The Hairy Monk
Categories: Pubs, Sports Bars, American (Traditional) [Edit]
337 3rd Ave(between 24th St & 25th St)
New York, NY 10010 (212) 532-2929
- Nearest Transit:
23rd St-Park Ave S (6)
23rd St-Broadway (R, W)
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Music: Juke Box
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
35 reviews
Neighborhood: Manhattan/Midtown East
"You can't help but stare at all the toys hanging from the ceiling and not feel like throwing a temper tantrum if the white glove waiters…" read more »
31 Reviews for The Hairy Monk
It's been a while since I've been here but I had fun. What sticks out the most is that the Irish accents are so heavy, when talking to other people I couldn't understand what they were saying!
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In the interest of full disclosure, you should know I'm a Red Sox fan.
I'm also a virgo, like long walks under a starlit sky and worship bon jovi. But that's neither here nor there.
The Hairy Monk has delicious buffalo wings but the fries here are super cool. They're light and puffy so when you eat them you're like, "pshhhhh, these are too fluffy to even be considered fries." But they're delicious and your stomach will be happy.
It's a tiny bar but get there early enough before the game and you'll snag a seat/table.
A ton of good bars nearby on 3rd ave so after the game go bar hopping. Go Sox!
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If you want a pub, then here you have it, because that is pretty much all this place is. It is a restaurant during the day but we went here as our last stop out for one more drink, night cap if you will, before calling it quits.
Dark and mysterious inside with floor you can tell hasn't been cleaned or mopped in a while, it is your typical pub with lots of beers on tap, tvs for sports games, high bar stools, and a nice collection of local people who you can tell gather here on a nightly basis. I think this could be considered one of the "Cheers" bars for this area of manhattan because it really does have that neighborhood feel which you can't often find in big cities like the big apple, ya know?
so it was a good last stop, where you don't have to exert a lot of energy to get a drink or to have a good time, but definitely isn't a place you would want to spend your whole night (although the navy members who were getting down in here that night because it was fleet week, may beg to differ!!!!)
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Good stuff here...Came here on a Saturday night with 2 of my mates and we were able to get a table in a place that was nicely decorated with pretty cool music. Beer initially was served very quickly with a smile but service tapered off with the obvious focus being for the waitress to end her shift. Good atmosphere with lots of TVs showing the latest sports. It never got packed in here like a lot of the other bars which was a huge plus for me.
Bottom Line: Good place with a good vibe but in the same breath...nothing really stood out and it (except good music and lots of TVs). Service was just OK but for the area it was a pretty good quasi dive bar.
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I'll admit up front that I'm a Red Sox fan, so I am biased in favor of the hairy monk. Nonetheless, I think you'll agree that there is a difference between WANTing to create a certain type of vibe and actually achieving it (case in point...the Olive Garden....)
They really did a good job in laying out the bar area so that it's comfortable and conducive to social interaction. Also, the bar is wired for sound, so when you're watching an extremely important baseball game (when you're a Red Sox fan, they're all extremely important) you can hear the game properly.
The back room has tables and a projector TV. I had wings here, they were good.
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The Hairy Monk is pretty much a run of the mill Red Sox bar on 3rd Ave. We thought we'd switch things up and made this our meeting place...
Bunch of beers on tap.. Nothing really to write home to.
Good for Boston folk.
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I have a unique experience with THM.
Living in MA, my mother came to my brother and I with news that she had won a contest: The prize was a weekend stay in any Marriot in the continental US and a whole shit-ton of cash.
Mom had never really been to NYC so we decided to head down to the island the weekend that our beloved Red Sox were playing the yankees. We stayed in Times Square and found a bunch of Red Sox bars, the jewel in the crown being THM.
Now, admittedly, we had a lot of money to blow. We had breakfast at an overpriced deli in Times Square, decked out head to toe in our Sox gear. We found the Monk and sat on down. When asked what we wanted to drink, we responded and our drinks were never empty. The waitress took care of us so very well.
This happened to be the day that the Red Sox beat the Yankees 17-1, so you can imagine how things went from there. We bought rounds for people in Sox hats, the house bought us rounds. There was much alcohol consumed. We stayed at THM for hours and hours, having an early supper before we departed and the food was as wonderful as the hospitality. I can't speak to it as a neigbhorhood pub, but as a Sox bar in enemy territory, it scores VERY high.
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The Hairy Monk is a great neighborhood bar. I love it because there is ALWAYS a lot of people there, every night of the week. I live very close to the hairy monk, so I usually stop by on my way home.
The bartenders are so amazing, and the crowd is great.
This is a Red Sox bar (unfortunately) but that adds to its flavor...
Lots of beers on tap too.
The menu is okay, not great but im not going to take away any stars because this is one of my favorite places in new york!
Went there Saturday night for a pub crawl - a Santa pub crawl..but not Santacon.
It was all right. Perfectly fine place. Nothing wrong with it. But nothing great either. It's not as bad as a lot of the frat boy bars in the area, but not exactly a place I'd really want to go back to.
