Minor Arcana

I truly miss this place. The eclectic crowd, the good music, the fun bartenders, the carny but not quite Coney Island Sideshow décor, the good beers on tap, the stiff drinks, the fantastic happy hour (and clutch late night happy hour), the overall awesome character of a solid dive. I wish you’d come back and replace the generic bar that now stands where you once stood. I’ll be pouring one out for you this weekend, Minor Arcana. Rest in Peace.

After a dinner nearby, I suggested coming here with some friends to give it one more shot. I was enjoying the atmosphere until the previously mentioned bartender (see original review) arrived for his shift, recognized me, publicly berated me for my honest Unilocal review and had me leaving in tears. I have nothing nice to say about this place and will clearly never return.

Minor Arcana is a solid dive bar in the neighborhood. It’s divey but not dirty, mellow but not boring (though maybe not late at night on weekends, I don’t know), and the happy hour is fantastic. And it’s true what others have said about the eclectic music selection. When I’ve been there, the bartenders really seem to be into picking good music.
I’m not sure if the space is big enough for a really big group or a birthday party, but if you want some cheap, good drinks (especially beer) with a friend or two Minor Arcana is right up there with Washington Commons in terms of friendliness and vibe.

I have to come back here to properly ascertain this establishment. But it’s a typical dive bar. Candle light lighting, dark, funky wall paper that I think I took a picture of when I was schwasted. They have Narragansett on tap for $ 3 though! And it’s pretty light and tasty or at least a solid step up above pbr. I was here pretty late in the night but they do buy 1 get 1 frees from 4−8pm for happy hour and have a great selection of beer. Clean bar also that you can bring food into.

THIS is where you go for 2-​for-​1 happy hour from midnight-​1… And THAT is what leads to unprecedented events, poor life decisions, tattoos, epicurean debauchery, HPV, DEATH. (No kidding. Some poor bastard DIED after he smashed his own head open after he left this bar!)
Go there! It’s really fun!

Friendly, casual, intimate, clean, mellow, fun.

Solid beer selection? Check.
Solid music selection? Check.
Inexplicably smells like cinnamon sticks in the back? …Check?
Abita Turbo Dog. Smuttynose Seasonals. I will snuggle up here in those tiny cozy booths for a bit.
Oh and you’re playing the strangest mix of Bikini Kill and Michael Jackson? Yes, Minor Arcana, you’ve got my attention and newfound loyalty. I’m here.
Ways you could end up with 5 stars: serving food.
Unfortunately Double Windsor will still hold the rank as my favorite bar, but you are a very close second, Minor Arcana.

The next time you want to black out, do it here … this place is fun! =)

I was only here for a bit but the bartender was awesome and my local friends love the place.

This place is pretty cool… I just keep forgetting that it exists. Literally I’ll come, say «I kinda like that place», forget about it for 8 months, return and have the same thought. Evil cycle I guess. It’s a dark bar. Petty narrow with ample bar seats. The tunes are straight from the jukebox or the cool bartender’s iPod. Drinks were good, prices were reasonable– they even had a buy one get one free beer happy hour special when I stopped in– and yet this place lacks something in the personality category– hence me forgetting about it for months at a time. There’s no 1 thing that stands out. Ofcourse I’ll be back (hopefully in less than 9 months).

The perfect neighborhood bar, Minor Arcana is intimate and offers a balance of chill and high energy. The midnight –1am two-​for-​one happy hour is great for those of us who don’t end up leaving the apartment until 11, and the well drinks were still plenty stiff. Bartenders are down to hang. The décor is kitschy. It’s everything you need to cap off the weekend. Or the week.
Update 4÷9÷2013: This bar is still flawless.

