Cheap Drinks
76 bars that New York on Tap listed under “Cheap Drinks” around 2008, with what's licensed at each address in 2026.
Manhattan
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'inotecaPick
98 Rivington St. · Lower East Side
Closed; now Cactus Wren
A corner location that opens wide to the summer air, a relaxed atmosphere, and reasonable priced bottles make this LES wine bar a popular destination every night of the week.
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1020 Amsterdam Ave · Morningside Heights
Still pouring
All the right ingredients for a good Columbia student hangout: cheap drinks, booth seating, pool and darts.
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119 BarPick
119 E. 15th St. · Union Square/ Flatiron
Closed; now The High Note
Cheap beers, dim lights, beat up sofas, wood paneling, and a pool table - this could almost be a frat basement, except it's the kind of bar where frat boys get kidney punched.
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322 2nd ave · Grammercy
No license found in 2026
A simple and straight forward bar. What it's missing in personality and warmth it makes up for with a rare combination of cleanliness and cheap drinks. Look for the small brass plaque and head downstairs to the basement.
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7BPick
108 Ave. B · East Village
Still pouring
Horseshoe shaped bar where the beer is cheap and the rock is loud and hard.
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155 Bleecker St. · Greenwich Village
Closed
Enjoy unlimited free peanuts and no cover live music. The peanuts are excellent the music however is mostly country and folk.
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1768 2nd Ave. · Upper East Side
Closed
Successfully replicates the frat party feel of Mardi Gras without all of that distracting cajun culture. The magic recipe: $1 well drinks for girls on Thursday nights.
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Blarney Stone (Midtown East)Pick
710 3rd Ave. · Midtown East
Closed
Efficient Irish bar keeps, absurdly cheap and tasty food, and $4 for 22oz beers draws everyone from day laborers to traders to this half deli half dive bar.
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340 9th Ave. · Chelsea
A different business is licensed at this address: Maggie Reilly's
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Blue Donkey BarPick
489 Amsterdam Ave · Upper West Side
Closed; now King Food
An adult offshoot of Homer's Malt Shop next door, the Blue Donkey Bar attracts a neighborhood crowd with a décor a notch warmer than the many nearby beer and shots joints.
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115 Essex St. · Lower East Side
Closed; now Wabi Nori Hand Roll Bar
All the right ingrediants for a lasting student hangout: Flip cup, beer pong, pool, darts, and cheap beer. On Fridays they serve free wings from 5-7pm.
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140 1st Ave. · East Village
Closed; now Area 140 First
If you like Yuengling and you like happy hour, how does $2 a pint sound.
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Cherry TavernPick
441 E. 6th St. · East Village
Still pouring
An unpresuming dive, but the Cherry Tavern is that rare Manhattan bar where strangers interact.
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82 W. 3rd St. · Greenwich Village
A different business is licensed at this address: Zinc
While it may draw the biggest names, the talent often surprises, and with a cheap cover and inexpensive drinks what have you got to lose?
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25 3rd Ave. · East Village
Closed; now Sephora
The acts may be hit or miss but they rotate through quick, and it's one of the few joints giving local talent a shot. Add $4 drafts into the mix and you've got a hit.
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35 Cooper Sq. · NoHo
Closed
Cheap drinks and food draw NYU students and Village Voice writers living hand to mouth.
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Corner BistroPick
331 W. 4th St. · West Village
Still pouring
Always a great time, always cheap, always too crowded to stand. Boasts some of the cheapest and best burgers in the city, but order them at the bar and save yourself the queue.
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1643 1st Ave. · Upper East Side
No license found in 2026
UES paint by numbers bar. Assemble pool, darts, gold tee, digital jukebox, plasma TVs. Add jagermeister, screeching girls, and high-fiving guys. Remove cash from wallets. Clean puke from bathroom. Rinse. Repeat.
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179 W. 4th St. · West Village
Still pouring
Basement bar with cheap food and even cheaper beer. The name says it all.
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1664 1st Ave. · Upper East Side
A different business is licensed at this address: Somebody's Darling
Irish bar on the UES. You know the drill: 10 Plasma TVs, sports packages, rotating happy hour specials, wings, (yawn) and, um, beer.
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505 E. 6th St. · East Village
Same bar, now Club Cumming
The only Soviet themed gay bar in New York is a cruisey little place with a neighborhood crowd.
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90 Fulton St. · Financial district
Closed
Thanks to $2 well drinks for women all night every night the stripper pull at this "upscale lounge" gets plenty of use.
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75 Christopher St. · West Village
A different business is licensed at this address: Cellar Dog
Great tables, bargain rates and plenty of space make this basement pool hall a hit. Add a little Jazz or comedy later in the night to the mix and you've got a homerun.
