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Union St (M, R)
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It's dark, really dark.
The kind of dark that encourages you to feel your way along the patrons at the bar, conveniently located to the right, with the little light available beamed intently from the may-or-may-not-be-working jukebox on the left as you make your way to the back and what you hope are the bathrooms.
The kind of dark that encourages you to saddle up to a sad, no-television-displaying bar during happy hour (from 3-8 with $1 off everything) and down your $3 Bud Lights as you drink your way into the light.
The kind of dark that encourages you to bring a date to the back, even darker area to perform nefarious and sinful acts that certainly would have the preacher casting you to the eternal pits of damnation. But acts that certainly are a lot of fun, and always more exciting done semi-publicly in a dark bar.*
The kind of dark that encourages you to ignore the oscillation in music volume, yelling over the egregiously loud songs and whispering during the song breaks while taking a moment to acknowledge that the bartender does indeed know who Massive Attack is and they're not just that group who "wrote the theme song to House." Sure, it'd be better on a first date to be able to hear your companion over a rather small table that just happens to be under a speaker** but sometimes trying to guess if the next song is going to blow your eardrums out or if it's going to end so that you're shouting "and then he told me he had just wasted twenty minutes on me"*** when you totally didn't want to focus on that is actually a fun game.
So, what I'm saying, is that this bar is dark.
* - Not that I did this, I'm just saying you could.
** - Always scope the bar out first and make sure you're not under the speaker if you have any desire to really listen to what your date is saying.
*** - That, unfortunately, did happen.
NYC isn't anywhere near a Great Lake, but it's got cool memorabilia hanging from the walls - and outboard engine, floats and a map of Lake Ontario - the smallest of the great lakes.
While I was there, they even played Echo Beach by Martha and The Muffins - a Canadian classic.
A friendly place in Brooklyn.
Good bartender who played a good iPod selection of punk music, with some Stones thrown in just to make sure I would keep drinking.
And since they had Six Point Sweet Action on tap, I had to keep drinking.
And now I have the Dead Milkmen in my head:
One Tuesday I took a walk to Great Lakes Bar
I drank beer there
And it almost knocked me dead
Six Points Beer please look at me
Six Points Beer what do you see?
Let's travel round the world
Just you and me Six Points Beer
Great Lakes has a great vibe and even when it starts to get a little crowded (which wasn't until late), you can still have a great conversation over a great beer with your great friends who tell great stories about this great recession we are in.
ps- my favorite Great Lake is Lake Eeeeeerie. And you have to say it like Vincent Price was calling you on the phone saying "you should know the grave could never tame me! muhahaha" and then you have an eerie chill run up your spine.
pps- I swear I wasn't drunk when I wrote this.
Cheap, dirty but not too nasty, delightfully random jukebox, dark as fuck, pretty good and not too derelict staff, and a 45-second walk from my front door. Oh, and they take plastic, and it's cheap enough that you can have 2 beers and still not meet the $10 swipe minimum, so you'll just have to get a third. In other words, a very fine dive bar. If there was a pool table here...
Great Lakes was part of my first bar hopping excursion in Park Slope a few moths back. Not too shabby. It's divey, pretty cheap. Good rock blasting. I've been able to hold some decent conversations there so no complaints on the volume. I haven't been there during peak weekend hours but the late night vibe is interesting enough.
I had to give this place two stars on account of the last experience when I went there.
First time I went on a Saturday night, pretty relaxed, decent drink prices, okay jukebox, but it was seriously backlogged.
Went back on a late Saturday afternoon/early evening and the bartender was unhelpful, and an idiot. We were two of five people in there, and she was totally unfriendly and took ten minutes to get us drinks (two drafts, I might add) and it wasn't that she was busy setting up the bar either, I think she was more preoccupied with singing along (really off-key) to NOFX that she was blasting on the sound system. What are you, in the seventh grade?
Awesome dive bar-- possibly the Platonic ideal of DIVE, in the very best way. Dirty enough, cheap enough, and bartenders just on the friendly side of rude. I go here when I'm homesick for Portland.
An associate and I needed a place where we could hear each other think, but with a good wall of noise so nobody else could. Plus we hate how every other bar and restaurant in the immediate area (that I know of, which is certainly not most) has some kitschy theme.
So last night the Jukebox was a perfect cover as we got drunk and plotted war against the females we love. The bartender was cool. The only other patrons in the place looked like they had been stopping by on the way home from work for decades.
Plus, a happy hour which goes till 8 PM which offers a dollar off whatever your drinking is a great way to save money without drinking a watered down well-drink. Beer selection was average, Jamo was a good price. Basically an Irish pub with Irish pub types of drinkers that didn't beat your head over the fact its a pub - you either feel it or you don't. Plus it looks like a regular bar.
