Nancy Whiskey Pub: A Dive Bar With Seriously Cheap Lunches

There are the fancy parts of Tribeca, and then there are the parts on both the extreme lower and upper reaches of the neighborhood that are a little dirty and contain some eating and drinking gems. Located on the corner of Lispenard and 6th Ave., Nancy Whiskey Pub is one of those places and while based on the crowd there during the noon hour on a weekday many people are here for alcohol, they also serve a menu where basically everything is less than $10. Or you can splurge and get a large pizza for $12.50.

This place might be more fitting for a happy hour post, but they have a pretty extensive and cheap food menu consisting of such bar classics as fried seafood, chicken sandwiches, burgers, and the left-field addition of pizza. That last item intrigued me but there was no way I way buying a whole large pizza to eat solo.

Instead I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with a mix of fries and onion rings ($8). The onion rings added some to the price of my meal which is normally $7.25, so basically this is one cheap lunch for the neighborhood. And you know what, overall it was pretty good!

The burgers are 1/2 pound and come with either American or Swiss cheese and two strips of bacon. The burger itself exceeded my low expectations by actually being juicy and tasting of the grill. Parts of it were closer to rare than medium, but hey, no complaints here. The bacon was a little dry and overcooked so I would maybe go with a cheeseburger instead, and what can you really ask of American cheese other than it be melted properly, which this was.

If you do go here (and really you should before it closes down due to a rent hike or some other nonsense), do yourself a favor and steer clear of the onion rings. They were straight up Ore Ida and were terrible. The fries were much better although also of the frozen variety.

Bars with decent food are not a rarity in this part of Tribeca with South’s and Puffy’s Tavern nearby, but they are definitely not in the same category as Nancy Whiskey Pub.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

  • Pretty much everything on the menu is less than $10.
  • A large pizza is $12.50?!
  • There seems to be a cast of characters here even in the middle of the day.

THE — (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

  • It’s just a little too dirty for me.
  • I’d rather go somewhere else for my burger fix.

Nancy Whiskey Pub, 1 Lispenard St. (at 6th Ave.), (212) 226-9943

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3 Comments

  • Bah, nothing wrong with straight-up ore-ida!

    The fries are pretty good too but there’s no salt on them.

    • User has not uploaded an avatar

      Even for Ore Ida, those onion rings were soggy and no good. They gave me about 10 salt packets for the fries, so no complaints there.

  • Yeah, I come grab a bacon cheeseburger here pretty often. They actually cook it medium rare like I ask! You’re right that they don’t salt the fries, but they give like 15 packets of salt, so I just do it myself. Plus I love playing bar shuffleboard while I wait for my burger to be made.

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