Boat Bar

This is about the best rival to Montero and Sunny’s I’ve seen in this neighborhood. Like I would know… I’m just some schmuck from LA who had an ex in Carroll Gardens. But I’ve done my share of bar hopping around Cobble Hill and Red Hook, and this could rank with some of the best dive bars in San Pedro (our version of Red Hook… or is it our version of Bayonne?) Good service, good pours, and just enough ugly to keep out the really pretty people who decided to move to Brooklyn.

Wow, I thought I knew Smith St. and all the regular places to drink, but once again, my mentor/​guru shows me a place I didn’t know about. Apparently, Boat Bar has been here well before the area was considered hip and cool.
We’ve been stumbling around BoCoCa for the evening, eating dinner, attending a holiday party, and this is the third stop of the night and it’s not even 11pm.
I enjoy simple places with decent ambiance and good beers. Décor is rather interesting. There’s one mannequin leg hanging from the wall, and the lights in here are all different colors, dimly lit, reminds of modern day brothel lighting?
Drinks are fabulously cheap, you can’t even get those prices at happy hour in Manhattan. We’ve been drinking quite a bit all night, and we aren’t spring chickens anymore, time to slow down. We both settle on Blue Point Toasted Lager ($ 6/​pint), solid every time.
There was a Ms. Pac Man cocktail table and I was tempted to play, and maybe I will the next time I come here…
Nice way to end the evening, having a beer with a kindred spirit, the place helped to make my weeknight wonderfully fun and fulfilling.

I’m a total regular here now. Suzy is the best bartender ever. Don’t forget to tip! Anyone can come here and fit in. No snobs here (and if they come in, they’re usually turned off by the laid back demeanor). Good for a date, or to go alone and have a drink and meet someone. They even let you bring in food, so long as you’re not messy and clean up after yourself. I’ve come here in the evening to wind down, with a book and drink and I’ve also come here to party with friends/​family. It’s that kind of bar. Drinks are so affordable and never watered down.
**The music is really great and they take requests (don’t abuse the system!) My mom and I were hear Saturday and she nicely asked Suzy if she had any James Brown and sure enough, Suzy played some James Brown.

It’s not everyday that a dive bar gets five stars, but what can I say. I’m a regular and Boat bar never disappoints.
Let’s start by the wondeful fact that all the bartenders are female. Ok, you’ve already won me over. What’s more they’re badass & know how to hold down the roof. And I’ve seen a few crazies walking in here at 2am. :)
For my money go for the bluepoint. It’s like the pinnacle of beer making. But of course they have a full bar, of rums & ryes, gins & vodkas for you liquor lovers.
Sadly the jukebox has been broken for a while. But you can always make requests or plug in your smartphone. :)

Pretty cool vibe here. Just a regular solid dive bar to go to. The 3 stars are for the relaxing and laid back feel here.
I took one star off for poor service. My boyfriend and I waited for a good 5 minutes to order drinks while the female bartender chit-​chatted with another customer, clearly too interested in her own conversation to pay attention to us staring her down waiting to order drinks. Keep in mind, it’s a rainy Saturday night and not too many people at the bar.
Another star was removed for the bartender rudeness. Some friends showed up to join me and my boyfriend; one friend ordered a Budweiser, tasted it, and immediately realized it was skunk. When he looked at the label, he noticed it said it was from 2013 – over 2 years old. He brought it to the bartender’s attention and he was given one from this year. when my boyfriend later went to get a Budweiser, the bartender made a joke about whether he wanted a two year old beer like the one he gave our friend, to which he obviously said no. Well later when one friend went to get another Budweiser, the same joke was made but he was still given a 2 year old beer. When he went to go ask for a new one, the female bartender came back with an attitude declaring that maybe he should be ordering something else – knowing that someone from our group had previously asked for a non-​2-​year-​old beer.
Additionally, who I am assuming is a bus boy is super great with clearing off tables when glasses are empty – not in a hovering manner – which is great!

I live off Smith Street, and there are tons of bars here. This one is the best because it doesn’t even try. They call it the boat bar, because it has a model of a small boat over the bar, but they also have a broken leg of a mannequin, a mirror and other random objects, so it could’ve well been called Broken Leg bar, or Mirror Bar, or Have a Bathroom bar…
They don’t repair their couches by anything other than duct tape, and that’s what makes this place super comfortable, not to sit in, but to go just a little distance from your worries. Only on weekdays though. Weeknights they crank up the volume, and defeat themselves.
Also, the music is amazing, because it’s not generally a random ass Pandora station but is the music of the bartenders, curated by and for a person who you get to know without even talking to them, although you can talk to them as well.

