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1st Ave-14th St (L)
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I went to this bar because it was raining outside and I want to stay warm while waiting for a table at Kyoya. The last time I went in a bar was almost 11 years ago during my college years in good old town Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
The bartender here was friendly and pretty quick at serving me my water. I don't drink alcohol, so I can't comment in that matter. The ambiance was nice and surprisingly charming. I was enjoying the ambiance and the music so much that I found myself dancing to the R&B songs. The customers seem to be mostly in their early adulthood years, which is already a great characteristic to make a bar hip/cool.
I only stayed here for half an hour and I very much enjoyed myself. Totally recommend this place.
I stopped in here for a drink while waiting on a table at a popular restaurant nearby. It was dimly lighted with a small bar all in a very long narrow space. I never saw the infamous photo machine, but I did catch the $6 Hefeweizens on tap. The bartender was pretty capable, and the clientele was a motley assortment of young, casually dressed people. It was fine to catch a drink, but I did not have any interest in staying for a long time. There was just nothing to catch the eye or ears.
2.75 stars (rounded up)
after coming here on the photobooth bar crawl, i must say that the beers are too expensive and it's surprisingly fratty on a saturday night.
where did these people come from? did we miss the memo on the stripped collared button up shirts?
::please reverence lisa a's review for a complete picture::
lisa and i:
a. needed to rest our BLISTER…
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I'm giving this place one star because I hope that one comet will fall and obliterate this nest of degenerate vipers!
Two friends of mine went here, and one of them ordered a drink from the bartender and got it a little bit weak. But hey, no problem. I mean, it happens. So my friend asked politely for a little more kick in the glass, and even offered to pay extra. The bartender refused this offer and, apparently being nice about it, pumped up my friend's drink.
But then the passive side of this degenerate bimbo's nature receded into the muck of her spiteful psyche; like some hissing swamp monster, the aggressive side rose to the surface and this biznatch tattled to the night manager that my friend was being difficult.
So right on over strides a gorilla doing a more-or-less acceptable human impression. He did a fair impersonation, but my friend wasn't fooled, and soon enough he started waving his arms around like the spokes of some terrifying hairy windmill, grinding into a fine powder any normal standards of decency and chivalrous respect for customer or womankind.
"Are you giving me trouble?" he shouted at them. Trouble? is service trouble? he told my two friends that they were insulting his drinks, his work, and hustled them out. Why? did my friend's body not contain the minimum level of silicone and blond highlights to be considered a worthwhile customer? Was there not enough room for the drunk frat boys to comfortably be assholes in?
Both of my friends got kicked out- thank God for small favors- and Chuck Norris's ugly, angry kid sister got away with his little fascist harangue. But not this time. Not today! If any of you, my patient readers, have dealt with semifunctional scumbags like the one described above- at any dump like the one described above- stay away from Niagara Bar in East Village.
Boycott! An injury to one is an injury to all, and if this semiliterate orc loses so much business that he has to survive on his own bar peanuts and Shirley Temple-like Martinis, then we've struck a blow against such scum. Never go here.
Never go to Niagara Bar!
Extra star for the Joe Strummer mural.
It wasn't a bad place to stop for a beer. There were a few characters at the bar, coming from god-knows-where: girls in beaded flapper-era dresses, one w/a red feather in her hat, and a dude wearing an English bowler hat that thought he was the shit. There were a couple of dogs, well behaved, drowsing beneath the bar stools, and the people watching outside the window afforded some comedy.
Other than that, and the forementioned tribute to the greatest band ever, have a drink and move on.
Nothing spectacular about this place but nothing bad either. I was drunk by the time we arrived here so I really didn't look around. There was a dj...regular mixed drinks were about $8 each. It wasn't too crowded or too small. We were all happy hanging out here
Good beer selection. Pretty chill. Nothing that amazing though.
Great for what we wanted: a place to sit down, have a drink, and not be bothered. A group of 50 obnoxious teenagers from nowhere (ok, I don't know if they were teenagers, or if there were 50, but it sure seemed like it) were loud and disruptive, but dispersed almost immediately. Fine place for a drink, and Yoshitomo Nara drew on the walls, so that's neat.
