The Garret

Great East Village spot to visit. The décor is very homey with kind of a living room setting in the back and some interesting pieces of art. There’s a whole back room that was closed off when we were there for New Year’s Eve. The bathroom wallpaper is awesome– you’ll know it when you see it. Drinks are strong and unique. And my favorite neon pick me up. #nobaddays

The atmosphere is great and I love the decors. It’s a cute place but I’m not really sure about the drinks. My friends and I each got different drinks. We ordered Detroit Dancehall, The Green Monstah, and Apricot Bandana. I honestly thought all 3 of them were bad. If you’re into healthy veggie based juices this is the place for you! I guess this place is a good way of being healthy and destroying your livers at the same time. A healthy way of getting drunk. The drinks are pretty strong.

I went to the Garret East for early drinks on a Saturday night. We got there around 6:30 and the place was empty. We wanted to be able to sit and talk so this was perfect. The bar is really cute and homey. The back of the bar feels like you’re actually sitting in someone’s living room. There’s couches, a book case, and lots of little decorations. The drinks are really good, too. I had the TT Barnum and it was delish. Prices are pretty standard for a cocktail bar. I feel like if it was crowded it’d be harder to get a drink because the bartender seemed a little spacey. But other than that loved The Garret East and will def be back. I recommend going a little later though just because it really was so empty!

This spot is def not a speakeasy like the orginal in the WV.
The décor is swanky and the cocktails are priced for the west village, not the east village.
The place is nothing like the low-​key bar it replaced with no more board games, cheap happy hour drinks and such.
As far as I’m concerned, the true Garret is above Five Guys Burgers in the west village and this spot is Common Ground of the good old days.
I’m probably not going to hit again.
I’m nostalgic, what can I say.

A welcome addition to the neighborhood. I love the look of the place, from the artwork on the walls to the stuffed raccoon (Rocco Jr?) above the bar. There’s an air of comfort around, which is way better than most cocktail spots in the area. Soundtrack was on. point. leading to quite a few random singalongs. I downed a few Green Monstah’s and if you’re a matcha fan you should too. Mostly so you can tell yourself it’s ‘healthy’, even though it’s not. Either way, it’s a tasty bev. I haven’t been here during peak hours, but I imagine there will be a wait for drinks. You know what? Wait. When it’s your turn the bartenders will take their time making your drink too. Will be back… often.

I love this spot. The cocktails are amazing and the vibe is chill, also there’s enough room to not feel like you’re suffocating, like in most east village bars. If you’re feeling sassy you should check out the wallpaper in the bathroom. I will be back, over and over.

Great atmosphere and interesting cocktail menu. Gets crowded on weekends after 11pm. Overall great spot in the East Village.
Note to management: Fix your speakers/​sound system — there’s no bass to help us appreciate your great playlists. A upgrade would hugely improve the romantic atmosphere.

Like the weird Euro–
Trash cousin of Garret West
But still pretty good

So much fun! Stumbled into this neighborhood spot by chance this weekend and had the best time! Great cocktails and plays good rap music. Was packed on a Saturday night but would be really cute place for cocktails during the week!

I love this place! I like it a lot better than the original Garett in West Village. It’s cool, hip, and attracts a good crowd. It’s also a lot more spacious than The Garett in WV. Definitely a great addition to the neighborhood. Cocktails are $ 13-​$ 14 (not bad at all).

Great addition to the neighborhood with good cocktails. The music is always on point & the happy hour is a great deal. $ 7 cocktails. Also, they have a Japanese Orion can which is «dressed up» with yuzu sauce, sriracha, and shiso leaf.

