Joshua Tree

I can’t remember the last time I went to the Joshua Tree, except that it was shrouded in drunkenness and lascivious bros and thirsty chicks and very loud music. But the Joshua Tree is actually a surprisingly chill on a Sunday afternoon. Strolling around looking for something to do, we headed in here for due to its relative emptiness and $ 4/​$ 5 happy hour deals. There were a few board games lying around: Connect 4, Trivial Pursuit, and Scrabble. Pwning my boyfriend at both Connect 4 and Scrabble has probably left me with warm fuzzy feelings memories of this place.

When I grow up, I want to be the DJ at Joshua Tree. I’m pretty sure he just plays the same songs over and over again, yet the crowd loves it. He is like the Calvin Harris of Murray Hill. Like clockwork, usually after 11pm on any given night I end up there and I’ll request «Like a Prayer». And he will play it, tout suite
Yes, is this the same bar I went to in my former days of sparkling youth? True.
Do I feel ashamed, out of place and old when I walk in, especially after the bouncer waves me through without showing my ID as I tell him with certainty «I’m old» and he nods with pity? Sure.
Do I feel sheepish when my friend of the same age face plants as we walk in and the young girls in their Forever 21 outfits come to help as if their grandma fell?
Perhaps.
But it’s worth it, I assure you. Once you head to the back of Joshua Tree, you are instantly transported, my friend. Take a few cheeky shots with some beers to soften the blow. The fog machine and strobe lights start and suddenly all of that does not matter. It’s just you, your mates, some sweet 80’s tunes, some short frat guys saying incoherent things and MAGIC!
Yeah, I should and do go to bars where you stand around and have adult conversations about grownup things (oh the elections, oh mortgages?, babies, oh job stuff blah blah blah.) But at Joshua Tree you don’t have to talk. In the words of Lady Gaga, patron saint of the early 2000s, you «Just Dance». And it is fantastic.
Even if I don’t take over the old guy DJ’s spot when I grow up, I will still come back to you Joshua tree, with my walker in tow and sporting my adult diapers.

Love this bar! One of the only bars that i know of that plays hits of the 80’s and 90’s. There are two bars one in the front and one towards the back. They both are jamm packed with people which is why I am not giving this bar a higher rating. It is always so packed when i come to this bar almost like i am in a mosh pit. If you don’t mind large crowds and love throwback jams i highly recommend this place

What to say other than this is Murray Hill and this is the QUINTESSENTIAL neighborhood bar.
Murray hill is the neighborhood that every recent college grad from Syracuse, Indiana, and Michigan and the bar reflects as such. If you accept the bar for the frat bros and sorority girls it is then it can be a ton of fun. They have good drink specials and they play decent music. Don’t go expecting more… Accept it for all its fratty glory.

Nice bar with 80s music, great to drink and dance. I would have given it 5 stars it if wasn’t for the beer prices. I was there on a Saturday night and there’s a happy hour until 8pm but around that time the place is dead. After 8pm they charge $ 7 for a pint of domestic beers and $ 8 for beers like Stella. Dag Joshua Tree, $ 7 for a bud/​budlight?
So if you’re someone who drinks at least 6, 7 beers when you go out you can expect to spend at least 50, 60 dollars. The appetizers are reasonably priced though.

What an amazing bar. I’ve heard of Joshua Tree being the place to be and I had to check it out for myself. This place is SUPER CHILL. It is a frat type of bar, so if that’s not your scene, it’s best to avoid. Meanwhile, if you’re an 80s child, this is YOUR SPOT. They have at least 8 TVs inside and they display the music video of every song playing. It’s a nice thing to appreciate if you miss how awesome music videos used to be. I must add that for a small bar in Murray Hill, there are a lot of friendly people in there. Very easy to strike up a random conversation. We rolled in 5 guys deep and we had a blast. Be there now.

My sister and I ate here earlier today and it was just amazing. The fries were forgettable but I ordered the build-​your-​burger with a veggie patty topped with cheddar cheese, avocado, and a fried egg. It was the best veggie burger I’ve ever had in my life! And the thing was HUGE! Didn’t even finish, and that never happens. Best $ 13 I’ve spent in a while. The Spanish coffee was also pretty decent. Overall extremely satisfied. :)

I’ve been coming here for happy hour regularly for the two years I’ve lived in the city but after last week I’m not so sure. New York City has changed so much and I’m not sure it’s for the better. Last week was filled with frat guys who supposedly went to NYU or whatever and it was so crowded and sweaty it was IMPOSSIBLE for my friend and I to get a drink despite us waiting at the bar for 15 minutes! Men– let us ladies through! There’s a WAY better chance we’ll talk to you if you act like a gentleman.

