Bar 89 – SoHo
PRO: Big menu, good grub in a swank setting, strong drinks, famous bathrooms!
CON: Not great service if you get seated upstairs
Alright, alright. The bathrooms. The crappers at this place get so much press it basically sets this spot up for failure. I mean, known for your bathrooms? It’s gotta be a big downer, right? But failure is not in the cards, bitches! Yes, these are some of the coolest bathrooms, kinda gimmicky but that’s OK. They are all unisex and the glass doors frost over once you lock it behind you. They’re kinda small to get some serious action going on, but I am sure, if those stalls could talk…Sorry I have no pix.
And now that, I think it was Murder, Inc. Records, moved out of the hood and up to Times Square a few years ago, and all the hot models from Ford Agency are long gone (the agency moved out as well), this place needs a cool factor. Back in the day, as they say, this place was The Shit with gangsta rappers that hung out here, and the smokin’ models that shot up with them. Now, it’s The Shitter.
OK now that that is outta the way, let’s talk. This is a cool spot, bottom line. It’s kinda tucked away on Mercer, and for some reason from the outside you’d not expect the big loft-like interior and cool-mod design once you enter. Ceilings have got to be 
about 30′, and you get good natural light coming in from the street and a large skylight. There’s a small mezzanine area and a large main level footprint, all nice and light/white colors for the most part. Some people may think it’s a little cold, but I dig this type of design.
We stop in here almost every time we’re in NYC, and for the most part we’ve had good times every time, too. The bartenders and servers range from pleasant to very nice (except there is one guy behind the bar that needs a serious dose of happy drugs), and just so happen to be somewhat heavy-handed with the bottle, shall we say. Some people complain the drink prices are kinda high, but when they’re basically draining a 1/2 bottle of grey goose into your Cosmo, who’s to whine?
The fellas behind the bar are also happy to mix up some custom blends for ya as well, if you just tell ‘em what you’re thirsty for. Give ‘em the main ingredient, say…Tequila! and let ‘em go to town. And they do a good job of it.
The food? Yes, they serve food, and plenty of it. For a ‘bar’ this place has a boatload of dishes on the menu. Lotsa of salads, appys, and sandos. All we’ve had are served up in good portions and pretty well presented too. Some highlights: The Wings ($11), are pretty dee-lish for a city spot. All-in-all pretty true to Buffalo style, with some decent heat and plenty o’ meat. The Hells Fire Chips ($9), home made chips smothered in melted bleu cheese with hot sauce. Yee Haw! get yerself an icy cold onee when you order these puppies. The All American Grilled Cheese ($10.50) is a righteous sando, although it’s kinda funny they put Swiss cheese on it…maybe it defected and was granted asylum. Anyhoo, this sando comes with Chedda and Colby cheese as well, and is served on wheat or white bread with 3-4 strips of bacon, tomatoes, I mean they do it up right, kittens. Toasted up just like your mommy used to. This is a good cold weather day snack. They also have some kickin’ burgers, 5-6 chicken sandos, 1/2 dozen pork sandos (who in the kitchen has such a hard-on for pork?), all reasonable priced.
I wouldn’t suggest this place for a full on dinner or anything, but a good lunch or after work/pre dinner snack and bevvies!
Hours:
Mon-Thu 12p-1a
Fri-Sat 12p-2a