Best Dive Bars in New York

Cool and trendy, one of Chinatown's original watering holes; in fact, a mainstay of the neighborhood for over 50 years. Listen to live music, or just chill out, play pool and enjoy the DJ.

This notoriously anonymous Brooklyn dive draws a lot of art students from nearby Pratt Institute and the usual neighborhood characters. Drinks are dirt cheap, so why not dive bar it Brooklyn style?

One of the oldest dive bars in New York, this West 27th Street locale is run by two employees, brothers Billy and Mark, who are the owners of the joint. Many New Yorkers call give this the prize for best dive bar in the city.

If you're downtown and like to hang out at a somewhat seedy basement dive bar, stop by here. The DJ's spin a wild variety of music. Botanica is probably best known for its location at the former site of the Knitting Factory.

Cherry Tavern serves up all the dive bar basics: cheap drinks, billiards, 70's décor, jukebox, low lighting—everything you can ask for in an East Village dive bar.

A temple of doom for the drinking crowd, Doc Hollidays is infamous for its low prices: PBR in a can ($2), Well Drinks ($4.50), Bud ($3.50) and Imports ($4). Have your meal in liquid form, stumble out afterwards if you can.

Boasting a bar up front, another in the cavernous, balconied back room, and a third in the basement area where bands play, Fontana's is surprisingly spacious for a Lower East Side dive bar. The décor here is bright and somewhat campy, curvy red-leather booths, pulp paintings of hot rods and busty babes on the walls. Attractive happy hour prices are reason enough to stop by here.

Heathers offers a wide range of beer, wine, and spirits and is a unique New York dive bar for offering beverages that specifically cater to patrons with gluten sensitivities. The bar also features a steady menu of DJ listening parties and live performances throughout the week.

A working man's bar, especially if the man's work is something masculine and gritty.

Owned by Polish-born babushka Lucy, who actually mans the bar most nights here, this bar has two billiards tables in back, a classic jukebox, and an overall friendly East Village clientele(heavily frequented by weekend warriors).

Mars Bar is as it always was: covered in graffiti from ceiling to floor, full of punks & drunks, local celebrities, NYU students, aging hippies and dreadlocked white pastas. Most happening after the midnight hour, the legendary jukebox has all the classics from the Dead Kennedys to the Clash and many others you haven't heard for two decades.

It doesn't get much divier than this tiny Brooklyn Heights bar. With its nautical décor, this place instantly transports you to another era, a time when sailors would walk in the door, pull out their pocket watches, and order their whiskeys. The experience of drinking here is nothing short of surreal.

O'Connor's Bar in Brooklyn gets the prize for the shabbiest dive bar in the borough. Located on the outskirts of Park Slope it is the dive bar where time has stood still (since 1931).

The Parkside Lounge has been slowly heating up for about four years now. If you move beyond the bar in the front, you'll see why. The back room hosts local New York rock bands, DJs, and cabaret shows. For up to date info on who is playing, just click on the schedule tab.

Free hot dogs, cheap pitchers of beer and bottom shelf liquor sounds good, have a seat next to Port Authority commuters and day laborers at this West Manhattan joint.

East Village bar that has survived many years of gentrification to remain a reliable dive. While the neighborhood around it slowly assume a feel of polished, modern urbanity, Sophie's stubbornly refuses to fit in, neither more...

The decor at this Nolita bar is nothing special but the bar service and music is first rate. What's more, it's a cool place to meet a youngish crowd of Manhattanites, although very crowded most weekends.

Formerly renowned as an epicenter of electro-clash club LUXX, the space has been fully renovated and altered to provide a superior music venue and complete DJ system with a warm, welcoming front room. Billiards and arcades are accompanied by truck stop kitsch and dirt cheap food. Trash additionally offers free tater tots with the purchase of any drink which can be accompanied by a hot dog for an extra 2 bucks.

The original down and out karaoke in Chinatown, Winnie's has been around since long before the hipsters discovered it. A fine way to get drunk or keep drunking after your big dinner south of Canal Street.