Winnie’s Bar — Restaurant in New York

I would honestly say that this is one of the worst experiences my friends and I have had going to a bar in NYC. They start off by awkwardly demanding ids at the bar and giving attitude the minute you walk in. My friend went to get us a round of shots and the male bartender was accusing her of not tipping (she handed him $40 for the shots and $ for the song) he came back and said that he didn’t see tip money and that both transactions were separate. She ended up giving him $10 but automatically assumed that we weren’t going to tip ???

I then go up and ask for a cup of water he says it’s going to be $2. I questioned why he was charging for water and he gave extreme attitude and was basically ignoring me. I went and got $2 and he literally pocketed it and got a mason jar with luke warm tap water. I have never been to a bar that charges for a glass of tap water. Also, it took me maybe a solid 10 minutes of standing at the bar with him blatantly ignoring me to ask for the water (for context there were literally 3 people at the bar and it was not crowded at all).

To top off the night as my friends song finally came on he made one of his little friends who was hanging out at the bar make an announcement to tip your bartenders?? As if we hadn’t already tipped them about $15 with everything and they were still rude af to us. We all immediately got up and left because of the absolute sour taste it left.

Moral of the story this place sucks. Could see the potential if maybe they had decent humans working, some working air conditioning, and didn’t charge $2 for nyc tap water then pocket it? Maybe pick better bartenders who don’t suck. Come to Winnie’s if you want to have a horrible time!

We ended up going to UpStairs Bar about 5 mins away and had the time of our lives and closed the bar down. They had food the drinks were bomb and not crazy expensive and the owners were awesome and didn’t treat you like a mf city rat like the bartenders at Winnie’s do.

Maybe think before you go...

Honestly, I came here because of all the reviews about the bartender/karaoke mgr and he did not disappoint, lol. He was FANTASTIC! His "attitude" was actually a part of the charm and matched the dive bar aesthetics. My cousins and I called him "The Legend."

He's totally himself. If you act annoying he'll check you. And if you come in good spirit, he'll dap you up. That authentic behavior made the whole bar feel like a large group of old friends turning up! Too real, lol.

Plus he and the security guy (we called him Bruce Lee, cause he had a Bruce Lee shirt on) can SANG and they didn't mind lending us background vocals. I mean they can SANG!

We got there around 9p when it just opened and watched the spot fill up pretty quickly. So I'd suggest coming in early if you want to vibe with The Legend and Bruce Lee. Let The Legend run the show and do his thing (have fun with it. smile and don't argue. This ain't Chik Fil A). And you'll have...

I really want to like this place since the owner is so nice but the way we were treated was not okay.

They don’t have a bouncer checking ID’s so instead a bartender yells at you like they think you’re stupid until you realize they are calling you. Listen I live here and have for a very long time. I go to Chinatown a lot…no one has ever checked ID’s like that. Also the bartender that everyone else is mentioning in reviews is just mean. He treated us like children and spoke down to me like I was an idiot. I was being very nice, I was even bussing our table so he wouldn’t be mad and he still found something to reprimand me for. Half the time the mic didn’t work other times the same songs were just playing on repeat because no one was paying attention. I won’t be going back but I do understand the charm of the place. Oh ALSO the air con does not work I was so sweaty by the...