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If I lived in Murray Hill and worked a billion hours at a high-paying job and could afford to be living in a cobble-stone building in the east 30's, then I'd probably go to The Hairy Monk a lot, especially if I liked watching college sports or the Red Sox. But none of those things are true. Like, not a one. So I don't think I'll go back to The Hairy Monk, probably ever. But for those of you who are recent MBA Boston transplants or for whom this is your 'hood of choice, go and enjoy a fine selection of beer, and some awfully tasty buffalo wings, and some nice service (from an Irish waitress who, interestingly enough, changed clothes while we were there. No, not in front of us, it's not *that* kind of place- this is a classy part of town, get your mind out of the gutter).
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This place is average. Not average in a bad way but not really special either. I was there on Thanksgiving night so it was pretty dead which I actually appreciated. Our waitress was really sweet and our drinks were good.
I will definately be back next time I am in search of a low key non-frat boy dominated bar in the neighborhood.
So I don't really come to Murray Hill a lot. As a matter of fact, the closest I even get to this part of town is when I
a) Go to Grand Central to get to work every morning
or
b) Go see a movie at the 1,2,3 which is up on 59th
So as you can see, I don't frequent this part of the city, but I happened to be bumming around with a few friends who live in the neighborhood so we decided to stop in for a quick bite and a pint. Well, the word "quick" was nowhere to be found in the waitresses vocabulary. And I'm pretty sure she changed outfits in between serving us.
If you read my reviews, you know that one brownie point can be scored if you serve Magner's. They do indeed. Bottle only, but she offered me a pint with ice so that made me happy. I shared wings with Chelsea J. and they were actually pretty decent. A friend of mine got french fry circles with curry sauce. It was pretty tasty.
The downside to this place? It's one of those handful of places in New York where you can sneak in and huddle around a television with the rest of your Boston-fan friends and watch and root for New England sports teams.
Boo.
I'd probably go back if I'm ever around again, but considering it was the first time I had been in Murray Hill since last October, I don't know when that will be exactly.
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st. patrick's day is probably not the best day to go to this place...it was so packed that movement was virtually impossible and i had to aggressively jostle some drunkards to get up to the bar.
i was upset that the car bomb i ordered was served in plastic cups; the plastic shot glass wouldn't sink correctly (it sank upside down and all the baileys/jameson got stuck underneath, prohibiting me from actually consuming it before it curdled).
otherwise, there was nothing notable about the place. the food looked and smelled pretty good, but, alas, there were no tables open. after getting accosted by numerous people who were falling down, my friend and i migrated elsewhere.
You bet your hairy ass I'm going to show up with my Pat Patriot tattoo and see about swindling a deal with the bartenders here. No I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I'll just consider this pub a fan of Boston in general. Which is an extension/generalization that works for me.
So I don't like the prices here, nor do I enjoy the space (I used to avoid this place on weekends when I lived a few blocks away because it was just so crowded with Gramercy young pros) but they have the projection screen and well placed tvs if you're sitting at one of the few tables in the back. It's kind of one of those well lit places; the blue trimmings, movable cask in the back corner, open windows, and loud conversation always work.
Today I actually got to sit and eat, so I'll grace this review finally with something substantial to say besides not liking 6 dollars a pint. I had the Hairy Monk burger, which was a good burger but it wasn't cooked the way I wanted, it was definitely well done but unfortunately I asked for medium rare. The nachos, while the chips were the crappy circle kind, the salsa was really light and good, and the dollops of guac and sour cream were generous. The fries here are like thick chips; they are like these wafers, cute but not the best. I wouldn't mind coming back here to eat again because some of their prices, say their burgers, were modest enough for the area, while other items were pretty expensive.
But yeah this has to be one of the most popular bars in the area; it gets really packed on the weekends, sometimes more so than any other bar on the strip, sometimes in competition. I enjoy bar competition because in the spirit of good times and merriment, it's good to know there are areas like this with plenty of good bars; it's kind of the reason this only gets 3, because i enjoy some of the others so much.
side note, they have daily drink specials except the weekends and a saturday/sunday 2 drink brunch.
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I used to think that this place was worth 3 or 4 stars as a sox bar in gramercy. However, after my experience there tonight, I have to wonder. A "regular" tried to choke my buddy and the bartender would not even bounce him.
In my days as a bartender, I learned that you can always bounce the regulars because they will aiways come back. Too bad.
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This is a typically shitty Murray Hill bar, patronized by a typically uninteresting clientle that are trying just a little too hard to be cool. The beer selection is poor (2 of their 7 taps are occupied by Miller Lite and St. Pauli Girl), the food is quite bad, the service is virtually non-existent, and there is insufficient and poorly laid out seating.
However, they show every Red Sox game. So I go there and drink Miller Lite draughts and damn enjoy them. 5 stars.
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Overall decent bar -- good beer selection (Justin C - it appears they have more of a rotating selection that doesn't always correspond with the menu), which may include Carlsberg on tap! They also have Sam Adams Lite (bottles) - which is actually quite good.
