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    Altar

    4.4 (106 reviews)
    Open 8:00 am - 12:00 AM (Next day)

    Order Altar Takeout or Delivery

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    ALTAR ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Intimate
    Outdoor seating
    Happy hour specials

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    Recommended Reviews - Altar

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    Reviews With Photos

    Saasha G.

    All praises goes out to this bar. They've got well made drinks and some cute appetizers. Everyone I come here I try different drinks and have never had a bad one yet. They've got something for everyone and they make the drinks with love. Those lobster rolls are addictive. It's a great date spot. As you can see from my pics, I've indulged there quite a bit. They also have happy hour as well

    Jungle Birdie -rhum agricole, pineapple,campari,mint,passionfruit. High Fever-tequila,lime,coconut, kalamansi, yellow chartreuse, thai basil
    Alexis M.

    Altar is a chic and cool cocktail bar in the Crown Heights setcion of Brooklyn. Located on Sterling Place, it is next door to Chavela's (Mexican Restaurant). Altar is also in close proximity to Rum Bar, Ras Plant Based, etc. & is within walking distance to a host of restaurants & hang-out spots along Franklin Ave. Altar is easily accessible via public transportation that includes the 2,3,4,5, & S (Shuttle train) to Franklin Ave and walking a few minutes to the establishment. One can also take the B 48 bus, which runs along Franklin Ave and get off the stop closest to Sterling Place. Altar has a cozy, intimate lounge vibe w/ classy ambiance. It has a bar area, a fabulous disco ball that is in the center of the front room area & there is a back room area. There is a mix of various table / seating arrangements - high tables w/ leather seating, standard tables w/ leather seating, booth- style seating, etc. Candles on the tables & lighting arrangements enhance the atmosphere. Altar has clean bathrooms. These are our favorite signature cocktails at Altar: High Fever Cocktail - Tequila Blanco, lime cordial, cocnut, kalamansi, Yellow Chartreuse & thai basil. Jungle Birdie - Rhum Agricole, pineapple, campari, mint & passionfruit. Wine /Spirits and Beers are also on the Menu. Happy Hour is $3 off Classic Cocktails & 2 off wines, etc. Altar also has a Small Plates Menu, and the sliders we ordered were good. The Two Sliders are Ground NY Strip w/ bacon prune jam & humboldt fog cheese. The waffle crisps paired well w/ the sliders. Website - altarnyc.com Instagram - @altarbklyn Hours of Operation - Mon- Wed. 5pm - Midnight Thurs. - 5pm - 2am Fri. & Sat. - 4pm - 2am Sun. - 4pm - Midnight Altar plays really good music. R &.B, Salsa, Pop, Reggae, Hip-Hop, etc. You name it, they play it....

    Angie O.

    After Chavelas we went for some drinks at altar which is their sister bar! Really nice ambiance. Friendly quick service, very attentive. Will definitely be going back and recommending both spots :)

    Menu
    Dana L.

    Cozy cocktail bar with late night food options. Kitchen stays open until close. The oysters and the burger were delicious. Fries were made with rosemary - so good. Must get jalapeño mayo! Service was great.

    Pineapple mezcal negroni
    Ebony C.

    I'm definitely a fan of this place. I've been to spot two different times and it didn't disappoint. First Saturdays it will be hard to get a table b/c the museum crowd has dispersed and made their way here. However, on a random Wednesday while there are people their you will have a better chance at getting a table. The drinks and bites are just enough. I've had a few of the cocktails on their menu fitzy fiz& the pineapple negroni...very tasty! For food I've had the sticky chicken, patatas bravas, steak skewers, & yucca fries...all good. It has a chill dark vibe. Definitely great for a date. However, it's a good friends link up too. I'm sure I'll make it back soon.

    Morlene C.

    I was completely enchanted by this place from the moment I walked in. Compliments to their interior designer, because the gilded accents and warm glow of the space really make you feel like you've walked into Brooklyn's best kept secret. When I learned one of the brains behind this place was a proprietor of one of my favorite but now closed bars ever (Mayahuel), it all clicked. The cocktail menu is really well thought out, with every drink more balanced than the next. It seems the cocktail I really loved that was made with a pop rocks rim is no longer on their menu, but I trust that everything they make is delicious. They must change out their drinks every so often, but will likely be able to make an old drink if you ask. $15 for this kind of quality is so affordable as well. I haven't yet tried the food, but they have a little kitchen making things like fried chicken, lobster rolls, sliders, burrata, yuca fries, and tartare. All the kinds of things I'd want to have alongside my elevated cocktails. I can't wait to bring more friends.

    Cristina D.

