to coordinate legs to bar and butt to seat......my elbows acting as grappeling hooks.....hoisting myself up to the top and resting there to take in the sights...........of dustballs blowing on a checkerboard tiled floor..........patrons shimmying to rockabilly..........and a leaky budweiser tip drip dropping on the plastic reservoir below.......adding more of the stale beer stink to the humid greasy air stirring around this place and shooting up my nose like smelling salts. Wake up call......decisions, decisions........hail a cab or one more, one more?.......and ironically one raise of the finger can get you both.........and the bar was closer. "One more please", I say to a skeptical tender and I just shrug as if to say "Hey! What do you want from me?...........I want to do right."
But not right now.Listed in: Dr. Jerbar, The Bucket List
-
Review from Christine C.
Los Angeles, CA
8/30/2010 1 Check-in Here
Grimy bar with weird people. Not a fan, out of all the other options in the city but sometimes fills with the overflow crowd from Irving Plaza.
-
Review from Lindsay K.
New York, NY
12/1/2008
Oh come on, you love dive bars. Admit it. The location tilts the prices up a bit higher than I feel comfortable paying at a dive, though. Minus a star. Because yeah this girl's dirty, and you know she's also cheap.
-
Review from molly c.
6/17/2009
man, we were really striking out the other night, but this place has promise.
$5 drinks, but they ran out of all vodka.
on to the next spot. -
Review from Christina S.
Costa Mesa, CA
6/21/2008
We came here yesterday after a day of sight seeing and a late lunch which was at 5pm at a rad little French cafe called L Express. I was HOT and I really wanted a chill spot to sit and have a cocktail. My friend suggested that we come here. Note it's good to be with people that know the area. I would of never assumed this place to be a bar from just walking down the street. This spot is just a short walk from Union Square .We walk in to a dimly lit dive bar that does not allow smoking and the the bar has air conditioning. Therefor they get 4.5 stars for that. This bar reminds me of The Little Joy with a bit of The Chalet. The crowd was good... The music GOOD.. There was no DJ. It was obviously an Ipod. An Ipod that was playing northern soul with tons of mod music. . I was happy.... It wasn't an pretentious crowd. Which was a good thing. We stayed for a few cocktails and then bounced. I had to get back to meet my girlfriends and take the F train back by myself.... Fun stuff... and stuff!
Cocktails are cheap and strong....
It's way roomy with tons of cozy vintage sofas and booths and ONE pool table..Listed in: Cocktails, More things that I dig
-
Review from Chantelle K.
New York, NY
10/14/2007
After attending a b-day at a terrible bar that will remain nameless (Retreat, ahem.), we were at a loss where to go next . We decided to pop into Bar 119 for a quick drink and discuss options. Well, let's just say all our problems were solved when we walked through those doors. Yes, it's a bit dark, and I'm pretty sure they got most of their furniture off the street, but they play the best music at any bar/club/concert I've ever been to, the drinks are cheap and towards the end of the night, get even cheaper and the atmosphere feels like you're at a house party of a friend of a friend's - an eclectic crowd but somehow it works. If you want a fancy night, I wouldn't go here, but if you feel like doing the Thriller dance or air guitaring to Guns n Roses while doing whiskey shots, come on down.
-
Review from Jennifer G.
New York, NY
9/24/2010
WHAT IS THIS PLACE? Ironic? Serious? A FANTASTICAL JOURNEY INTO THE SECRET LIVES OF POST-FRATERNITY LIFE? It's cheap. It's dark. It's pretty fun. However, they ran out of budlight when I was there & I was forced to get my drank on with reg. budwieser, which is kind of crossing the line for me. I did it of course, and stayed out until 4. What can I say, I'm a trooper.
-
Review from Reshma B.
8/12/2010
Yes it's a dive bar. But if you go in with the right expectations, you will be pleased. The music was actually not bad here. The group I was with had a hard time leaving because every song was a good one. It ranged from current pop/hip hop to 80s. There is a section with the bar, dance floor and bathrooms which was pretty packed. The other section with the pool table and some couches was not as crowded. I was here for less than an hour but had a good time nonetheless.
