Awesome spot... great people and amazing bartender!

Great drinks & Food, Pool , darts , jukebox, screen TVs

Drinks, pool, taxidermy. $7 jamo rocks. Enough said.

Perfect dive bar.

Really cool dive bar! Great drink prices!

Friendly place to have drinks. The food is great, not what you would expect from a pub. Reasonably priced and great quality. They don't rush you out either.

Lovely place. Good price drinks, friendly waiters and amazing atmosphere. A bar you always want to come back to.

On a recent Tuesday early evening, this was a 5 star bar. Lovely barmaid, cool clientele, super chilled / slightly competitive pool table... loved it%.

That kind of hard to find spot that's not too nice, not too divey. Recommend!

Very recommended, good music and very delicious food 😋

One of the best dive bars in all of New York. Bring some singles with you, grab a cheap beer, and throw on a song from the jukebox (also one of the best in the city).

Always had a good time here don’t know what the fuss it about, probably too many “invasive species,” bros and basics tend to ruin everything.

Fun place, though someone tried to offer me drugs on the line to the bathroom. Not the bar's fault though!

Classic NY dive bar with really nice bartenders and great drinks. Shout out to the bartender for the buy back.

Great atmosphere. Some of the best pool I've played has been here.

great bar, My mate Matt Murdock and I got absolutely blind here. Limited disabled access though.

Great bar, love the music.

A really generic dive bar that looks suspiciously similar to a number of other bars in the area with one great exception: dogs. Every time I've been there have been two or three dogs running around, having a good time and making friends. There's a pool table and a good amount of seating from which to watch the aforementioned dogs enjoy the bar atmosphere. I wish the beer selection was a little more expansive but it's good enough for the kind of bar that it is. And did I mention the dogs?

I shyly walked up to the bar last night, already drunk from the last haunt and desperate for a martini, expecting to be scoffed at because well, it’s a dive. “You can put it in a rocks glass, I don’t care!” Ry behind the counter immediately served me the best damn dirty martini I’ve ever had for $11 and did so with serious enthusiasm. One of the most personable and friendly bartenders I’ve ever had the pleasure of engaging with. This was my first time here and it will certainly not be the last.

A great neighborhood bar. $10 card minimum but not hard to reach. On busy nights it can get difficult to get the attention of the bartender as every time I've been there's only one.

Cool spot, nice pool table, chill and chat

This is a solid dive bar, an LES institution. Good happy hour, pool table in the back, various hunting trophies on the wall. You'll make friends, you'll shoot pool, you'll get drunk in this dimly lit but spacious place- what more can you ask for? Good times abound

A very low-key neighborhood bar. I was looking for a place to sit and read on a Wednesday evening for a bit, and it was great. Clearly a lot of regulars, including two dogs 🥰

Fun people to play pool with. Great priced drinks.

Neighborhood bar. Some of the regulars can be territorial of their seats and pool tables. Bartenders not always nice but fun spot if the vibe is right.

Josie's is a tough one to beat. As long as you're cool with a dive bar where all mixes of people wonder in and out. Are the drinks or ambiance special? Nope, but the people are. That is what this place is about.

Geoffrey Williams

This is everything a neighborhood bar should be! Perfect. I can’t belive you all are still there! Has the bar changed hands at all since the late 90s? Josie’s was our goto for a little pool, some companionship and ice cold mug beers for cheap. And you all had one of the last working pay phones in all of NYC. Took me a long while to figure out that this was you all as I moved away back in 2001. Now we are back in the area. If you have N.A. beers, I’ll come in for old times sake. God bless. 🤝

Clover Singsen

Arrived here after a lovely stroll through the historic east village. Upon arrival, was greeted warmly by the bartender (woman) kindly asking for identification. She poured our drinks with a smile and we were able to sit at one of the many open tables. Unfortunately, almost immediately, the juke box queue ended and the bar was left silent… for about 30 minutes. Not a sound 🙉 came out of that machine until we were forced to pay. Holding us against our will in a chamber of silence unless we coughed up our hard earned dimes 😕. They didn’t even have the B52s. A redeeming quality, however, was the co-ed wrestling on the big screen above the bar. Points for that! 🙌🏆 I’ll be back Josie, don’t worry.