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430 Amsterdam Ave. · Upper West Side
Still pouring
Loud and raucous, the student crowd here's the same as the other big frat bars on this block, but at least Jake's has a backroom that's free of TVs, so you can try and score digits without the sickly plasma palor.
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228 Front St. · Financial district
Still pouring
At Jeremey's there are 21 beers on tap, but from 8am to 10am Coors is the only one anyone's drinking. The morning special, a 32oz styrofoam cup of Coors brings in a crowd of fishmongers and a few stockbrokers looking to kick start the day. If you opt to avoid the morning crowds and have dinner the kitchen serves some unsurprisingly exceptional seafood.
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520 E. 6th St. · East Village
Closed; now Josie's
A low-key dive. Boasts really cheap beer, a great juke country box, and a fiercely competive pool table.
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17 John St. · Financial district
Closed; now Carragher's at the Irish American
A bar for stock clerks not stock brokers.
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11 Waverly Place · Greenwich Village
Still pouring
Not just a student bar. Josie Wood's is the NYU student bar. It's basement environs might as well be annexed considering the amount of financial aid dollars spent here. And while anyone over 23 will feel like a dinosaur, for the kids with shiny new fake ids this is the place to head after class on a Thursday.
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140 2nd Ave. · East Village
A different business is licensed at this address: Ukrainian East Village Restaurant And Sly Fox Bar
On some nights this place is completely empty, on others it's demonstrative of the rich cultural heritage of the Ukraine's youth - which usually involves drinking to excess, listening to 80's metal bands, and occassionally dancing on tables.
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995 Amsterdam Ave. · Morningside Heights
Still pouring
Divey sports bar with incredibly cheap drinks. $2 PBRS, $4 Smithwicks, $9 Pitchers of Yuengling, and a $17 12-5pm all you can drink, all the wings you can eat special.
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Manitoba'sPick
99 Ave. B · East Village
Closed; now Thayer
Owned and operated by Dick Manitoba a former front man for The Dictators , Manitoba's, while not exactly a punk bar per se, remains true to the spirit of punk - camaraderie and anit-materialism. The crowd's as friendly as any you'll find, a Rheingold can be had for $3, and no cover live bands play here most nights. With a combo like that it's hard to think of a reason not to go.
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393 2nd Ave. · Grammercy
A different business is licensed at this address: Clara's Gramercy
A perfectly average Grammercy dive boasting a rather extraordinary drink special. Wednesday night $10 buys you all you can drink from any of 16 taps.
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224 Ave B · East Village
Still pouring
Like it's sister bar Sophie's on 5th Street, Mona's is one of the last truly great East Village dives. It inspires rabid loyalty but offers little more than cheap pints and a generous pour, but in this rapidly gentrifying hood it's a rare and precious thing.
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109 Macdougal St. · Greenwich Village
Still pouring
With cheap beer, wings, sliders, beer pong, and all the big games is it any surprise that Off the Wagon is the frat bar du jour for NYU backwards baseball cap set.
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2021 7th Ave. · Central Harlem
Closed
This locals dive is one of the oldest bars in Harlem. It's not so much a destination as a place to end up. But it you find yourself here, there's a pool table, a game on the TV, and even a piano against the wall if you've got the chops.
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110 Chambers St. · TriBeCa
Closed; now Alto
At the last of the Tribeca dive bars a pitcher of PBR can be had for just $6. Which is good because you'll need to pound a half dozen or so to match the general level of sobriety.
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45 W. 35th St. · Chelsea
Closed; now The Lookup Rooftop Bar
One of the best options in the area - a view of ESB, an outdoor roof deck, and reasonable drinks can make for a pretty nice all around experience in the summer.
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157 Avenue C · East Village
Still pouring
In the ongoing culture wars of the East Village bar scene, Royale is a huge strike for UESification. Between the plasma TVs, baseball caps, rounds of shots and the girls whose most comfortable mode of communication is via a series of high pitched squeels you can easily forget that not too long ago this used to be one of the best Jazz bars in New York.
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627 9th Ave. · Hells Kitchen
Still pouring
With free hot dogs, $3 pints of Rudy's Red (ie Michelob Red), giant banquets upholstered almost entirely from duct tape, and a huge garden is it any wonder Rudy's has been packing them in every night since it opened in the 1930's.
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Rusty KnotPick
425 West St. · West Village
Closed
A co-owner of the Spotted Pig snapped up the former West spot, and created this velvet rope nautical themed dive bar. The beer is cheap and the food is low brow but shoots for the stars, and the sunset view is nothing short of spectacular.
