Milano's Bar — Restaurant in New York

I came in here alone after catching up with a friend who works at a nearby start-up in Soho (haha, surprise, surprise) and needed a place where I could kill about 2-3 hours as I waited for some other friends to meet me for happy hour catch-up drinkie poos. I wasn't looking for a pretentious bar, just something that wasn't going to break the bank and who's booze selection would satisfy my palate.

I left here with 3 new friends and yes, one of them was the bartender who was one of the sweetest female bartenders I've ever met and I'm absolutely kicking myself for not being able to recall her name (my gut says it began with a "J", but MAN, I cannot remember for the life of me!).

Milano's is a dark and gritty divey bar that manages to make you feel as if NYC hasn't completely lost it's 90s character. After having sat there alone, made friendsies with the 2 gruff men next to me, not at all having been hit on or disrespected and watching the female bartender attend to everyone efficiently and without pretense, flirting or any sort of sugarcoating I felt that this was going to become my home away from home now that this was also my new work neighborhood.

This place is also way cooler than anything that my old work neighborhood of Colombus Circle/Hell's Kitchen has to offer if you're just looking for a place to throw a few back and call it a day. She even charged my iPhone at the bar which was awesome because my battery was so low that I couldn't even power my phone on... #FirstWorldProblems

If I remember correctly (cuz yanno - oy!), the happy hour here really just meant $1 off all beers and well drinks. While this may not be the world's best happy hour, the prices here are so low - especially given their location, I mean SOHO pffffffft - that happy hour prices aren't even really required here.

For about $6 I ordered a tall boy of PBR and it came with a house whiskey shot - and NO the house whiskey was actually NOT bad. Not bad at all folks. For $6 I was totally put in my happy place :). The guy next to me also sprung to order Chinese food and even paid for my steamed pork dumplings order - which also happened to be the BEST STEAMED PORK DUMPLINGS I'VE EVER HAD FROM A FAST-FOOD CHINESE PLACE. For serious. Thin wrappers much? Delicious flavorful pork? Yep.

MAN, I wish I knew the name of the place we ordered from! Lol. Oy. Come to think of it, there is a lot of I don't remember from this afternoon - which means that Milano's clearly did their job well. 5 stars for keeping it real, providing patrons with menus to order food and for having actual friendly regulars at the bar counter, I LOVE THAT. I'm sure I'll definitely be back here...

This is your typical hole-in-the-wall establishment. Not one of the bartenders has been rude to me at all. In fact, the last bartender that served us there was awesome. Unfortunately it seems like there has been a regime change recently.

Tonight I was kicked out for "appearing too intoxicated". Which apparently is a swipe at my recent disability. Recently I've lost about 60 lbs in a short amount of time, which has definitely changed my equilibrium. So I kinda walked into the bar stumbling.

After serving me four drinks they cut me off, because I was stumbling. They didn't even talk to me, the part that bothers me the most, they told my wife, while I was in the bathroom, that they were cutting us off.

I returned from the bathroom and my wife told me. I was honestly surprised that they didn't have the nerve to tell me directly. My wife had to tell me that they were cutting me off and I honestly didn't believe her. I asked the bar tender for another round and he came up and said "It's for the best...".

Now, okay, if I was legally too intoxicated to serve, then so was everyone else in the bar. I felt singled out because of my recent impairment. One simple phrase, if I had 4 drinks at 315 lbs and was too intoxicated to serve, why didn't anyone else in the bar, who had been served more than four drinks, at least get questioned.

I've worked in many bars in my time and yes, they had a right to kick me out under the law. The discrimination comes when they solely refused service to me. It comes down to an abuse of power that wasn't...

Milano’s Bar feels like the last piece of old New York that refused to move out. It’s a narrow brick box on Houston, lights low, walls stained with decades of spilled beer and cigarette ghosts. You walk in and it’s quiet for a second, then the city hum catches up. The bartender barely looks up, but the pour is perfect.

The place has been around since the late 1800s, back when Bowery meant trouble and a beer was breakfast. Sinatra probably leaned here once. So did a thousand nobodies who left their paychecks and stories on this same sticky wood.

No cocktail lists or fancy names. Just cold beer, hard liquor, and the kind of talk that only happens when everyone’s had enough. The jukebox still works. The regulars still drink like it’s 1952.

Come alone or with someone who gets it. Order a shot and a beer. Look around and let the weight of the room remind you that New York wasn’t always shiny. It...