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Mars Bar

Critics' Pick

25 E. 1st St., New York, NY 10003
at Second Ave. See Map | Subway Directions Hopstop Popup
212-473-9842 Send to Phone

Reader Rating:
9.5 out of 10
|
4 Reviews | Write a Review
Scene: Dive Bar

Photo by Youngna Park

Map Rate & Review

Hours

Daily, noon-4am

Nearby Subway Stops

6 at Bleecker St.; F, V at Lower East Side-Second Ave.

Payment Methods

Cash Only

Profile

There's always a bad smell over by the bathrooms; the drinks are stiff and the people are crazy. Welcome to Mars Bar. It's just a narrow room, mostly taken up by a scarred bar with a row of mismatched stools before an assortment of crude (and often rude) paintings behind. No credit cards, no draft beer—hell, you're lucky if there's toilet paper. The glass-brick walls facing Second Avenue provide decent people-watching, if you care enough to look up from your drink, which most patrons don't. After all, sometimes you want to go where nobody knows your name. — Lissa T. Rodgers

I walked into the Mars Bar and sat down. The guy two seats down from me says, "welcome to hell." A few minutes later, the guy next to me was asking me to give him some money for the juke. Mr. two seats down said as I was reaching for my wallet, "don't give him money, I'd rather go home and fuck my wife than listen to his music." I gave him the money anyways. The guy was apparently bluffing because he stayed. Another time I got into a conversation with a guy about how many times he had been shot (twice). The guy next to him had been shot five times and stabbed three. The Mars Bar is the greatest bar on earth. Just don't bring your momma there (unless she's been shot a few times).

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