A great place to get away from it all. A great place to sit around after work. I've been there Friday nights as well a couple times, quite drunk, but the patrons always seem to be having fun.
Beers and Big Buck Hunter, what more do you want?
This is a pretty decent bar. Very dark inside, good for small groups. Lots of round tables to sit on and chat with friends. Has all the basics you need. Nothing phenomenal, nothing bad about it either.
I say this place is A-OK.
I really like Great Lakes. They have a good jukebox (though last time, the bartender admitted that half the CD's no longer work, so it's "insert money at your own risk.")
Park Slope is a wasteland for decent bars, so up until about a year ago when 4th Ave and south slope started blowing up, there were only three bars of this ilk within walking distance (great lakes, commonwealth, buttermilk). I usually choose Great Lakes out of these three based solely on its proximity to Bonnie's.
When I was there last week, my friend told me that he stopped in the bodega down the block on his way there and a guy ran in covered in blood, asking for paper towels. Thank GOD. Not to start rumors, but I'd bet a dollar that he got stabbed at 200 Fifth.
Great Lakes was an early favorite of mine when I first moved to the Slope. Dive bar, yes, but one of the first things you notice is the great jukebox, full of, I'm sure, whatever alt-rock/punk albums and mixes the owners could throw together. It's never crowded, so if you're just looking to toss a few back and do it to some great music, this is the place to do it.
It seems to have undergone some changes in the last year, two being the addition of Big Buck Hunter and a tabletop Pac Man (always a plus, but wasn't really necessary) and a slightly watered down happy hour (if I remember correctly, it was formerly half price during those hours, but has since changed to $1-off). Still, it's a favorite of mine.
I wandered into the first bar I could find on 5th Avenue after getting off the Union stop. I sat down and ordered a Sierra Nevada. "What bar is this?" I asked the bleached-blonde bartender.
She looked at me, a little confused. I think this is the kind of girl that's always bored. "Great Lakes."
I sipped my beer ($4), tapping my foot to the exceptional music choices and took in the decor. Buck Hunter Pro. I think, me and this bar can get along. I love bathroom graffiti. This bar delivers. There's only one other person at the bar and he left after one drink.
I explain that I live on the other side of the Slope and I think after three years I should venture out of my five block radius. She says "we're not so scary, are we?" No, not really.
She's Brooklyn born and raised and a newly wed and points out that as she only lives a couple of blocks away, she never really leaves her five-block radius either. She apologizes for the empty bar and I push a button on my Blackberry so I can see the time. I take a sip from my third beer. I'm definitely a little buzzed.
I say "well, it is only 7:15, afterall."
The bartender LOVED my eyebrows. She loved them so much she gave me free shots of Jameson. (I was told later that maybe there was more to the "eyebrow" love guise, but I don't care.)
This is really just a great place to hang out and relax. It's nice and open, lots of room and seats and cheap drinks. Everything you need, right?
Also, you know the community's got your back. We witnessed some...spousal abuse (not to be a downer) in the street but the bartender and the patrons flew out of the bar and called the cops and we took care of business! It was really sad and scary but it was reassuring to know that in this neighborhood they look out for each other. Here's to you, Great Lakes!!
i came in with some girls on a sunday, the bar was pretty slow but the bartender seemed to know the few people who were there, we expected just to have one beer, but before we knew it she steered us over to the group that was there and we couldnt help but join in singing our hearts out to bohemian rhapsody and punk covers of classic songs. shots flowed fast and loose and the bartender made it very hard to leave, the bar itself isnt all that special, but she really made it feel like a party and made everyone feel included. we always have fun at this place! $3 high lifes, are nothing to sneeze at either.
Great Lakes is a great neighborhood bar. The jukebox is always playing something that I like and I've never had anything but great experiences with the bartenders. The atmosphere is nothing special - your standard, small, brick-walled, dimly-lit bar, but that suits me just fine as it's rather unassuming and unpretentious.
If you are coming with a larger group, make sure you go early in order to snag one of the few tables/seats available.
For some reason I've closed Great Lakes more than any bar in town. This may be because of the stellar jukebox, which is regularly updated with mix CDs made by the staff. I always feed it several of my dollars, and then feel compelled to stay and drink until my songs come on. Which always takes a while. But no worries because everyone else's jukebox pics are awesome and the dark bar is rarely too crowded or rowdy.
The bar itself is nothing special, but somehow I've managed to have many great nights there. And as someone who grew up near Lake Michigan, the Great Lake theme decor speaks to me.
We wandered into this place one saturday night and fell in love with the drinks.. two of the three bartenders i've encountered here are great.
It was super empty on a friday so that was good.
The bathroom is really clean so that's a plus.
I'll just avoid the bartender that I didn't care for next time.
