I've been wanting to check this place out for so long and finally brought a group of friends out on a Saturday in the early evening. Perfect time to go! Not too crowded, the wait for a pool table was about 30 minutes, enough for a quick round of shuffleboarding. The games are relatively cheap, and there's so much variety, ping pong and board games. The live jazz is really what sets this place apart from the other pool halls, starting around 7 pm with what seems like maybe the house band and I think they have guests later in the night. It's the perfect atmosphere, fun lighting, lots of grungy writing on the walls, good indie music from the 2010s before the jazz starts. Plus the spacing of the tables is good so you're not constantly bumping into other players, which is a pet peeve of mine. I'm sure it's busier later in the night but it's perfect for an early stop in the evening. Cheap drinks and good deals as well! read more

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Pretty cool and genuinely unique spot, different from most places in the city. The whole concept is built around keeping your hands busy: pool tables, ping pong, shuffleboard, foosball, chess, checkers, even some old-school arcade cabinets scattered through a sprawling underground space. It's actually a legacy spot in disguise. This basement used to house Fat Cat, a longtime West Village institution that shut down right before the pandemic, and before that the room itself was a bowling alley, tucked into a 1932 Art Deco building a few steps from Stonewall. Drink selection isn't the draw here, don't come expecting a deep cocktail list. Crowd skews heavily undergrad, and the place is loud, so it's not the spot for an intimate one-on-one or a real group conversation. It's built for a different kind of hang: elbow your way to a table, keep your hands busy, let the noise do the rest. There's also live jazz most nights, which adds a nice layer if you catch it at the right time. Neat place, just know what you're walking into. read more

Very cool and extremely spacious bar. Cover for live jazz is very reasonable. Lots of sitting room and not too crowded as well. read more

Cellar Dog - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

There are some pros and cons about this place, but it was pretty neat overall! Came here with friends (group of 4) on a Saturday night, so we paid the $10 cover. Which is fine in my opinion because they have live jazz and I love that. I also love a bar with an activity outside of just drinking. Some pros: so many games and pool tables and live jazz and decent beer Some cons: not many seats, long waits for the pool/ping pong/foosball tables on a weekend, loud (not a place to get to know someone I'd say) Overall it's definitely ~cool~. The crowd looked to be a lot of NYU students/20somethjngs in tech or whatever living their best city life. Not the vibe for all, but definitely the vibe for some. read more

Fun spot with pool tables, shuffleboard, ping pong, live music, and standard seating. Decent range of beers on tap. $10 cover and $11/beer. Attentive bartenders too. read more

Cellar Dog - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Great assortment of games and drinks. Staff are nice.. good for maybe a date or company outing

Decent prices to pay pool by the hour and low prices for wine and beer. Lovely customer service. Chill ambiance. Would come again read more

Cellar Dog - Pool - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Such a great spot to hang with friends. They have live jazz music, ping pong, pool tables and games. The energy is so fun but get there early if you want to grab a seat. Cover is $10. read more

Bouncer denied our very real IDs. Was super rude about it when asked why almost took them away. Place has no scanner so clearly they don't care as much to double check we're also all clearly of age very weird first time for everything ig Looking at other reviews seems like they do this a lot to others.. WEIRDOS read more

I hadn't come here since pre-COVID when it was Fat Cat. It t seems very similar to what was Fat Cat. We came here for an after dinner drink and game. It was $2/person to play scrabble unlimited and it was the same for all of the board games. The table games were a little more expensive and time limited. They also had live jazz starting at 7pm on Sat night which was cool. The staff were friendly and the service pretty fast. Fun time! read more

Cellar Dog - Scrabble - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

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The manager singled me out and was wildly disrespectful to me; kicked me out of the line for games because I was not in the mood to chat with him. Most of the pool tables need repair the pool sticks are never sanitized. The ceiling drips. The entire place is painted dark colors to mask the fact that it is never cleaned. The manager can be seen smoking Newport cigarettes like a chimney on Christopher street in the afternoons. I would recommend a hard pass on this place until there's new management. read more