Also plenty of tvs for sports -- and as many have noted, this is a Sox bar (which is what earns HM one whole star on its own in my book); and they serve decent bar food. My burger was overcooked, but the waffle fries were a nice change.
But one tip - they have a $10.95 weekend "brunch" that goes til 4:30p, and includes 2 drinks and varying choices of breakfast and lunch foods. The corn beef hash my neighboring diners had looked really good, btw.
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the first thing i noticed about this place was a sticker on the door that says (something like) "People Love Us on Yelp!", which, if you look at the reviews below mine (and eventually above as well), isn't particularly accurate.
The sticker should say something like "People are generally non-committal about us on Yelp!" or "People on Yelp tolerate our deficiencies because we're one of the few places in the city that show the Red Sox!"
And, frankly, there are quite a few deficiencies. The beer selection is underwhelming, the place is sort of dingy, and worst of all, it's in Murray Hill, a neighborhood devoid of anything even remotely resembling personality. The menu is mediocre at best (a croissant on top of pot pie filling does not a pot pie make), and the space is dark, and I'd imagine were it not, I'd find that it's pretty dirty as well.
All that being said: This is a Red Sox bar, and it is the closest Red Sox bar to my neighborhood, and because I fear the ramifications of a negative review, 5 stars it is.
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I guess when I saw the name "The Hairy Monk," I figured it was a bar that specialized in Trappist and Abbey ales. It doesn't. In fact, it doesn't have any exotic or interesting beers at all. The beer selection at THM gets two stars, since the most interesting beers they carry on tap are Hoegaarden and Smithwick's.
The ultra-friendly and warm atmosphere and vibe at this place, though, gets five stars. I don't know if it was the particular night I picked (Wednesday before going to dinner up the street,) but everything about this place said, "come in, sit down, have a drink! Waste some time here! Waste some money here! Waste some brain cells here! We don't care if you're pathetic and alone!" While I guess it is a sports bar (I don't watch sports,) the televisions weren't so huge or loud that they offended us non-sports watchers.
So, if you average out 2 stars for the beer selection and 5 for the atmosphere, it comes out to 3.5 stars. I rounded up.
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Warning: This is a RED SOX bar. If you can deal with the Evil Ones from Massachusetts, its a decent place to wrap up the evening. Food is good and Sunday's are Karoake. They let me sing, which means they'll let anybody. Jim Has Yelped.
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This is Red Sox Nation - a small band of irreductibles surrounded by the Evil Empire...
Plus they also make a wicked burger so you have something to munch on while you watch Papelbon strike out Jonny Damon for the umpteenth time.
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During an evening at the Hairy Monk with my boyfriend, we had one random drunk guy buying us beers (this place has its own brew), and another random drunk guy giving us advice on our then-3-week-old relationship. It's crowded, loud, good-natured, and IT'S A RED SOX BAR. What more could you possibly want from a sports bar?
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UGH..... Horrid, typical, collegiate and a Red Sox bar...... If you need a bar where you can get cheap drinks and pee on the bathroom walls... go to McFaddens. This place sucks hairy monk!
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Great owner, friendly bartenders, great jukebox and it's a RED SOX bar. I love this place on all levels. I was lucky enough to get back to NY for 5 weeks last year and I spent way too many late nights here. I can't say enough good things about the Hairy Monk so I'll just say this LET'S GO RED SOX!!!!
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Typical Irish bar, is crowded almost any night of the week. Great place to watch young hot women end up going home with old fat guys. I guess dignity only costs three drinks. I will vouch that they will continue to serve you drinks even when you are staggering drunk. Seriously it's a good time....
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i would have to agree with some of the other reviewers and say that this bar is not one of new york's finest. the crowd was so-so, the bartenders mostly clueless, and the second worst music in town (dewey's wins that award). in their defense, they did have longtrail IPA on tap (any bar that serves longtrail has to get a few points). but overall, not the best.
despite this, i will still go there because anything 2 blocks from my place is good enough :)
this pub is kinda cool. the name alone makes me laugh all the time.
once i was there and got in a heated fight with my arch enemy...
another time the bartender was trying to pick up my friend.
ya never know what to expect when you're there. ha!
This bar F'n rocks! I've spent a good portion of my NYC life in there. It has it all. Cold drinks, good eats, plenty of sports on the plasmas, great music & my man, Ivan behind the bar, who is not afraid to do some buy backs. Don't waste your time with the other Irish joints in the area. The Hairy Monk is the best spot around - Fact.
This bar is really nothing fantastic but it's in a convenient location, actually serves pretty good food, and has a wide selection of beers on tap.
Complete hole in the wall...but I love it. The music is great and the drinks are reasonably priced. Really surprising is that their food is actually really good - definitely try out the appetizer sampler!
this bar is in direct competition with the one across the street. drinks are great but the bartenders really suck. i havent had good servers there ever. there is usually no place to sit. the bar area is small so there is no chance of sitting at the bar. if you sit in the dinning area then you have to order your drinks from a waitress. u can just order it yourself from the bar, wheres the justice in that.
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