Ash N. Smith

Long time east village dive bar. This was Anthony bourdain’s favorite bar for a midweek beer I believe. Anyway come by. Order a beer. Chill. And just mingle with the locals. Rock on!

Matthew Junell

This is a good no frills bar. The bartender acknowledged me quickly and took my order, we got exactly what was wanted, two beers and two shots. We took a seat around the pool table and watched some games while we chatted. It has a laid back casual vibe and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I would have liked to play a game, but the list was long. Maybe next time.

Kieran Wood

Zoe was an amazing bartender! Great vibes, reminded me of Sandy Bells in back home in Edinburgh so much! Good times. Loved it. Can’t wait to visit again soon.

Chas S

Is a nice quiet little place to get an afternoon drink. It has outdoor seating and indoor seating. Everything is reasonably priced and it's easy to be here.

Mary Garito

Josie’s is a proper relaxed locals bar. Every time I go I have a nice conversation with someone. The bartenders are cool. I love pool and they have a good table. Aside from the great atmosphere, the best thing about the bar is its jukebox. So good!

Feels like home (upstate), +1 for pool table.

Decent drinks and atmosphere but bouncer was very rude.

Nice, semi- dark, almist cozy feel. Reasonably priced drinks.

Fun spot for beer, shots, and pool. No frills, low-key place.

Great local bar with good beer selection.

Great ambience and a pool table -- who could ask for more?

I do there usually after leaving sidewalk. I'll have a few more drinks, talk with whomever is airing that night, than call it a night. Friendly, low key, decent pricing.

Drinks are reasonably priced, there's plenty of seating, and the bar staff are always welcoming. Good spot for friends!

- great dive bar with no frills - limited but good drink menu - neighborhood atmosphere - nice bartender

Beers start at $4, which is great. Service is attentive and nice. There's a pool table, a jukebox (usually spinning good tracks), and enough space to sit down or lean against the wall (or the bar). All in all a solid, laid back, little place to have a good beer (I forgot to mention that they have a decent selection), and unwind for a couple of hours in good company.

Layout/atmosphere *Bar area with one TV; old fashioned cash register; tables; pool table, jukebox & arcade game in back; taxidermy; wood panel walls; beer lists on chalkboards; covered outdoor structure in street Food/drink *No food menu

The place itself is cool, but it suffers from the same thing every other bar in the area does during the weekend; nyu kids. It may be even worse here for some reason. But if you can avoid those crowds, it's a great place to kick back with some friends or the final stretch of a date night.

Too crowded at night but such a great vibe during the day. Cheap drinks, great bartenders,dogs chilling around, and great music. Overall a solid sister bar to Mona’s. I prefer Mona’s overall but this is my day drinking spot hands down.

Me and my friend Matt visited the other day. It was a bit difficult for us to order as Matt is blind and I had to explain the menu to him, but the atmosphere and service was good. Would recommend

Nice little bar with a pool table.

Good bar but had an odd smell. Music was on off

Your normal bar - they have a pool table and a juke box.

Liked how they restored place to old school splendor. Pretty boring though.

The pizza was old

The bartender was rude and obnoxious for no reason

Great bar but door guy is border patrol. Friend's ID was expired and wouldn't scan. We are all 30s-40s so wasn't expecting a dive bar to have more regulations than a club.

Looked cool and was about to spend decent chunk of change there, but bartender lady was extremely rude and was cursing towards customers. Can’t support a place like that. Will frequent one of the other many dive bars in the area instead.

Tried to get water for my friend. They kicked me out.

Force tipping.... don't waste your time here.

Bartender physically assaulted me on the street. Then proceeded to fake cry and said she didn’t.

This place is incredibly rude and offensive to the people from the neighborhood. Really would not recommend. John the bartender was especially cruel and unkind here.

