Hank’s Saloon

It’s a dive bar. A serious, no pretensions, dive bar. A grimy surfaces, torn furniture, CASH ONLY, dive bar.
The beer selection is average and they have specials on the cheap beer. Also the bartender/​owner (?) has a heavy pour hand and uses pint glasses to serve them in. She is also a sweet old lady, so don’t forget to tip her.
They have a couple of TVs for games, but they are small and the quality isn’t the best. There is a juke box with an eclectic mix of stuff.
There is also a photo booth if that’s your thing. Great place to grab a drink and kill time or meet a friend before heading elsewhere.

Total dive (in a good way) and nice staff (the owner (I think?) is a pretty cool lady) and usually fairly calm. They do live music, though, so if you’re looking for a quite drink and chat, best to avoid those nights. I’ve heard mention of a pool table, but never found it — wondering if they got rid of it (that’d be a crying shame).

Great place! Perfect dive bar with a «Brooklyn» vibe for real. Drinks weren’t very expensive and the entertainment was great. This bar typically features live music and a lot of fun. We will definitely be back for sure!

Dingy, dark little dive. Right by the Barclays Center so a solid pre-​game spot. Cheap PBRs. Friendly bartenders.
UNFORTUNATELY CASH ONLY!

This might just be my favorite bar in Brooklyn.
It’s the best place to be on a weeknight or weekend afternoon if you hate people and love drinking in bars. I haven’t braved a Saturday night yet, but that’s because I hate people and love drinking in my apartment.
Other reasons Hank’s is good:
The beer is cheap.
The bartenders are absurdly nice (Hi Dan!).
There’s live music, sometimes. A great juke box, others.
It reminds me of Snake & Jake’s in NOLA. Christmas lights and all.
A pool table, Buck Hunter (I think, memories are fuzzy after Hank’s trips).
It may be a dive, but damned if it doesn’t smell lovely in here last time. Shocking, really.
And there are flames painted on the wall outside. Flames haven’t been cool for forty years, but you’ve got to respect them sticking with it. I think they are coming back too, which is why I’m getting flames tattooed on my back.
Let me know if you think that’s a bad call, but please do it soon.

I’ve lived 5 minutes away from this place for the better part of 4 years and have never stopped by. It’s just been a place that’s always been… there.
So I decided to finally come in. Dive doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was relatively quiet on a Friday night (before the live music started).
They have some decent beers on tap, and the bartender was a nice enough guy.
Looked like a lot of regulars come through.
There are strings of Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, and some old arcade games in the corner by the door.
Basically one of the diviest bars in these parts of Brooklyn. And that’s not a bad thing.

It’s a neighborhood dive bar folks, so arrive expecting that. It wasn’t built to order either, but evolved over time – Hank’s itself has been around for over 100 years, first as the Doray Tavern, a regular hangout for many of the Native American ironworkers who helped build the Empire State Building.
I’ve always had a great time here. The bartenders will treat you right if you do the same. Drinks are cheap. They have good, free, music shows. The location, close to so many trains, is convenient. I’m a sucker for the rockabilly-​esque, sticker-​crusted and flame-​painted exterior as well as the layers of decades-​old surfaces on the inside. Great jukebox too. The is a real, New York bar. Go before they all disappear.

Went there on a Tuesday night, saw two other customers. Like it when it gets quiet sometimes.

This is about the most hit or miss place you can go to. It’s always dark and dreary, and it seems like someone just mopped the floor with leftover beer. The house beer tastes like what they probably mopped the floor with.
Are you still reading? There’s also a good chance that you could see a pretty solid amateur band play here. And the prices of beers are so reasonable, that if you go with some good friends you’re going to have some good times.

dive. cash only. dark. drunk.

Closing soon. Go on a weekday. Not a weekend evening.

Just the best damn bar on the planet. Even the hipsters who come out for the music are pretty easy to get along with. And if they’re not, you can always talk to the middle-​aged construction worker sitting next to you. Or tattoo artist. Or mailwoman. It could be anybody. That’s the miracle of Hank’s.

Hanks is the real deal. Scrappy-​ass no-​nonsense dive bar full of real-​ass people.
Go and you might meet the Martial Arts Instructor and veteran who’ll tell you about his awesome life. You might meet people from out of town just looking for a place to get a drink without the pretense. And if you’re as lucky as I am, you might even get flipped off and cursed at by a drunken patron at the end of the bar.
So leave the pretense to the overpriced Manhattan cocktail bars and just get yourself a goddamn drink at Hank’s.

Hank’s is a no nonsense dive.
The bartenders are old school like out of a movie. The place doesn’t pretend to be grungy, it simply is. Perfect!

went into Hank’s for «one beer» while exploring the neighborhood before taking my friend to the airport last tuesday afternoon. «One Beer» turned into 6 hours, numerous «Old Crow» shots, my friend calling the airline to change her flight to the next day.
Great place to belly up to the bar and chat with Jeanie & Joe — really great friendly service!
Pretty much the best reason to go to Brooklyn, in my opinion!

Funky. A dirty little bar for locals.

If you’re looking for a true dive bar in Brooklyn, this is it. To be clear, this place is the real deal. The aesthetic that exists in this bar was not created or manufactured by an interior designer… it looks this way because it’s been here for longer than most of the patrons have been alive. The two Gini’s that work there have been bar tending there for decades.
Yes, there are two old women bar tenders named Gini. There’s Gini 1 and Gini 2. Gini 1 claims she was there first, which is why she’s called Gini 1. They don’t get along. And you’ll never see them in the same place at the same time, which makes me wonder if they’re actually the same person and Gini just has multiple personality disorder. Either case, it makes for interesting stories. For example: multiple movies have been filmed here including Oxygen and Gay Pressman (in which Gini 1 makes an appearance), she’ll tell you all about it if you ask her. And then there’s the secret hidden door behind the stage which leads to the 2^nd floor. Apparently it hasn’t been accessed since the early 1900’s and there is an entire apartment still intact with furniture, houseware and books. I’ve been wanting to check it out for months. If you’re interested, send me a message and get your hazmat suit ready!

Brooklyn’s finest. We went there after a Nets game and it’s the perfect place to hang out with friends. It’s for sure not the noblest place in Bklyn but it has so much flair. Let’s get wasted!

I can’t express how much I love this place. If I lived here, it would be my local. My kind of dive.
Bands and beers, what’s not to love?

This bar is a dive with a capital D, and they don’t attempt to hide it — in fact they are proud of it. Want a chair to sit down? F*** you this is a Dive! Have a problem with the the punk rock band’s frontman screaming off key at the top of his lungs? F*** you this is a Dive! Want a grey goose & soda? F*** you this is a Dive.
It’s a pretty small joint but there wasn’t a crowd despite the 3 bands I saw while I was there. The sound system could use a bit of an upgrade as could the guy in charge of the sound. He had the mic turned up so loud that it was drowning out the drums. Despite the setbacks, I had a pleasant time. On the plus side, The drinks are super cheap. $ 5 for a vodka soda? I could live with that — just don’t expect to find top shelf vodka.

As a dive bar it’s great… well-​worn, nothing fancy, a bit run down but with character. If it were consistent in experience, I’d give it another star, but here it gets three because the pendulum swings wildly depending on the date/​time/​crowd.
It can be (somewhat) quiet, it can be crowded, it can be mostly empty with hard rocking band, or packed with no live music.
It simply lives in ebbs and flows, like a tidal pool, so your experience will vary.