Acme Bar & Grill
Categories: Cajun/Creole, Chicken Wings [Edit]
Neighborhood: Manhattan/Greenwich Village9 Great Jones St
(between Lafayette St & Shinbone Aly)
New York, NY 10012 (212) 420-1934
- Nearest Transit:
Uptown Bleecker St-Lafayette St (6)
Downtown Bleecker St-Lafayette St (6, B, D, F, V)
8th St-Broadway (R, W)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
66 Reviews for Acme Bar & Grill
One of my all-time favourite places - on the planet! Nothing is better
than Sunday brunch here - really it's God's brunch: Blacked trout,
black-eyed peas, two eggs sunnyside up, mashed potaoes and
gravy w/ a nice couple of margarita's - pity I can't make it there as
often living now in California! Shit - what was I thinking?!
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It pains me to have to write this as my girlfriend and I have some special memories regarding this place but the truth is this is a very bad restaurant.
First of all, the service is absolutely deplorable. Of course this can be a one off thing so you hope for better the next time but the next 4 to 5 times we went back it never got any better and was somewhat worse. Disappearing waitresses, wrong orders, inedible food, wrong drinks, dirty utensils, forever waits for the check then endless revisions of the check because they billed me for the wrong dishes and on and on.
The food is unremarkable especially when you have to deal with the aforementioned nonsense. If you are craving BBQ/Tex Mex/ Cajun etc there are a lot of other places in the city with better service and better food. Spend your money there
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Some of us find an endless parade of different hot sauces lined up on a narrow wooden ledge running along the side of the restaurant extremely comforting, and I am one of those people. This place has always been very welcoming, the large uncluttered space is a treat, and the food is good. Last time I was there it was pouring rain after a heat wave and had cooled off, everyone was happy, and a four-year-old at the bar with her father was showing off her eccentric finery (exactly what she was wearing I forget but it was on the road to a Halloween costume, though pretty) ,and everyone was treating her with serious respect. That too was cool.
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great tasting food, great music, great attentive service. i like their corn bread; have enjoyed their "friend chicken" pork. this eating place has a casual ambience inside; cool music; cool looking people. i noticed everytime i'm here, the place's loaded with people.
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Eleven of us gathered at ACME for my best friend's birthday brunch this morning right as they opened. The pulled together the necessary tables, everyone sat down, and just as I was coming to the part of the menu that said cornbread (!!) comes with brunch, the server was putting it on the tables.
I ordered sweet tea, which was good, though (to their credit) not the tea-flavored sugar water that I occasionally enjoy drinking. I ordered brunch, which was $12 for any number of plates with cheese grits and potatoes, plus tea/coffee, and an alcoholic beverage. I ordered an omelet with tomatoes, bacon, and cheddar (I still craved that cheesy omelet that I didn't get at the place I went to yesterday), which came with home-style potatoes and cheese grits. Oh, and a mimosa. Happily, the omelet was large and chock-full of big pieces of meaty (not fatty) bacon and gooey with tons of cheddar. The potatoes were so delicious. The grits, while good, were not as good as mine. (Perhaps I'm partial.) I was so, so happy with brunch food here, and the service was great, too. Oh, and the yellow corn bread was pretty darn good for a NY joint!
Considering that ACME's brunch was the same cost as that other diner's brunch, it came with a mimosa, 2 drinks, and the food was just hands-down better, I highly recommend ACME. In fact, not one of us 11 people had any complaints.
Next time I'm in NYC, I will have to come back and try their sweet potato fries, gumbo, and pecan pie. I have high hopes.
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I've been eating here since the 90s. There are only three things that I get here: fried oyster po boy, Blue Moon beer served correctly with an orange and collard greens. I'm never disappointed.
Sit at the food bar at the back of the restaurant, it's more fun than sitting at a table across from friends whom you can talk to anytime you want.
Bartendar Rudy is pretty cool. And hey, they have Miller High Life in case you're off the edge urban trashy cool.
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A solid choice for a cajun meal - but don't expect to feel transported to New Orleans. Maybe Disney's version of New Orleans, but certainly not NOLA.
