McGarrets

Holy dive bar. I love a good neighborhood bar that you can stroll into wearing your sneaks and a tee. I also love darts and beer and they have all of these things. On Tuesdays they have buy one get one bottles, I’ll take two please. They have pool tables and two dart boards with some really buttery popcorn for whomever. The bar is circular-​ish located in the center of the place and they have a significant amount of beers on tap. The bartenders are pretty mellow, music is decent. I thought for sure that they served food because there are a lot of tables and chairs, but they don’t. I like this place because there are a lot of areas you can be with a big group, but there are also little nooks and crannies you can find if you are looking for a more intimate quiet setting with someone. The bathrooms are standard bar bathrooms, nothing special. Just be careful after consumption, as the lighting in this place is extremely dark and you may think you’re talking to someone you’re interested in but then you step into the light and may think otherwise!!! Just saying!

I love this place. I mostly go there Thursday’s because the music is great. I’ve added more songs to my spotify playlist from Thursday nights at McGarret’s than any other bar. And the bartender is this hilarious bearded man named Eric. I’ve been there other nights and had a great experience. Definitely a place to check out if you’re in Buffalo.

Best ice tea in town! The music on Thursdays is the tops! ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would revisit. The vibe is great and the booze is always flowing. I come here even when the winds of winter are blowing. But seriously, come to this bar. I guarantee that you’ll buy a drink. I even saw someone decide to get a divorce here once.

It’s a dive bar for sure – but it’s a pretty decent dive bar, with a little hippy flair. Located in a triangular building at the corner of Elmwood and Bidwell, McGarret’s is fronted by a nice fenced patio looking out onto the parkway and all the hustle and Bustle of what has to be one of the city’s most interesting intersections. It’s a great place to lounge with a beer on a warm evening.
Moving indoors, there’s a triangular bar in the center of a triangular room. Seating is available on all sides of the bar and around most of the perimeter of the room. Some nights, you’ll find a band set up in a room at one end of the bar – or along the huge windows looking out over Elmwood Avenue. They serve all the domestic and Canadian beers you’d expect, along with a nice variety of imports and microbrews. Service is always fast and friendly.
Moving to the back room you’ll find a dart board and foosball table, as well as two pool tables. This is one of the few city bars that still has coin-​op pool tables – and on weekend nights it’s usually full of folks from Buffalo State College and the neighborhood.
In a neighborhood that’s definitely trending farther and father upscale, McGarrets is a bit of an anti-​fussy, anti-​stuffy stronghold – just a decent place to meet with friends and sip a beer.

A bit of a hippie /​college bar, I used to go here all the time on Tuesdays to hit up the 2 for 1 special when it was still called Heenan’s. Was an easy walk from my old spot on Auburn & Elmwood, which allowed for a rousing nights of drunken chicanery without having to drive or break the bank. Also had some decent beers on tap which not every bar did back then.
Stopped in here the other night and in true dive bar fashion the place hasn’t changed a bit, including still serving 2 for 1 of good beers. It’s a bit dark, with a big center bar. Plenty of room to crowd around and belly up to it. Then they also have a backroom with some bar games like pool and darts. Bubble Hockey was a fave of mine, don’t remember if I saw one in there this time around though as I didn’t go back there. Can get a bit crowded with college kids on some nights but it’s still a pretty relaxed environment.

Love this bar! Good beers on tap and great bartenders all around. It is my favorite bar in buffalo. And yes, its a dive bar, so cash only (but there is an ATM in the back). And they don’t serve food, but they have all the local restaurant menus on hand – so you can have food delivered to you at the bar!
Beer and liquor selection is top notch! IPA’s galore (on tap!!), and plenty of anything else you might like.
They have live music on Friday nights and open mic nights on Wednesdays. The music coming from this bar rocks. Don’t be surprised to hear Phish, Talking Heads and the Grateful Dead playing over the loud speakers.

This bar is located on the corner of Bidwell Pkwy and Elmwood Ave, Just across the street is Buffalo’s Bidwell Park, that gets a lot of attention from hippies and yogis during the warmer months. The bar itself serves a demographic without discernible borders. I would describe the music there on most nights as mostly modern jam bands, Grateful Dead, Santana, and the occasional outlier power rock ballad/​show tune/​pop song to keep the patrons guessing. Their staff DJs are limited in scope when it comes to requests.
I am a college student so I love to go to this bar on 2−4−1 PINT TUESDAYS!!! This bar has a wide variety of seasonally updated beers on draft as well as an ample selection of liquor in stock. This means 2 Pints for $ 4.50 You can do some damage and embarrass yourself here, like I do, with 12 $ (Not including the 1 $ cover) if you want to tip the friendly bartenders a dollar fifty/​2 beers (My M.O. usually). They do have other drink specials throughout the week. They also have an area for live music other nights of the week on occasion. The bar is a hot spot for Canisius/​Buff state undergrads as well as peace advocating baby boomers, and all walks of life in between.

Divey bar with that biker bar feel. I liked it but it was freezing inside.

If there is a band playing there is usually a cover charge ($ 3-​$ 5) and the band usually starts at 10pm so get their early if you want to avoid this.
As a typical dive bar, it is CASH ONLY. Which isn’t a problem they have an ATM in the back. This place is loaded with an awesome selection of beers on tap from all over the place. This particular night I was drinking Magic Hat #9 Winter Howl it wasn’t to bad. It had a strong nutty flavor and a nice dark hue to it.
Overall the band was pretty good, we played a few rounds of pool in the back room and called it a night.

I’m a fan of dive bars, and this one’s pretty damn dive-​y in it’s inner appearance. It sends that message quickly with it’s sparsely furnished space, concrete floors, and cash only policy. However, there were a few things that make it not so dive-​y. It’s in Elmwood. They have more than 3 beers on tap. The bartender was friendlier than most dives. And here’s the kicker, they were charging a cover on the Friday night I was there. Blasphemy! The cover was presumably for the band, but I can’t imagine how loud that band would have been, especially since the environment was annoyingly loud (likely due to concrete floors & sparse furnishings) even though there were only 10 people there.
The prices were cheap. My rocks drink was fine, but my friends vodka-​something was awful. I would go again for the cheapness and simplicity, but hell no if there’s a cover.