The High Note — Restaurant in New York

I really, really, really dig Headless Horseman! I don't come here more often than I'd probably like to because let's be honest, when the neighborhoods you're mostly in include Astoria, Jackson Heights, Soho, the LES, West Village or certain parts of Brooklyn (lookin' at you Carrol Gardens - luuuuuuurve youuuuuz!) then there isn't a huge pull to go to Union Square...although they DO have trains that make my commute back to the land of Queens infinitely easier...

Anywhoo, the first time I came here was to kill time before an event at a nearby wine shop. I was attracted to this place because of the name (AND IT'S CONNECTED TO ANOTHER BAR CALLED ICABOD'S WHICH IS EQUALLY AS AWESOMELY DECORATED!!) and because it has a really cool medieval dungeon-esque type vibe. I've got my nerdy, medieval dungeon-loving moments and I want to have a room that looks like this should I ever purchase a mansion...or castle...in Dublin :).

The second time I came here was this past Saturday afternoon's for a friend's non-profit group's Champion League finals viewing party. My boyfriend and I really enjoyed it and it was his first time here so I was happy that he also dug the overall ambience and vibe.

They let my friend's organization reserve the entire left side of the bar for their viewing party and set up a projected screen so that we could watch Real Madrid wipe the floor with Athletico (lol, guess who I was rooting for? ;-D) and since it wasn't too crowded it made for a fantastic venue to host their event.

Their Saturday happy hour was basically $6 drafts off their fantastically curated craft beer list (all of the drafts were included except for ones with **s, but it's cool - the ones I wanted had no asterisks, huzzah!).

Beers I had my second time around included a Sly Fox Wheat Beer which was delish had and notes of citrus, spices and coriander, 21st Amendment's Hell Or High Watermelon Wheat Beer (WHICH I LOVE AND WAS SUPER EXCITED TO SEE ON THEIR LIST! YAY SUMMER BEERS!!) and they were fresh out of Avery White Rascal - but that's cool, it happens. One thing that was funny to notice is that the better beers were cheaper than bottles of Corona...which my boy had a hankering for on this particularly summer-esque Saturday afternoon.

I still have yet to try the food here, but to be honest their gastropubby food selection DOES look yummylicious! Service here that day was also really on point, efficient and friendly - our waitress' name was Ashley and I made sure to get her name just so that I could shout her out here for being awesome. I'll definitely be back at some point for either soccer-watching with old soccer college buddies or for some yummy Hell of High Watermelon...

DO NOT GO SATURDAY NIGHT!

Not sure what else I could have expected but this place was miserable on a Saturday night. I left a star leeway because maybe I could have liked it at a different time. I thought it was more of a craft beer and food place rather than 13th grade.

Upon entering I saw NYU bros everywhere and after a brief attempt to get through the narrow opening I literally thought this was a gay bar and turned back to leave. There were dudes grinding on each other everywhere. Upon further inspection it was just dudes grinding on each other but in the "no homo" bro way. We were just there for a drink before our next stop so we decided to chug a beer, what a mistake that turned out to be...

Got a drink at the bar and bros pushed through people to get up to the bar in their drunken stooper and didn't even try to order a drink, just stood there! Small space so lots of shoving to get through a "crowd" and people being assholes in general. Lots of horrible dancing, bros on the prowl, girls were hit or miss, mostly miss.

Will come back during the day or early evening to try the food in a more chill setting, otherwise would avoid...

Yikes. Came in hungry and asked for the biggest appetizer. Bartender responded I could get "whatever you want." I said yes, but which appetizer had a larger portion? He repeated "whatever you want." I suppose he didn't understand me or didn't want to take the time to. It was about 4pm so it wasn't busy at all. I ordered the potato skins for $8 and got one small potato chopped up into four parts. You could get the same amount of food for a $2 slice of pizza. It was disappointing not only due to the size, but moreso because he hadn't answered my question. I ended up ordering the chili too for $9, which was a significantly larger portion. I've visited this bar other times and received good service so I'm not giving it one star, but wow, I suppose I've learned to not eat at a restaurant where my server can't answer a question about the food. If I visit again I'll reconsider my rating, but this wasn't...