Johnny's Bar
- Nearest Transit:
14th St-7th Aves (1, 2, 3, F, V, L)
14th St-8th Ave (A, C, E, L)
14th Street (PATH)
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Good for Groups: No
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Music: Juke Box
- Best Nights: Tue, Wed, Sun
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: Yes
- Coat Check: No
28 Reviews for Johnny's Bar
Admittedly: I LOVE DIVE BARS.
And I loved this place. Went in with a date and some of his coworkers. Completely what you are looking for in a dive bar. Cheap drinks, great bartenders, awesome jukebox, cute patrons.
Would DEFINITELY go back here anytime.
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Divey and no, I mean NO attitude. Bartender (Lance?) was nice but still clearly a NY bartender. A girl named Veronica gave me a casserole recipe, which was timely as casserole was a recurring theme this particular afternoon. More on that later. Actually, let's get it out of the way. Jeffrey had been yelling "Casserole!!" all morning, meaning, I think, that we were invited to a potluck later that day. We never did make one, but Vern's involved kielbasa and three kinds of beans (!), if you must know. Back to Johnny's: (A) We met a girl named Sesame. (Secondly) They sell Playboy branded paraphernalia, which I believe Veronica reps. (C) The music was insane- Siouxsie, PJ Harvey, TV on the Radio etc. etc. It says "The Best Bar Ever" on the chalkboard outside, and I am inclined to believe them.
As far as dive bars go, this is the cream of the crop. It's just a totally unpretentious laid back dive bar (what else would you expect from a bar that has a neon sign outside that just says BAR?). It doesn't "try" to be a dive bar, or go for a look or anything, it's just a place to hang out and drink (and i mean drink - there isn't food here except for microwaved popcorn, so get your liquid diet on). There are a few regulars who are nice people to talk to. It's a friendly place.
Vanya is the nicest bartender you'll meet in the city and makes great drinks (granted I usually just grab a beer, but the daily shot special has always treated me well). If you like tiny hole-in-the-walls, this is the premier hole-in-the-wall. It's the golden standard, seriously.
Inspired by previous reviewers, I made my own research...
It was a damn hard piece of work, but ultimately (despite of terrible hangover and some lacunas in my mind) I love that place!
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I slipped in here while waiting for a friend to get done working. I don't recall leaving...
I kinda' fucking love this place. I never ended up actually going to meet said friend (Oh, shiii...*scrolls through texts to see what happened*), so I ended up sitting at the bar for several hours. If I recall correctly, I sat there so long they ran out of Jameson. I'm pretty sure it is't completely MY fault they ran out...but...ya' know. Anyways, it's exactly what I look for in a bar when I simply want to knock back a few drinks. Small, narrow, ugly, with comfortable stools. It isn't looking to serve any other purpose other than to serve me alcohol, and I love that. Just a narrow room with a narrow bar. I like to be close to the bottles of alcohol. It comforts me.
The night started out fairly normal, but gradually descended into what we will title "Why Daniel Shouldn't Drink Alone". Next thing I know I'm yacking with some local chefs about fucking women in the ass, the bartender is microwaving turbot, making the whole bar smell like fish, and I recall checking some guy out, and then he turns his head, and in the dim lighting what I thought was close cropped hair turned out to be...a PONYTAIL! Guffaw! A ponytail? Who does that anymore?!?
Like I said, I don't recall leaving. I do recall waking up and I'm wandering around the West Village whistling and wobbling down the street with my arms out. Then I kinda black out for a little bit, and dream that I'm performing James Morrison's "Wonderful World" on American Idol, only they're taping it in my hometown, and I'm KILLING it, and then I wake up, and I'm somewhere throwing up out of a taxi window, blackout, wake up again, and the taxi driver is yelling something at me and forcing me to sign something, but his pen isn't working, and he keeps shoving it back at me, finally I get out of the car, "where am I?" I ask the nearest bum.
"Welcome to Queens" he says.
WHY THE FUCK AM I IN QUEENS?
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I fucking love this bar. Three-dollar pints, charming and generous bartendress, and an unusually cozy and social environment given the neighborhood. One of the West Villages last bastions of beer-stained greatness.
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This place is exactly what you would want from a dive bar in an area where you wont find many bars like this. Service was good and prices were decent. Definitely worth checking out if you are in a dive bar mood.
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Dingy, dirty and gross. I can understand why alcoholics would like it though. If you are not an alcoholic then you will come out of there feeling dirty. Everyone stands right in front of the door smoking. I hate that. I have no desire to smell your foul lung puke. Raise your standards and don't go there. Hope this helps.
