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218 Lafayette St - CLOSED
Categories: Nightlife Bars Restaurants Bars, Restaurants [Edit]
218 Lafayette St(between Kenmare St & Spring St)
New York, NY 10012
Neighborhood: SoHo
(212) 226-1353
- Nearest Transit:
-
Spring St (4, 6, 6X)
Prince St (N, R)
Bowery (J)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Best Nights:
- Wed, Thu
- Happy Hour:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
8 reviews for 218 Lafayette St
8 reviews in English
-
Review from Jessica L.
New York, NY
10/21/2009
I enjoyed this place for a happy hour or early spot. I haven't experienced the late night scene here.
Decent sized drinks for a reasonable price. I believe happy hour is until 8PM (?) and is $4 drinks and $4 select food. Not a bad deal at all. Wednesday is ladies night and boasts a lovely half off price! I had the BEST mojito here!
Good place to start out a night or to enjoy a boozey after-work retreat! -
Review from Victor L.
Brooklyn, NY
4/6/2008
Well I guess walking around the Noho area and then going south trying to find a spot where 6 people can either sit or stand without getting bumped into every 5 seconds, or not lose 3 pounds of water weight by putting hand with beer up to mouth, that's a tough break. Slainte was always a good choice but walking around on a beautiful night, you come across the expensive 218. You think, alright it's in a prime spot, and there are a couple other places to gather.
And you walk in, and you're like, how do they afford the lease to such a sizeable upscale/clean bar with very little patronage? I know their happy hours are decent, but when that's down it's 5 bucks-and-up-ville here.
The food is also a bit pricey; basically this is one of those places I think where it's quiet, with plenty of booths and roundtables in the back and bar space, but nobody to necessarily fill it with other more raucous and cheaper options around. It just seems understated in all it's cherry colored glory. -
Review from Marisa B.
Chicago, IL
2/22/2008
Six of us wandered the city during Fashion Week Saturday at Bryant Park, eventually hitting up 218 Lafayette. This was no accident, as friend and fellow poker player Vinny not only tends bar, but actually stocked the entire liquor selection at the request of new management. Score!
Vincent knows his liquor. High-end stuff included bourbon in the coolest bottle ever (no idea of the name -- I'll ask him tonight when I return), one of the most diverse and inspiring beer selections I've seen (Chimay Dark, anyone?), and a well-rounded choice of house wines to sate the most discerning palate.
The bar itself is classy. Lots of dark wood broken up by the occasional framed mirror provides just enough glow for the lighting to feel chic. The bar itself is a gorgeous wood (maybe mahogany?). The overall effect brings to mind well-dressed men and the diamond-encrusted women who inevitably accompany them.
House cocktails cater to the ladies (think sweet and frothy), but the true connoisseur will have their choice of opaque- and amber-colored varietals as well. Prices are typical Manhattan, but Vinny and his colleagues pour a generous tumbler and make it worth your money.
I never made it past the bar to sample their menu, but this place warrants many return visits. Just please leave your Chucks at home. I know they're comfortable, but this place deserves just a bit more effort. -
Review from J K.
ASTORIA, NY
6/12/2008
This place is terrible. Not only do they play lame music but they offer a lame beer selection. I don't know if it's the "upscale" soho crowd they are trying to appeal too (there is never anyone in there) but give me blue moon, bud light, stella ANYTHING on tap besides the crap they have.
They don't know what a drink special is and the food is way over priced. I went there a few times with a friend who likes to "get away from the crowd" and I hated going each time.
LAME PLACE...STAY AWAY -
Review from Bryan L.
Somerville, MA
11/6/2008
I work right across the street from 218.
This is the prime bar that most of us head to after work for the happy hour and hang out. It's relatively empty, so going there with a group and having fun is nice, but this isn't the place you want to go if you're trying to meet new people.
The atmosphere is nice, but it's a little odd as a bar because you can't tell whether or not it's trying to be more of a restaurant, or more of a bar. There are dining tables in the bar area, but a separate dining area in the back. If they got rid of the dining tables in the bar area, and kept all seating to the back, you could avoid the awkwardness of whether you're being to loud or not.
It's got a beautiful mahogany and cherry colored interior with candles. The drink selection is decent, I always stick to Stella, and they have that on top, and it costs about $3 or $4 during happy hour (average in SoHo I'd assume). The food is great, the french fries are some of the best I've had. The chicken wings are delicious, and the chicken tenders are very interesting (thinly sliced, lightly fried). A large sandwich with a pretty large portion of fries will run you about $9 before tax, tip, and drink. Not bad at all.
The service is fast (mostly because there's not many people in there), and the bartenders are pretty awesome people. I can safely say that I've made friends with at least two of them there. They keep the drinks coming, are very friendly and flirtatious, and will make sure to chat it up with you and have fun.
The music sucks, it is some played out rap here and there, and the TVs are nice, but hardly have anything interesting on them. It's hard to dislike 218, but at the same time, it's difficult to really like this place. In the mean time, I'll continue going there after work, and having fun there with groups because you feel like you own the place. hah.
Until 218 finds out its true identity and demographic, and whether or not they want to concentrate on being a bar or a restaurant, rather then trying to do 50/50, they will always be stuck in commercial purgatory. -
Review from Kathy P.
New York, NY
12/30/2008
So this is a review of delivery...the food.
Average salad. Dressing tasted like Kraft italian.
Tasty buffalo wings. (bar food basic.)
Horrid unfresh white crusty bread.
OK to average turkey and veggie burgers.
Oh and they gave me warmed frozen veggies (cubed peas/carrots/corn) ! - in place of the entree rice dish I ordered. We called them and they said that they took it off the menu....maybe they should update their online menus for http://grubhub.com too...
At least they hand delivered the refund for the missing item...
Maybe a cool bar, but not for delivery.... -
Review from Louise R.
New York, NY
4/4/2009
218 doesn't know what it's trying to be... a bar? A club? Some horrible middle ground that mixes the worst aspects of both worlds?
The (bad) music is so loud you can't hear yourself speak, which may be partially responsible for the ridiculous experience we had at 218 last night:
After ordering draft Stella Artois by pointing and yelling, we were brought bottles of Amstel Light. Okay, simple misunderstanding. It's loud and we don't want to make a scene.
Nonetheless, we politely tell her about the mistake and clearly point again to Stella Artois on tap. Without removing the Amstel, she returns with bottled Stella Artois. When we inquire what happened to the draft beer, she goes ballistic, literally screaming and gesticulating wildly:
"WE DON'T HAVE THAT ON TAP. ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY YOU WON'T PAY FOR THESE? YOU WON'T PAY FOR THEM AFTER I ALREADY OPENED THEM FOR YOU?"
The hysterics continued until we shooed her away, bitterly accepting the incorrect order. -
Review from Pudgy G.
San Francisco, CA
4/11/2009
This is the first bar I stepped into in New York city during the afternoon/evening, which was happy hour. The place was alright to me, seem like it had a tavern feel/look to it. I believe it is a restaurant as well because I had some food to down my beer. The food was okay. Overall, an alright place.
