2A

Love 2A! So nice to see you again.
Truth is, I’ve loved 2A since 1996 when I made my first visit here. Alphabet City was a lot different back then. Not like 1970s different, but certainly not like it is today. What’s great about a place like 2A is its staying power. In a City where change is a constant and gentrification is a runaway train, 2A is one of the few anchors that can bring me back to my City-​living days of the 90s. And boy, were those some days! It’s remarkable I can even remember as much as I do.
2A is a dive, in the best sense of the word. Its strategic location on the corner of 2^nd Avenue and Avenue A (duh) allows the tight space to feel more spacious thanks to lots and lots of big windows on the front and side of the building. Snag a stool up front on the corner of the bar, and you’ll be set for a long night of stiff drinks and some of the best character watching in the City. Like any good dive, you can count on a lot of interesting drunk people stumbling in and out of the door.
Service is fast and friendly. And despite the rough-​and-​tumble nature of the place, you won’t find any pretentiousness or people starting trouble here. It’s a neighborhood bar, filled with cool neighborhood peeps and those who once lived here and want to relive some of the good old days.
Love me some 2A!

If I could give this place –5 stars I would. The bar itself is sticky, stinky and vile-​almost like a caricature of a gross dive. The drinks are overpriced for what they are and the worst-​the bartender is offensively rude. I’ll readily forgive poor service because I’m a normal human being with eyes and powers of perception and the world is not a perfect place where everything happens the way you want it to. Things happen. But when someone is just outright rude and mean for no reason, it is unacceptable. This neighborhood though, and all the bars in it with few exception, is a bro-​tastic nightmare nowadays anyway, so I’m choosing to see that as karmic justice. Have fun with the bros.

Love the bar! Love the David bartender –David! Great dive bar … Rock it! Not too far from city .,. Good drinks good times !

Was having a good time at a friend’s birthday until my friend went across the street to the ATM after the bar tender alerted us of a minimum. We came back to pay and my friend asked politely if he would mind pouring her a new beer since the one he originally poured had been left unattended while we were gone (about 10 mins). He laughed in our face and insisted she was drinking that beer. His reaction was appalling and I am still in shock that a bar tender would treat a customer this way — actually shocked anyone would treat a young girl asking for a completely realistic request this way. He motioned to the bouncer (who sided with us and told us to ignore him) to try to kick us out. Proceeded to pour her another beer and mock her to all of the other people at the bar. Forced her to take it after she already insisted it was okay and she would just not drink. We had walked away because we weren’t going to stoop to his idiotic, immature level. I can’t emphasize how shocking the whole situation was. He continued to gossip to other patron and employees. One suggested actually hitting her. This man should be FIRED immediately, and his manager should formally apologize to my friend for how poorly she was treated for absolutely no reason. If you have ANY morals at all, I would avoid this place entirely. The WORST service I have ever received in New York City and in my life. Still in shock.

Pretty good drinks, ok service, ok prices. Not too busy. There’s an annoyingly bright light under the bar, and if you sit on the bench looking to the person sat next to you it will be glaring in your eye. That’s made my mind up when I was hovering on the 3 vs 4 stars border!

This place is a meeting spot.
Cross between truck stop and wall to wall Starbucks-​like Windows. Tables in back are cramped for long limbed guys. Well-​stocked bar, tended by dude in a Budweiser cap. Sticky floors. Paid $ 16 for shot of Wild Turkey + beer.
Across from apartment projects. Drank from a chipped, non-​full glass.

This review refers to Berlin, 2A’s underground bar/​venue (I think it belongs to 2A).
I went to the X-​Rated Panty party on Halloween night, 2015. I arrived around 1:30am. The music was great and I danced for a good amount of time.
My biggest qualm was with the bartender (although I know her name, I won’t state it here). I opened a tab and got a Red Stripe and a water. About 20 minutes later, I came back to the bar and the same bartender asked what I wanted. I said two vodka tonics and I told her I had a tab and I told her my full name. She stared at me for about four seconds. Then she asked what drinks I wanted and I told her again. Then she asked for my name and I told her again. She stared at me for a few seconds, at first, stone faced. Then she raised one eyebrow. I felt a few different things that were all uncomfortable. It was like being at a job interview where the alpha interviewer sits and stares at the interviewee, obligating the person to sweat and divulge more and more information. Also, the way she looked at me, it’s as if I asked, «Hey, is it cool if I take a dump right here on the bar?» She brought the drinks promptly. I came back about 20 minutes later and ordered two more vodka tonics. She was prompt. My friend and I sipped our drinks, which turned out to be seltzer with trace amounts of vodka. I didn’t return the drinks. I saw an acquaintance order drinks from her. I asked him if she was rude to him. He said she seemed angry at him.
So no big smoking gun – a very rude bartender on a crazy busy night. But I have had interactions with bartenders on busier occasions and they were either nice or neutral. The bartender seemed to take pains to communicate that 1) she was angry and 2) she thought I was an idiot – these would probably not be a deal breakers for anyone. It’s unlikely she had a personal vendetta against me, although it felt that way because I’m hyper sensitive. So this is mostly a warning to the hyper sensitive. I will never go back to that bar again.

