New York on Tap 2008
Archive · modern edition Every bar New York on Tap knew, as it stood around 2008, with a 2026 check on each one. This page in the 2008 edition

No photo of this bar survives from the 2008 site.

The Distinguished Wakamba Lounge

Formerly Pisces Bar

543 8th Ave. · btwn 37th & 38th St.
Chelsea, Manhattan

In 2026

Still pouring

Checked October 18, 2026.

Show on the map Directions See the 2008 page

Overview

Don't be fooled by the name. This ain't no Tiki bar. As dives go this is a cliff dive, not a swan dive. It's a dive for experts, the kind that keep a bottle next to their bed to stave off the DTs.

History

Still a cliff dive, not a swan dive

Asked about dives in 2008, Anthony Bourdain allowed that the Holland Bar was pretty good, and so was the Distinguished Wakamba Lounge1. Of the Wakamba he said they keep it properly cold, as any proud Dominican should2.

In 2000 an unarmed Brooklyn man was shot and killed in a fracas with three undercover narcotics detectives on the bar's doorstep3.

There's a small Catholic altar perched by the front windows3, a Latin jukebox, a long bar and tables scattered through the room2. Our listing insisted this ain't no tiki bar; NYC Tourism now describes old New York grit with kitschy tiki styling4. Take your pick.

It still carries the neighborhood dive bar torch in an area that typically caters more to the after-theater crowd4. Chowhound says it has remained unchanged, unapologetically and unironically, and in April 2025 put it on a list of bars Bourdain loved where you can still raise a glass in his honor2.

Sources

  1. nbcnewyork.com
  2. chowhound.com
  3. midtownlunch.com
  4. nyctourism.com

Researched October 2026.

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