Sunny's — Restaurant in New York

Anthony Bourdain once called this place the best bar in New York City. We came in on a weekend night. Sunny's is on a dark road near the waterfront, dimly lit, although it being the only thing lit on the street made it easier to find. The place was packed with young hipsters and bohemians. We eventually got the bartender's attention and ordered two beers (cost $18.00 - not really dive bar prices, but it's New York). The place is claustrophobic for the amount of people inside. I loved the kitschy décor, big colored light bulbs in strands draping the wall, oddities and interesting pieces of art all over. Some of the customers were rude. As I was retrieving my beers, a guy pushed in front of me to hug some girl at the bar and nearly knocked the beer out of my hand and then wouldn't move for me to retrieve the second beer. The place is broken up into a front bar and back room. In the back room, there was some kind of blue grass performance going on, but it was too crowded to even see it. Head out back down another extremely narrow passageway and there is a very cool courtyard that can accommodate around 30 extra people. I ended up finding a small table to sit outside and finished my beer with my plus one. But we decided to leave after that. I think would have liked to have visited this place in the early evening before the crowds starting converging upon the bar. If you are person who doesn't like being pinned to a wall while struggling to bring a beer up to your lips for fear of having it knocked out of your hands by the constant stream of people coming and going, this might not be your jam. If you are lucky enough to grab a booth, bar stool, or table outside, you may be able to make a night out of it. But it just...

Be careful ordering your drinks! Cute place, sketchy bartenders.

I ordered drinks at the bar. The bartender just grabbed a cocktail from the other side of the bar and placed it in front of me, poured the beer we ordered and then got the other cocktail we ordered from the other bartender making drinks. I told him I don’t want that first drink he just placed in front of me because it came from a section of the bar where there is no liquor or service station to be making drinks and was clear it’s just been sitting there. Aggressively and with attitude gave me a new drink. I paid, walked away.

When I first ordered-I watched him go to the other bartender, tell him our drinks, go to the other side of the bar, grab the random drink, pour the beer then walk back to the other bartender with the third fresh made drink.

I went back to confront the bartender again because it just didn’t sit right with me the way he handled it and wanted to make sure he’s aware how unsafe that is to be doing.

His attitude towards me asking for a new drink when it was clear that, that drink was not made for me, nor who knows what happened to it. He started to argue with me and clearly did not understand the safety and caution that I was taking. We ended up just leaving and not even drinking our drinks because it was such poor...

I've been a Red Hook resident for a few years now and can attest to most reviews that Sunny's is a cool bar with decent drinks and warm atmosphere. In the last year the place has definitely changed. There are a lot more young people frequenting the bar, which clashes with the "old timey" feel. I will say that on a recent visit, I was with my friends who I hadn't seen in over a year. We were talking and catching up when a band started to play in the music area behind us, at which point one of the employees came and shushed our table. One, it's a bar. Two, this was our first time out after a global pandemic. Three, we were one drink in and no where near rowdy or inappropriate--just catching up.

This experience left a bad feeling with all of us. During the hardest times we frequented Sunny's to support them to best of our ability, only to be told to be quiet while wanting to share what we love about Sunny's with our friends.

I hope they figure out how to integrate the rest of the community into their new tourist feel. And maybe hold off telling people who haven't seen loved ones to be quiet as they gather for the first time in...