Bouncer was insanely rude like ridiculously rude. So disappointed because I used to absolutely love this place.

Miserable staff. So rude . I literally thought they were joking .

Bad vibes and rude bartender

Be careful with the bartender named Ry O’niell. There have been multiple reports about him harassing women physically and verbally.

Bartender very rude

I don’t usually leave reviews but... I am just a tourist in New York. So far the experience has been great, but upon reaching this bar with my group we were denied service since the bar was at “maximum capacity”. After asking how much time it would take to at least get into the bar, both the manager and the attendant were extremely rude. Not sure if this was done do to the ethnicity of our group as they nicely served the other customers at the venue. Would not recommend. If you are visiting New York, literally any other bar has more friendly staff. Have a nice day!

Stay away from here if you see a black lady bar tending. She is the most insufferable, disrespectful person you will ever meet. She is rude to her customers, demands tips, and publicly outs you if she doesn't like you. Every time I've been to Josie's while she's working it's been a nightmare. She's always causing a scene. I'm not sure how this woman is still employed because everyone hates her. Who in the world refuses to serve water without a tip?? I'm sober trying to enjoy the night out with my friends and play some pool.

It’s a no for me dog. I’ve lived in NYC most of my life… as a high school student we’d get in here and felt really cool. They do filter at the door and if you’re a cute girl you’ll have better odds of not getting rejected. I understand the fun at that time, however, when I went to NYU everyone wanted to go here. It’s just a bunch of hs students and college freshmen. Fun if you are young, not so much if you are legal. In newer times I have been told that they have cracked down a bit more about carding and actually rejecting kids with fakes.

Tragic, i heard nothing but good things about this place but my time here was hostile and lame. the women bar tender (tall blk lady) was weird saying we ruined her night for having basic question and saying she just woke up. So wack to go to a place you hear about then have it ruined by unfriendly workers. DO BETTER please.

Bouncer was the rudest I've ever encountered in my short two years in NYC. He broke my friends legitimate ID claiming it was a fake when it wasn't. He refused to pull out a book or use a scanner to verify the ID. She was visiting me from out of town and now she has to buy a new ID due to the seal of the laminate being broken from him mishandling the ID. He would not let us speak to a manager and continued to yell at us on the street, making a scene and causing an unnecessary disruption. He had originally let me into the bar and then pulled me back out as well. As I said, the WORST experience in a nyc bar in my life (and there can be some crazy people in NYC). Will NEVER come back and will spread the word. What a disservice to mistreat patrons of age without even attempting to verify identifications. He also let someone else in after us that did not have an ID at all. Rude, stubborn, and disrespectful. He claimed he was going to call the cops, and we said we were even fine with that and we would wait. To which point he started cussing us out on the street. Maybe you should hire a bouncer that doesn't turn away people of age. Disgusted by the way we were treated.

I tried to visit this establishment on Friday 6/29 but was denied entry for a "fake ID" by the bouncer. When asked if he could scan it, get a flashlight reader, or an ID book he proceeded to yell at us to get out and pulled my friend out of the bar that was granted entrance. He threatened to call the cops, to which we said he could and then he continued to yell at us to leave. We asked to speak to management and he responded with explicit language. My friend attempted to call the bar to get ahold of management and no one answered the phone. To add insult to injury, this bouncer broke the laminate seal to my ID and I now have to purchase a new one from the damage he created from bending it. When I told him he broke it he said he "didn't care because it's fake." This was the most atrocious experience I have had trying to gain access to a bar. I understand this is NYC and customers can be unruly, but we did nothing to invoke the treatment we received on this night. I am sure management will not be concerned, but I would not recommend anyone to this bar based on this experience. I wish I could say better.

Rude bartender and strange crowd. I’ve been here twice and it seems like they just make up stuff on the spot to give you a hard time about ordering drinks or playing pool

The staff of the bar were friendly and attentive, however the patrons of the bar were easily some of the most rude and unpleasant individuals I’ve ever met. I wouldn’t recommend this place due to the crowd it attracts.

