Archive for 'Midtown Happy Hour'

Silverleaf Tavern’s Happy Hour May Not Be Great, But It Has its Upsides

As I continue to hear news that many of our neighbors are still displaced by the hurricane, I thought it would be appropriate to try out a hotel bar for happy hour this week. I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with hotel bars. They’re the type of place I love to go when I’m traveling for work or in an otherwise isolated airport hotel. It is a bar, after all, and sometimes they give you specials if you’re actually staying there. But rarely have I gone out of my way to enter a hotel bar in the city in which I live. I’ve always had the perception that the food is bad, the drinks are overpriced, and the service is not aimed to attract regulars. I was proven wrong a few weeks ago, when I had a great experience at Vander Bar, so I was hopeful that Silverleaf Tavern in the 70 Park Avenue Hotel (38th btw. Park & Madison) wouldn’t disappoint. I had heard from a friend they offered a decent happy hour food menu from 5:00 – 7:00. Indeed, according to their website, they have a nice selection of happy hour options: $2-$4 bar bites, $4 bottles, $5 house wines, and $5 wells, and $6 martinis.

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Drink at Ma Peche For the Red Cross: No Happy Hour post for this week, but here'a little tidbit for those of you still in Midtown after work today... not only is Ma Peche (aka Momofuku Midtown on 56th btw. 5+6th) donating today's proceeds from lunch and dinner to the Red Cross, from 5pm to close they will serve Booker & Dax cocktails at the bar, also to benefit the Red Cross.

Midtown Happy Hour: While Away the Hours at the Irish Ivy

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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

Not long ago, McAnn’s pub changed hands. I noticed the new sign over the summer, but I had just gotten a chance to make my way back to explore. The updated name is The Irish Ivy (46th btw. 5th and 6th), and since it’s fairly new, there weren’t many reviews on yelp or elsewhere. I was curious to check out their happy hour.

What I found out… the Irish Ivy is a place where I could see easily see myself becoming regular. The happy hour is long, from 4:00 – 9:00. Bud Light and Miller Light is $4, wines are $6 and well drinks are $5. Although the deals aren’t the best I’ve seen in Midtown, they also aren’t the worst… and I could tell as soon as I came in that this is a bar where service is fantastic, and you’ll get taken care of. And the atmosphere is fun enough that you could sit here for the whole five hours and have a good time.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Kirakuya Has $20 Sapporo Bucket and Wing Special

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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

I was meeting some colleagues for drinks last week, and the only criterion I had regarding locale was that it needed to be in or around Koreatown. I threw out a few options, including Kirakuya (32nd btw. Broadway and 5th), a Japanese sake bar also serving lunch, that Clay spotted in 2010. (He did a great write up on lunch there shortly thereafter, might I add.) One of my buddies mentioned she hadn’t been to a sake bar in a while, so Kirakuya seemed to be the obvious choice.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Pretty Good Personal Pizzas at Figaro

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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

I’ve been both pleased and surprised at the last two Happy Hours I’ve tried in Midtown. Boomer Esiason’s had great appetizer deals, and Vander Bar had the best wing deal I’ve seen in Midtown. I had looked for past reviews for Figaro (44th btw 5th+6th), and I found a blurb in 2009 about a Halloween open bar, saying it was the sister bar to Judge Roy Bean, which got an OK review. I thought I would give it a try and hope that I could go three for three.

I went with a buddy and we had a lot to talk about, so Figaro ended up being great for that. The music wasn’t too bad: think Ben Harper and Billy Joel… and nothing you had to scream over.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Vander Bar’s Wing Deal is the Best I’ve Found

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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

O Glorious Day. I’ve found a happy hour with not just decent, but GOOD deals… maybe even bleeding into the territory of awesome deals (for Midtown)… right around the corner from my office and mere steps away from Grand Central Station. This mythical place I speak of is called Vander Bar (45th and Vanderbilt) in the Roosevelt Hotel.

How do Midtown Lunchers not know about these amazing speacials already? I think, in part, because even though the happy hour boasts dive prices, Vander Bar is disguised as a lame, highly overpriced bar. But it’s not what you would expect at all. It’s actually pretty awesome. High praise, high praise for Vander Bar!

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Boomer Esiason’s Stadium Grill has A Very Good Happy Hour… But It’s Short.

When I first heard via Fork in the Road that Boomer Esiason had decided to try his hand at the restaurant business, good old next door neighbor Guy Fieri was busy completely and utterly overshadowing the former Jets player Esiason in the media and blogosphere. Although I’m never first in line at restaurants where celebs use their star power to draw in crowds (lame!) I figured since I didn’t even know who Boomer Esiason was, that it would be OK. Plus, Blondie wrote a review nearly two years ago about the former Times Square Bowlmor Lanes (44th btw. 7 + 8) bar before Boomer took over, and I thought I would investigate to see how it had changed.

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O’Casey’s has a Nice Atmosphere but No Happy Hour Specials

f 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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

I had been eyeing O’Casey’s (41st btw. 5th and Madison) for a while. I had seen it several times near Yagura et al., and I noticed it had been around for a while (since 1974). As as an Irish Pub lover, I was intrigued. Then an O’Casey’s corner touter drew me in with their sign, and I asked if they had happy hour specials. “I’m sure they do” was the reply. I’m usually wary of those super-bored-looking human sign holders; it just shows how dependent the restaurant is on tourists. But Joy Curry does it, where prices aren’t bad and I (and several other Lunch’ers) think the food is good. So I let O’Casey’s have the benefit of the doubt and invited a group of coworkers to for after work bevvies since it’s right around the corner from our office.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Smith’s Bar Looks Cool on the Outside…

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 week, our Happy Hour Correspondent posts 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.

A few weeks ago I was cajoled into watching a theater show, one of my least favorite activities ever (think: boredom marries claustrophobia). And even though it’s already been reviewed by Mamacita in 2008, Smith’s Bar (44th and 8th) was the closest bar to the theatre we were headed to, and a great pit stop to slam back as many beers as possible between the end of work and the opening of curtains.

I had noticed Smith’s half-lit neon sign on some of my lunchtime excursions, and I thought it looked like a really cool place. In fact, it’s been around since the 50s, and although it has changed ownership in the past decade, it was still more appealing to me than any other bar in the immediate vicinity… mainly because of its facade. And the happy hour specials looked okay. From 12-7 they serve $3.75 domestic light bottles, $4.00 Amstel and Sam Adams Light, and $4.00 wells and SoCo (Southern Comfort) shots. The Long Hammer IPA I ordered was $5.50.

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Midtown Happy Hour: Havana NY Happy Hour ½ Off Drinks and Appetizers

Havana NY on 38th btw. 5th and 6th (not to be confused with Havana Central) is one of those places I would never, ever go for lunch because it’s way too expensive. As much as I like Cuban food, almost everything on the menu save for a few salads costs over $10. When I walked by it last week, I noticed a sign advertising on weekdays from 3-7 the place allegedly transforms into an affordable restaurant. Drinks and appetizers are all half price. I decided to find out if this happy hour special was truly a good deal. Lunch’ers, Havana NY is one of the places I really hoped I would enjoy, and then shout from the mountaintop that I’ve found the best happy hour deal in Midtown…

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