Abilene Bar
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Music: Juke Box
- Best Nights: Mon, Sun, Tue
- Happy Hour: Yes
20 Reviews for Abilene Bar
Nice place for a nice day. Sit outside, and play Trivial Pursuit or Connect 4 (I like board games, so this is a plus for me) or people/dog watch. The happy hour is cheap - $3 a pop. I wouldn't say the bartenders are mean, but they weren't super friendly either. I kind of like friendly bartenders, though.
one of the few places (if not the ONLY) in the hood that isn't swarming with a-holes.
i like it here. and the bartenders are cool.
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Cozy spot, cheap drinks - $3 happy hour beers, and not just the crappiest beer they have, and a friendly vibe. A good place to go if you're hungry and want to eat while you drink (having drank on an empty stomach one too many times, I'm starting to learn my lesson), as long as it's relatively early (kitchen shuts down well before the bar does).
The music, like K. F. so aptly put it, is HILARIOUSLY bad. It's funny that he (she?) mentioned the song "Wonderwall," because that's what was playing the last time I walked in. I kind of felt like I was in an awful time-warp.
By now, Abilene, you shoulda somehow realized what you're not to do.
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Happy hour prices are great, outdoor seating is a major plus, beer selection is decent with $2.50 Genese Cream Ale special but liquor selection is weak and after happy hour prices go up too high IMO. For example a Ketel One shot last night cost me $8. That's ridiculous. Interesting mix of people here too, a lot of young transplants with old timers.
This good bar cvxcvxcvxcv
Fine for a drink at 12:45am on a Monday, when you're taking your four-legged friend out for a whizz, and your two-legged friend to the train, and the friend (with two legs) expresses interest in grabbing a beer. Would I visit under other circumstances? Probably not. Though dog friendly, it's not that interesting.
The music here can be hilariously bad. Or as my friend put it, "It's like we're in an early 90s britpop torture chamber!" Sadly there are folks out there who think that "Wonderwall," "Song 2," and "Bitter Sweet Symphony" deserve to be played in bars. Yeah no.
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It really depends on who's behind the bar at Abilene and what your drink of choice is.
The vibe is always chill and casual, music is tasteful, the bar food is better than decent, happy hour is a bargain, and Trivia Nights are fun.
But if it's some grouch 'tending (let's not name any names for now), the drinks are miserly poured and trying to get service is like trying to score on the bull's eye.
Not to mention a poor scotch selection.
One of those bars that can really be great - more staff and scotch, man! - but for now, it's just a starter-bar for me, stopping by for happy hour and then moving on.
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I dig the vibe at Abilene. The seating is spacious and comfortable, and I love the Sixties throwback decor and furniture. The bartenders are on their game and everyone always seems to be having a good time. The music is either great or terrible, but it's always amusing.
My only complaint is that the kitchen closes at 11:00. That just seems kind of early for a bar that caters to such a young crowd.
Still, it's a classic neighborhood staple and our first destination when we're doing the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill thing.
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Scrabble, happy hour, funky furnishings, friendly patrons.
It's a match made in heaven!
This has become the default destination in the hood, and not because there are no other options. There are plenty but why would you go elsewhere?
Happy hour prices are GREAT - $3 for beer and well drinks (the Irish pub down the road has the same beer during their version of HR at $6!). They have a selection of board games, which obviously get used a lot (we have started bringing our own Scrabble set in). Even saw a table the other day playing Connect 4 while one person was listening to his iPod and another was doing homework. It's that sort of place. Casual.
Dogs and kids are welcome on the very comfy outdoor/front area set-up. Groups have some couches in the corner to spread across on. Couples have an option of everywhere and the solo man can sit up at the bar, while a patient bartender listens to what he has to dribble on about.
Perfect.
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A list of the little things that make this place nice:
Three-dollar beers from 5 to 8 and after midnight every day. Including Six Point.
A Scrabble board missing 8 tiles (including that confounded Q).
Bluegrass every couple of Wednesdays.
Jason Molina-heavy iPod mixes.
Outdoor seating.
Dog-tolerance.
It no longer smells like the mildewy Red Room.
Very nice owners.
Close enough to the F Train to convince your Manhattan friends to visit.
UPDATE: Thanks to my industrious friend, the Scrabble board has been completely replenished. So if the owners are reading this: buy Al a drink.
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Bloody wonderful. It's a fine thing it's so out of our way!
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5 star bar! I might be biased with a couple friends working here but this place would be my local watering hole every night if I weren't trying to keep my paychecks out of bars. The vibe is chill, the music is cool, and the beers on tap are solid. In addition you can get a burger if you're hungry at some point.
The best is how the windows just open up all over the place creating a seamless vibe between your smoking friends or the fresh air environment you don't want to miss even if you're inside. With several
distinct areas to hang out it's the perfect spot to bring a small group of friends and take it over as your own living room. And it's named after the owner's story of her dad who got struck down by lightning. Yeah, you guessed it: In Abilene, TX.
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Great addition to the neighborhood. Very laid back, very reasonable prices, super friendly staff, accommodating to boot -- great about letting us have a birthday gathering here, bring a cake, etc. not scene-y at all. I especially like it in the summer when the windows are open. And they play excellent indie rock -- the upbeat stuff, not the super depressing stuff.
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Neighborhood bars don't get any better. Killer bartenders, good taps, and a comfy atmosphere. Weekends a little hectic, but always a nice crowd. Owners are hella nice folks, too.
If you like going bars AT ALL, then there is no reason not to make Abilene one of your top spots.
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Perfect corner neighborhood bar on the south end of Carroll Gardens. Never crowded, good music, friendly staff, nice beer selection. Importantly, not full of all the irritating hipsters at Brooklyn Social and the Yacht Club, or the angry locals at PJ Henley's. I miss this place
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Delightful to be in a bar where the bartender hustles. And is nice. I guess I have been hanging out in too many snooty places lately and Abilene is quite the breath of fresh air.
Would be five stars but the seating is abysmal.
Be cautious.
All the chairs inside are on their last legs. One of the guys in the bar last weekend fell splat on the ground when his chair gave way underneath him. He wasn't that big of a guy. The bar stools teeter totter on bent legs and the seat part does not sit horizonally even. You find yourself pitched forward on your perch, one buttock higher than the other.
Get a table outside, save your bum and enjoy the nice weather.
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Makin' your way in the world today takes everything you've got.
Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot.
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name,
and they're always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see
our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.
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Abilene is an extremely cozy bar in my sister's neck of the woods. The music selection is generally very good and quite relaxed. The owner, or whomever decorated the watering hole, definitely has traditional tastes. There's something very classic about this corner bar in the way that it is laid out and the types of visitors it attracts. As a side note, during the summers they have sidewalk seating, which is generally the most popular aspect of the bar.
For some reason musicians that feature washboards and ukalalies also seem to define this bar for me. I think I've only seen this type of band there once, but they fit so well at Abilene and in this section of Brooklyn -- playing amidst the antiqued streets of Carroll Gardens. The band seemed to fall helplessly into the Abilene's backdrop of browning pictures and old nick nacks.
If Abilene was on a flash card, and I were asked what were the three first images to enter my head, I would immediately respond, "Washboards, cold ale, and summer nights."
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The coolest bar in Carroll Gardens! Drinks are fairly reasonably priced, and the inside is decorated with artwork from the owner. Comfy couches at one end to lounge in, and the windows all open wide for those warm summer nights.
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