Wattli Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in New York

You immediately get a "Cheers" cozy vibe walking in this bar. It did help that the night my friend and I dined in, they were having "Karaoke night" featuring a lot of regular folks in the neighborhood. I learned that the establishment's name comes from the joining of the 2 owners last names. All the staff here was very friendly and attentive. The service wasn't lacking. The bar also felt spacious so you didn't feel like you were piling onto other people.

Drinks: We loved the bartender. I enjoyed the pineapple mule and my friend had the spicy coconut mojito. The drinks were simple but delicious. He was also flexible with changing the contents in each drink or playing around with the ingredients. I could hang out here just for the bar alone.

Food: We started out by sharing the large wings. They come out in a good size with a crispy skin. I then had the pan seared salmon with white rice and veggies. I felt the salmon had a good sear. The rice could have used a nice gravy to marry the salmon with. My friend had the lime Shrimp rice bowl which she said was good. We were rewarded at the end by a generous slice of chocolate cake served by one of the owners. What a nice surprise!

Great portion size and reasonable prices. Overall, the food here is solid and I could see myself returning to try...

I was very excited to see a new bar open in the neighborhood and got to check it out a few weeks after they'd opened. First, I love the decor and really love that they have a little outdoor seating space (to the side of restaurant--you don't see it from the street). It definitely feels like a fun place to grab a drink and hang out. We'd already eaten but did try their appetizer plate and the food was good. Our cocktails were tasty. I'm exciting to see how they evolve as a restaurant and I would definitely recommend it stopping by.

My one complaint (and this is a complaint I frequently have) is that their cocktail menu is too small. They have a fully stocked bar, so I'm sure they could make whatever I'd want, and the cocktails they did have listed included some fun house made ingredients. Still, it can be too easy to default to your basic cocktails (not that there is anything wrong with a good Manhattan, but I can make that at home) if you don't see something that speaks to you on the menu. I really appreciate it when bars go through the effort of laying out more options through a lengthier cocktail menu. Given how new the restaurant is, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd already added things since I last went though. Regardless, I look forward to grabbing a drink and sitting outside...

We've been here twice: once shortly after they opened and then just a few days ago. Hard to capture just how disappointing this place is. Great location, reasonably good service, yes. Run down and cluttered interior. Years ago it was so many throw pillows you couldn't breathe. This latest visit was all kinds of random items out in the open taking up space, it felt like we were inside a storage closet. The local brew beer was simply undrinkable. The food was simply soggy and sad (appetizer sampler). The thing that gets me is that this COULD be a simple dive bar, but totally lacks the focus or discipline to be that. This place hurts me every time I walk by it now. Why not a kitschy margarita bar? Or a REAL dive bar? Or even a laundromat? Any of these would be miles better then the reality of Wattli.

P.S. What is up with all these weird and seemingly scripted "it's like Cheers, everyone knows your name!" and "the food was scrumptious!" Are you bots?...