Upfront, I have to admit, I was born in New Orleans, and no one makes better red beans and rice than my mamma (and now me - the key is a ham hock and about 20 hours simmering).
Went there today for a business lunch, just to toss around some ideas - and Acme turned out to be a great venue: conversant-level, casual atmosphere, friendly staff and good food.
I had the blackened chicken po' boy with side of red beans and rice. We started with hush puppies, which were a little dry, but the sauce helped. Great flavors, fresh, crusty bread, tender chicken and kick ass sweet tea.
Probably won't go out of my way to eat here again, especially since the nearby Great Jone Cafe consistently hits it out of the park.
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I was this close to giving ACME 4 stars until I saw a colossal water bug, the size of Colin Farrell's famous uhmm uhmm chilling on the wall at the end of our meal. The gargantuan creature was taunting a table of frat boys, who abruptly jumped out of their seats whilst screaming like castratos. Better them than me...regardless, I nearly tossed my cornbread y'all !
What a shame the food, drink, dessert (Spicy martini, Acme lager, chicory coffee, complimentary cornbread, seafood gumbo, blackened catfish, black eyed peas, peach cobbler...mmm..love me some peach cobbler ) made a tasty and affordable feast. The server was lovely and attentive to boot . Come on now..where is the DOH when you really need 'em? If you are thinking about moving to NY..think twice...you can't escape the filthy blood sucking parasites (Ratatouilles and La Cucharachas), thanks to NYC overpopulation they're everywhere, and they are not cute!
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Great beer selection...
Great southern comfort food...
Great wait staff....
Killer hotsauces...
Great prices!
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I came by here one Sunday morning after waking up at the butt-ass crack of dawn to go watch an English soccer match and a friend and I needed brunch.
He came touting their Southern heritage (I'm from North Carolina) but it was their breakfast food that snagged my attention. I ended up with one of the best omelets I've had since I moved to New York -- chock full of tomatoes, cheese, onions and mushrooms. They even had A-1 sauce on the wall (along with a plethora of other hot/steak sauces, any of which we could have used) that went perfectly with breakfast.
And the cheese grits were pretty good too.
It's probably not very healthy for you, but damn it's good.
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I've been here twice.
The first time I came, the cornbread was hot and fresh. I like their cornbread b/c it has a hint of sweetness.
The second time, it was busier and you could tell it was microwaved. Not cool.
I had a crab po'boy, but it came out on a hamburger bun. What? I thought this was a cajun place. Po' boys don't come out on hamburger buns the last time I checked.
I also had the pork chops which were HUGE and pretty tasty, except a little thick and not totally cooked. The collard greens and mac & cheese were pretty good.
I'm from the south and love southern food. This however, is as authentic as Olive Garden is to Italian food.
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AMAZING.
Any place that makes me dream about their food during the night and wake up gasping for it in the morning gets my vote.
...
Although that might be a SLIGHT exaggeration.
Seriously, ACME doesn't play around when it comes to the food. The portions are huge and inexpensive. On the weekends, until 3 I believe, brunch is served and you can get appetizers for 1/2 price. Brunch comes with coffee, tea or juice and your choice of a mimosa or bloody mary. It's wonderful!
The service is excellent--quick, efficient and down to earth. Also...did I mention the free cornbread?
No?
Dude. There is FREE cornbread and it's DELICIOUS...
Acme. Do it. Eat it. NOW.
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Great place for some good ol' comfort food. Great burgers and amazing catfish. Very relaxed a laid back place, the corn bread is awesome here. Its a great little place to grab a quick bite. O and sausage and peppers! Although I wasn't so crazy about the gumbo.
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I tried this place for lunch in search of a decent po boy. A very nice room but the shrimp po boy was just OK. Service was fine. No worth a trip back as it is a bit out of the way for me.
Awesome no-scene, no-wait brunch place. Cheesy grits. That's right, I said cheesy grits. I've never had cheesy grits pre-Acme, but I would be willing to slaughter small children for them now. Aight, maybe just small animals. And sacrificial virgins. Oh, and if you can finish an entire order of food, then, well you know that stomach staple procedure? Yeah, you should probably check that out.