Good dive bar to lay low in, with what’s pretty much a gentrified to the max part of bk place is nothing special but you can sit down and play videogames built into the tabletop and slurp a few drinks down. Sometimes you need to be drinking in a place like this.

Always plays good Motown, oldies, throwbacks. Sexy red lighting. Never had to wait long for a drink and the prices are more than reasonable. Crowd is very rarely rowdy. Definitely my go to bar in the neighborhood.

Good solid dive. A little hipster on the weekends, and I think I prefer Bar Great Harry for their happy hour specials, but still a fun, casual vibe. One star docked for no longer having that impressive jukebox — get it together, guys, the music in there was incredible!

I love a good dive bar. Seriously, I make a point of finding them everywhere I end up; be it San Francisco, San Juan (yes, there are dive bars in San Juan), or Dublin, I like nothing more than finding a stool in a rundown joint serving up cheap beer, full of local characters (to be fair though, what’s not to love). Boat Bar is no exception, it was love at first pint (insert cheesy sitcom joke music here). Honestly the only reason it’s taken me so long to write a review of this gem of a dive, is that I normally can’t remember being in here (far and away one of my favorite night cap bars in Brooklyn).
Walking up to Boat Bar, you’ll notice the row of red nautical themed lights a-​calling you in. listen to them. Especially listen to them if it’s between 5 – 8, as you’ll find some of the best draft beers you could ask for being served for 4 $ a pint (we’re talking Sixpoint Bengali, and Blue Point Toasted Lager). Once inside, you’ll be struck by the wonderful rundowniness that is characteristic of all great dive bars:
The place is old.
And dirty.
And I love it.
If you make it in early enough, you’ll have your choice of a 70’s style chair by the window, it’s equally old counterpart at the bar, or a few benches in the back. If I had to choose, I’d pick the bar, but only because I like being as close to the source as possible (this also affords me the opportunity to get to know the bartender, another of my favorite pastimes). The jukebox is broken these days, but you can still play a round of tabletop pacman, people watch, or drink yourself into a coma for a really reasonable price (you know, the classics).
This place is a must visit; come here to wrap up a solid night of drinking on Smith for one of the best night cap spots in the borough.

Owned by people who also owned a place I really loathed, Great Lakes. Which just goes to show that I’m an inconsistent asshole whose life is governed by a total lack of standards, consistency, and moral fiber.
But anyway.
I should have known better. I was young and very dumb. I occasionally made smart choices, like Between the Bridges Pub. I occasionally made OK choices like 119 Bar. I often eschewed objectively great choices like O’Connor’s or Montero’s because girls who didn’t really care for my bullshit anyway were drinking elsewhere. (Oh, a place where you have to know a secret phone number to then wait ten minutes while a dude custom shaves ice for your elderberry cordial cocktail. That sounds fun! I really prefer when you guys go to Odessa, but weird cocktail that costs more than a college textbook also sounds great! Or failing that, weird «secret» nightclub that sells only 555 cigarettes, and only for $ 17.50! I’m in!)
But I also thought it was so, so amazing that there were «hip» businesses popping up all along Smith Street. Didn’t this used to be, I thought, a pretty windswept street? Hispanic bank here. Butcher down there. Korean market inexplicably preferred by my mother despite its considerable remove from her usual errands trajectory. That was it.
But now… all sorts of new and exciting cocktail appreciation dens, nooks, and crannies. Oh, here’s a place that has chilled Sauternes. I don’t even know what Sauternes is, so I guess I’ll go there.
…
What a dumb POS I was. I will not say that Boat Bar is the Platonic ideal of a bar. I will not pretend that the jukebox is half as good as it’s rumored to be. I mean, The Rentals were fine. Just like the Ass Ponys. But what we REALLY need is Bernard Purdie or something.
And there are plenty of Mast Brothers here. Plenty of people who know where to buy ethically sourced yarn.
But this is what a bar is supposed to be. It seems like it’s possible to get Captain Lawrence in an appropriate glass. But with Genesee, Bud, Coors, shots specials, loud music, dark atmosphere, lots of smells, it’s OK.
A better bar is the one that has a steady crowd at 4 PM. A guy in a suit who tucked out early. A man reading yesterday’s newspaper. A fraternity of bus drivers who come in at 11:25 PM sharp on Wednesdays. A guy who can sing Lee Dorsey songs REALLY well.
But failing that, and, no, we’re never getting 1995 back, this is at least good for really good nostalgia in short, irregular doses.
Best bar on Smith by a motherfucking mile.

