Angels and Kings

4 stars for sundays
2/3 stars for all other times

as of this year, a&k has become a steelers bar, and an awesome steelers bar at that. i really worry that too many fans will find out and it will turn into the next reservoir, but for now, its a great crowd and a fun place to watch the games.

other times.. the crowd is a little off, but the space itself is okay, and they have a good beer selection.

I was drunk by the time we got to Angels and Kings, but I wasn't as disappointed as the other reviewers here. What I didn't realize was that I had already been here before during fashion week last year and apparently hated it (my friend had to remind me of that one).

We didn't pay the cover charge because we had missed our friends who had played an hour prior to our entry. I thought the crowd was unexpectedly attractive, and my beer was free so I can't complain about pricing.

The band who was on stage while I drank that beer is another story. They sounded like the Goo Goo Dolls without voice lessons, and looked like the Strokes before puberty. They were terrible. Unfortunately you are stuck once you're inside because the stage is at the front door. There is no escaping a shite band, so we stayed for their set and left immediately after their final song.

The DJ is the only thing that saved this mediocre bar / wannabe club from a dreaded 1-star review.

My partner and I went as a special date. My boy thought the bouncer was hot. We both enjoyed some of the eye-candy clientele. We both liked the exposed brick and wood-finished decor, even if the place was too dimly lit. But rock & roll theme? Meh. Decent try.

And yeah. Rock is loud (mind you, not one song the DJ spun was rock. It was all dance, progressive, or r&b). But there's "NYC bar on a weekend" loud and "Splash" loud. A&K would be better off sticking to the former especially in such a tiny, reverberant place.

I mean, I love snugglin' up on my baby bear's ear...but we couldn't hear each other speak unless we did just that. I've actually had easier times having conversations in Splash. We like music that loud when we're dancing, not when we're chilling. And, while A&K haS a WEE bit of open space where on could dance, it's impossible to do so with a full bar. Still, the DJ spun excellently.

Moving on to drinky time, I had five of my famed Groupons. Each entitled us to two of any drink on the menu. Mix and match as we please. The bartender knew nothing of the Groupon site let alone A&K's specific Groupon deal. So he argued that he didn't know it he should take them but would go ahead and give us $9 off of our total bill per Groupon.

Painting yourself as the hero when in actuality you're not educated about what your business has offered to its patrons? Hell to the no!

The ONLY reason we were eventually given the deal I paid for was because I told the bartender, "Look, man. I've been a server since I was 14 years old. I'm going to tip you on the full value of what the bill would have been. But I'm not settling for anything less than what I paid for."

At that point the bartender stopped disputing the value of the coupon to us and made the drinks we requested...but kept pulling aside various employees and pointing to us during the entire 3 hours we were there. He also purposely kept avoiding our signal for more drinks, only coming over to us when every other customer had been served. This crap made it mostly impossible to just relax and enjoy the environment! Big not cool boo!

But I was determinded to have a good night. So I told myself that I was willing to move past everything else if the drinks were on point.

NOPE!

The $11 drinks were served in 8 oz. tumblers, which were filled to the top with ice before being filled only half way with liquor(s) and the other half with mixer(s)!!! This included the Long Island's which are served in pint glasses!!!! These were $5 happy hour sizes/liquor quantities anywhere else, y'all!! To us, that's shameful at those prices.

Of course we thought we were getting bent over because of our Groupons. But this is how he poured EVERY drink! And check out the mini-Cosmo pic I posted. That amount of liquir wouldn't have filled a martini class...yet was served in a huge wine glass. I would've laughed and walked out had I been paying full price.

At the end of the night I asked the bartender to put the tip on my credit card. He said, "I'll have to run it for $1 and then put a $20 tip." Dude just poured us the weakest drinks in the history of the world after hassling us about our Groupons and then would only accept a full 20% gratuity??? Really???!!!

In our opinion if you're thinking about going to A&K do yourself a favor first. Go right around the corner to Bar on A, get proper service with heavy-handed pours and twice the liquor for less money...and then, if you must, make A&K your end of the night pit stop so you're nice and sloshed and won't care where you are or how far you're being bent over each time you pay for a drink.

So this bar is an example of "when Yelp gets it just right". What I garnered from this bar's reviews was that it is:

a.) Owned by Pete Wentz of Fallout Boy, and his lovely bride Ashlee Simpson - two human beings I would gladly gutpunch.

and

b.) Entirely populated by the skinny jeans, tight v-neck, leather jacket crowd.

Sure enough, I was strolling by this bar one night with two particularly sake-bombed female friends of mine, and in their drunken minds, the aforementioned points (a) and (b) sounded pretty excellent. We go in, and (surprise, surprise), every single person was wearing a v-neck that was cut far too low, medically constrictive jeans, and a trendy leather jacket - topped off by about half wearing sunglasses (yes, in a dimly lit bar). Nostra Yelpmus.

