10/17/09

GREAT PLACE

by jackderipper

I go because I like the staff, the drinks are cheap ($5.00 for a Ketel One) and I was a VI regular.

• Pros: Jenn, Patience, Kate
• Cons: Juke Box Skips Songs

09/16/09

Place is losing its touch

by passto80

I've been going here for about 5 years and I've always had a good time.

They appear to be cleaning house with the bartenders getting rid of some of the people that have been there a while.

If they expect the people who are loyal patrons and loyal to certain bartenders to continue to frequent the bar, you can't just clean house on the staff.

I've also noticed that many of the new hires are albeit hot 23 year olds, but I don't really want to have a conversation w a 23 year old and find it really patronizing to be called "darling" or "baby" by one which evidently they are instructed to do.

Take a look around at your customer base - they are mostly dudes over 30 - who are drinkers. It would be nice if you had bartenders who have some life experience under their belt who you can talk to w/o feeling old or creepy.

If i wanted just to see hot chix, I'd go to strip club.

This is a messed up economy, you guys gotta ride it out and not change horses midstream. Changing your staff may give you a brief spike in sales, but it will not be sustainable.

• Pros: cheap drinks, kickass juke
• Cons: bartenders are twelve years old

07/27/09

To all my sisters out there keepin it country...

by MeganInManhattan

I really try to keep it classy in the big city, but every now and then a gal like me needs somewhere to let loose and allow her true po-dunk self to come through. That is what dive bars are for, and The Patriot is quite possibly the only true one of the genre that you'll find in NYC. The country music is in full effect fueled by juke boxes on each of The Patriot's two floors, and it's not hard to find a cute drunk boy to dance with (even if he does think dancing to Brooks & Dunn is pleasantly ironic while I consider it a necessary part of life). The drink prices are unfathomably low, we're talkin $2 cans and $6 pitchers of PBR (don't hate), with most other drinks and shots along the same level of cheapness. And obvi the cheaper drinks are, the drunker one can get! As drunk as I may have been, I 'm pretty positive I also saw their food menu boasting the same heavenly prices with many items well less than $5, and from what I hear the bar grub is pretty yummy. My one regret from my recent Patriot trip is that I didn't take the barmaid up on her invitation to dance on the bar, but as fun and friendly as she was, the current song wasn't up to my bar-dancing standards and I wasn't about to break the seal and be the lone drunk girl dancing on the bar. To all you posh nay-sayers: yes, The Patriot is a BAR in the truest sense of the word and it's not apologizing for a lil grit. But if New Yorkers can take the sticks out of their asses and come on down, I think anyone would be surprised at what a good time they'll have. And when y'all come back, I'll be the hot blonde boot-scootin on the bar.

meganinmanhattan . com