Molly and I:
a.) needed a place to sit and rest our weary feet after walking around our borough, across the Brooklyn Bridge and up B-way;
b.) were thirsty and wanted cheap drinks.
"Hey, let's go to Niagara."
"Yea, I've never been there!"*
Any place that I can get a $5 drink on a sunny, warm spring day** in the east village (that is sans tourists and NYU students) and talk to a former member of d generation is pretty cool in my book.
Also, best bumper sticker spied on the cash register:
"I miss old New York City."
Yea....
sigh.
*Which is odd, b/c I've walked by it a hundred times when I lived in Manhattan. I like when this happens: unfamiliar places in familiar neighborhoods surprise me (in a good way).
**To anyone who goes out in NYC on a Friday or Saturday night: really?? did you actually think this bar--or any in Manhattan--wouldn't be crowded? Der.
We went back after 9:00 (after, of course, ensuring that the bartender from my last review wasn't there).
The back room with the photobooth was STILL closed.
Niagara, I didn't want to give you one star. I have been coming to you for years and I always had a… Read more »
Good Drinks that are Affordable in NYC.
The bartender was friendly and hot.
The crowd is cool but there were a lot of older creepy gents there who kept bothering our lady friends.
They were assholes but the place was not.
The music is incredible. People dance in their own seats.
Great place to get drunk.
Upstairs crowded and not easy to walk through. Lots of tight spots and coats strewn about. I feel like there was a redesign of the upstairs that made it worse than it was before.
Downstairs. If I was at a wedding that played music this bad, I'd leave the wedding. It was comically bad. I feel like the DJ was playing a game with himself to see if he could top the last song for horribleness. On the positive side for women, this place is swimming with dudes.
Have fun!
Totally chill round the corner bar. Love it!
Crowded as all hell with guys singing along and dancing to Guns N Roses and Buckcherry.
Limited drink selection.
The crowd made me feel young which I guess is a good thing?
At least the beer was reasonably priced.
This place ain't all it's hyped up to be...I think it tries a little too hard. Although, at times, it can be amusing inside, there can also be this pretentious "I'm way too cool for you" vibe within the crowd, and it then rubs off onto the staff and bouncer...Kinda viral. I remember once when a friend and I tried to get in and the door man said, "Sorry guys. You need at least two girls to get in." Huh? Really? To Niagara of all places?
Two levels - upper level w/ lounge and lower level which I didn't even stay for more than 5 seconds. There's a photo booth in the back room of the top level which was $4 for one of the strips of photos. That was fun trying to squeeze 4 faces into the tiniest little area for the picture.
Drinks and price were average. Music was just ok. Probably wouldn't go back, but it was an ok place. Went for a friend of a friend's birthday (we didn't even see the friend, we apparently went too early).
Boooooooo. Niagara got bad. Real bad. "Renovated." It used to be kinda divey, with a lot of space that included a somewhat hidden back room in the lower level. There was something for everyone... downstairs you could dance or chill out in a booth in the hidden room... upstairs you could meet people near the photo booth and kick back or work your best one-liners by the somewhat-crowded bar.
Now? This place is like a bar out of Murray Hill or something. The downstairs level is now only comprised of a single (small) room for dancing. Upstairs they still have the bar area, which hasn't changed much, although I believe it's a bit more of a "nuts to butts" situation then I remember. The room with the photo booth is now an empty room with some chairs strewn about. It has no character. No flavor. None of that... je ne sais quoi...
Worst of all is that this bar has been repainted so it's now entirely white with black trim. Boring. Ugly. Cheap-looking. The "tiki bar" theme in the dance room is gone. The hidden room is locked up. You probably will notice the rash of bad reviews recently... maybe the new management/ownership will read those and understand their mistake. To top it all off, the people at Niagara who helped my friend set up her party here were not accommodating and didn't live up to their word.
Niagara was a pretty good old fall-back of a bar. It had its place in my life and it did good business. But if is wasn't broken... why try and fix it?
4 areas in Niagara:
- Front room
- Back room
- Dance room / tiki room (downstairs)
- Hidden VIP…
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Whyfore the insufferable clientele and the late 90s radio hits?
