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119 Bar

119 E 15th Street (Irving Place & E Union Square) Transit: 4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, W to Union Square

(212) 995-5904

Tucker Max says he hopes they serve beer in hell. Well, they do. The only problem is that they serve it at Dave & Busters, which means that the suds are overpriced and you’re surrounded by screaming video games. Heaven, however, is full of dives. Though their patrons aren’t much to look at and the televisions aren’t high definition, nobody cares. They had their entire earthly lives to stare at screens and lust after people they’d never be able to sleep with, so they come to dives for someone to talk to.

119 Bar has taken that minimalist aesthetic to its logical conclusion. There’s virtually nothing to do here besides drink, play pool, talk and eat Zapp’s BBQ potato chips. The walls are barren save for a poster of Frank Sinatra’s mug shot, and the TV above the bar is left off, save for Mets and Giants games. “People get too distracted by television,” the bartender told me. “They tend to just stare at it.”

Though it is dark and the windows are obscured by thick curtains, 119 is a clean establishment: the tables are wiped, the floor swept. And while the seats and Chaise lounge may have foam showing, and the tables may feature graffiti on top of other graffiti, it’s still a very sanitary type of disorder.

As in heaven, 119 Bar treats you to random, arbitrary discounts. When I ordered a pair of Jack and ginger ales the bartender had a moment of contemplation. “It would normally be $12,” he said, “but we’ll just say 10.”

Dive Bar Rating