This place has everything that I want in a dive bar:
*good selection of beers on tap
*dark and grimy
*cool crowd of people not taking themselves too seriously
*friendly bartender
*spontaneous singing and conversation
*distinct lack of hipsters
I liked it because the people there seemed like they legitimately didn't give a shit. Too many "dive bars" in this city are just pubs with fake wood damage, mood lighting, and a knick-knacks carefully placed to convince me how down to earth they are. This place seems more natural. Extra points for a semi busted neon sign that makes the fron of the place look like an Edward Hopper painting.
A great small bar. This is pretty much exactly what I would want from a small bar like this. The crowd was pretty cool overall and everyone was having a good time without getting too rowdy. The drinks were on the cheaper side and the bartender was great and very friendly. My only request would be that they add an additional bartender. She was very quick and attentive, but the place was a hair too big for just one bartender. I can see why most people like this place as it would be a great local.
I'm completely biased, so take it for what it's worth, but I love this place.
Dark, narrow and grimy, it's everything a dive bar should be.
The Bartenders are amazing, running the show alone, with only the regulars as bar backs. The shots of the day are always fun, pours are always generous, and buy backs are aplenty.
Hope it survives the West Village gentrification a bit longer.
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This is a bar that smells like a bar. It was a pretty good place to hang out and have some good conversation and reasonably priced drinks. My friend was scandalized by some girls gone wild behavior from one of the other patrons, but generally it was a pretty laid back crowd, and a really good time.
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Sometimes I just do not understand Yelpers. This place is an absolute hole. One time I was there and some girl was in the bathroom for a very very long time, and when she came out I realized she had been BATHING in the sink. Poor girl. Must have gotten sick.
In any case, this is a good bar. I just don't really want to give 4 or 5 stars to a place that has such a mixed crowd, sometimes cool people, sometimes too loud, and is also so small that on a good night you will probably end up with someone's ponytail in your mouth. Also, they put just about anything on the walls, which makes the look seem contrived. It is sort of like if you had a souvenir collection that consisted of souvenirs from places you'd never been. Of a photo album of someone else family.
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It's 10:15 AM and I am so sleepy. That means it must have been a good night at Johnny's. I don't really go to bars. I'm more of a club/lounge kind of girl. But Yelpers make me do crazy things. I thought I was finally going to meet the elusive Joolie T. last night as we wandered away from Shag but alas Irene F. just wanted to get drunk and wasn't really concerned with Joolz. We turned the corner and there is a bright red "Bar" sign shining nearby.
There's a 20 dollar minimum on cards so Victor opened one and bought everybody a round. The bar is kind of unexpected for the neighborhood. And the clientele also doesn't look like the West Village/Chelsea type I'm used to seeing but here we were among the locals.
It was Vanya's birthday so the shot special was "Birthday Cake". That was pretty tasty. Then we had a Peanut Butter & Jelly ... It was crazy. I tasted the PB. And we sang ... Oh wow. Led by Justin R. we all joined in for "Peanut Butter Jelly Time". That was hilarious.
Inspired by the choral revue I wanted to hear some of my favorite songs. But the jukebox card scanner didn't work. Lame.
Then, like out of a movie, I was talking with Victor and Justin and I saw a familiar frame at the bar. I approached to find that indeed it was a dear friend and former crush that I had recently been in touch with again .... uhhh ... OH MY GOD! I love running into people I know randomly. It's the best! FIVE STARS TO JOHNNY'S FOR MAKING IT HAPPEN!
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We gave shots and a beers a whole new meeting at this lovely (ok, divey) watering hole. The neon sign caught me eye and sparkled, beckoning to me. Simply, it was BAR, and I was sold.
Birthday cake shots, coors light, lemon drops, and more swirled into my belly. Rock on, Vanya, rock on.
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I killed more than my fair share of my time and liver at Johnny's during the year I worked in Chelsea Market, as two of my heavier-drinking friends are capital-R Regulars with the tenacity to harangue even the latest-working teetotaler in for a pint or four.
Johnny's has a few things going for it: its novel "buy a drink for a friend" board; a digital jukebox with the depth to find you just the right soundtrack for every flavor of drunken shenanigan; and an insane selection of tasty shots whose quality and creativity takes them far out of the realm of mere "chick-friendly" grope fuel.
The bar staff are more than competent, and often unnecessarily accommodating, especially when you are seen raising a glass with the bar's more outgoing, heavy-tipping regulars. It's this more than the decor that keeps the place close to its dive-bar roots, even though the clientele and the extravagantly bougie neighborhood around it belie its down-market pretenses.