Wildly different from the original Garret — not in a bad way. This place might not be marked, but there isn’t anything «speakeasy» about it. Other than the damn good cocktails served here. While I never made it to the bar that previously inhabited this space, I can at least say that the Garret is a very welcome addition to the East Village/​Alphabet City.
Came here on a Saturday night with a small group of friends with pretty much no idea what to expect. Given that I’ve been to the West Village Garret a number of times, that bar was my only frame of reference. Unlike the Garret West, as I’ll call it, the Garret East is incredibly spacious (at least 3 – 4 times the size of the WV location). Plentiful standing room, an expansive bar and a number of different seating options. Unlike most cocktail bars, you can really fit a decent number of people here. Nearby cocktail bars like Death + Co and Amor y Amargo aren’t really conducive to big groups. So if you’re looking for some high quality drinks but you don’t feel like packing into a small space/​waiting an hour or two, this is a fantastic option.
I will say this, and it’s my only real con here: the impressively large bar setup can be to the detriment of the clientele. I waited to get a bartender’s attention for a good 15 minutes because she was scampering around trying to take everyone’s orders. Either put one more bartender back there, or be a bit more tactful/​organized about how you’re serving the patrons. I’m noting the «tactful» piece because I noticed that while I was waiting, another bartender towards the center of the bar (I was all the way to the right) wasn’t doing much of anything… and she ended up being the one to serve me. Given that the Garret just opened, I’m confident they’ll iron out the kinks in time.
Onto the most important part: DRINKS! Four stars is exactly right. Really well done.
–Hardwood Collins ($ 14) — OYO White Rye, Icelandic Birch, Sugar Maple, Lemon, Soda, Smoked Salt
–Apricot Bandana ($ 13) — Gin, Apricot, Salers, Mustard Seed, Lemon, Egg White
Very different drinks flavor-​wise, but both are on the light/​refreshing side. For what it’s worth, my friend didn’t like the Apricot Bandana (she’s into super sweet drinks), but I found the flavors really interesting. Overall, I’m impressed with the creativity on the menu. Nothing was super wacky, but some of the ingredients featured here are pretty novel. And while $ 13 for a cocktail isn’t exactly cheap, it’s still below what I’ve found to be the typical NYC standard ($ 15). Considering I spend most of my money on food/​drinks, every dollar counts.
Finally, just want to reiterate that the Garret is a clutch addition to the neighborhood. The less-​crowded/​bigger/​no-​wait cocktail bars around here are much further from the subway (Mace, Evelyn, the Wayland, Dream Baby), and walking to them — especially in the colder months — is a big pain if you’re not taking a cab. The Garret is right off the L so I’m guessing it will quickly become popular, if it isn’t already.

A lot’s changed since this spot was Common Ground, a divey lounge with board games and paninis. Came here on a Friday early evening with a visitor from out of town. I was surprised to see what they had done with the place, but wasn’t complaining at all. The walls have been painted white, and the décor is a lot brighter actually, even though there’s a bit of a gray motif throughout the bar. The booths are decked out in gray, and there’s all brand new upholstery. It’s also MUCH less cramped than the Garret in the West Village, so that was very nice. This has a great lounge vibe, and with the booths, you can still get a little bit of privacy if you’re on a date.
Onto the drinks. We went during happy hour, which meant there were $ 7 cocktails available from a limited HH menu, as well as a $ 4 beer special. The regular cocktail menu seemed pretty intriguing too, so we decided to try a little bit from both, not quite yet trusting the bartender to do a bartender’s choice. I went with the Banahatta (similar to a Manhattan, but with banana liqueur), and she went with the gin fizz off the HH menu. Banahatta was fine, although I didn’t much care for how sweet it was, but I tried the gin fizz and it was delicious. There was just enough sweetness and sourness for enough balance through the drink, and the egg whites really gave the drink a richness that brought it all together. Pretty much exactly how a gin fizz would taste. My only qualm was that it was served in a highball glass, which is the standard drinkware, but I personally prefer a wider glass, without a straw, so that you get a bit of the egg whites in with the rest of the drink in one taste. Given my affinity for spicier drinks, I also went with the TT Barnum, which was black pepper infused tequila, Cappelietti (an apéritif that’s a little sweeter than bitters), and Thai Basil-​infused Dolin Blanc vermouth. Not too shabs, and it was definitely more my speed, as it wasn’t quite as sweet.
Service was pretty attentive, likely because we were sitting at the bar. But they did keep checking in on us, even as the crowd got bigger around 730pm. The place was actually pretty empty around 530pm when we got there, but started filling up rapidly. The prices are obviously on the higher side in general, but you can see that they use a variety of ingredients, and take pride in ensuring that the quality of these ingredients is excellent as well.
In general, The Garret East is a very welcome addition to the neighborhood in my book. I’ll be back for happy hour again for sure, especially since most of my friends live so close by, and the deal is actually pretty good. Glad to see that there’s a solid cocktail lounge in the area, with enough space and great atmosphere.

This is a beautiful space with a great atmosphere. However, the specialty cocktails were bland and the bartenders weren’t particularly knowledgeable. Asked for a bourbon old fashioned and he grabbed a bottle of rye. Hopefully these are just the growing pains of a new bar, we’ll come back in a few months to see how it settles down.

An unpretentious cocktail bar on Avenue A is the perfect fit for the neighborhood. There is a great little lounge in the back that is relaxed. Love the energy in this place. And the drinks are inventive and delicious. Can’t wait to come back.