    Very very cool vibe to this place! Super dark lit, but very classy, cozy and clean. Servers are fast, attentive, and kind without being overbearing. The drinks are positively devine and extremely well-balanced--and reasonably priced compared to high end cocktail places in the Manhattan area. I only left a star off because the place fills up very fast and the don't take reservations--and because it's just very loud there over all due to the hard surfaces and tall ceilings. Overall a really great experience and somewhere I will certainly revisit!

    Patatas Bravas - A white ceramic plate contains Patatas Bravas, consisting of small, fried potato balls topped with a yellow sauce and chopped herbs. The dish is presented outdoors, with a blurred background showing bicycles and a sidewalk. The lighting suggests evening or nighttime, and the dish appears freshly prepared, with visible sauce drizzles and garnishes.
    Aidan O.

    Pretty disappointed by this cute little bar. We arrived at 8:30pm and walked by a ton of people sitting outside. The waiter informed us that the outdoor patio would be closing at 9:30pm if we wanted to stay outside. We said we'd be quick so opted to sit outside rather than sitting at the only available seats at the then cramped bar. To drink, I only ordered the Aspall cider and it was solid. The food was unfortunately not that great. The patatas bravas were just boiled potatoes with spicy mayo as they weren't fried for long enough to have any crisp. The sliders were also quite undercooked as I had three large pieces of fat that I couldn't chew threw and had to spit out. The bun, cheese, fig spread, and fries were all solid though! We also ordered the burrata which was decent, but needed to be eaten immediately or else the bread it was served on became soggy. That was probably the best dish. The waiter apologized for the food taking so long and said the kitchen was backed up which I'm guessing was the reason as to why most dishes were undercooked. Fast forward to 9:30pm and new people start showing up and are placed outside. The waiter started bringing out lights as the sun went down. So, looks like the patio doesn't close at 9:30pm. Oh well! We also offered to eat our food quicker since it took so long for our food to come out. The vibes were great though. The patio and inside are beautiful. I would definitely recommend coming to this place to grab a nice drink, but would avoid the food. Hopefully it was just this one instance were things weren't quite cooked fully.

    Andre O.

    Had a great time at Altar, got some quick bites and a couple of cocktails and a mocktail. The Nada Colada was more strawberry than coconut in my opinion but still quite tasty. The fried chicken was delicious and the restaurant made sure to remove the sesame seed topping from the dish. Seems like it would be a nice date spot with the lighting and ambience.

    Signature cocktail menu.

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    6 months ago

    Cute spot, great for dates. Server was sweet. Food was pretty good too :) Would come back if in the area.

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    1 year ago

    Everything was phenomenal- food, service, vibe. Love love love. Will return next time we visit.

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    Ask the Community - Altar

    Are there mocktails or non-alcoholic options?

    Not on the menu , No.

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    Sunken Harbor Club - Shallows drinks

    Sunken Harbor Club

    (115 reviews)

    $$$

    Downtown Brooklyn

    I've been trying to go to Sunken Harbor for over a year now. I don't know how it's possible but…read moredespite being local it always seems to have a private event whenever we have plans to go. The stars finally aligned this winter and I had the opportunity to try it out. The vibes are perfect. Fog and bubbles, sea noises and all of the art go together seemlessly. Drinks were great. We had three and left suitably sloshed for the night with no aftereffects. We didn't have too many bites but the food was very good for a bar. I'm excited to go back and I hope we have just as much luck getting in next time.

    This is a "speakeasy" above Gage and Tollner. An undersea Tiki style adventure with a sexy mermaid…read moreheading up the bar. Nautical theme throughout with weathered leather, ropes, fish. Cocktails are made with various types of rum and ingredients like grapefruit, maraschino, wormwood amaro, falernum, thyme, Assam tea, spiced lime, allspice, coconut, cucumber, nutmeg, sour orange. All the drinks keep with the tropical, fruity taste with a hint of spice. They are also broken up into categories (dry land = no alcohol, shallows = average amount of alcohol, and abyss (larger amounts of alcohol). The abyss section has some cocktails that are limited to two per customer. They have some bar bites like fried green tomatoes, shrimp toast, broiled oysters, ricotta, dumplings, sliders. I had the French fries with kimchi ranch, which were underwhelming. Bartenders were cool and kept the drinks coming. I got in immediately without an issue or a wait, but it was right after a snowstorm. I've seen some people struggle to get in or have a long wait.

