The Local Bar and Cafe

I really loved it. I can’t describe it any more better then this. It has an amazing atmosphere. The staff is incredibly nice and helpful and the same applies to the conditions of the hostel. The environment is prone to do friends that actually ended up walking around in the city with me. Made really good friends in this place and surely if I do return to NYC, I’m going to stay again in this place.

The café has good drinks and is a friendly work space. The hostel rooms are clean and taken care of. Staff is friendly. I really enjoyed staying here for the weekend.

A great energizing and lively atmosphere. People of all ages and nationalities. The Local employees were so welcoming and helpful. it is so practical to arrive from and depart to the JFK and La guardia airports by public transport. A very interesting place to stay in New york at an affordable price, 20 minutes from Manhattan. I will not stay elsewhere when in New york, now I know about The Local.

A great feature of the NYC Hostel is the bar. Fair prices including 3 choices on tap. Just beer and wine here but good music that’s not disruptive to guests sleeping upstairs. It cuts off at 10:00 which is a little early but some go to bed early they say (please, this is NYC that supposedly doesn’t sleep). The bartender with the short blond hair is a great host and makes everyone feel welcome. A lot of international guests add to the ambiance. It’s a young, upbeat hangout.

Visited NYC this past week and not knowing what I was going to walk into. The staff and crew at The Local NYC went above and beyond. The bartender always greeted you and asked if you were having a good time — she even remembered the only drink I had the night before and asked if I wanted another. The next morning was th e same aituation. The staff behind the counter asked if I wanted the same order as the morning before and quoted it directly.
Great staff, OCD clean (my household same way) and friendly patrons really made it feel like I was home with my friends. Have already recommended this place to others. Thank you!

Very relaxing, chill vibe. Bartenders are friendly and helpful, and the booze is good.

Thank you to the Local for such outstanding service and chill vibe. This bar-​located in a Long Island City hostel-​was open on Memorial Day, and I hosted a wrap party for the crew and cast of an indie feature I produced. We had a blast. The drinks were strong, the fellow patrons fun and the open space welcoming.
Highly recommend it for a beer with friends or a night out with a group. You’ll bump into visitors, particularly Europeans, who are staying in the hostel.

Another gem of LIC! This is actually a hostel, but it hosts a cute café and bar up front. After 5 pm officially (or really, whenever the bartender feels like it), there’s cocktails, and before that there’s beer and wine.
Beer and wines are $ 5 – 7 and cocktails are affordable and under $ 10. The bartender can even make stuff off the menu.
Around you, industrious 20-​something year olds type on laptops and sip coffee. They could be from anywhere in the world — from Albania to Zanzibar. How does it go again? The world is your oyster. I also like their wall art — Renaissance and classical art work splayed in a modern art piece.
I’m making this my new happy hour spot.
PROs:
Very quiet
Affordable, inexpensive liquor
Open early (I came around noon)
Fun people all around
CONs:
Maybe TOOO quiet

We had a great stay. The train station is 2 small blocks away and it goes straight into Manhattan. Also, the staff was very friendly and helpful. We stayed in a private room with queen sized bed and it was beautiful and clean with large windows.

The staff is extremely nice and cool and will make you feel right at home! This is definitely a social hostel, they have all sorts of events including «drink and draw» which I regret not trying out. Oh cause of course they have their own bar downstairs. (If you are trying to save money this is not good since you can’t just byob so it can get rather expensive). Stuff seems to always be going down here but in a good way, lol. Only problem is that I wasn’t a fan of the room set up. I don’t feel like it was very clean. I also felt like the area was sketchy and the subway station was kind of far.
Woops this review if for the hostel, not the bar.

Great place to stay in NYC for sightseeing, traveling or any other purpose! They got a bar in the lobby where you can find coffee, breakfast. Snacks for lunch and in the evening affordable drinks to end the day relaxed. They also got a very well equipped kitchen where you can cook your own food. In addition they provide a laundry room equipped with washing machines and dryers.
The lobby also consists of a chillout area with couches, pretty neat after a long day of sightseeing. Around the corner of the chillout area there are workingstations, if you want to contact your loved ones back home or plan your next trip that’s your area.
The rooms have their own shower and toilet and there are additional ones on each floor. Free WiFi is available everywhere in the building. The rooms and everything else is very clean, even to German standards ;-)
They also provide towels
The only negative aspects are the lack of an elevator and that the walls of the rooms are pretty thin. So if you got noisy neighbors it can be hard to sleep.