Cellar Dog is Fat Cat rejuvenated, and much cleaner. Underground bar with pool, ping pong, fooseball, board games. Great for groups of friends or a fun date alternative. There's always at least one group celebrating a birthday here. There's a cover of $5 on weekdays and $10 on Fri/ Sat but you get to listen to live jazz. So, worth it. Pretty basic bar food: nachos, grandma's pizza, ice cream. They have a few rotating cocktails but this is more of a beer and well drinks spot. read more

my two friends and i came here after getting dinner just to listen to jazz and vibe. i guess this place is close to where a lot of NYU students are because the bouncer thought that my and my one friend's IDs were fake. he started doing that thing that bouncers do where they ask you what's on your ID to see if you'll screw it up. he wasn't very nice about it, it's like bro was itching and scratching to not let us in. dude absolutely destroyed the mood. unfortunately, the bouncer's tone started making my friend really nervous. he hadn't ever had his ID questioned before and he hadn't yet updated it (he had just moved), so when asked for his address, he didn't give the one that was on the license. the bouncer said it was wrong, then kept rolling his eyes, laughing at him, and began repeating "don't be scared, don't be scared" to my friend who was... clearly scared. he then asked my friend for a secondary form of identification which, like... what? the only thing he had on him was his old student ID, which expired like two years ago lol. this finally got the bouncer off of him, thankfully. post-lambasting my friend, the bouncer started asking me the same questions, but my ID is up to date so i answered all of his questions without a hitch. he rolled his eyes and then asked me for another ID, as well. maybe i'm the odd one out here, but who carries a secondary form of ID on them? i also have an enhanced license, which i'm pretty sure is a federal crime to fake, as it is basically a passport. i ended up just showing him my driver's insurance card, that's the closest thing i had. at that point, he FINALLY let us in. after all that struggle, the place kinda... sucked. was not even worth the $5 cover. the bartender was rude and the bar barely had any alcohol (at 10 PM on a thursday night with a bunch of college students inside?). it was dark and dingy and NOT in a quirky way. i don't need a place to be fancy or anything, this was just gross. another friend and i got their "pride" drink which was just pineapple juice and soju. that's it. the drink was not mixed well, to say the least. the only good part of this place was that they had a phenomenal jazz band playing... but with all the hassling, next time i will go anywhere else. new york city has so much more to offer -- skip this one. read more

Cellar Dog - Pineapple Pride - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Great staff, welcoming space with lots of games, no lines when we went! Foosball tables! Went on a Saturday night around 8pm, live jazz band playing and so many activities. Fun spot if you like to play games! I was a little surprised a dollar only purchased 7 balls to play foosball which means it's going to cost more quarters to play a full game. Still worth it! read more

Underwhelming! The bouncer was super rude. There was a sign at the door that they were closed for a private party, but it wasn't easy to see since the door was propped open and there was a bouncer at the door. Usually that's not the orientation for a "private party"; he rudely said "read the sign" and didn't make eye contact. The sign also didn't have a date on it so I wondered if it was from a previous night. Is double-checking with a human really that bad? I came back another day and they were open to the public. The cover was $5 for a band that was okay. The bench seating is rickety and you can easily fall back, so they should probably be bolted. They have wine and beer only. The manager sat in a corner and hogged a second stool. When I asked him if he was using it he said it's not available. Ok. So they don't do bar stools at a bar. It makes sense because there is only a few items on their drink menu and four items (three of which are meat) on their food menu. I ordered a spritzer and a pretzel. The pretzel was huge and good for at least three people. It was hard, needed more butter, and not flavorful at all. What do I expect? The drink was not strong and had no taste. One of the only two arcade machines was not functional. They have ping pong and shuffleboard and pool. read more

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Came here for a surprise pop up show for MGK. He performed some of his songs and the sound quality was great! But this place was definitely not set up for this type of venue. It was very crowded and tight spaced. Drinks spilt all over the floor, and not really organized at all. Staff and security was very present so that did make it feel more safe. It seems like a chill spot, just not equipped for that type of show read more

very cool space, lots of games (ping pong, foosball, chess, pool, etc). live jazz which is great but also gets very loud if you're near them. there's a cover ($10) which is fine but then you also have to pay to play pool which is a little annoying. would come back here but too expensive to be a regular spot. read more

Cool spot with drinks, pool tables, games and live jazz!! There's a few pews to sit on and a ton of booths a bit further away. Paid $5 cover on a weekday and it was fun read more

Cellar Dog - Jazz - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

This place is a giant underground playground, and it's got it all: live jazz, pool tables, ping pong, arcade games, shuffleboard, cards, and board games. They have big tables that make excellent arenas for chugging beer and beating your friends in Durak. I believe our cover was about $5-$10 on a weeknight. read more