If I lived around the corner, this would be in the running for my corner bar. I don't, however, so I'll stick with the plan of only visiting it when it's convenient.
There's nothing overly special about Great Lakes, but at the same time, nothing wrong about it either. The beer is fine, drinks mixed decently, fairly interesting crowd.
The juke box is pretty good as well, though I wish that when not playing music that patrons had selected, either the house music would kick on, or a random selection would play. Because the on again, off again didn't work for me.
2 years ago I would have given this bar 4 stars. Alas, I can't do that anymore.
The Friday night bartenders are straight up surly and incompetent, and I base this one 2 points of reference:
1) My friend went up to the bartender to let her know that the Stella she had was flat. Maybe the can had gone bad? The bartender admitted that she didn't know what Stella tasted like. (Um, she's a bartender, it's a very standard beer - and btw, it just tasted bad period, for any beer)
2) It was Friday - the juke box (aka the main pull of this bar) was turned off. When I realized this and went up to them about it, she was out of the gate ready to fight with me versus have a conversation. Was letting me know it was my fault, no I could not have my money back or have the juke box turned over to the play list we paid for. (BTW they were playing horrible techno that drove out at least 7 customers)
It's a recession - all kinds of businesses are not making it. Great Lakes is not as crowded as it used to be - perhaps it's because of heir bartenders? Bad attitudes plus no knowledge does not help.
Seriously, go somewhere else. The bars on 4th between Bergen and St Marks are a whole lot better!
Is it really a dive bar if there's no, uh, dive-y-ness?
There's the requisite ode to the bar name by having a big ol' poster of a map of a lake in the back, a jukebox (which has, I might say, the best/worst selection ever), and even some rotating art on the walls -- how indie! -- but where's the dive?
I don't really mind all that much, I'm just saying, Great Lakes is at that point of its adolescence that it kind of feels some peer pressure to posh it up because Blue Ribbon's right next door, but it's that same force that makes it want to go scream "BAR!" like the Lighthouse.
Go late. Marisol's an awesome bartender.
This bar reminds me of one of the old Hope/Crosby "Off on the Road" films. A supporting cast of blithe idiots and a sound stage that resembles very little the purported locale. Another snooze of an entry into Brooklyn's manufactured "dive bar" pool. I'm optimistic that in its next incarnation they'll "expose" even more of the facade so that Great Lakes collapses in on itself.
Great Lakes Greats (and one not so great):
1. Sweet jukebox. The perfect combination of old school tunes that you can no longer be embarrassed about listening to because they have somehow become cool in the past few years, universal rock-outs, and almost accessible elitist indie stuff that you think you miiiight have heard before when spying on that hot hip guy at Soundfix.
2. Lovely ambiance at night. Pretty lights, warm decor and atmosphere, and an open, airy feeling.
3. Nice amount of seating, but I wouldn't suggest the turquoise "loveseat" near the door because it's so crappy you can't sit in it for 3 seconds without a coil raping your butthole. Ouch.
4. It's versatile-- intimate if you're on a date and equipped to accommodate a large obnoxious group such as me and my fellow employees after the late shift....
Great Lakes puts the "bar" in Bar!
Seriously. It's about as straightforward and generic a faux-dive indie rock bar as you can get. Which is fine. It's a little dirty, has a good jukebox, and is slightly a "scene". A fun time if that's what you're looking for. There are way worse places to have a beer.
I'm not someone who gives a crap about scene or type of bar or whatever. I guess it's a bit divey, but so what. It's comfortable for me. There's a full bar, good happy hours, Guinness on tap, decent prices, good strangers and bartenders to talk to, it's good to meet friends at, the juke box has good tunes from the Clash to Reverend Horton Heat to Tom Waits..., it's dark, there's no TV's (which is a huge plus for me- i loathe TV), the decor is minimal and simple, and shit I'm gonna miss this place. I guess it is sort of your average neighborhood bar, but I feel at home whenever I go there.
So five stars to Great Lakes from Jessie with love. Thanks for getting me drunk all these years.
There's really nothing to hate here - the jukebox is great and the space is so dimly lit that you'll probably look hot even if you really don't. It's nothing special though, just the standard neighborhood dive. A great place to grab a drink for happy hour, after dinner, or between destinations - but not a destination in itself.
Great Indie bar in the neighborhood! Also great selection of music on the juke box. 20/30's crowd
Here is why I am an asshole: I just insulted Brooklyn as a fake-o bay area in my last review, and now I am going to tell you that i like a bar there. What can I tell you? I'm fickle.
Great Lakes is a pretty standard bar. Good beers on tap, nice patrons, not too crowded, good jukebox, airy feel, blah blah. Its fun to hang out there with your friends and drink beer. You probably won't meet too many other people, but thats cool, you don't come here to do that.
