NYC Bar Recommendations For A Birthday Hang

The Jeffrey. Really great food, people as well as great beer.

 

The Ginger Man

 

Check out Fools Gold. More space and a proper kitchen. Same owner as the Jeffrey. Plus you can walk to a few other spots like One Mile House, Top Hops, or Proletariat if you want post dinner beers.

 

For a place with a good food and beer combo I'd say:

Torst / Luksus
Gramercy Tavern
One Mile House
Fool's Gold
Blind Tiger

 

I'll agree with this. The back room is a great little place for a gathering.

 

The best places that offer the right combination of good beer / good food / enough space for a bunch of people to hang out:

One mile house
Fool's gold

 

gonna throw in another vote for fools gold. biased because I live close, but great taplist, generally not stupid busy, and very good food.

 

I agree with the Fool's Gold recs. Good call there.

Not sure where you live or how far you want to trek, but Bronx Ale House has decent house. Jacob's Pickles and Dinosaur Bar-B-Q have great food and pretty good beer options. Maybe not a place to expect a sit-down dinner and such, but Astoria Bier and Cheese has great beer and ridiculously good lighter fare.

Also, Rattle n Hum has some food I've enjoyed (Shepherd's pie is worth a run).

 

Damn - was just about to take it a step further and suggest you guys hang out at 11MP. Fairly solid food/beer combo there...

 

Yeah, $100 is a lot an maybe not you were looking for but figured I'd throw it out there. I've eaten at Luksus a few times now and it's well worth the price. Only $45 for the beer pairing and they always are generous with the pours when you order it.

 

And in (my part of) Brooklyn I'd throw Threes and Double Windsor in there. Although the latter could involve a little wait / clever maneuvering for tables if there's a big group of you and you're there on a Friday/Saturday night.

 

Jacob's pickles (based on the opinion of people I know) seems to illicit love or hate responses. Maybe if you're from the south, it doesn't cut it. But since I haven't got a clue about "real" southern cooking I love that place. Although there's always a decent amount of self-loathing after the chicken, biscuits, grits and sausage gravy. With the side of bacon. And the bloody BLT. And a couple beers...

 

Personally, I think Blind Tiger's food is much better than the beer bar norm. It's my choice for great beer and food. The one major snag is that you can't eat food and drink beer if you're standing shoulder to shoulder. You'll need to go at an off time to ensure a table.

 

DBGB is usually my recommendation for something like this.

 

Any decent birthday gathering needs a few Gwar flashbacks.

 

Serious answer: then skip Ginger Man as well. I've never eaten at any of the Alewife family of bars, but they often get praise for this and most of the recommendations here are in line with that. You can also consider bars that don't get any attention for their beer list or food, but are solid... just not spectacular... and will have a more accommodating space. Something like Draught 55. Check out their beer list, menu, and interior photos online.

 

A couple of years ago I would have totally agreed with BT.

However - I haven't eaten there for a while, but assuming the food hasn't changed for the worse, I still wouldn't go because the beer selection is often uninspiring these days, and more importantly it's all too often crammed full of dickheads.

If you were doing this on a Tuesday lunchtime, then maybe. If by Thursday you mean Thursday night, personally I'd be wary of going. Last time I went was on a Thursday night about 6 weeks ago. Rammed.