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94 Ave. A · East Village
Closed; now Corner Bistro
Four rooms with remarkably different atmospheres combine to form the Sidewalk Café. There's a clean and comfortable cafe, a dive bar, a downstairs pool table area, and a live music room. Two of the four rooms are all ages, so it's not a bad place to take your little brother when he's in town.
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174 Orchard St. · Lower East Side
Still pouring
This long thin dimly lit bar draws neighborhood regulars with cheap drinks and a relaxed vibe.
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509 E. 5th St. · East Village
Still pouring
A cheap, comfortable, unassuming dive that draws a relaxed and eclectic crowd. Young and old, gay and straight, well of and dirt poor all come here for $3.50 pints of McSorley's and a friendly game of pool.
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St. Jerome'sPick
155 Rivington St. · Lower East Side
Closed
It's hard to find much bad to say about a downtown New York bar with decent DJs, $2 pints of Budweiser, and a stipper pole. Well, at least not much that hasn't been said already.
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14 Orchard St. · Chinatown
Closed; now Bar Belly
The owners of Welcome to the Johnsons' bring you this new dive with a candy and soda pop theme.
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349 Amsterdam Ave. · Upper West Side
Closed; now Tessa
4,000 square feet, 30 TVs, a beer pong table and the hottest bartenders in the city. WooHoo! Shots of Jager for my boys and those aging delta deltas over there.
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134 W. 3rd · Greenwich Village
Closed; now 3 Sheets Saloon
Calling a bar a frat bar implies at least a partial college education. Failing such ready nomenclature this is a Drink too much, puke in the toilet, tip the bathroom attendant the change in your pocket, go back to the bar, sweat profusely, wait forever for a drink, get in a screaming match with your girlfriend and call her a slut, then cry on her shoulder on the cab ride back to Penn Station kind of place. It's also great for parties and fund-raisers.
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613 2nd Ave. · Murray Hill
No license found in 2026
Low-key, low-ceilinged, low-priced bar. $1 drafts for happy hour and they've got a back (concrete) garden.
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33 2nd Ave. · East Village
Closed
Plush furniture, a cool bi-level bar aimed at enhancing site lines, and a stage full of Go-Go boys 5 nights a week. How wrong can you go?
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123 Rivington St. · Lower East Side
Still pouring
It's tempting to dismiss this 70's themed bar simply out of hand, but spend an evening there and you'll soon quite suprisingly discover it's warm, comfortable and populated by some of the tastiest hipsters this side of Greenpoint.
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575 2nd Ave. · Murray Hill
Closed; now H&R Block
Yes it is a frat bar, but the crowd's more Animal house than Phi Beta Innate-Sense-of-Entitlement. And the beers cheap, and they've got Guinness on tap.
Brooklyn
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Black RabbitPick
91 Greenpoint Ave. · Greenpoint
Still pouring
A country pub atmosphere, a cocktail list that changes nightly, $3 drafts of Brooklyn Lager, good food, and a back garden. Take over one of the huge booths with a group of friends and hit the service button whenever you need to place a drink order.
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Brazen HeadPick
228 Atlantic Ave. · Brooklyn Heights
Still pouring
A truly great neighborhood pub. Friendly atmosphere, attentive bar staff, a great selection of single-malts, over 20 taps, and two hand pumps for cask conditioned ales.
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8121 5th Ave. · Bay Ridge
No license found in 2026
With a pool table, dart boards, an enormous selection of beers, and deals on pitchers that are cheap even by Brooklyn standards Bullshots has the makings of a nieghborhood standyby.
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8121 5th Ave. · Bay Ridge
No license found in 2026
With a pool table, dart boards, an enormous selection of beers, and deals on pitchers that are cheap even by Brooklyn standards Bullshots has the makings of a nieghborhood standyby.
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8121 5th Ave. · Bay Ridge
No license found in 2026
With a pool table, dart boards, an enormous selection of beers, and deals on pitchers that are cheap even by Brooklyn standards Bullshots has the makings of a nieghborhood standyby.
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8121 5th Ave. · Bay Ridge
No license found in 2026
With a pool table, dart boards, an enormous selection of beers, and deals on pitchers that are cheap even by Brooklyn standards Bullshots has the makings of a nieghborhood standyby.
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8121 5th Ave. · Bay Ridge
No license found in 2026
With a pool table, dart boards, an enormous selection of beers, and deals on pitchers that are cheap even by Brooklyn standards Bullshots has the makings of a nieghborhood standyby.
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249 4th Ave · Gowanus
Closed
Sexy bi-level lesbian bar and dance club from the former owner of Meow Mix.
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Club EuropaPick
98-104 Meserole Ave. · Greenpoint
Closed; now Good Room
More Eastern European than most bars tourists will visit in Eastern Europe.
