Crehan’s Pub

This bar is so strange yet… kinda of weirdly inviting. I have this obsession with always wanting to try new places when in Astoria, but end up becoming a regular at certain spots that are just awesome… like the wine bar where I went on my first (and most recent, haha) date with my beau. After dinner at said winebar we decided we didn’t want to pack it in and call it a night and so we decided to embark on a mini-​bar crawl… keep in mind that we’re old people now and so 3 bars in a row? Yep. That’s a crawl.
We’ve both walked by this bar several times and never gone or peeked in. It looks like a house and if it didn’t have a neon sign that said «BAR» or «Crehan’s Pub» written on the window in special white-​ink window marker — we wouldn’t even know it was a bar. Yet it fit the ideal profile of the place I wanted to hit up next…
* Have either of us ever been to it? Nope.
* Is it a bar? Yes.
* Is it open? Yes.
* Does it look stupid unaffordable? Nope.
* Is it really a bar? Yep.
Upon entering I said, «man — it’s crowded». I was being sarcastic and the bartender laughed because it was only her and another patron.
My man and I took up residence on two of their (many) empty stools and each ordered a Blue Moon. They have about 3 (maybe 4) beers on tap and none of them are out of this world, hence the Blue Moon (which I love, but face it — is the amateur’s craft beer choice cuz yanno, Blue Moon is owned by MillerCoors — still a fine beer, but BEER SNOB STEPH ALWAYS STRIKES)…in Crehan’s Pub’s defense they do have a wider bottled beer selection but still nothing that would satisfy BEER SNOB STEPH’S SNOBBY BEER NEEDS — but my Blue Moon was delish… although it did have a strange aftertaste that either signifies that because it’s winter and perhaps orange and coriander isn’t in season (yanno the way Sam Adams’ Cherry Wheat is always a liiiiitle bit off in the winter/​fall months) or because the tap wasn’t clean. My boyfriend thought it was «skunked» who knows.
$ 5 pints on a Friday night aren’t too shabby though so if you want cheap beer, awesome 90s tunes and a pool table ($ 1 pool! Who0t!) that you’ll probably never have to wait for since this bar doesn’t strike me as getting too crowded — then this is your place.
Friendly bartender too and as my boy and I were wrapping up our second pool game here it began to get more crowded (3 people all walked in alone, apparently knew each other and the bartender and all looked like they were from different walks of life… in an awesome way, like the Village People, lol) and it felt cool. Like Cheers… except everyone else knew each other’s names and we knew no one, lol.

You have to understand this about this rating: this rating of 4 stars fits relative to Crehan’s status as a dive bar. By itself, this is probably a 1 or 2-​star rating. But as dive bars go, it’s great.
I love me a good dive bar – cheap prices, bartenders who know how to bartend, and no nonsense. You have to be in the mood to go to a place like this, of course – depressed because you lost your job or because your wife left you, pre-​gaming or post-​gaming, or maybe you’re just in the mood for a few cheap beers.
This place is also a welcome sight for me because it’s hard to find a true bar in Astoria these days. There are too many bars that want to be college bars and/​or clubs. What’s also great about this place is that they actually have bar snacks on the table, a welcomed throwback. And it wasn’t even nuts or anything like that. That would be too classy. It looked like the bartender just went to the bodega across the street and got a couple of bags of Cheetos (crunchy, nice) and some Wise potato chips. I loved it.
This place also follows the lost of art of buying back drinks. Every second or third one will be on the house, depending on how long you’ve been there, how much you’ve been drinking, and whether or not the bartender likes you. Very few bars abide by this basic tenet of the bartender-​drinker relationship. I can’t say enough of the bartenders and their old-​school approach. They’re friendly and conversational without being too chatty, annoying, or invasive.
I feel like if I were a miserable drunk, this place would be my Cheers. This place is a throwback and a great place to start or end the night. Or your life.

Fun place! back yard, you can strum a guitar, play drinking games wth your friends. There are some bar fly’s buzzing around, but aren’t there always at cheap bars even swanky bars have there bar flys.
They buy back & maybe even buy you a shot.
enjoy ;)

Love this place!

Small, friendly, blue collar, neighborhood pub with a pool table and dart board. I agree with Rob’s comment: «There are dive bars, then there is Crehans.» I agree with this comment, but not his rating. I also agree with Brendan that this is «the real deal.» We didn’t go to get «blotto.» We went to shoot pool and had an enjoyable time.

Decent dive bar. Shut up and drink, and you won’t pay too much.

There are dive bars, then there is Crehans– the empty bar you have to pick up your deadbeat dad from after he spent the rent money on hookers and blow.
This place is beyond depressing.
I walked in with a group of friends and the bartender put us to work moving a pool table. They had to make room for the DJ. Was it worth a free Coors Light? Probably not.
If you’ve given up on a relationship, bring your date here to show her how much you really love her.

Some nights it’s great. Eve knows how to make drinks! Here’s the thing though, too many fights. Seriously too many fights. It’s quite amusing when a bunch of guys go into the bathroom together to do blow. Really incognito lol.

If you want the full townie-​bar experience, Crehan’s is the real deal. Filled with hard-​core drunks and «local color,» this dim and no-​frills approach to drinking is a welcome contrast to the dressed-​up and hollow nightspots that seem to have cropped up like dandelions as of late.
At any rate, if your mission is to get blotto and not have to rub shoulders with a bunch of smarmy twits, this is the spot for you. Cheap drinks. No pretense. Plentiful buy backs.

things that currently make sthis place great are that its not populated by dude-bro’s, and that I can crawl home from here.
things that would make it more memorable… well I guess I will go back and tell you next time. to be fair, i’ve only been in here once.
more later…

Crehan’s earns two stars because if a buddy invited me out for a drink, said he way paying and then told me we were heading to Crehan’s, I probably wouldn’t say no.
I guess my biggest beef with the place is that it is nearby by two other, peferable and much better Irish bars: Doyle’s Corner and The Quays. It’s the low brow version of the other watering holes. The Skeet Ulrich to their Johnny Depp. The cheap Snuggie to the quality Slanket. The Praado to Prada. You get the point.
The bar is small and dim. The crowd is not exactly the outgoing sort. The bartenders are indeed cordial and friendly, but I’m always on my toes when I’m inside because I feel like at any time I’m going to say the wrong thing and the record player is going to come to a screeching halt.
Most importantly, the bar committed one of my cardinal transgression last Saturday night. I walk in and ordered two Baileys. The bartender pours me instead the noticeably cheaper Emmit’s Irish Cream. No problem. It happens. I stop her before the liquid hits the glass to object only to hear they have no Baileys. Only Emmit’s. Its okay if that’s all you have (surprising, but okay), but to try and pass one off as the other? Bad form, Crehan’s, Bad Form

This is a continuation of Dani’s review because I can picture her perspective to the «T». This is definitely not a young crowd spot and crowd all have eagle eyes. But this place is cozy and the drinks are poured heavily! If you’re looking for a spot to drink your brains. This is the spot because the bartenders are usually twice as hammered as you!

This pub is one of those hit or miss places. Sometimes we go in there and it’s empty, sometimes it’s filled with drunken old men who are singing along to Sabbath at the top of their lungs.
The place is relatively small but cozy and the older (female) bartenders are really cool (especially Linda who is my favorite). I usually stick to mixed drinks because they don’t carry any of the beers I normally drink (Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, Yuengling).
I’ve yet to be here late at night (or late on the weekends) so I’m not sure how high the jerk flag would fly. If you’re an attractive woman make sure you bring your brother or boyfriend, or be prepared to make a lot of friends once stepping inside.