Seems to be a trend of me going to bars/​restaurants that are attached to hotels these days. The local is a very low key, chill bar attached to a hostel. They have some great local beers on tap. Sadly they were out of the big Alice the day we went. Pretty nice that they sell beers from all the local breweries. Hope they will have beer from transmitter too!
The day we went, there was live music. The place is VERY young. We felt like we were back in college. Nothing rowdy but reminded us of college dorm laid back living.
We did notice the abundance of tip jars and signs asking patrons to tip. It was kind of funny.
I’ll probably come back sometime to get some good beer since it’s pretty close by. They also have a couple cocktails we didn’t try.

This place is pretty cute! Its a huge space great if you’re having a gathering. Has a small bar at the front that serves coffee. The best is the little sitting area/​library at the back :)
Id say its a spit for a group though. Not so much going alone. But I have yet to go on a weekend night.

The service was great and the bartender was very friendly
Great bottle beer selection.
The only issue i have is that the lights were waaaaaaay to bright

I stayed here while attending a weekend event at Crossfit Gantry, and went to the bar in the evenings. Great experience all around — the floorplan for the dorm rooms was so clever that I immediately wanted to draw it. As for the bar downstairs, I got a hard cider for a reasonable price from the friendly bartender, and they were cool with my taking it over to the laptop area. Yes, laptop area! It’s set slightly away from the bar area and well set up for laptops. The stacks of books and games around the laptop area feel friendly and unpretentious, and the people seem to be a mix of hostel guests and people who dropped in off the street. I’d stay here again, and frequent the bar again, in a heartbeat if I’m back in the area.

Stopped in a few times, had a lemon poppyseed muffin and a cup of coffee. Very cool and quiet place to chill out!

Came here to check out «Show & Tell” — a great event series by New Yorker At Heart, run by my friend, Paxton Allewell. Leaving the event out– which is always interesting, fun and informative, the space itself is great– artistic and modern. The bartender was a lot of fun — smart and witty — he served up some great drinks (I stayed with sav blanc), and there was a nice array of craft beers.
It was a memorable night, with lively discussion. I’m looking forward to both the next event and the next time I happen to come upon this spot, most likely after a good bike ride.

I came here with a bunch of friends thinking we were going to watch a Japanese game show that we heard about in timeout magazine. It ended up being some corny comedy showcase with a Japanese theme and no Asian people. We decided to give it a try and I got a beer. The beers on tap were very reasonable at $ 5 a piece. Didn’t stay till the end of the event.
The location is a little remote and the layout is a little odd. There isn’t much to do around the bar area so you can just find yourself standing awkwardly. the weather was nice so the front of Local was open which was nice but the event dominated the entire space so if you weren’t into it, it didn’t make much sense in sticking around.

Why would anyone dislike The Local. It’s not only a Hostel, it’s a great bar & café as well. The Gimme! coffee is amazing as is the parfait they make in-​house and all the muffins and croissants. If you don’t make it for breakfast then come in with friends for some drinks! The playlist is great, the décor and set-​up they have is amazing! They have a giant library that you can grab a book if you’re by yourself. Also the owners (Lauren, Lee, and Andy) are great! The staff are cool people! Plus with the giant garage door you’ll feel like you’re outdoors. Stop by and have a pint! Or two! You won’t be disappointed.

The bar just isn’t that great. If you’re staying at the hostel then it’s a good option to stay in and have a beer but that’s about it. The biggest problem I had here was the sound system. I don’t care for what they were playing, it was a good mix of music but I just hated how the music kept on skipping every 10 seconds. I started getting a headache just sitting there. I had a beer that was really good though. My friend’s coffee took twice as long as one would expect because the cashier was having issues processing the credit cards. So while they do accept credit cards, its best to just pay with cash so you don’t have issues.
This bar has a lot of potential though. I’d like to see them work on the atmosphere. Maybe have theme nights as they do at other bars or weekly specials. The lighting also seemed too bright for a bar.