Used to be my local. Used to be pretty evil. Solid happy hour. I miss Beatrice.

Came here last year for my birthday and had a blast. The views from the upstairs are really nice and the dj was on point with the hip hop music. My group also must have got there at the perfect time because we snagged a bunch of couches to ourselves which was perfect for dancing and socializing.

Ugh. Another one bites the dust. Used to be a cool place. Not so much any more. Certain bartenders are a$$holes. Comedy club in the basement now with a second bouncer to make sure you look cool enuf?! Been coming to this joint for 15 yrs. Not liking it these days.

Very chill bar. I’d never heard of it until we did an indie improv show here (hint: check out the upstairs area for events). All types of people hanging around. There’s a few decent beers on tap, such as Bronx Pale Ale, and they do 2-​for-​1 with the tokens. A good place to chat with friends and catch up.

No nonsense, zero attitude by the bartenders, good music (sometimes even live), solid drinks and decent prices (I’ve even gotten buybacks here). It’s not a cool hip spot, but I prefer the places that don’t try too hard, so whenever I am in the neighborhood, this is my bar of choice.

Not much to say about this bar except don’t waste your time going to it. It’s only cash for happy hour and my glass was dirty which was disgusting. There are pretty much no lights and it was freezing in there which doesn’t make it very comfortable for drinking. There aren’t many choices on tap and I didn’t see a menu anywhere making it clear what they did have. The staff also isn’t very friendly. Again, don’t waste your time going to this bar.

I used to love this place and would go regularly but the employees here sometimes are the RUDEST bunch of people… I swear. There are waaaaaaaaaaaay too many bars in the lower east side to even bother popping in here just to see if the heinous people are working.
Seriously. Skip this place.

Great bar that we stumbled into recently. Only spent time on the first floor– but had good beer on tap & the bartender was super nice.
Would suggest if you’re in the area

Attended an event upstairs; tipped bartender very generously and he seemed nice initially. But then he became far too eager to manage patrons and their behaviors. This is a bar, not a kindergarten playground. Let loose man. The upstairs is nice and spacious (went on a Thursday), but was unimpressed by karoake arrangement. Machine messed up songs badly, and there were like 4 of us singing. Crowd was a friendly lot though.

I bookmarked this place weeks ago and finally got a chance to check out the place myself.
Sadly, I came AFTER Happy Hour but you know I’m coming back here on another day to take advantage of their cheap beers.
You already know.
I’m not sure if they check IDs all the time but for weekends they do have a bouncer that does just that.
First floor is much more chillax almost like a dive-​y speakeasy if you can even call it that.
Second floor is the party floor where they be spinning those classic Hip-​Hop beats and ones that only your momma would know. I didn’t really care for the tunes to be honest but the vibe was good. It is also an excellent spot to grab a drink and people watch mostly on the second floor but the windows on the first floor is wide and clear enough to do people watching as well.
Service — Drinks were being pumped out like a club by the upstairs bartender so you know you getting your drink promptly. It was more packed at the bar upstairs versus downstairs or any other area of this 2 floor space for that matter.
For a Saturday night it was just the right amount of people and I easily found a seat and just watched sexy people walk by. For some reason that ignited my creative side and I pretty much starting memo-​ing down stories to write later.
Good stuff.
Clientele — were very mixed. I don’t just mean racially, but also type. You can find anyone from single mom to Wall Street dirt bag to sexy hipster.
If the first floor cracks up to be a good time as well then this might very well be a new regular rotation for me.

I came to the upstairs bar and had a couple of drinks. I do like the full-​sized windows that afford a view of the street corner. Homeless people, crazy bikers and hipsters are part of the scenery of this part of town. The second floor affords some semblance of quietude for conversation, but then the DJ came onboard and had made some really disruptive transitions and questionable volume settings that sort of threw off the experience.

Walking the streets with my cousin I spotted a sidewalk sign that said «90’s hip-​hop upstairs» I’m all in! So we walked into the bar and the first floor is a completely different crowd. I spotted like 40 year olds. idk… But the second floor, which is called 2A is a gem! We walk to the second floor and I was serenaded with 90’s hip-​hop like the sign said. There was live painting going on by like 3 artist. While they painted I was groovin’. Then there was an impromptu «burlesque not burlesque» show by these 4 women dancing about student loans lol… idk about that lol really random, it was cute and only lasted about 10mins so no reason to be bored. They have comfy couches that I sat on. But this place is not big at all!!! So find a good spot and hold on to it! Thank goodness I got a seat. I’ll be back!

Sweet spot! Sleek, dark, sexy little interior with music popping upstairs.
I was surprised, as I wasn’t sure what to expect when invited there. I suppose I expected something a bit grungier. I was very pleased.
And lucky me, I didn’t seem to get the «asshole bartender» some people were bemoaning about. He was friendly, Marc Maron-​esque in appearance, and made the perfect rum and ginger ale.
I’d go back! I’m already adding it to my mental list of chill bars to perhaps spend my next birthday at…