By all accounts, this should be a fun and slightly divey place. Drinks are a smidge more than they should be, but that's par for the course given the location. But the obnoxious B&T influx plus the 1997 top 40 made us flee after 1 round.
We were also a bit saddened that the bartender seemed grateful that we bussed our own glasses and tipped a dollar per drink. People should treat their barstaff better and stop drunkenly weaving while making odd hooting noises. Also, they should lock the bathroom door when they poop.
I went here on a Thursday night so I don't have much to say about the crowdedness on a Friday or Saturday night..
On Thursday it was not crowded at all, the beer was cheap ($3 Miller High Life bottles : the night's special), and the music was great!! The downstairs "dance area" was fun to dance around and enjoy the music. All areas of the bar were spacious .. the back room upstairs was completely open.
Maybe try to go on a Thursday as it seems to get a little hectic on Friday and Saturday according to other Yelpers.
Even though my new Yelp friend Jill didn't like this place (wanted to bang her head against a wall in disgust) I had a good time here the other night. Granted... I was little "tipsy" and hanging with Yelp employees :)
The upstairs bar is long and narrow. It was cramped but we had a nice corner carved out by the door. I don't remember anything about the drinks except that my wife was drinking 12 year old something and liked it (honestly she gets a different drink in every bar).
At some point someone said "let's go downstairs." "Downstairs?" I didn't know there was a downstairs. 2 rooms downstairs ... both playing cheesy music that for some reason I loved.
It was kind of hard to get a drink downstairs but the 7 foot tall hottie bartender made me forget that I was I thirsty.
I wouldn't plan an evening around this place but stumbling in was fine by me.
You have to be in the right mood to enjoy Niagara. And by the right mood, I mean drunk. Head to Niagara when you've already done a bit (read: lot) of pregaming and are feeling nostalgic for the old college party scene.
Descend into the bowels of Niagara, where college kids, recent grads, and a few intrepid older patrons are getting down like they don't care who's watching. They don't. They may not even be aware that anyone's watching, or of where they are.
This may not sound like a great review so far. But the fact is, I've known to only come here when very drunk, and from what I remember I had a great time, embarrassed myself immensely, and had funny stories to hear and tell for days afterwards (I can assure Courtney that I was not the gentleman who threatened to pee on her boyfriend's leg). So I say thumbs up, whenever your liver can handle it.
They were out of Magic Hat. Yuengling was $5.
Have been here once and had a great time.
When you walk into Niagara, your attention turns directly to the huge bar that dominates the first floor--as it should. There are no corny booths, or VIP areas or anything silly that you might see at other bars in New York. This place focuses on drinking.
They have pretty standard beers on tap, but there's enough here to please most. The bartender was fine with me, but everyone I was with had a big problem with him...oh well!
The main reason I liked this place was that the music was great, the atmosphere comfortable, and you can just hang out with a bunch of friends and have a great time.
Either I'm old or... well, I'm old.
I could have sworn this place was something else but that's NY. Here today, gone tomorrow. When my friends said, let's go in, I thought, wait, isn't this a gay bar? Or maybe it was something else. Who knows? Anyway, it was never really that good.
So it's nice to see some things don't change. Niagara wasn't really that good. There were a bunch of pre-teens there. Ok, maybe they were college students and barely 21 kids. See, I told you I'm old. Also the dance floor was way too crowded.
Speaking of the dance floor, they were playing rockin 80s music. After 80s kareoke, I was so ready to get my 80s dancing on. The downstairs dance area was totally packed. I wouldn't even have minded that but half the damn people were just standing there. HAVE PEOPLE IN NYC BECOME THIS RETARDED SINCE I MOVED AWAY? Seriously, who goes to a bar with pumpin 80s music and just stands around IN THE DANCE AREA?!?!?! If you want to stand around in a bar, just spit. You'll hit 5 other bars. So my friends and I finally worked our way through the crowd to the "stage", where people were actually *gasp* dancing. It was fun till some ultra-sweaty guys climbed up and doing these horrible dance moves and getting their sweat all over everyone. Ewwwwwwww.