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A year ago, I would've given this place five stars for their excellent food and service.
But the last two times we went, once for brunch and once for dinner, the service was abyssmal. And both times, we can lay blame on a tallish, meathead brunette waiter. During the brunch incident, he took 4x as long to serve our table as other waitstaff were taking to serve theirs. I know there are variations in orders and I've worked service jobs before, so I'm pretty accommodating. He was bad. And since we were seated near the kitchen, we could hear him griping about customers. I mean, how dare people come into a restaurant and want food and drinks!
We waited a few weeks, and went back for dinner one night. It was crowded. He took his sweet time to take our order and when he brought the food, he brought my partner's plate and didn't bring mine. It took 20 minutes to get his attention again and when we finally did, his excuse was, "Oh, I thought you cancelled that." Uh, yeah. I wanted to sit and watch someone else eat and not eat anything myself. (But that's what ended up happening.)
Someone email me when this guy gets shitcanned. I miss Acme's brunch.
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Acme is not some suit-and-tie place with Southern fare or some hipster doofus spot with fusion below-the Mason-Dixie line vittles or even some mediocre middle-of-nowhere chain place that serves Southernesque eats. This is a decently-priced "okay place to eat"---and believe me the food is far beyond "okay." It's actually really good and better than most places that claim to be serve delicacies the good ol' South.
First--free corn bread. HURRAH. Beer is cheap. ACME has a full bar.
Can't go wrong with the catfish fingers or crabcakes...no they won't be from back-homke like grandmammy used to make or they won't be pretentious and over-the-top price like some midtown eatery, but they will be tasty and peddle-to-meddle towards the entrees.
No shock here--the po boys especially the catfish ones are quite excellent. The burgers are burgers, but well-done burgers. Entrees like the catfish, meatloaf, chicken fried steak, etc. will stick to your mouth, throath, stomach and finally stick to your ribs very satisyingly!
The sides of sweet potato fries, mac-n-cheese, corn on the cob, and the collard greens are solid.
I nixed one star because the service can be spotty whether it's busy or not. Welcome to the South...
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Go get a Fried Shrimp Po Boy and homecut fries. Do it now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to Acme and stuff your face with shrimp and never look back.
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It's become a tradition for me to stop by Acme after Shecky's Girls Night Out (held in the Puck Building only two blocks away) every few months~
And I like Acme for its laid back atmosphere and cheesey Cajun corn.
Overall though, the food at Acme is not all that exciting. Corn bread's good, mac n cheese is good, and cobblers are good (and massive!).
But whatever you do, Do NOT Order the Chicken Gumbo, I REPEAT: DO NOT ORDER THEIR CHICKEN GUMBO.
tastes and looks like muddy water, with a few pellets of rice at the bottom and a couple of rubbery meat thrown in~
Don't say I didn't warn you.
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I got the lunch portion of the jambalaya and while it was not the most amazing jambalaya I have ever tasted, it was still pretty darn good. And it fed me for three meals.
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Selection-wise, I initially liked the idea of eating at Acme over Great Jones. Perhaps it was the hushpuppies that took my heart. But I was glad we stuck with dinner at the other venue.
There was more room here and it was definitely hopping. They had a live band downstairs, which was playing some fabulous Cajun tunes. However, I wasn't too fond of their hurricanes. They almost tasted like vodka versus rum? Very bizarre.
I would like to check it out on a more low-key night, say oh when it's not Fat Tuesday?!?
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Screw the stupid HIPSTER REVIEWS
flies are everywhere retard.
Acme is amazing...cheap but delicious and huge huge huge quantities.
ACME ALE rocks
Tuesdays 2 dolla beers
Try their brunch out- get the BULLDOG the grits are amazing
the mashed potatoes once again---amazing
Grilled chicken po-boy yet again amazing
chicken fried steak----yep----amazing
so, shove your 3 stars where they wont shine
if you want upscale expensive lousy portion food
go out to eat in midtown
Acme rocks.
Also, go downstairs
theres usually a band playing.