    Barely Disfigured - Charcuterie

    Barely Disfigured

    (182 reviews)

    $$

    Cobble Hill, Gowanus

    This bar has a very fun fun concept- a bar turned from a former brothel. The motif on the door is a…read moreplay on the 'this is not a pipe' work, which really added to the vibe I was expecting. Unfortunately this place fell very flat. Leading with what we liked: Their mocktail offerings were good, promising a 0.0% ABV which is hard to come across when mocktails are offered. They serve oysters, which adds to that aphrodisiac experience of the oh so 'wow this is a former brothel!'. The bartenders and servers were fast and very sociable with the more sociable customers. The immediate entrance is very tight, and it was uncomfortable navigating the space. We expected there'd be more seating in the back, which there was, but it was limited and not offered to us until we asked for it. We honestly had no clue where it would be and only asked because of how this place was advertised. While it was comfy once we made our way back there, it was reminiscent of a lounge style bar space that almost any bar could replicate with the right room and budget. We didn't feel as though this hit the spot and were let down by this experience. I'm not sure if I can judge the menu of drinks/ foods as expensive, but we left hungry bc we couldn't justify some of the prices. In addition, I've seen a lot of complaints about the volume of the music: it's definitely loud at the front but a lot lower in that back lounge space. It's as loud as any bar's music level would be, but truth be told we were expecting music that matched the vibe of what was advertised and yes, at a lower volume.

    i love this bar!! it's not great for big groups, but perfect for a date night or group of 2-3…read moreit's a pretty small space favorite drink is the hokusai, i absolutely love it

    Honeycomb Hi-Fi Lounge - Stormbringer

    Honeycomb Hi-Fi Lounge

    (39 reviews)

    Park Slope

    It's clear this place takes inspiration from Japanese vinyl listening bars, from their menu of…read morehighballs to their vinyl collection and attention to the audio experience. I've made it a point to visit every vinyl listening bar that I learn of in town, after enjoying the shared experience of someone curating a select vinyl list in intimate spaces in Tokyo. Few have been able to replicate the experience, but Honeycomb Hi Fi Lounge comes close. That the space is narrow with just a few seats along the bar and a few tables mimics the Japanese experience best, where you can almost have it so the whole room is having one conversation together. The music is the focus. The cocktail menu is rather simple, and my Stormbringer drink, with dark rum and ginger beer was not anything to write home about, but $15 is pretty low for cocktails these days so I'll take it. If they introduced new cocktails to the menu with more interesting ingredients I'd be more inclined to return, but the vibes overall are pretty good and the staff really nice.

    Was brought here by a dear friend, a neighborhood regular…read more The cocktail was amazing, selection very diverse- many hard-to-find liquors, etc. Bartender was incredibly knowledgable and attentive. My friend and I each order a cocktail, and are catching up. I'm from Brooklyn, however I no longer live here, and this was precious catch-up time with my friend. Then I get interrupted mid-sentence by the old-timer DJ from his low seat in a corner behind the bar. I had bumped the bar with my wrist (bumped my wrist watch as well, not deliberately) and then placed my hand down (granted- more than placed but definitely not slammed), and he decided to warn me that I COULD HAVE made his record skip. It was the Eagles or Santana (far from eclectic, but that's just me). I'm also 99% certain he turned the volume up afterwards, making it even harder to enjoy the company. After that interaction, I struggled to pick it back up with my friend, because I found that distraction very effing rude. When this "4th wall" gets broken down with service, it is hard to then enjoy the space in an uninhibited state. I am all for the Tokyo Vinyl Bar vibe, and I'm also for also giving talent an outlet to share their collection, but this interaction colored my experience, and I closed out after one drink and went elsewhere. I mentioned this to the bartender, and he was kind to offer a buy-back of a rare whiskey, which I did accept. 5 stars for the bartender, but 1 for my experience. I don't like to be harsh or unnecessarily cruel, but this is what it is. I have visited in the past and enjoyed myself. Nonetheless, I certainly won't be coming back.

    Understudy Community Cocktails

    Understudy Community Cocktails

    (4 reviews)

    Bedford Stuyvesant

    This was scary! For quite a while this place was closed, but thankfully it reopened and I got to…read morereturn on my most recent visit to the city. Not much has changed honestly. I got to have some Detroit style pizza from upstairs, which I still think is hilariously bold in NYC, and I tried a few new drinks. I had one new friend in town who was trying them for the first time and was also delighted. It's also helpful when you have a bartender or staff in general that genuinely engages with you and is excited that you are enjoying yourself. I forget his name, but he made sure our party really enjoyed ourselves. Great way to kick off the birthday month, that's for sure!

    Tucked away in Bed-Stuy beneath a pizzeria, this small speakeasy is the kind of spot you'd only…read morediscover if someone let you in on the secret. I'm sure I've walked past it countless times without realizing it was there, until now. You enter through the pizzeria, where you'll be asked to wait for a host to escort you down. Once inside, you're greeted with a cozy, intimate space and a menu full of creative, delicious cocktails with clever names. The bartender and host were both warm, friendly, and quick with a joke, which made the atmosphere even more welcoming. The space is small, but that's clearly part of its charm, it feels intentional and inviting. I'd definitely come back. No photos this time, I was too busy enjoying the experience and soaking up the vibes. You'll just have to check it out for yourself to see how cool it really is.

    Altar - cocktailbars - Updated May 2026

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