If you’re looking for a classic sloppy Murray Hill night, this is a good spot.
The People: Supposedly a big NYU presence, post-​college frat stars, and stray younger finance men on business trips.
The Place: Large venue with screens streaming 80s-​90s music videos. There is a fog machine and a dance floor full of post-​college frat stars seeing if they still have any «game». It’s essentially a large hall of people drunkenly falling into each other yelling the wrong lyrics to their parent’s favorite songs.
The Things: The drinks are standard lower-​priced Manhattan bar drinks. (Cheap to a local, but still expensive enough to make your out-​of-​towners friends whine)

This is such a fun bar to go to with a group of friends! The bartenders are pretty fast but it does get crowded so be patient.
It is my favorite bar in the neighborhood. There is a lot of 80’s — 90’s music playing with music videos.
Dance floor is packed later in the evening. I think the best time to get there is around midnight.

All the 80’s you can handle! I didn’t expect to find something like this in the city. The drink selection was nice, the amount of monitors showing old music videos was cool and the area wasn’t crowded. Just a small simple place with an older dude being the DJ blasting the best tunes from the 80’s and 90’s. I’d visit again but I really hope that the guys with their shirts off dancing won’t be around… that was weird.

All i have to say is after our table ordered over 100 in alcohol… The waitress had the nerve to charge someone 3 dollars for a seltzer. Im not picky but thats absurd. Otherwise good old music, broken smoke machine and rude staff.
Live update: our group, who is clearly spending money here is having a good time and security came over and flipped out on two of our group members for dancing. Completely inappropriate he scared the crap out of our group members, he came over and flipped out screaming get down get down. When they weren’t doing anything wrong. This place man.

A bar in this neighborhood is bound to be crowded on a Saturday night, but the 80s music and music videos make it a little homier than the latest billboard 40 incarnation. Alcohol is average price and the selection is reasonable, and it’s pretty big despite how filled up it was.

This bar is A-​Ok. I appreciated the classic 80s and 90s songs playing all night/​early morning with the accompanying music videos on their big screens. The space is pretty big and open. The drinks were relatively inexpensive and the service was decent.

Came in her for their frozen margaritas. It tasted like I was only drinking frozen syrup. Couldn’t really tell if there was alcohol in it.
The service was ok. It was pretty basic. The interaction was mostly simple A and B convo trying to get a drink.
There wasn’t really anything special that stood out to me at this place. It was like any other bar you walk into on every street in NYC.

Average bar in the area. Big and spacious, I’m sure it gets crowded on the weekends. Drinks were priced okay and food, typical bar fare, was okay. Nothing special here. The only thing to note was that food took over 40 minutes, and this is in an empty restaurant.

Do not go here!
I went here last night (tuesday) and the bartenders were extremely rude. No wonder the place was slow!
I had a friend visiting from North Carolina so I thought I would take her here because we both love 80’s music. Well, it was a disaster. It was a man and women bartender. They were not working at all and said very rude comments to my friend and I when I started singing to one of the songs. If this is how they run a business then they should be shut down! No bartenders should ever treat paying customers that way. It was completley unprofessional.
I used to love coming to this bar since I live right up the street so its very unfortunate that they have hired such disrespectful and rude bartenders. I hope there is action taken because this place will slowly lose business because this.

I’ll start this review off by saying that Joshua tree isn’t for everyone. It’s a pretty lively scene with a mediocre crowd. It definitely has a knack for drawing in the «tunnel folk» as I like to call them. .. interesting crowd for sure. Rumor has it that they only emerge when the sun goes down. .. I think I saw one once during broad daylight but also could have been a mole person.
That being said: every single one of my friends knows that this place is my favorite late night spot in the city. And by late night I mean when I’m somewhat functional (emphasis on the somewhat) circa 3:00AM. What other bar can you go to and have the most bumpin playlist from 1984 playing all night long?
The bar has probably 25 TVs that play old school 80s and 90s music all night long. Sure the crowd isn’t the greatest but all you need is to bring your own poppin crew of 3 – 5 people who know the words to a few MJ and Queen songs and you are good to go! Heck I would even come here by myself and I’m sure I’d be able to have a wonderful time. Heck, maybe I’ll do that tomorrow! Stay tuned!

There may have been a brief point in my life where I would enjoy an establishment like Joshua Tree. College kids, 80s music videos on full blast and fog machines… Sounds exciting right?
Now that i’m not in my early 20s anymore, this environment is more annoying than entertaining. Pretty homogeneous crowd, which is not necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing. However if you are white and enjoy a frat-​house kinda vibe, Joshua Tree is definitely for you.

This place has been open forever, so they must be doing something right.
Hey, they show a great variety of games. The drinks are reasonably priced by NYC standards. The food is cheap and it won’t kill you.
Even on nights where it’s not about sports, they keep things entertaining with karaōke, theme nights, etc.
People complain that the place gets too crowded. That happens for a reason. They keep a nice party atmosphere. It definitely has that post-​college frat-​house hangers-​on vibe to it on Fri/​Sat nights.
It’s definitely – for the most part – a place for the younger crowd.
People looking for a serious bar should move along.