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The incompetent bouncer was pressing my friend and I about our IDs. When we showed our IDs (we're both 23), he asked for a second form of ID after glancing at the IDs we just gave him. I told him I didn't have a second form of ID and asked what was wrong with mine but he couldn't give an answer. My friend gave his second form of ID but he kept saying it wasn't him on the ID (like what, who is that then??) and even asked him for a passport. I asked him if he can scan our IDs or something to verify bc how can he prove our IDs are fake. Again, no answer. Mind you, we already played pool for an hour and were sitting down in the front row to watch the jazz band perform when he came up to us. He finally left us alone but I was obviously upset and he had the audacity to come back to us talking about "why I was making a face" like who wouldn't make a face after the situation you put us in. Bro was rage baiting sooo hard so he can kick us out but it didn't work. ALSO the pool tables are sooo DIRTY. Even if the situation with the bouncer hadn't occurred, we're never coming back to this raggedy place again. FYI: I've noticed there are several bad reviews about this bouncer. I understand this place is close to NYU hence why they probably get a lot of fakes but why would you inconvenience paying customers instead of investing in some kind of method to actually verify IDs, like HELLO it's 2026. read more

Awesome place! Same establishment as it used to be, just newly named. Great place for ping pong, billiards, shuffleboard and live music. We went on a Sunday and it wasn't too busy. FYI only draft beers and soju (no wine or liquor). They also occasionally have a live jazz band, which is an added bonus. Also if you enter before a certain time there's no cover charge, but check the site. read more

This place is great for dates or hanging out with friends. It was $10 cover fee for Saturday evening. You can leave and come back without paying if you get a stamp at the door. They have a bar with a variety of drinks. I tried the Cellar Spritz cocktail and it was very good. You can rent games such as Connect 4, Checkers, Chess, Cards, Dominos, and Scrabble for just $2 a player for unlimited play. You can also do table games such as Pool, Ping-Pong, and Shuffleboard for $9 a player on Friday-Saturday. You have to leave an ID with them as collateral and you pay at the end. If the tables are filled they have a nice wait list system where they text you to let you know when the table is ready. If you want to exit the list for any reason you can cancel your reservation from your phone. I did ping-pong but I didn't have enough time to try shuffleboard, however I enjoyed the live music. Wayne Tucker Quintet performed from 7pm to 11pm with small breaks throughout. They were amazing! At peak times, the seating is pretty limited and it can get kinda crowded. read more

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Great all in one place for pool, ping pong and games - all with live music! Kinda of a college hangout vibe but that's not a bad thing! read more

Fun place! They had a lot of fun games likes ping pong and shuffleboard. Also, the live music they had was amazing! Cool place to check out! read more

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Cool spot. I found it a bit overwhelming and very hot down in this frat basement. I found it weird they don't have Tequilla? Only vodka/wine/beer. Now onto the gam- You can put your name on a waitlist where they will text you once it's ready to rent ping pong paddles/balls or other games. We waited about 20-30min. Per website; Table Games (Billiards, Ping Pong, and Shuffleboard) are available on a first come first served basis. Wed / Thurs / Sunday - $8 per player per hour (charged by minute) Friday & Saturday - $9 per player per hour (charged by minute) I think we played for about an hour? So I think it was like $30 for ping pong... Would I recommend, maybe, running back to hang in a very hot, frat basement? Not sure yet. read more

Cellar Dog - Frat party vibes - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Great fun night to listen to jazz and play some ping pong and checkers. The staff is friendly. The jazz is quality. The lighting and stickers and walls are fun to read. The ping pong tables were great. A little small of paddles, but they work. $10 to get in on a Friday night. Had some waters. read more

Cellar Dog - Jazz - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Date: May 30th Time: Night This is not the best place to be. Visited this place because someone recommended aka comes to find out this is a fraud. The live band was completely sleep. Between the no ventilation, that was mixed with the homeless body odor gliding around the place. Could not be bothered with trying to attempt to touch any of the pool tables , ping pong, out of fear that the gems might jump me. read more

Great spot to hangout in West Village. Live jazz music all night with couches to sit and watch. Billiards and ping pong tables as well