The one thing I could never get over was the size of the fucking place. On any night with more than three people in the joint you can barely reach for your cell phone without knocking someone's pint in their lap, even pressed up obscenely close to the bar. When "posses" of the bar's more obnoxious regulars roll in five or six-deep and (for no apparent reason) do a round-trip of the entire bar in single-file, you practically have to stand on the barstools to avoid having your personal space gravely violated by yammering douchebags.
So Johnny's is a fine place to spend your whiskey dollars, but best experienced early and with a large enough group to secure a healthy amount of seating and space before the crowding starts to suck out the fun.
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This bar is extremely narrow. If I were to lay on the floor - which I wouldn't do - and if I were to hold Gary Coleman's ankles as he lay on the floor - which he wouldn't do - he would be able to touch one wall while my feet would touch the opposite wall. I hope this conveys the bar's narrowness.
Drinks are cheap. Bartenders are cool. And they have a lovely MP3 jukebox that has songs I like. I play obscure Smiths and Talking Heads songs and inevitably someone says "Oh wow, I haven't heard that in ages!" and I begin to think I should have been a DJ. But the world needs another DJ like the world needs another lawyer.
When I was there last Saturday a drunken Kiefer Sutherland was also there. Most folks behaved themselves but eventually the pact was broken and a group approached with a shot of something. Kiefer didn't really need the shot, to be honest. But he seemed cordial, and hammered, and posed for the obligatory photos. Eventually he went outside for a smoke, or to merely sit on the stoop outside, not sure which. I overheard people talking about the mobile phone he'd left on the counter, so when I left I suggested he might want to run in and grab it lest he wind up apologizing to half of Hollywood for leaking their phone numbers. I thought this was a nice thing to do, and undoubtedly his publicist would agree.
The bathroom has character.
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Continuing on my night...As we turn the corner and see the bright light "BAR", I take a spill! Must have been the excitement of seeing such a fine establishment or maybe it was those key limes kicking in. I dunno...Thank you Victor for helping me.
I liked the shots, the bartender and definitely hearing about "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" for the first time in my life! Hilarious.
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I used to live a block away from Johnny's so I would frequent the place pretty often and I'll miss being able to walk over whenever I was bored.
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This is, quite simply, my favorite bar ever in the history of the universe. I lived only a few steps from the door and basically spent every weekend there (tear - I miss living so close). We even took our Christmas card picture in front of the beautiful red glowing "bar" sign.
The crowd is an awesome mix of crazy regulars (one guy is always doing the New York Times crossword puzzle, another seemingly works there but only picks up empty glasses) and other assorted randoms who have stumbled in no doubt because of the glorious beacon that is said "bar" sign. Varnya is probably the nicest bartender in the city and she still recognizes me when I go in which is pretty rarely I am sad to say. The bouncer is a sweetie as well.
I'm WT at heart and their coors light draft is colder and tastier than any other in the city.
I've had some of the greatest nights of my life in this bar. Too bad there aren't more like it in NYC or the rest of the free world. Johnny's truly is one of a kind.
i took my dad here last night, cuz where else would we stage a reuniting of such grand proportions except for in a shithole dive bar in the west village? i love my dad* and i love beer too! perfect right? I KNOW!!!
they have yuengling and brooklyn lager which obviously everyone has in nyc but NO ONE cares to stock in sf where it is actually needed, and dear god i have missed you so... in any case, no one gave a fuck that my suitcases were blocking the walkway or that a grown man would start crying like a baby when certain topics were discussed. and as it turns out, my father shares most of the retarded inner turmoil bullshit demons that i do! WHO KNEW!!! so fuck you years of therapy, this shit got handled straight:/
five stars.
*void where prohibited. taxes not included.
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I told my friend David P. that this could possibly get a 5 star Yelp. It fit the bill so perfectly after getting drenched in some serious beats last night at the Albert Hammond/going.com thing at Hiro.
There are a lot of great things about this place. And they all happened on one night, which is awesome. First, two girls from Brighton, England. I kept yapping about the Pipettes to them, which they took note of. But one was getting over a divorce and busting little money waitressing, so they had bigger problems on their mind.
Coors original on tap for 3 bucks. 3.25 shots. 4.50 bottles of Newcastle.
Continuing on, the bar is really a good example of a cozy bar. Passionate leftist slogans adorn the walls, inch by inch, stickers and memorabilia everywhere. It has such a slapdash cuteness to it, you feel like the lasses who worked here before and in the future just kind of add to whatever space isn't covered, taking up time by drawing and decorating with whatever they got. Two small bathrooms at the end, one tv, and SWIVEL bar stools. I advocate more swivel bar stools in the city, they are not only functional, but fun to swivel on.