Great Lakes feels a little like its not too sure if it wants to be posh or a dive.
Just like Brooklyn.
Just like San Francisco.
Thats cool with me.
i have been going to this bar for 5+ years. was my favorite, but bad new development- rather than taking the honest step of raising their prices on mixed drinks, they replaced their glasses. now the drinks are barely larger than a juice glass and about half the size that they were before. it equates to much more than a $1 increase, which i would have accepted as inevitable in this shit economy. if you're a beer drinker, all is well.
update- this bar is going downhill fast- the owners fired their best bartenders and brought big buck hunter into a bar where it couldn't be more out of place. get the distinct feeling they are pushing their regulars out the door, but for what? the yuppies waiting for a table at blue ribbon?
Talk about no frills, dive bar....
Just across the Brooklyn Bridge (or Manhattan Bridge)... on the heart of 5th Avenue (Brooklyn) lies an inconspicuous bar. Signage at night is damn near impossible to see... howver, if you are a fan of th Blue Ribbon Sushi - Brooklyn, GL Bar stands right next door to it.
The decor is ... well, minimal.... and we're not talking Phillippe Starcke... we're talking about a mish-mash of chairs, tables, benches.... the overall feel was supposed to be recycled fishing/boating decor and there are plenty of items to capture that feel. The bar offers a smattering of beers on tap that are super-reasonably priced and a juke box that plays a good range of music (no boyband crap played here!)
Just a great mellow place to sit with friends, old and new, and knock back beers and chat about the days of old... or the latest office gossip!
This place was cool then it got crowded a few years ago and the Jerz girlz came in and their tri-bar boyfriends but now it's calmed down again and cool so you can go there again, it's ok
Pretty average bar. I don't mind going there, but I don't get super excited about it either. The jukebox is good. Drinks aren't too expensive. They have tables. That's about all I've got to say about Great Lakes.
okay, i knew before that the two guys (scott & andrew) who own this place are general sleazebags. but then they laid off two of their last great barkeeps with no notice. there really is no reason at all to ever set foot in this depressing rathole ever again.
go see ridgeley or renatta at great lakes. both will treat you right and fill you with booze while… Read more »
We swung by here twice last night, it was pretty empty but that's pretty understandable given the downpour. If we hadn't had a couple of beers each beforehand, run out, and needed to go out to get more, we never would have gone out either! However, this bar was a pleasant surprise. The bartenders were great fun (they were probably bored as heck!), and we tried a little bit of everything, from shots of whiskey to lemon drops to car bombs.All were wildly successful (although I don't see how one would mess up a shot of whiskey!). Overall, seemed like a great place to hang out and have a couple.
Went on a blind date here. I thought a dive bar would not be ideal for a first date. It was good. Nice jukebox. I couldn't really find a song I wanted to play, but one came on (Elliot Smith's "between the bars") just as I was mentioning it (Well, I was really talking about Madeline Peyroux's version, but I think Elliot wrote the song and his version is also great.) Prices are reasonable : $4 for a Budweiser bottle, $6 for Johnny Walker Red and Ginger Ale. All they need are a few snacks/bar food, fix the hole in the floor and it'll be golden.
A popular bar on Park Slope's increasingly hip 5th Avenue, Great Lakes (owned by the same people as Buttermilk and Boat) is a poorly lit, poorly ventilated space whose biggest draw is the high-quality indie rock jukebox. For a time, it was the only bar of its kind in the neighborhood, building a base of loyal regulars looking for a good place to go, drink, and listen to a good jukebox without being hit on left and right.
Great Lakes was a pioneer of the 5th Ave bar scene in Park Slope. While it's neighbors get more and more upscale, this bar has held onto its unpretentious atmosphere. A good place to grab some drinks and relax with friends after a dinner nearby.
What used to be the greatest anti-yuppie, hipster-unfriendly place on Fifth Avenue has gone horribly downhill in the past couple of years. The jukebox, which was one of the best things about it, hasn't been updated in years. The management have fired or alienated every nice bartender who's ever worked there. Now the atmosphere there is pretty sterile... or as sterile as the atmosphere in a place with perpetually sticky floors and torn plastic chairs can be. (Oh, and they have never, ever served food. Or had restaurant in the title for that matter.)
i feel like i should like great lakes more - since I'm from the midwest - it's kind of a midwest/fishing/lakes themed bar. i'm not a huge fan of great lakes but i do appreciate the good, cheap draft selection and black and white fishing pictures. it's a stable place to get a good beer in a good atmosphere.
this is one of my favorite neighborhood spots for a drink -- i've never actually been on a weekend, but it's great on weeknights. very chill atmosphere where i don't feel like i'm being judged if i'm wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and prompt bartender service. the layout isn't really conducive to meeting new people but it's perfect for catching up with friends.
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