Not sure I get the hype surrounding this place. I love a good dive, but this one seems to be filled with pretentious folk as opposed to the usual nice neighbors. But at least the beers are cheap!
Bartenders don’t seem too friendly either, if you want better service/​cheap drinks go to Henry’s during happy hour just down the street.

Take my friend to Brooklyn for a drink and we have a beer and are horrified to find the most racist, confrontational, aggressive and unprofessional bartender I’ve ever encountered… and that includes my time living in the South. She not only ruined the whole evening but embarrassed my friend and made a big scene that caused everyone around us to get quiet in awkward confusion… awful experience, sad such an ignorant person is in my borough… and amazed she hasn’t got her ass kicked yet. Will never go here again or take anyone here… It’s a shame because the old school hip hop was on point.

Boat bar has a decent dive atmosphere, however I’ve rarely seen such terrible bartenders and I am not the person to complain about service, especially on Unilocal.But, I’ve been working in service for over a decade, and moreover I work at a cocktail bar in the neighborhood. I’ve now twice gotten off work and been greeted by Abby, working Mondays. The first time I came in she was flippant about serving me a beer at 3:45. I understand that the bar closes at 4, I had just gotten off work myself, however I had stopped in for a single drink, while waiting for the g, after an 11 hour shift. She reluctantly served me a beer, and promptly at 4:05 reminded me that they close at 4. I quickly finished half my beer, tipped generously and left. Made my train at 4:09, but felt unnecessarily rushed.
The same night as I arrived two customers left, but not before knocking over some chairs and yelling. I wrote this off as the normal drunk jerk behavior. In fact, Abby later informed me that she had engaged them, and go figure, they reacted.
This is all indicative of bad bartending. An inability to read customers, an inability to treat customers with a modicum of respect, and an inability to drink and handle their job.
Anyways, tonight I arrived after finishing my shift and was greeted by Abby. She pours me a beer and begins to inquire as to whether I was there the night they were egged by some disgruntled customers. I informed her that I was not aware they had been egged. She began to retell me the story I mentioned, and I informed her I was there that night. She quickly paws back the beer she has just placed in front of me and informs me of how rude I had been. I lobbed back the same response, blah blah blah, I left feeling annoyed enough to write a review… on Unilocal.
The reviews of the bar say enough, here is just another drop in the pond. The bar is fine, great location, but the tuddy-​twenty-​something bartenders are doing it no favors, and I bet, turning away more business than they are attracting.

Went last Saturday. People were nice, music was really great, lots of seating — overall a really great space and vibe. I’m only giving two stars because one of the staff called me a bitch and gave me a hard time because I wasn’t into it when she came up to my group and took my hat. She was probably drunk and I just think it was sort of unprofessional.

Very cool place, AND an awesome happy hour special– 5 – 8 every day!
The drinks are good, lots of beer on tap and bottles so you will have lots of options. A cool and edgy vibe. And who doesn’t love a jukebox?

What a great dive on Smith. Dive? Punk bar? Whatever you want to call this place, it’s f***ing awesome. Unmarked exterior, dark interior, KILLER jukebox. Where do I sign?
I’ve been here, ahem, a lot. A Jameson and a Genesee’ll set you back all of $ 9…and they’re often served to you by an attractive woman with tattoos and sometimes even a smile. Points.
This place can certainly get busy, but it’s rarely loud or crazy, just… busy. However, I can say that the busy times are usually later in the evening on Fridays/​Saturdays (like, midnight — 2a) so get here early, grab a seat at the bar and bring cash (they recently started accepting cards, but I like the cash-​only feel so screw it, there’s an ATM by the well-​graffitied bathrooms).
This is a secret gem on the street of Smith. Go, bring a friend, but don’t tell everyone.

No boats but they’ve got beers!!! Not really fantastic beers but it’s cheap!!! Wooooot it’s also kinda grimy but whatever you’re probably drunk anyways!!!
One star off for not honoring my request to play «i’m on a boat».

What a fantastic dive. I love me a good dive. The waitress who works Wednesdays during happy hour is super great, and plays stellar music. I think they have a jukebox but no one should ever play it while she is working, because her music selection is great. Their happy hour is from 5 – 8, and it’s not usually that busy, so you can get real drunk in that time.
Happy hour special is $ 4 for draft beer or well drinks, which is the perfect price. They have a solid draft selection.
It’s very clean for a dive. I never feel gross in the bathroom. Plenty of seating.

Dive bar is an apt description.
They have:
–Buck Hunter (but not HD)
–Metallica pinball
–a broken credit card machine
–an ATM by the bathroom.
–gin drink specials
–uncomfortable but cozy booths
–loud music