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153 Montrose Ave. · East Williamsburg
Still pouring
Reminiscent of a Williamsburg scene that hasn't existed for almost a decade anywhere near Bedford Avenue. DuckDuck has a low-key cool kid vibe and perhaps even more importantly really cheap beer. Try the Schmidt Face - a can of Schmidt and a shot of whiskey for $5.
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323 Smith St. · Carroll Gardens
Licensed here under the same name
An all outdoor space, Black Angus hot dogs, and $2 cans of Pabst create a recipe for summertime success.
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404 5th Ave. · Central Slope
Closed
Squint just right and you'll swear this is Moe's Tavern.
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Last ExitPick
136 Atlantic Ave. · Brooklyn Heights
Closed; now Elsa
A perfect neighborhood bar, Last Exit is a comfortable and friendly local favorite. The scene is cool without being too trendy, and the dim lighting and cozy seating frequently conspire to turn your last drink on the way home into a whole new session.
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593 Lorimer St. · East Williamsburg
Closed; now DeStefano's Steakhouse
The kitchen is inconsistent, the décor is devoid of personality, and the crowd tends toward shout-talking, but on Tuesday nights they give away free beer from 8:30-10pm, sure it's only PBR cans, but it's FREE BEER.
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212 Berry St. · Williamsburg North Side
Still pouring
A Black Label and a shot of Evan Williams for $4 ensures that the Levee never runs dry. Add a Harley Davidson pinball machine at 3 games for $1 and you've got somebody's idea of heaven.
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73 Atlantic Ave. · Brooklyn Heights
Still pouring
Opened in 1947, steeped in history and resolutely friendly, Montero's is a nautical themed reminder of the Brooklyn waterfront's working past and present.
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Mug's Ale HousePick
125 Bedford Ave. · Williamsburg North Side
Still pouring
Williamsburg fixture keeps the beer ultra-cheep and its crowd drunk and happy.
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39 5th Ave. · North Slope
Same bar, now McMahon's Public House
This dimly lit, heavy drinking bar has been a Park Slope fixture since 1931. It was also once Elliot Smith's favorite hang out when he lived nearby. It now attracts a mix of young and old regulars brought together by a shared love of drinks cheap and hard.
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188 Bedford Ave. · Williamsburg North Side
Closed
In a neighborhood where vintage clothing commands prices higher than new Rosemary's will always have a die hard following among the subculture of hipsterism that likes their 32oz styrofoam cups sans irony.
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224 Franklin St. · Greenpoint
Closed
Patrons are lured to this 2,500SF crisp, industrial space with comfort food, 12 tap beers, and a 6 crap beers for $15 special.
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256 Grand St. · Williamsburg North Side
Closed; now Southside Boxing
The working class roots that the area's many art school dropouts are at such pains to emulate are evident in spades at this Williamsburg dive, but there's no need to worry that the hipsters will take over. This bar has top notch hipster repellent - heavy metal. This leaves the associated regulars to profess their love for the free tater tots without worrying about the quality of their ironic lilt.
Queens
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36-19 24th Ave. · Long Island City
Still pouring
This former biker bar is now a friendly gay/lesbian joint.
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Bohemian Hall and Beer GardenPick
29-19 24th Ave. · Whitestone
Still pouring
There are few pleasures as singular as a crisp cold Czech lager and a kielbasa hot off the grill, enjoyed in this sun filled beer garden.
Already closed by 2009
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CrossroadsClosed by 2009
480 Amsterdam Ave · Upper West Side
A different business is licensed at this address: Avenue Bar And Kitchen
A loud and raucous crowd with a mean age somewhere just north of thirty fills this beer and shots joint. Thanks to an internet juke box you can expect to hear Bon Jovi at least a few times each night.
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Ha! Comedy ClubClosed by 2009
369 W. 46th St. · Hells Kitchen
Closed; now The Ritz Bar & Lounge
Two rooms and 7 shows a night mean a lot of hits and a lot of misses. Get the online discount and cross your fingers you hit gold.
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Rose's TurnClosed by 2009
55 Grove St. · West Village
A different business is licensed at this address: Little Owl The Townhouse
The oldest piano and cabaret bar in the neighborhood closed its doors forever on July 22nd, 2007.
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Starlight Bar and LoungePickClosed by 2009
167 Ave. A · East Village
No license found in 2026
A fixture of East Village gay nightlife, Starlight has an attractive and classic décor and brings in a crowd to match. On Sundays the Y chromosones give way to the X's and it becomes lipstick lesbian central.
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The West EndPickClosed by 2009
2911 Broadway · Morningside Heights
Closed; now Hex & Co.
Not just a Morningside Heights bar, The West End is the Morningside Heights bar. The beat generation was born here, dizzy Gillespie played here, and virtually every student to ever attend Columbia has passed through here.