So this place is cool for 80s music if you just want to stand around and look dumb and get sweat on. Otherwise, get really drunk, come here, dance, elbow some people and go for peirogies after.
Nice.
Downstairs was crowded but the upstairs was comfortable.
I don't even remember the music, maybe it was really low? (atleast upstairs)
My Bud Lights were $5.
This is one of those places that I would not have necessarily gone out of my way to find, BUT - once our group of 8 was inside we had a blast. The place was actually empty on a Wednesday night which meant we got an entire section to ourselves.
The drink prices are NYC standard so nothing special there. The bartender was nice. The place itself is ok in terms of decor. Your average bar... they've done absolutely nothing wrong.
Come to think of it I've ended up here on more than one occasion, which either means it's in a really convenient spot w no real competition, or I'm a moron.
The bar that I don't know how I end up there. The bar I love to hate.
I used to just drink and hang out right by the front door bar only. Then after a few years I realized they have a downstairs and some secret passageways. It's neat. Starts off all normal and suddenly your on the set of Big Trouble In Little China (well, in my mind.)
I've had a few surprise dance-offs to some Prince or Duran Duran courtesy of the downstairs DJ. Other nights there have been go-go girls of the 50's-60's dress swayin' to the Ventures or Chubby Checker, etc. The crowd is young and full of energy right up until closing time. Beer prices are typical nyc. Same with mixed drinks. Also, the central location right off the park is clutch. Stumbling distance to the diner across the way for 4am breakfast.
I have to admit, I heart Niagara. I've had birthday parties here, done New Year's here...and I keep coming back.
The upstairs bar is always crowded. I stick to the booths in the back, by the photo booth. YES! I said photo booth, which is a part of Niagara's allure. I love taken drunken photo booth pix with my friends. There's nothing like them to relive the night's shenanigans.
The downstairs is tiki themed, and small and intimate. It is good for dancing and gets pretty crowded (and sweaty due to the number of people in such an enclosed space). There's a VIP room down there but I've never been in. I think there is also a courtyard to smoke, but being that I don't, I've never ventured out there either.
It's a great place to get your party on and have a good time. And with a photobooth, you can't go wrong! :)
I can't believe I got out of here without
a) slipping on vom
b) being vommed on
c) vomming
Nice bar where you have like a mini club downstairs. Fun and cool !
Cool spot. $10 Grey Goose & Tonics that were strong. Not too shabby. Crowd isn't my kinda crowd but it was cool and fulfilled it's purpose.
The key to this night was the fact that I actually heard a ballad being playing downstairs in the small band-dance space. I wanted to slow dance. That's how much this bar doesn't care about image, it does care if you're drunk enough to really not care about much.
A staple of the corner, the wonderful bar section offers slightly slick lighting and bar stools full of bacteria and depressions from where alternately hairy asses and gamine chicks have sat. And possibly gamine chicks who had hairy asses that sat there as well. The bartenders are quick, and then you get the obstacles that make the bar ripe for falling and vomiting.
You walk up a couple steps to a purgatory area by the bathrooms, and passing that there's a couple tables and more importantly, a photo booth. With a couch facing it. And nobody around because the crowd comes in and out, and then in full force for the rest of the night. Walking downstairs isn't too bad, but once you get to the prom downstairs, you realize that the bartender was kind of a bitch, and that the dudes have so many pick up lines. And that there is a lack of women to try them on.
This is a great drunk bar, period. "I'd...harumph...eh...ra....I'd like to get a tequila of shot puhleeze".
To look at this place, I wouldn't think I'd like it. It's narrow, dark, not particularly decorated and across from a park that I'm pretty sure has ghosts in it. However the crowd is always friendly, the bartenders are quick and without pretense and the downstairs rockin/ravin room reminds me of my ravey rave days in the SF bay when we would just rock out in tiny little rooms and not care what other people thought and sweat our butts off and I weighed 35 pounds less and wasn't ashamed to take my shirt off.
Can get a little crowdey on weekends, so clutch your drink like your life depends on it in the narrows.
I've been here 3 times total.
1st Time: Went here with a few friends, down to the tiki room where there was a girl dancing on a pool and I was SMASHED up against the bar. I bought myself a drink since I was there. Spent most of the night trying to figure out the best escape route.
2nd & 3rd Time: I came here both times with my girlfriend. The windows were all steamed up you couldn't see inside. After getting in, the first floor was packed with...annoyance. Making our way downstairs to the tiki lounge felt like I was chopping through a jungle with a machete. Downstairs was not any better, packed full of people and we never got off the stairs. We then turned around and fought our way back out of the place, both a few pounds lighter from the heat.
Now I went there a 3rd time because I thought...third times a charm. Not so much...
I used to have so much more fun at Niagara. When the upstairs was crowded and you'd venture downstairs into the catacombs into the main room, past a kitchen area? into another room, with yet another bar at the end of the room. I used to enjoy smoking in the outdoor area underneath the back staircase. Now the bar's been renovated. Upstairs is still pretty much the same, with the video games that can't decide whether or not they want to be ironic; the awful men's room and of course the photo booth. The former Tiki Room downstairs however, is still undergoing changes.
I'm not quite sure I like the new Niagara...its like the lovable smack addict you hang out with on occasion. Sure he's disheveled and smells a little funny, but he's gritty and cool to hang out with. Then one day he shows up at your house wearing a sweater vest talking about Jesus; but you're confused because he's still got the tattoo on his neck and he's still wearing those busted black boots you saw him kick that rat with. You're happy he kicked the smack habit, but you don't think you'd stop him if he told you he had to take a walk over to Avenue D...
I hate to admit it, but I love shaking my groove thang at this place. When my girlfriends and I just want to go out and have a good time we come here. Also, I have met a couple of cute boys here and that is definitely never a bad thing.
I hardly ever go upstairs and drink. I walk through the door and head right downstairs where all the action is. The drinks are fairly priced as well.
If you want to dance and not be around a bunch of stuffy boring people then I would recommend going to Niagara's.
Me and my folk used to tear this place up. It was the definite go-to spot for it's unpretentious vibe and strong drinks. This was the place to try those oh so clever dance moves you haven't quite mastered, because everyone else is pretty much wildin' out and not giving a damn. But with the influx of the Striped Shirt Brigade, such times are no more.
Downstairs (dance party!) was usually crowded, but friendly crowded. Now it's more like imma-stare-at-you-and-your-crew-all-bitchface crowded. Yeah, I don't know why this is. It used to be such a chill place. Ah well, another reason to alienate myself from Manhattan nightlife, and crawl into my Brooklyn shell.
Decent place. Large space. Good prices. Nothing much to write home (or on yelp) about.
It's your 6th birthday (you're a leap year baby) and your first in NYC. This year, leap day happens to be a Friday night. You and your twin brother have friends coming from DC, Chicago and Boston to celebrate.
That's a lot of frickin pressure, and my brother and I (who've never organized a bar party before) decided to have our party here after coming once and seeing the amenities: 1. long bar area with good cheap selection 2. buck hunter 3. good music 4. big back room with tables and booths 5. downstairs tiki hut dance room with stripper poles 6. very interesting mix of people in all sorts of outfits and configurations of facial hair.
The photo booth didn't work, but other than that everything was perfect. So perfect in fact that I really don't remember all that much about it. I definitely recommend this place for birthday parties, big groups or just coming to hang out and dance!
This month, Niagara keeps rescuing my evenings.
First time, the night of my birthday party, after Orchid Lounge pretty much threw my party out (booo!!!) a good friend of mine suggested we go up Ave. A to Niagara.
At first, I was skeptical..the wooden tables and overcrowded feel was exactly what I didn't want. But, photo booths and strong drinks were to be had, and the evening was saved.
New Years Eve, another party, another location debacle...however, Niagara saved the evening! Highlight: Allison G. and myself wrapped around a pole, dancing as the room applauded. I lie not. And there are pictures to prove it.
Birthday Person Drinks Free!
Neighborhood: Lower East Side
happy hour 11 am till 7 pm
Neighborhood: Murray Hill
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Music Venues
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: East Village
Category: Bars
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