Absolute worst service at a bar yet. Tall bearded guy was so rude, there are many bars in the area so I can’t echo enough to go somewhere else with your money. I understand the industry as I waitress in the city but to be treated in that matter is genuinely unacceptable.

stumbled upon the bar with friends exploring east village. tried ordering and the extremely rude, disrespectful, and aggressive bartender. have never been treated so unkindly in what should have been a normal interaction. will never be coming back.

Asked for a menu and a tall male bartender told me it's across the street. Initially, I was confused as I have never heard of the odd advertising practice (I try not to judge), but obviously it was probably a joke so I left. Clearly, good bartenders shouldn't joke about their menus or lack thereof to prospective customers. Either he abused the trust I have in bartenders to possibly inconvenience me and passive aggressively tell me off, or really doesn't know it's unprofessional.

Bouncer told us that we were standing outside the bar, but like we were physically inside the bar. Had to leave, because of armpit smells and also I couldn’t pee with my girls

First time visiting, right after the Super Bowl in 2026. Came to play pool, multiple white people calling black people the N word. As a black guy not for me.

Etelle Stephan

Came in with 10 people we were getting settled and bar tender was nasty about us needing to order. Deeply unfriendly vibe. We left instead of giving them business.

Aagat Sapkota

The bartender kept asking for more tips like 100% more. Very unprofessional. Try to avoid the Irish barber if you can.

Lama Lama Lama

Saturday night an intimidating black male was blocking the entrance and demanded to see my ID before I could enter. I left right away after using the ladies room

Sarah Burris

This place is terrible, I’d give it no stars if I could. God forbid anyone asks for a water even after buying drinks, you’ll get shouted out by the bartender. Really wanted to like it here because I’ve enjoyed it other times, but this was so odd, no one did anything to deserve this behavior. Wishing them the worst

Ryan McGraw

had the absolute work experience at this bar ever and after reading all of the other reviews, it is clear our experience was not a unique one. we came in on a saturday afternoon and got a table and a couple of rounds of drinks. we were there for a couple hours speaking amongst ourselves at our table, when we asked for some waters, at which point the bartender told us it was time for us to leave. we were floored and pushed back, asking why we couldn’t have water as we were paying customers (who had tipped quite well might I add). we proceeded to get heckled by her and her posse of regulars at the bar until we left. the bartender was a white, late 30s female, with long brown hair, and a horrible attitude. it was comforting to at least see the plethora of similar reviews online that proved we did nothing to deserve that, but it amazes me a dump like this can continue to stay open when there are 1,000,000 better bars with kind humans running them within a 5 block radius. avoid this place like the plague.

Ana

Old man pouring drinks stared at my boyfriend and I then began to curse us out , tell us we had nice fake IDS after serving us “proper” , and recommended we finish our drinks fast as he seems to enjoy telling customers to get out. There was nothing we had done wrong and if you are easily traumatized, don’t go here. Man had zero business acting so distasteful at his “proper pub” , nauseating experience. Also if you don’t leave a generous tip for bad service , expect a temper tantrum.

Zhu Wang

Negative 100 stars - most hostile place in alphabet city This was the first—and absolutely the last—time we will ever set foot in this establishment. The bartender was not only shockingly rude, but also painfully slow and inattentive. We were reprimanded for simply taking photos of ourselves and the ambiance as if this bar were some exclusive, high-security venue. Read the room, everyone was happy no wascomplaining. Let’s be clear—taking photos in a bar is not against any New York City, state, or federal law. So unless this bar considers itself above the law, the hostility was entirely unwarranted. What’s even more absurd is the flood of photos on this bar’s own Google Reviews. Were all of those patrons thrown out too? In our case, the bartender called security to remove us—despite the fact that we remained completely calm, quiet, and non-aggressive throughout. In 16 years of living in New York, I have never encountered service this unprofessional or disrespectful. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place entirely. There are countless better bars in this city that will treat you like a human being.

