my fav bar when i visit nyc...reminds me of home, chicago. the bartenders are kind and interesting, the dj's are on point. ty ev.

Great local dive! Cash only, red neon lights and good tunes. Can’t ask for anything better in a busy city like NYC.

This is where I used to DJ my vintage vinyl records. In 2016 after my seafood delivery shift one night I wanted to toss a couple back before hitting the sack for the weekend so instead of my usual Holiday Cocktail Lounge visit (best bar with no windows btw-also a big bouncing souls fan) I gave this place a try after walking by on the opposite side of 7th one day seeing two signs in the window “open mic Fridays-Bring Your Own Vinyl Monday”. My test cocktail at the time for all my NYC bar visits (spirits permitting) was always a Tom Collins Bombay Sapphire. I stepped inside the red spaceship with the sounds of the Easy Rider soundtrack not coming from an ipod but from a little record player in the opposite corner of the entrance across the parlour floor. A man with a cool hat was sitting down looking at a milk-crate filled with LP’s. “This might be my new favorite place.” I thought. He was the bartender for the night and I ordered my cocktail and he passed the test it was made deliciously. He tomd me he was the owner. Stefan was his name and after a little bit of time he told me all about both the open mic and the BYOV night. It sounded like Mondays were gonna be my new haunt to extend my weekend from 3 days to 4. In my apartment at the time I had a bunch of 45’s I never spun in college bc I was too busy. I looked over to see a neon Red Stripe beer sign which is my all time favorite beer. People, when I tell you this beer was ice cold I could feel the tempreature drop in my body after sipping on the coolness of not only this drink but this vibe of the bar. Stefan and I became friends once he discovered my deep taste in music. I became somewhat of a resident DJ there every week as a volunteer to help bring a following and keep the guests satisfied. The family grew and soon local celebrities heard the music was good on Mondays so the word got out. I spun there until 2018 when I moved out of the city. Believe me when I say, this place was like my little heaven on earth, my home-away-from-home. I make it my base of operation every visit to the city now years later. No checks or credit cards, cash only. The best bar in the city and the best the Ukranian Village has to offer. Total strangers can become your new friends if you buy the ticket and take the ride. Life is worth living to be here.

New bartender Crane is awesome. I was worried that the new guy wouldn’t be as cool as Jackson but this dude is really awesome!

Came here on a Wednesday night, honestly very pleasantly surprised! Live DJ, vibey music, intimate setting and lighting, chill bartender, on a Wednesday night? Well done!

Big Bar is the place I miss the most about NYC. We had the absolute privilege to live a few houses up from Big Bar for 4 years. The bar is cool, funky, the drinks are great, Stefan is awesome and the music is the shit. I loved everything about, and everybody in this place. It really made me feel like I belong. Next time I'm in NY, you are my first stop.

Excellent exceptional bar tender helper helped me find my car . When I couldn't remember where I parked it. She helped me find it from a few small details. I can't recall her name.

S G

Arrived at 11am, took my time, and was out by 1120am. It was so nice that their thermostat was at a more comfortable temperature than the typical NYC eateries thermostats being on the Hades setting all winter long. I enjoyed 4 and really should have eaten 3 since the yubu are pretty filling. FOMO won this time, but if I could go backsies in time, I would order the tuna mayo, imitation crab, pork jaeyook, and omitted the bulgogi. The pork jaeyook is tastier than the bulgogi, IMHO. I prefer the maillard reaction on typical bulgogi so this just wasn't my jam. Random note, the chopsticks are so pretty! The person in the kitchen did a great job with presentation. The rice had good texture and I felt each grain. I read others found the rice mushy, but that was not my experience. The matcha latte with oat milk had just the right sweetness and not over iced. The gentleman at the register was very well groomed, simply took my order, didn't try to upsell, and overall wasn't engaging. This isn't a knock on him, if that's the style of experience that is preferred and intended. A kiosk would serve a similar purpose and may be more cost effective in the long run if this is the case. Unless the cashier is the owner, then disregard that suggestion. A steady stream of Dashers were in and out. One couple occupied a table when I arrived, and 2 other tables were occupied by the time I headed out. Outlets are available if you want to charge, but they do not allow laptops, which I appreciate.