Hadn't bee here in almost 5 years when the place was still Fat Cat. Came on a Saturday evening around 9pm to catch a Jazz show. Cover was $10 a person, which should've been our first sign. Bar only served beer and wine, and for a dive bar vibe they were not dive bar prices. The bartenders were brusque but at least quick: guess there's no excuse since they didn't have to make any drinks. The bar also seems to have gotten rid of all of its seating in favor of a myriad of extra pool tables. There were maybe only 3 booths in the place, and seating in front of the stage amounted to a handful of decrepit old church pews, enough for maybe 15 people in all. I guess the thought is if people don't have anywhere to sit, they might as well spend money to play pool/shuffleboard/ping pong. Of course, the obvious problem with that is since that means there's also no room to stand, people trying to play pool kept bumping into people just trying to stand somewhere. And don't let me give the wrong impression: it's not like the place was busy; it only felt cramped because 80% of the floor space was taken up by ~15 pool tables, only a few of which were in use at any one time. I guess the bar owners think there's better margins in billiards than beers. read more

Pretty fun downstairs bar with a huge space full of games. On weekends there is a cover for $10 and you pay by hour for the games. Not too bad for the area and a good way to kill some time. read more

Really fun Pool Bar with ample tables, Ping Pong, Shuffleboard, and live music. There's a cover charge of $10 when you go in, but it's pretty worth imo if you plan on spending some time at the bar. Drinks are pretty fairly priced; games are rented by the hour and are first come first serve. I've been here when it was really busy and usually don't have to wait too long for a table to open up since there's so many in the bar. Definitely a fun place to go if you're trying to grab a drink and play some games with friends or a date! read more

This used to be Fat Cat but was renamed to Cellar Dog. It's an underground spacious venue. It's always fun to go with friends if you want to see a jazz band playing and play table games like pool, shuffleboard, or ping pong. They also have board games. Never had an issue getting in. I think when it gets busy, you might have to pay a cover. read more

Cellar Dog - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

I came here for a double date! Pros: Great jazz, lots of games available, big space, may be able to find booth seating for groups. Cons: Music is very loud so can't hear friends, no drinks other than wine, beer, & canned stuff, the pool tables have a crazy long wait time. This is probably best to go to on a less busy night. Be prepared to spend at least $35 on entry, a game, and a drink plus more each round. read more

Cellar Dog - Wine & cards available - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

Eric and Zack are great. All the staff very friendly. The tables are really well maintained. Please respect them, keep your drinks off them! It's a much chiller vibe on the off nights Sunday-Wednesday. The mood gets considerably less cool when the crowd starts to get more enthusiastic and a bit entitled. But such is the price of success? Two minor gripes what happened to the draft, maybe offer happy hour? Respect jazz musicians, tip them people! read more

A unique experience! This establishment is a playground for young and young at heart. Furnished with pool tables, shuffleboard, arcade games, a bar and a jazz club... all in one. For $5 or $10 cover (on weekends) you may find famous musicians performing any night. And they are open pretty late. We ended up going there three out of seven nights in the city. read more

We went to this place after dinner one day. They do check IDs at the door and also there was a $5 cover which I think is worth it. When you go in you go downstairs and then there is a bar on the right and then a very large area with a lot of different games. For example they have: - pool tables - shuffleboard - chess - ping pong - other board games (e.g. connect 4) It is a good vibe. They have music - sometimes a live band, but it is still at a level when you can hear people talk. The vibe is friendly and a bit hipster. Drinks aren't too expensive. Also people are reasonably friendly e.g. if you challenge them to a game of chess etc. Overall I would recommend this place as a fun activity/bar to go to. Good on weeknights too. read more

Cellar Dog - Pool tables - Bars Near Me - New York, New York

If you complain about the quality of the tables you paid for they will kick you out with no outcome!

I came to Cellar dog on a Saturday night for my friends going away gathering. There was a $10 cover charge. The place has a distinct smell, could be because it's like a basement. It is very spacious, there's a bar, several pool tables, ping pong tables, and shuffle boards. They had some pop music playing and then a jazz band came on. At the bar they only have soju, beer, and wine. I had the Cabernet it was alright. The bartender was efficient and even recommended a beer that would be similar to a Stella. For a place that was packed the bartenders were definitely taking care of everyone quickly. I believe there was some food options but I didn't try anything. If you're into jazz & games this is the place for you! read more

Super fun spot! This is an incredible place to spend the afternoon. I went on a Saturday and it wasn't crowded at all and we had our choice of games. Pool, fooseball, ping pong, shuffleboard- all super fun. This is a great spot to hang with a group. read more

Pool, ping pong, shuffle board, live music and a full bar. Great bar experience to bring friends to, or a date