Ok everyone..I admit that this is not entirely authentic New Orleans fare. But what I can tell you is that it's always good, and the half-off apps after work are even better. Plus they have my current fave beer on tap, Abita Turbodog. It's always delicious (and not the same out of the bottle..) The blackened corn on the cob is to die for (but I'm warning for you wimps that can't handle any heat!) and Rudy at the bar is THE BEST. I always strike up a random conversation here too. Good times! This is one of my fave places in the city, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone and everyone.
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Let me just say...mac and cheese, chicken, fries, and the red beans and rice make a perfect meal. This was what my husband and I had together and we were very satisfied. Definitely if you are up for some Turbogod [as my friend calls it] beer on tap....go and have yourself a great time at this quiter Noho restaurant.
This is a great place to go with friends, have some drinks and eat comfort food and then head out on the town for some fun. All I can say is that some of better nights started out at Acme....
Cheers
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I love Acme Bar and Grill from the wonderful all inclusive Brunch on the weekends to their amazing Barbecue chicken & Ribs and all the Cajun/ southern food in between. Best value in New York City.
I really, really wanted to like this place. I really did. It's in a great area for restaurants which is always fun, and I love Cajun food. I was ready for a great meal and a great time.
Alas, this was not the case for the time I had at Acme Bar & Grill.
The waitress was AWFUL. I'm talking AW-FUL. She filled me with awe. I couldn't take how bad she was. She never checked up on us to see if we needed anything. I had to wave her over for a drink refill and then I had to ask a bus boy for a bottle of steak sauce. When we were ready for our check, we were up Shit Creek because she wasn't ready to give it to us. She was too busy chatting with the bartender at the other end of the restaurant. She wasn't even giving glances over to see if any of her tables needed anything or were waving giant flags just to catch her attention.
Oh and why did I need steak sauce you ask?
Because my Louisiana Steak Sandwich was so bland I had to smother it in something. The steak was cut into gigantic pieces which made it impossible to eat as a sandwich. And I could've got better macaroni and cheese at KFC. Ugh.
The whole meal was just wrong.
Granted, I was under some ordering pressure from the waitress, but it wasn't just that I made the wrong choice. It was that the dish was bad. Real bad. Real bad like the waitress.
This was the first time in a LONG LONG time of dining out that I have seriously considered not leaving a tip.
I will never go back here unless paid for whatever reason. And not like someone offering to buy my meal. I mean like, someone gives me one hundred dollars to return.
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I've been going to Acme for 6 years. There were stretches when I went often and some where I didn't go there for most of a year, but I never forget it as an option when I'm making plans. The reasons: great southern/Cajun comfort food, a decent beer selection, friendly bartenders, and a not-dumpy-but-sort-of-divey atmosphere.
You can usually get a spot at the bar if you have a drink and wait a bit, even on a busy night. I've very rarely sat at a table and dealt with the wait staff, so I can't speak to that.
I'm giving 4 stars because I don't feel that it would be right to rate Acme at the same level I might rate a really chi-chi top end restaurant with a fabulous tasting menu, but as divey bars with comfort food go, it's one of the best around.
So I'm not going to claim Cajun expertise here as I rarely eat the stuff, but I was impressed by their fried shrimp po boy (thats a sandwich). I went with my friend Pete whose mom is an authentic Louisiana Cajun and he wholeheartedly approved of the Jambalaya.
Didn't know anything about this place...just happened to be walking by and got hungry thinking about southern cookin'. The food (the veggie plate, for which we chose mac'n cheese, fries and corn) was pretty lackluster, and they were out of their Acme branded beer. The interior was one of those frat boy faux kitsch whatever places.
I would have given it 1 star if not for the service, which was good, and the fact that we got a chance to rest our feet there.
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Seriously this place cannot say it's Cajun/Creole----this place has no idea what Cajun/Creole mean.
I thought this place would bring me a bit home, but unfortunately I was so disappointed!
This place sucks booty!
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After a day of shopping in Soho, we came across this place. The staff was really nice. I dug into my cajun chicken, collarded greens, macaroni and sweet potato fries. I didn't like the gumbo, its supposed to be thicker and where was the rice? Not hardly spicy enough. For a cajun place I expected the food to be spicer, I even asked for some hot sauce to make it so. But the place was okay.