Yvonne Tan

I love yubu especially the SoHo location. Amazing service from staff. Drinks and food are always top notch. The dalgona matcha latte is my favorite. The beef bulgogi, fish roe, and avocado yubu are delicious!

Peter Leung

Lots of fun flavors of tofu rice balls Ive never had before. Rice was packed and sticky, avoiding the usual problem of it crumling apart. Definitely worth a try!

Kri Bryk

Each bite was perfectly balanced, not too dry and not too moist. The toppings were fresh and flavorful, and the variety made it fun to try different ones in a single box. The matcha latte was also super refreshing. The service was quick.

Aon

This spot in SoHo is perfect for a quick snack. I tried them for the first time and honestly they were really good. Each one of them was packed with bursting flavors. The beef one was my personal favorite and definitely for me this place is a must-visit whenever I'm in SoHo.

Bridget Ortega

I had the beef, crab, flamed salmon and let me tell you, it was so good and tasty! Cool, cute and simple interior with good customer service. Love this spot

Tiffany Zheng

Ordered the salmon, crab, and pork. All were so delicious and fresh! Service was friendly and plenty of seating inside. Highly recommend ordering 3 for a filling snack or more for lunch

Stephen Bruno

This was my second time here. Food is always prepared quickly, and though the fella at the counter could be cold, he was super informative and patient when I asked questions. The restaurant seems like a cross between a fast food joint and a regular restaurant with service (to be sure, there’s no table service at Yubu); it doesn’t have much charm and is uninviting in general, but we’ve been able to enjoy our food comfortably. This stuff is better than sushi imo. More flavors and definitely more filling. I love the beef and spicy chicken! Go and enjoy!

Kayla Royster

Been here three times since this post. I love their drinks which are very refreshing, the food is good and affordable. They have different size options and the place itself has a calm ambiance with KPOP music.

Nick S

YUBU is a small Korean restaurant located in SoHo specializing in the tofu pockets its name is based on. The atmosphere is like a smaller cafe, with many smaller tables sprinkled throughout the restaurant and quick and efficient service. The menus are plastered on the walls as well as at the counter, so it's easy to determine what you want. We tried the Bulgolgi, Pork Jaeyook, Spicy Chicken, Spicy Tuna Mayo, Seared Salmon, and Spicy Salmon Yubus. The rice was compacted into the tofu skin wrap, with it being a bit mushy and easy to fall apart. However, the rice ratio to the toppings was good, and the flavors overall was pretty decent. The spicy ones weren't too spicy, but still had a bit of a kick. It was $25 for 8 of them, so decent price for the portion and number you get. Overall a great place to grab a quick bite in SoHo.

+2

Cami Dupont

Stopped at Yubu for a quick snack, got the beef bulgogi one and it was really good. If you only get one it’s quite small but it’s just what I needed and service was super fast. It’s really small inside though so not somewhere you want to sit down.

BK Man

Great location. Cozy little restaurant with outdoor seats for 2-4 people max. Clean looking. Food is delicious. The torched salmon was my favorite. Everything is delicious and made fresh.

+6

Super cozy and cute. No wait despite NYE weekend but still busy/lively. Love the red lights. Bartender was alright / weird vibes. Maybe they were tired / had cruddy customers before me. Just had a glass of a house red

Well... I don't know how I never came here before but what a vibe. Soaked in red light, cash only, a very chill, eclectic crew, all of that made it for me a perfect later night after dinner spot, even if the back bar is unsurprisingly thin and I low-key hate carrying cash on me these days unless I'm a regular somewhere. As an old head with a kid, I'm not sure when I'll be back but when the opportunity presents itself, I'm down.

It’s ironically called big bar even though spaces are very limited in here - it’s definitely a vibe though with its cash only and overall divey atmosphere. Lots of disclaimers all around but if you know what you want and can be expedient about it, you’ll be well served here.

Anna

Found this spot while shopping in the area. Was only looking for a quick bite nothing too filling. Yubu served with their delicious Korean flavored inari rolls. My favorite was the seared salmon, very yummy and savory. Only complaint was the rice was too mushy

Shamiha S.