I really want to like this spot. I do! I walk by it every day on my way to the subway, and it’s got a great exterior with a really beautifully-​done graffiti sign. When you walk by you can feel the mellow, welcoming vibes drawing you in from the outside.
The only problem is? It’s not very mellow or welcoming. The space is really awkward – you basically have to sit at the bar, since the non-​bar seating is really uncomfortable and awkward for groups. The decorations are cheesy, which is fine except that you’re already uncomfortable and irritable. Every once in a while you go in and there’s just a few people at the bar and it really does feel like a nice, friendly, neighborhood dive. (There’s no TV at the bar, which is GREAT when you want to drink during a sporting even you don’t care about.)
But the problem is that the owners don’t seem to want that. The last three or four times I’ve gone they’ve had some kind of «event» going on – trivia one night, DJs another night, «gay night» on yet another night. This is really not the space! How can you dance in the two feet between the bar and the wall? If I want DJs playing 80s music I’ll go to a club, not to my neighborhood bar. The music is too loud, the crowd is weirdly aggressive, and the prices not low enough.
The bartenders are pretty nice – the guy with dreads (Larry) especially. (They’ve been kind of rude to me, too, but they’re bartenders). And I’m all for more drinking options in this neighborhood! But this spot needs to figure itself out first.

The bartenders are very nice, and the trivia is pretty generic but fine. I had read on here about the layout being weird and small, but I like weird and small! I thought that was gonna translate to cozy. But not really, no. It’s more awkward, like someone’s poorly appointed living room, and it’s kind of too bright? So it sort of feels like someone’s having a party and we’re all ignoring each other. Maybe it’s different on non-​trivia nights when we don’t need there to be no music and bright enough to see our little slips of paper.
There’s a good happy hour special (buy one get one free) that runs through Labor Day. The bathroom’s sort of interestingly decorated (with tarot cards of course), but they stop halfway up the wall, like they couldn’t reach any higher or ran out or just got bored.

This bar would totally get 5 stars if the seating wasn’t so limited. That aside, all else is what I want out of a bar. Crazy good drink specials at happy hours (2 for 1), cool tarot theme (in the bathroom, at least), nice bartenders, good beer and tall wells.
Another plus was that my friends and I ended up socializing with the bartender and many others in the bar, which was a refreshing change from the usual closed-​clique Brooklyn bar scene experience.

A new spot on our weekly bar gathering rotation – and it’s a great addition.
It’s a bit small, but cozy with decent seating for those who want such things.
Some bonuses:
–nice beer selection (I enjoyed the Abita, they also had a very reasonably priced Genesee Cream Ale – hooray for NY state beer!)
–free mini cupcakes at the bar (way to win me over!)
–Sam Cooke and other solid selections on the stereo
–a spacious bathroom
–good lighting all around

Probably the worst bar in Prospect Heights.
The bartender doesn’t really know much. Although nice, still doesn’t know much. My pint of beer was warm… and it definitely should not have been so. The Whiskey Sour’s are waaaay to sweet, the weekend crowd is intolerable, and the bar itself lacks any kind of nicety to it. It’s much too bland, has no character whatsoever.
Oh, and their jukebox never works. You’ll be more satisfied walking over to Vanderbilt and hanging out at Soda or going up two blocks to Washington Commons and getting a GOOD pint.

dear Minor Arcana,
You’re back! We’ll be seeing each other frequently.
love, me

It’s a Friday. You’re a social worker. You wind up at a client’s house until 7pm on a Friday night. All you want is a beer. A tall, frosty, wheat-​filled mug of gilded bliss specifically referred to as Alagash White.
You get to Minor Arcana, where you meet your cute significant other, who has been talking up this place for months.
There is a gate surrounding the bar and a sign that reads «closed for the holidays.»
Unless the owners of Minor Arcana practice some obscure form of Shinto or Santeria, I’d like to think that, being January 22^nd, the holidays are long over.
I never got my fracking Alagash. Eat a bag of d*cks.

A woman, a hot woman, came right up to Bill and started making out with him.
How neighborly!

Minor Arcana opened just two weeks ago, but it’s a welcome addition to the young Washington Avenue bar scene. And by young, I mean 4 bars between Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway – for shame!
I think Minor Arcana’s going for a tarot card/​Coney Island vibe. The décor and accessories are still creeping in, but the drinking’s already arrived. The craft beers on tap are great, and the bartenders friendly and attentive. Welcome to the neighborhood, Minor Arcana!
P. S. Artsy folks: I hear they’re looking for dioramas.