The front window is wide and opens up, so you can literally just hang on the sill if you're right outside. The ceiling is low enough so it adds to the coziness. No barbacks here, its one of those places, one person on staff and that's it.
The jukebox is superb and frustrating at the same time. When we walked in we just listened to whatever tunes was on, my favorite Mamas and the Papas song came on "Dream a Little Dream of Me".
6 minutes later I caught myself singing along to Shania Twain's version of "You're Still the One" with Dave P. It was AWESOME. I belted that tune out like I was getting married or something.
And then, the next song was (mind you mostly oldies up to this point)......Rammstein. What the frig. Hilarious.
A couple songs later music stopped. I asked the bartender if she had a mix or it was all jukebox. She said go right ahead.
This thing was chock full 'o greatness. They had Refused to Chuck Berry to Patsy Cline to Foghat to Blink 182 to Modest Mouse to Elastica. I was drooling. But it was a digital jukebox. Which means if I shell out enough clams, I could pick any song I wanted to from any of the artists. Problem is, I didn't feel like shelling out too much money, but each album only had one, two, or 6 songs on it playable for one credit, one of those vices that makes me wish it was an old jukebox.
I picked the Marvelettes, some Modest Mouse (hearing 3rd planet in a bar was amazing), Beach Boys, Elastica, The Who (fucking edited version of baba, so pissed), The Platters, Chili Peppers, Sublime, not necessarily in that order. And there was so much more I could have picked.
The guy to my right kept telling stories/long jokes. It was kind of odd.
The bartender, Vanya, was lovely. She sings as her passion, a self described feminine-ish tom boy. Great at conversation.
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We found Johnny's Bar by accident on a Friday night. En route to another bar in the West Village, we could no longer bear the frigid gusts of wind and found the first place we could that looked like it served alcohol. Johnny's bright neon "BAR" sign was enough for us.
Johnny's Bar is tiny, which is responsible for much of its charm. It has a good mix of characters and feels very much like the local watering hole. The lone bartender was personable and most helpful, and we had made several drinking buddies by night's end. (We were pleasantly surprised when two people bought us a round for no apparent reason.) This is the kind of place where yelling obscenities across the bar is perfectly acceptable, so we had some fun with that.
Great bar to throw a few back, make some friends, and let go a bit.
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Great place to go on a cold night. Very cozy and the drinks are strong. Good music selections and love the ambience.
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Is it my favorite place in New York? Possibly. I have spent probably almost a month in here by now. It is friendly, wonderful, fun, and quite possibly the best bar in the whole whole world.
A couple blocks down the street is a deli - buy a bag of peanut m&m's, some gold fish, and some potato chips, come in here, and grab a stool. the shots of the day are insane and almost always disgusting but always great for getting drunk. vanya, theressa, christie, and brooke are the bomb and will always take care of you, whatever you are drinking.
the juke box is amazing - play whatever you want, but please don't do too many play now's as that's just rude. watch out for the men's room, gross - use the women's instead, it always smells so nice! and learn the names of the regulars; they are your friends, even if you don't know it!
johnny is dead, long live johnny!
---- please note, they don't take amex cards, regardles s of what you made read here. also, there is a $20 minimum on cards, but who are you kidding, you don't drink less than 20 anyway.
also, for the board on the wall - beware, they take your name down after awhile. this isn't a place to store your drinks for months and months.
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Went there a few times. The first time was about 11 years ago. Then a few more times...and then I went there today after work. Hasn't changed too much. It's become a little bit gentrified, but not too much.
I don't know. It's a friendly place, but it's also an odd place. I think a lot depends on who's there at the time.
I stumbled into Johnny's Bar meeting a friend who was up from DC for only a few hours. We went in, had a drink, and I paid. She then, being a generally good egg, ordered a drink for me on the "buy a friend a drink" board placed above the bar. Not sure if they still have it, but you could buy a drink for your friends for them to have when they came in. If you're a regular (which I soon became until I moved away from the city, despite living 100 blocks away), it's just that nice little touch that keeps you coming back. The other thing that was fantastic about Johnny's was the music-- just a jukebox, but they had such a great set of tunes on there that you didn't ever do the "jukebox cringe" when someone went up pulling out a $20. The sign outside simply says "BAR," so don't get confused. It's a great place to go with a few friends...over and over.
small and friendly. a great stop in the night. always can meet fun people and bartender is always super nice. somehow Johnny's always puts me in the mood to drink heavily. it's cool like that.
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