Cute spot for a quick bite on the go. The service is amazing and the workers are so sweet and very quick. I recommend trying the spicy tuna and the spicy salmon

Megan Gill

Food I would definitely return for the food. It is so good with so many toppings and I randomly find myself craving it and thinking about it. I had the spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and avocado rolls and they were all so flavorful and yummy. I would recommend it. I had never been to Yubu before and I loved it. Drinks I had a blueberry matcha latte but honestly it was disappointing. There was barely any matcha and the blueberry syrup was way too strong. My lips and tongue even turned black. It was super sweet with mostly milk taste and zero matcha flavor. I would not return for the drinks but definitely for the food.

MK

Delicious lunch spot! Our favs were the beef bulgogi, crab and spicy pork. Super fast service and yummy!

Ray Low

Nice little place with bite sized pieces that could serve as either a light snack or a full meal. The Haribo gummy bears that they gave me along with my plate was a cute little touch. Overall, a solid choice!

Shako Liu

The food is good! The service is okay, just your normal casual daily small business lunch spot type of service, aka run by one guy at the counter who barely has time to pay more attention which is fine. The only thing is the no restroom thing. In a city that public restrooms are rare, a restaurant should at least offer that to their customers.

+1

Leonard

Tried salmon inari from here which is essentially sushi or poke wrapped in Tofu - which means extra protein. And it was so so good! Small shop, there is some outdoor seating, good for a quick meal or snack.

+5

Really cute, authentic and affordable easy village bar. Unfortunately I had a bad experience with a bartender that soured my outlook on the place. After buying a couple drinks and hanging out with some friends, I asked the bartender if I could grab a water for my friend and me. She openly rolled our eyes at us then looked at the people next to us and said “I can’t even try to hide how annoying this is” then continued to rudely talk about us to them right in front of our faces.

Bartender pressured me to tip by withholding my water. Of course, having received that service, I didn't tip. In retaliation, the bartender had me leave. I happened to be the only mixed race person there among whites so that's suspicious but she may have been dealing with lots of no tippers that day too--not to excuse her behavior, of course.

Big Bar is hard to miss with its bright red interior lights shining onto the sidewalk, but when you walk inside you’ll have wished you did miss it. I recently had the displeasure of stopping by this ‘dive bar’ and it was an experience I won’t soon forget; unfortunately. This bar harbors a particularly rancid vibe. Everything from the bar tender’s hall monitor attitude, to the Gen X clientele sitting at the bar top, to the bald man in a bright blue sweater standing outside holding the door looking to start arguments. It all meshed into a miserable, spoilt, and rank experience. This self touted ‘dive bar’ is a total disaster from start to finish. The atmosphere is dreadful. The space is cramped and awkward. The decor is tacky and lacking grace. It is all too evident that they tried too hard to come off as this trendy, relaxed, dingy dive bar but you can feel how incredibly gauche and trite the ambience really is. The supposed "dive bar" charm was nowhere to be found. Instead, it felt more like a sterile and sanitized version, where an older crowd can live out their dreams cosplaying being a patron at a dive bar. Without actually having to step foot in one. The raw authenticity of a dive bar is nowhere to be found here. Instead what you will encounter is a travesty of such magnitude that it defies the very essence of what it seeks to embody. Stripped of any genuine character, it is a desolate void. Big Bar’s ambiance is a facade. A cheap costume masking a soul devoid of grit or character. Stepping inside, the sterility of the place struck me immediately. But it was the customer service that truly revealed the rot at the core. At the helm of this charade was a bartender whose demeanor is a chilling specter of authoritarianism. Her presence fills the room and adds to the festering of a putrid environment. We did not get her name, but she is a heavy set brunette woman with glasses and nose piercings. She made comments that were teetering on discriminatory and seemed to convey a covert racism. She was abrasive with a patron over a seemingly arbitrary qualm. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear other patrons share a similar experience. The libations, one might hope, would salvage some semblance of a good experience, but they were as soulless as the decor. The drinks are underwhelming and bereft of any skill or care in their making. They didn’t seem to have any thing of substance worth drinking. All the bartender had was well liquor and flat beer. And in a location filled with other options that have better drinks and a more refined atmosphere, we did not stay long. In sum, this Gen X haven is truly a pit of despair and disappointment. This establishment is a blight upon the landscape of nightlife. A soulless simulacrum devoid of the grit, grime, and charm that define a dive bar. It feels more of a sterile tomb and I would implore seekers of a genuine experience to look elsewhere.