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My review for Acme would've been 4 stars had I not ordered delivery from here for the first time last night. Stumbled upon this place walking around a couple months ago and was impressed with the comfort food. I consider myself a buffalo wing connoisseur...if there is such a thing...and they have great wings. The mac and cheese was delicious too (and good for you!)
I ordered delivery last night. It came fairly quickly considering it was a Saturday night. It is probably my own fault for ordering BBQ delivery, but it just didn't do the place justice. The St. Louis ribs were really tendon-filled and I don't imagine this was affected by the delivery. The wings were a little soggy too. All-in-all it was a disappointing delivery experience.
I recommend Acme, but if you eat their food...stick to the restaurant.
Ryan took me here to celebrate his new job (you know, step up from Chuck E. Cheese JK) and it was awesome. The decor evokes the NYC's-idea-of-the-South feeling without being too kitschy or trashy. Our waitress was great and the food was greater. I ordered salmon and it was delicious. I have extremly high standards when it comes to fish- I can't stand fishy (unless it's tuna from a can because I grew up with it). The smashed potatoes were amazing! I can't remember what other side I ordered, but my meal came with two. What I do remember is I left stuffed even though I ate about half of the food I was given.
I was going to just give the one star, but I think an extra star was earned by being the restaurant of choice for a man who resembled Ozzie Osbourne in every way except for the very long skirt he was wearing. Rock on.
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I didn't find this place that great. The food is certainly forgettable. The only thing that really sticks out in my mind is the sweet potato fries which are a bit too dessert like to be a good side.
They're famous mashed potatoes are decent, but the gravy that they use on it made me feel a little sick. The cornbread is too sweet to be authentic, but still good.
I think the biggest negative thing about this place is the service. Everytime I've been here, the waiters can be seen sitting in the back chatting it up. I have to wait for longer than needed to be given a menu, longer than needed to get my order taken and even longer to get my check.
There are def better places out there.
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Cajun in New York City? Why not? A friend swore by this place and I trusted her.
I tried the watermelon martini. I like fresh fruit drinks (never anything with schnapps, please). At first, it tasted like watermelon juice but it did pack a punch by the third or so sip.
I asked the waitress which did she prefer- the jambalaya or the gumbo since I couldn't decide. She said the jambalaya so that's what I ordered. It was really good despite some communication problem over the rice. I wanted it over red beans and rice but it just came with rice. She offered to bring me a cup of red beans to mix in but I declined.
The collard greens were tasty but I didn't see any specks of ham nor did it have the ham hocks flavor. I was greatly bitter about this but what can you do- I guess they have to cater to vegetarians sometimes. I'm still shaking my head over the portabello po boy sandwich on the menu.
My friend had the country fried steak (awesome), black eyed peas and another side that I can't remember right now. The friend okra appetizer was great but way to much for three people (bring some extra friends). I thought it was weird the dipping "sauce" was butter.
The cornbread was nice with the bits of corn in it. My other friend had the chipotle encrusted salmon, spinach and black eyed peas. She said the spice crept up on you with the salmon. It looked very good.
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Cajun food is very good here.
Hot Sauces line the walls.
Blackened anything is superb especially the catfish.
Please eat the sweet potato fries.
The catfish fingers, Abita Purple haze. For the WIN. Yum.
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I had the Po-Boy Crabcake Sandwhich. I don't know what was so Po-Boy about it, but it was a damn good crabcake sandwhich, and I have had a few in my day. It was a very slow afternoon when we stopped into lunch, so it was hard to gague the quality of the service when they aren't under any pressure. Waitress was nice enough, but the ambiance is what most impressed me about the place. The bar looked like it could get fun on game nights, and everything was very relaxed, cheap, and not pretentious at all :)
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ordered take-out
french something from the louisiana specialties
and a mac-cheese side.
both had a tad of smoky taste to it. but it was overally fair.
the minced insides of the french thing, that was supposedly a mixture of seafood was just a taste of blob, and visually looked like tuna.
anyhow, it was nice to try something different out.
took about the time they said it'd take.
service was good.
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