Raif Lambert

Bartender will be a rude jerk unless you’re a regular. Straight hostility off the bat as they give you the “rules” of the bar. Honestly 100+ better dive bar options in a 5 min radius

Annabelle

Senile white guy working the bar demanded a tip from me for taking 2 seconds to hand me a canned beer. Proceeded to patronisingly lecture me and asked me to smile. Cheers mate if you want to rail about tipping culture you should understand that it requires an actual service and not running your mouth xx

Sophie P

HORRIBLE service, bouncer denies real out-of-state ID that SCANNED without checking any sign of legitimacy. Bouncer was standing inside when we showed up, as we opened the door he was a bit aggressive and we were forced to step back away from the door. I get it, you need to check IDs outside, but maybe you should be outside instead of ambushing people at the door as they try to come in. We handed over our IDs immediately. He took my MD ID, flipped it over immediately and scanned it, then handed back me without saying anything. He then did the same exact thing with my friends IDENTICAL MD ID, flipped it over and scanned it immediately, and then shook his head. Both IDs scanned obviously because they were real, but he barely even looked at either of them. He had each of our IDs in his hand for maybe three seconds, and clearly didn't take the time to even read the birthdays or check for ANY signs of legitimacy. A group of seven people came up behind us and were let in no problem, so it obviously wasn't a capacity issue. If you can’t tell a legitimate out of state ID as a bouncer it's time to find a new job. It's ridiculous to deny two people like that without even looking at the ID.

Sarah Colbert

I had an incredibly strange and horrible experience here. My friends and I were enjoying ourselves until myself (woman) accompanied my upset friend (woman) to the bathroom, and when we left we found the bartender waiting outside the bathroom to kick us out. We were polite and respectful when we were told we had to be kicked out because they have a “no two people in the bathroom” policy. We immediately left, but were SO confused because there was no signage about such policy and we weren’t even given a warning. In fact, we waited in line to use a bathroom that two people came out of! There seemed to be a double standard in effect and if the female bartender there didn’t like you just by the way you looked, you were targeted. I respect that bars have to have rules in place to prevent nefarious activities from occurring in the bathrooms, but in 100% honesty we were just two girls innocently accompanying each other to the bathroom out of habit (this is not unusual in girl world). I think to prevent problems like this in the future the rules should be made clear through signage or a warning should be given first before taking such drastic action.

Brandon Pettola

We were all having a good time until the rude bartender ruined our whole night. I was trying to get his attention to order a drink (without saying anything or being overly annoying) (also waiting an abnormally long time) and he lashed out at me, saying that he can see me and I’m being annoying and he is super busy. I was just subtly motioning to him to get his attention. He did not make it known that he sees me. All of my friends agreed his reaction was extremely inappropriate. He was extremely loud and rude and aggressive when talking to me. He also lashed out at my friend when trying to pay, making comments like “what’s so confusing?” And “wow look at me it’s my first time at a bar”. Funny enough, one of the people we were with said he hates this place cause he’s gotten yelled at by a bartender before for celebrating a win in pool. If you are a young male aged 22-26, don’t come here cause the pathetic bartenders will feel intimidated by you and hate you immediately. Don’t care if you’re busy and having a bad night, no excuse to talk to me that way. Also worth noting that they will continuously be very polite to any young girl, and serve them constantly. The bartenders are clearly on a power trip since this spot is small and local, and they think that they get to play up the “local bar that’s gritty” trope or whatever. Also hilarious how there’s so many reviews on here saying the exact same thing. Point is, just don’t come here.

Andrew Tai

Josie's was most hostile bar experience I have ever had. The bartender was unfriendly and would openly make fun of patrons for ordering cheaper drinks. There was a environment of elitists and predator drinking where the bartender would shame customers by not allow them to be served well drinks to be served; absolutely disgusting. Beyond that she was was truly an ameteur bartender, having one to four second pours and inconsistency across the board. Definitely a place not to get your money's worth. I feel bad for the owner for having to deal with such a troublesome and entitled bartender. I would rate it a 0 if I could.