Bouncer dressed like where’s Waldo for Halloween tonight is a problem for a small business like this. I walked in with a few girls and he was hitting on the customers inside I did not see anyone in the front of the door so I walked inside. I thought he was just some big goofy Halloween dressed older over weight guy talking to younger girls. As I got though the door he started getting aggressive super weird because he’s a lot shorter than me and I’m not an aggressive person. He asked for ids I thought he was being funny but still reached in my back pocket to accommodate him. That’s when things got really weird he started acting aggressive so I turned around to leave because I don’t want to hurt this bully so I said I’m gonna just leave.. That’s when I asked the girls I was with to come he decided to follow me out screaming have a good day just so we are clear it’s night time! This place should really watch who they hire because clearly they don’t! You have been warned stay away from this place!

I really regret to change my review here. I really liked the place and used to go there. There is a specific bartender working there that is absolutely rude. She made a whole scene because some people tipped only $5 for 5 cans of beer. She was ringing some bells and her friends were shouting 'you should tip your bartender and blah blah..' and pointing to those people (that had actually tipped). Let alone that she earlier did lift me from my seat for her those friends of her to sit... When we told her that we understand that you are busy but this doesnt justify you being rude she took our drinks from us (had just bought them and i had personally tipped $3 for a jin) and asked us to leave the place. She just ruins that great bar and the nice vibe.

I would leave zero stars if I could— I work service too and never leave reviews, this case was extremely bad and deserves to be shared. Absolutely horrible experience with the femme presenting bartender on a pretty empty Saturday. Extremely rude, condescending, unbearable and had to leave pretty immediately, it was ageist and very unpleasant to be around. The two lonely men sitting there were also questionable and she seemed way kinder to them, than to us fellow non-men with a kind demeanor. Will not come back, thank you for making us feel horrible. Thank you!

Looks like some bartenders take tips for granted, expecting tips while being so rude to customers with the excuse of “being busy”. Wow, what a good reason for being disrespectful of customers. Reminder of the principle of a tip (which unfortunately has been forgotten): tips are here to reward good services for bartenders who deserve them, they should not be taken for granted. So just one thing busy bartender: if you want some tips, just do your job properly by being just slightly nicer, and not just demand “give me tips “. For your pride at least!

At the end of the day it's a bar.... The bartender and bouncer are the singular most offensive and pretensous people I have ever met in my life. Full of self importance and a vibe like they are keepers of all. They essence of the place has great bones and a good vibe overall... Just hope you catch the bartender on a night she isn't feeling like being rude and stuck up.Its far away from a premium bar and has an attitude problem equal to the snobbiest bars in all of Manhattan.... It's a hard Miss.

I stopped by Big Bar while visiting New York, and it was one of the most disappointing experiences I’ve ever had. The bartender was incredibly rude from the very beginning — no greeting, no smile, just an attitude like I was bothering her by even being there. She clearly had no idea what she was doing and couldn’t answer the simplest questions about the place. I didn’t even end up ordering a drink because the atmosphere was so unpleasant and unprofessional. I left after a few minutes, completely unimpressed. For a city like New York, where good service is everywhere, this was a huge letdown. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

I had a very disappointing experience at Bog Bar in New York. We asked about the recipe for a Whiskey Sour, and were told it’s just whiskey and lemon juice. When we mentioned that a classic Whiskey Sour usually includes egg white, the staff became rude, told us not to “teach the bartender how to do their job,” and we were basically kicked out shortly after. Instead of a friendly conversation or a simple explanation, we were met with disrespect and attitude. Customer service matters, and no one deserves to be treated like that. Would not recommend this place.

Lukas Sun

Worst dining-in experience ever‼️‼️‼️ The counter is very rude and he treats customers very mean. Even you are using laptop replying messages while waiting for ages for their food & service, he will yield loudly to you saying ‘no laptop!’ Though there’s only an almost invisible sign at the corner, (Can you find it in the photo at the first glance? 😅) they will assume you have known and you were doing this deliberately.🤷‍♂️ They could avoid such situations by treating customers more politely/privately or make the board more visible. But they don’t care about the vibe and customers at all, all they care is ‘$🤑’! Very doom and shortsighted business mindset as a restaurant operator😮‍💨