-
Review from Pam S.
1/27/2008
Fun, run-down dive bar with a decent amount of space to stand around and hang out...with cheesy but fun top 40s/80s music. They also have a pool table.. Good place to pre-game at right before a concert at The Filmore/ Irving Plaza. They only have two small bathrooms though.. ugh.
Listed in: Party with Pam
-
Review from david i.
New York, NY
2/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great prices and a worn in feel. Not scuzzy. Music was too loud
-
Review from Joseph M.
Newark, NJ
2/1/2011 2 Check-ins Here
This place is the king of dive bars. It is a lot of fun, usually a good crowd and cheap drinks. It likes inside kind of like a run down house but that just adds to the character. I recommend this place if you are into dive bars or just looking for an interesting place to grab a few drinks.
-
Review from Victor L.
Brooklyn, NY
7/13/2007
I just went here this afternoon (i got off work early). I was just looking to start the weekend off right. It's 4pm. I wanted to try someplace new, and seeing how I lived down the street for a year and never even set foot inside, I was willing to give this place a try. Granted, there was nobody in there, but I immediately got a certain vibe, and that's what I'll describe to you folks right about now. The funk soul brother right about now.
The blinds prevent people from really peeking in unless you're up close; that's right, come hither you heathens hasting for heavy harrassment.
I walked into what I thought was maybe a lounge from 70s executive suite that got bashed into a blue collar bar. The pool table is right in front, elegantly placed among the surprisingly still comfortable couches, chairs, and random office chair in the front by the papers. Take a right, go to the bar. There you'll find a really nice bar (I love bars that take up one wall in a room where the room is more square than long). You'll find a cozy darkness to it, with booths opposing it on the other wall. Booths that have seen better days. But keep going, there are the bathrooms. Two of them. And they were the cleanest I'll ever see a "dirty" bathroom. Because it was 4pm. I noticed on the door someone wrote in white: "Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive". A Van Wilder reference notwithstanding, that cheesy inspirational line made my bathroom experience worthwhile. So I pee'd all over the sink (JUST KIDDING, hey guys don't take life too seriously.....'cuz you'll.....you'll....alright I'll stop).
There was a really nice looking depression across from the bathroom, two couches and a coffee table. Perfect for a group of about 8.
I can't say for the crowd; there was none. I think the bartender was wondering why he was even working that early. I had a pint of Bass at 5 bucks and plopped on the front black couch with a copy of New York Press and Village Voice which I picked up so conveniently by the front door. And I read Hoberman's defense of Woody Allen's Manhattan, not as in depth as much of his stuff and more a collection of general ideas, but nonetheless cites examples, which he does best. I read from the nominal amount of sunlight that shone in. I thought, this was what it was like in Nashville in 1976 at an accounting office that happened to have a bar. Or something from The Gauntlet, starring Clint Eastwood, but less dusty southwest.
Beyond those weird comparisons, which probably don't make much sense, the music here was FANTASTIC. Energized, tightly coiled, but unpretentious garage rock. Nice. -
Review from carl g.
Brooklyn, NY
7/21/2007
119 permanently fucked me up. Not just because I was wasting entire paychecks here directly after leaving work (on the upper east side), but because I got to know an entire crew of people that I would never have met otherwise. Why was I commiserating at some girls parents penthouse joint on stuyvesant park the day of 9-11? 119 bar. Why did I know you could get leftover roaches in the air duct in the bathroom on the left side? cause once you were in you were in. At some point I bottomed out and had to get my shit together but it was a fun, debauchery ridden ride for a few years. And my pool game has NEVER been better before or after I played there every day. But there's some other shit you need to know I suppose. It's centrally located and one of the coolest joints in an area devoid of cool joints. The beers on tap will always be too warm and taste shitty. And for some reason there's a chance of a dance party breaking out in the wee hours on a weekend.
It used to be a seriously good spot. don't let it suck you in.
