Fontana's

04/20/2008 Posted by liverpoollover

I've been going there for a few years now and have a great time all the time but they just need to have some more bathrooms on the upper floors. There are 3 upstairs and when there are a few hundred people there on a Saturday night... that's not a good time! As there is 1 women's and 1 men's bathroom downstairs, you usually have to pay to get down there, so those aren't an option too often. Other than that the prices of drinks are a bit steep but I guess the good music out weighs that. $7 for Vodka and club soda is a lot of money!

Pros: Music!!!!! Atmosphere! Friendly bartenders!

Cons: Lack of bathrooms and price of drinks

02/20/2008 Posted by nanbue

More then the bar which was fine, Im recommending the band I saw there that was great. Original and energetic, The Communication Corporation check them out on thier web site. These guys are talented! As far as the venue, it was like the base ment of the knitting factory as far as sound went and the room is long and there is a small bar, the bar tender was very nice. All tog. I thought it was a good experience, fun place to hang.

Pros: Large open space up stairs, with big bar, band space in the base ment had some dance space

Cons: Dark front and hard to find, they need a better brighter sign, we drove by it three times before we saw it, wish we could hear the live music from down stairs

12/15/2007 Posted by ksb12

About 350 people and 3 coed bathrooms! What a joke. I must have spent 15-20 minutes on line each time I had to use the bathroom. Until this place wises up and adds a reasonable amount of restrooms, I would avoid it.

Pros: not many

Cons: Too dark, too loud, too crowded, not enough bathrooms

11/07/2007 Posted by jrokonez

This is the kind of fun dive bar more typical of a rural college town than Chinatown. Bring a big group of people who want to get drunk in an atmosphere that's heavy on the beer and light on the pretense, sink into a booth by the bar or gather 'round one of the flip cup tables in back. Either way, you'll get tanked before sunset without really trying.

Pros: Lowkey, fun place to booze on the weekdays.

Cons: It may feel like the campus dive you remember--or would, if you hadn't blacked out--from college, but you'll still spend around $10 for non-well mixed drinks.

10/23/2007 Posted by mnyc1021

I just had my birthday here this past weekend, and I have to say, this is probably one of my favorite bars in NYC. I've been to a lot of different places, but the one thing about Fontana's is that it's hip and trendy, not too crowded, a great social scene (w/ great music and awesome artwork), and just plain out fun. I had a huge mix of different types of people on my guest list and all of them kept going on and on about how they loved this bar. I would DEFINITELY recommend it - it's a perfect medium no matter what kinda atmosphere you're into -

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

10/23/2007 Posted by thegreatestofease

Normally I would say a huge bar ain't my cup of tea, but this place is actually a collection of reasonable spaces I can feel safe in. Excluding the main, sorta ball-roomish space. Anyway, I go out to see music and this place is not afraid to book the hard stuff that I love. Hardcore, Metal, punk. Not every night but often. Better yet I can drink 3 dollar cans of beer (i forget what kind) and not go broke like I do at most shows. Oh and once I am full of beer they are kind enough to have bathrooms in every one of the aforementioned rooms. I say hells yeah. Good music, cheap beer. good for them... good for us!

Pros: Bands and Bartenders are pros

Cons: Bouncers are cons

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

10/21/2007 Posted by makeitblue

My friends and I showed up and the bouncer situation was a little ridiculous. We waited in two separate lines where we were told to "have your IDs ready for when I check them!!". After this line, we were directed to a second one. We told the bouncer we were here for a party and were not on the guest list, but he insisted on looking for each of our names. When he couldn't find our names (or perhaps convinced himself he had indeed found them?) he told the ladies to step up. A question of "well what about him? He's with us too!" was ignored. After the ladies "stepped up", he then told the gentleman to step up too. What suspense! The kicker was that when we finally got inside the bar... there was no one there. It was pretty much empty, and I left after 20 minutes. This bar was laughably lame.

Pros: Lower East Side

Cons: It's not fun.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

10/20/2007 Posted by saabira

the lamest place ever. The bouncers are the rudest people I have ever met... do not go here. i repeat. do not!!!

Cons: bouncers are rude

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful

10/07/2007 Posted by kungfu3456

There is nothing good about this place. The staff is rude, the bar is dark, there's ONE bathroom, the drinks are miserable. After the wait on line, I expected a lot more and was incredibly disappointed. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

Pros: nothing

Cons: everything

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful

10/07/2007 Posted by melissk

I guess it's standard knowledge to avoid the crowds on weekends in the city, but I was expecting a chill rock and roll bar, but instead I got the lame crowd whom probably didn't even realize the Ramones were playing they were so busy running into people wasted. Most of the crowd were guys in button down shirts and carbon copy party girls, but the biggest turn off was the incredibly rude bartender (he moaned and whined, audibly, when he had to get a beer for me after he got one for my friend- actually he had the other bartender get it for him bc he was too lazy to). Amazing music selection, but not appropriate for the crowd. Prob a cool place during the week, avoid on the weekends! All in all, was a shame.

Pros: great music, big space, cool decorations

Cons: bad weekend crowd, rude bartender

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful