ML Happy Hour: Oh Maggie I Couldn’t Have Tried Anymore

If you like to eat, chances are you like to drink (read: a lot of you are freakin’ lushes), so I thought maybe it was time to introduce a happy hour column to the site. Every Friday afternoon our Happy Hour Correspondent “Mamacita” will post about a different bar in Midtown that fits the Midtown Lunch mentality: unhealthy food, not lame (unless it’s lame in a cool way), and most importantly… cheap.

So we all know the drill. It was a crappy day at work, your boss was being a real jerk, and when you finally get out of the office, the heat and humidity make it feel like it’s 1,000 degrees. All you want is a cold drink in an air-conditioned place. So you just go to wherever is closest. Well I’m here to urge you to use caution, because sometimes… IT’S A TRAP!!!!!!

Ah yes, convenience, that hidden snake in the grass to comes out to bite you, in this case in the wallet. I walked into Maggie’s Place and it looked like a nice, clean Irish bar with a drinkable selection of drafts on tap: Stella, Harp, Guinness, Bud, Boddington’s, Smithwick’s, Goose Island, and Old Speckled Hen.

Maggie’s has classic wood details, a long comfortable bar, and upstairs seating, but what it lacks is a happy hour. This was like a stake through my heart. Drafts will run you around $7 and expect cocktails to match.

Maggie’s doesn’t have much going for it. The food is your standard pricey pub grub and drinks don’t come cheap.  Its best quality is being in an awfully convenient location. Maggie’s only outstanding feature is how incredibly generic it is. This was not surprising once I realized it was operated by brothers Martin and Mark Whelan, the same family that runs some noteworthy sister bars in Manhattan like Stout, St Andrew’s, Feile and The Long Room.

While they seem to have found a successful business plan, they have yet to create a venue where Mamacita is particularly pleased to spend her hard earned coin.

And now, in lieu of a +/-,  here is your Rod Stewart moment of zen:

Listen up Maggie I think I got something to say to you,
It’s early August and it’s time for me to get on a bar stool.
You pretend to keep me amused, but I feel I’m being used.
You stole my cash, and that’s what really hurts!

Maggie’s Place, 21 E 47th Street, (btw.5th + Madison Ave,) (212) 753-5757

5 Comments

Leave a Reply

You must log in or register to post a comment.