Elite Event: Joe’s Bar

Great vibe. Expect to wait for your burger, but always well worth it. Grab a seat at the bar… Great team working here. 70’s all the way — décor, drinks, feel.

Great Unilocal event which was a smaller group in our own cozy back area. Wonderful to catch up with old Unilocalers and the new. The bar here in the Upper west side was a good spot for a local watering hole. The owner gave us a great description of the theme and what they were trying to do in the neighborhood with their bar. Providing local beers and special cocktails. It’s a large spot so nice enough room for groups or just a drink after work. The highlight though is definitely the burgers. They have their own burger blend and it’s delicious. Right amount of beef to bun and accompanying fillings. Fillings matched well with the beers. Great event as always and thanks to ruggy for bringing it together.

Just plain awesome. The décor is great (loved the cat pic on the wall), the servers were quite friendly & while their draw is burgers, they also have a very good chicken quesadilla (not listed officially on the menu but the server told me about it so I decided to go for it, oddball that I am). I had the Skywalker (still not sure if my ice cubes in it were green or that was just my eyes playing tricks on me) and the Disco Revival (which I swear tasted like something I’ve had before but I can’t put my finger on it); I’m not a big drinker but they were pretty good & my not being able to finish was simply my low alcohol tolerance.
Fun people to talk to here as well & I got to have more conversations than I have at other Manhattan Elite events. Definitely a relaxed atmosphere & the décor is even more interesting when you go near the front; the ‘70s theme comes out more there. By the way, huge portions. The fries and pickles were awesome. If I were in this area, I’d come here or recommend it to others.

Have you ever walked into a new place, and felt like you’ve been there before or that you’ve been going there all your life? We’ll that is exactly how I felt at Joe’s Bar, an amazing new space located in the Upper West Side. As I munched on perfectly crisp french fries, tasty pickles, and a ginormous juicy medium rare bacon cheeseburger, I thought to myself this place is an instant classic and will surely become a staple of the neighborhood. This place is covered head to toe in good vibes starting from the great servers, wonderful bartenders, right down to the corky art on the wall and comfy décor.
Thanks to the team at Joe’s Bar and Unilocal (Ruggy) for introducing us to what I can already tell will be a successful and classic establishment of the UWS.

TL;DR Great Burger. Greater Mint Julip. Good Milk Stout. Great company.
First thing I did was grab a Milk Stout cause I figured it had some calcium.
Second thing I did was notice that this was a great chill out bar for locals. It was unpretentious and had laid back staff.
The mint julip was delicious especially for a warm day. So good that I had two (who said sugary cocktails are just for the ladies? Not VINNY C!!)
The burger was great! the beef stands great on its own and as the owner said, they don’t do much to it since the beef is such great quality. I would suggest they put the raw onion to the side, don’t serve it with the burger, or cook the onion au naturel cause the raw onion over powered the deliciousness of the beef. I took it out and the burger tasted like it was made for a king.
Met some great Unilocalers (seriously this Unilocal community thing is for real), and the staff was awesome especially the woman who was serving us all night. She must’ve went to some fancy british butler school for holding that section down.
Not bad for my first Manhattan Elite event as an official Elite Unilocaler!

I really enjoyed this event. The space was really cool, the limited guestlist created an intimate gathering to get to easily know other Unilocalers, the staff took great care of us, and the owner seemed passionate about his new establishment.
The drink menu is vast, creative, delicious, and strong! And, although the food menu is limited, the quality of the seemingly-​simple offerings (i.e., burgers and fries) delivered well for the limited options.
It was also nice to be on the UWS, since its so easy for me to get home! lol. I enjoyed making new Unilocal friends.
I would certainly return!
Thanks Rugs for another great event!

What can i say!
Awesome venue — awesome space! The burgers here are great! The drinks are tasty!
Thanks everyone for making this event possible!

Pros:
* Beautiful, comfortable and spacious décor filled with nostalgic 70s eclectic knickknacks. Love the semi-​private back space that we occupied that is great for medium-​sized parties
* Super fun event where there were fewer people and thus was more intimate and cozy!
* Delicious cocktails– since I’m a fan of fruitier drinks my favorite was the Night Fever (Vodka, Raspberry Cordial, Campari, Carpano, Lime). The highly recommended Triple Crown (Mint Julep) was unique in flavor and came out very floral and perfum-​ey, so personally I felt wasn’t as superior Night Fever
* My medium rare Bacon Cheeseburger was gigantic with its patty juicy, tender, and packed with tons of flavor. Only qualm was that the bottom bread bun was soggy and soaked in oil– hope there’s a workaround for this
* Excellent Fries and Pickles
* Attentive and friendly staff — our lovely waitress always kept tabs on us and made sure we were well-​fed and happy customers
Cons:
* The Margarita Cupcake was too dry
Thank you Ruggy and Joe for throwing an awesome event!

This place definitely took me by surprise! It reminded me of a bar in college with it’s relaxed vibes and cozy lighting. Joe’s Bar is not only a regular pub but has great cocktails as well. The cocktails were delicious and strong. My favorite was the Golden Crown, so fresh like a light frozen margarita! The food was awesome as well and definitely affordable! I would definitely return here if I’m in the area for a relaxed drinking session with friends!
This was my first Unilocal members only event and it was awesome! Thanks Ruggy for the invite!

This place is solid all around. Great addition to the neighborhood. Great décor/​vibe without being pretentious. The staff was friendly and gave excellent recommendations on cocktails. My fave of the night was the Disco Revival. All of the drink names were a throwback to the 70’s. The drinks were strong too!
The fries and pickles were nice to munch on before the burgers came out. I would definitely recommend both. The star of the night was, however, the burger! The meat was a combo of chuck, short ribs, and brisket. MOUTHWATERING! Really, it didn’t even need any sauce. The cheese was nothing special but definitely added to the flavor! I was stuffed after but managed to fit in the margarita cupcake. The frosting was spectacular.
This was an intimate Unilocal Elite event which made me feel like I really got a good feel for Joe’s. I will definitely be back. I enjoyed meeting fellow Unilocalers who made this event even more memorable. Shout out to Ruggy and the folks from Joe’s, you guys nailed it.

My first Unilocal Elite event! I came in thinking I wasn’t going to stay for long because I wasn’t feeling super well, but the venue was great and the company was awesome.
I didn’t have any alcohol, but my table mates raved about all of the drinks they had. The food was fantastic — I loved the fries in particular (especially since mayo was one of their dipping sauce options!). The burgers were HUGE and really delicious, and they only cost somewhere between 9 and 11 bucks depending on what kind you get, which is almost unheard of in most restaurant settings.
Ambiance is cool and laid-​back, and the service was wonderful — all of the servers we talked to were friendly and helpful, and food/​drinks came out pretty quickly after ordering. I also appreciated that it was a pretty small event (maybe 20 – 30 people), which made it feel more like a cozy dinner than a cocktail reception/​mingling, and gave me the opportunity to meet some other Elites.
Props to Ruggy and the team at Joe’s — thanks for a great first Elite event experience! Would definitely recommend this place.

Great location–
Great intimate space for an event. You got a chance to mingle yet not feel overwhelmed. The mgr/​host was friendly and shared info about this awesome place– the drinks were unique and executed well. Not overly strong — not overly sweet. The walls have art/​photos from the 70s incl a cool pic of the old red robin subway trains. (miss those trains) our waitress was fast– efficient and kind, we never had an empty glass.
Pickles and fries were spot on–
The burgers here are UNIQUE. it’s three blends of meat and it’s like no other.
Loved spending a beautiful Monday night here– will be back!
Thanks Ruggy!