We had a bit of looking-down-our-nose fun with the little Fallout boys and girls that meandered silently and awkwardly around the place, and eventually left, feeling reassured in the predictive power of Yelp.

Let me first mention that this review goes out to all the lady-Yelpers of New York.

I guess I have to mention Pete Wentz is involved with this establishment, and that's why I wanted to go to Angels and Kings originally, because it seemed like some major lolz were in store for me on an otherwise uneventful Tuesday night.

How wrong I was.

What was in store for me was not lolz, but--and I do not exaggerate--the most attractive collection of straight dudes I've ever encountered in a New York bar. I'm talking percentage-wise, because the place wasn't packed, which was nice actually, no bumpy-drink-spilly action, room to sit, etc. But whatever, who cares about sitting down, when you need to look flirtatiously at like, two thirds of the patrons of the bar, because you can't decide which one you like best? I felt like a boy-crazy kid in a candy store where instead of candy they had guys, and instead of selling them, they gave them away for free! Even the bartenders, who might give you free drinks, or Ricardo, the barback, who will adorably dance with you whenever he makes rounds to pick up glasses?

I suggest going on Tuesday. The "party" is great. I guess calling it a party isn't fair, since there aren't usually enough people to constitute a party. But the DJ plays the PERFECT mix of top 40 hip hop, classic pop and indie stuff.

Sometimes weird stuff goes on here though. MTV was filming something once when I was there, and by that I mean shining a blinding light on everything and tripping people on chords. And I've heard tell of emo-celebrities showing up for beer or whatever, but i'll believe it when I see it.

My only problem is $6 drinks. Hello, starving student over here! Luckily, the environs are conducive to the generosity of others, so hopefully you won't be shouldering the cost of your buzz all alone.

There is only one reason to come to this bar and that's to see if you can spot Ashlee Simpson shooting up in the bathroom. Otherwise, this bar is a dud with a poor atmosphere, a tool of an owner (Pete Wentz) and with a large enough dance floor without any dancing.

If you enjoy wasting time, come here.

Ok, before you read any further, keep a few things in mind:

A) i'm on the border of being in love with pete wentz. correction: definitely have crossed the line of being in love with him. the line is a dot to me.
B) i love fueled by ramen/decaydance.
C) i like going anywhere emo-type band guys are involved (which at a&k is at least once a week).
D) if you are judging and making a face right now, get the f out of my review.

So, if you still have any respect for this review, read on, yelpalicious reader.

I love angels & kings for a few reasons. One is that I hate going to bars where you have to wait in line and have to get bottle service and all that stupid crap. angels & kings has the friendliest staff, to the pitiful point that I've hung out there just with the bartenders, bouncer and the owner and had a fantastic time. it's not a dance club type of bar, but you can sit around the "dance floor," drink beers watch people trying to dance. very amusing. the bday parties they have there are usually fun for people watching, there are so many different types of people that stumble in. sometimes its a grand entrance with cameras flashing (read: travis from gch, pete, panic!, etc), and sometimes its just a random group of interestingly weird people. either way, i always find myself having oddly insightful conversations.

the gong thing is funny. it seems to me that anyone can just go bang the gong, and everyone gets free shots. not sure if its always like that, but give it a try.

either way, i like going here. its cool to mingle with people who write/sing music i like. and nobody acts pretentious, everyone just hangs out and has fun. i thoroughly enjoy myself each time i go. take this, hatersssssss :)

Came by on a Tuesday night, so it probably was not as crowded, with Natasha L. The people inside were kind of strange, like the guys I was talking to, who kept conferencing on the appropriate way to respond to me. I could hear you, geniuses. Next time try having a game plan BEFORE you get tot the bar, k?

Overall, decent spot.

There is a gong behind the bar, and apparently they use it to celebrate little things, like a big tip, or a really bad tip, or when the clock strikes closing time, or whenever they feel like it. But we couldn't get them to bang it.

I've met friends here before, but never really stopped in. This time I did for a bit. It's kinda a generic east village bar, but seems to get a good mix of people. Spacious couches on one side, bar on the other. Dark and cozy, but probably a bit loud and rambunctious for a date spot...

It's important to look at this bar for what it is and not what it once was. It has a standard drink selection with standard prices and a very loud juke box with standard hits. The decor is interesting and somewhat unusual with deep reds and comfy couches.

This place's value (and rating) plummets when you factor is the crowd. It is crawling with "hipper-than-thou" folks who's idea of fun is dancing obnoxiously and demanding all of the attention with obviously intentional "drunkin" antics. There is also a strong showing of B&T types with popped collars and tight polos clearly interested in being in the Fall Out Boy guy's bar.

Skip it, you'll be better off.