Gleason’s
“Everything from the rack of ribs, down to the happy hour sliders, and even the mussels in lobster broth were fantastic.”
“The one that stood out to me is Trivia Game Wednesday and I really want to check it out.”
“My friend assured me that this mac and cheese was a generous proportion, and that it is, in fact, made with seven cheeses.”
Gleason’s
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Good For Dancing: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I was introduced to this place by a friend and have been coming ever since. The ambiance is very relaxed and they place great music. The bar area is large and they have room in the back with tables. I went yesterday when I was looking for a place to have dinner. I passed by and we decided to go in. Plus it was happy hour and frozen margaritas for $5. What?! They were speaking my language. Ha. I've tried their food before and it was good. We ordered margaritas, a frozen and a regular on the rocks. They both were great. Very nicely mixed. We looked at the menu and ended up picking a burger with provolone cheese and avocado with fries. It was delicious. The burger was cooked well. The burger was so flavorful and juicy. My bf liked it a lot. They served it with coleslaw and a pickle. The fries were ok, just wished they hadn't left them too long in the fryer. We ordered another round. The bartender was very nice, friendly and attentive. This place is also great to host events. A wedding party was celebrating in the back room. Very nice. This place is great to watch sporting events. I've come to watch the NY Giants play and its great. They have a lot of tv screens. Check this place out.
On a Thursday night around 11 pm at Gleason's, my life changed.
I walked into this dive bar wondering why my friend had brought me here. There was nothing special about Gleason's, no decor to set it apart from any other dive bar you might encounter in Astoria. There are TVs hung along the bar walls, and it's full of bros pounding pints and cheering for their team.
"You have to get the mac and cheese," my friend told me.
Looking at the price of the mac and cheese, a mere $6, I wondered if I was being fooled. Were these, perhaps, mac and cheese bites? Was this portion going to be about two forkfuls worth? Maybe they must skimp out on the cheese to be able to sell it at this price.
My friend assured me that this mac and cheese was a generous proportion, and that it is, in fact, made with seven cheeses.
It remains to be the best mac and cheese I have ever ate. And I've crossed paths with some pretty outrageous mac and cheeses.
If you're hungry and want to eat something cheap and amazing in Astoria, you have to stop in and order it to believe it.
I actually don't mind this place. It's a little bit divey and dark. And a little bit out of the way. But they had Coney Island watermelon wheat on tap. Came here super late a few weeks ago. They had some kind of Hispanic music going on because all I remember is Lil Stephy's butt flash before my eyes across the dance floor and all of a sudden she was pretending to be on an episode of "Dancing with the Stars". It may have been more epic if I had joined in but I was preoccupied. Only complaints were generally with service. Maybe our waitress was a little too hell bent on getting the hell out of there and ending her shift because she both tried to snag my macaroni and cheese that I was in the middle of noshing on slowly. And also she interceded this epic "Dancing with the Stars Tango" to rudely ask if we could all pay because her shift was ending.
The mac and cheese was pretty good. Only $6. Not the best I've ever had but still great and it consists of 7 cheeses and has panko crumbs. Also, Penne as a form for holding cheese is consistently a genius idea. I tasted gruyere, I tasted parmesan, perhaps cheddar, creaminess, and I'm not sure on the rest of it all. There would be pictures but after hearing a diatribe on how awful Yelpers are for taking photos of their food before they eat it, I just couldn't. Also, Stephy may or may not have about 80 photos of Gleason's mac and cheese already on Yelp. But I'd definitely come check the place out again.
*Also, note happy hour select drafts are only $3 until 7pm. Regularly it is $6. Also, they apparently give you a free order of wings with every pitcher on Sunday. These are good things to know.
My newly minted '21' year old cousin and I were walking down broadway on a late Thursday night looking for a place to sit down and have a drink. We saw gleasons and the open store front was welcoming. The bar area itself was pretty full, so we sat down and ordered some beer. We had a few rounds and then decided to order some food. We ordered the Disco fries which came with mushrooms and my cousin didn't like mushrooms, so it would have been nice if the menu stated that. They were really good regardless. We also ordered the boneless mild wings but they came bone in and we just ignored it because we were really hungry. They were spicy but good. The bartender came over shortly after and gave us a couple rounds of free shots so that was really nice. I like the juke box they have and the app you can download from your phone – you can pick pay and play your songs right from your phone.
Overall it was a decent place, wouldn't make it my weekly spot but definitely once in a while!
Ugh – dirty and dingy.
Came here to watch the UFC fight and there were no tables on the first floor so we were brought downstairs to the basement. They tried to sit us at a high table that was jammed in between two others, hardly any room for our stools and dirty. Luckily, another table opened up in the middle of the room where there was more space and right in front of the big screen – this table was still dirty. No one came to wipe it down and the waitress took awhile to come over. While she was courteous, I could tell she didn't want to be there – and this was 2 hours before the main event and it was't crowded at all.
The basement was cramped and a really unpleasant atmosphere – basically an unfinished basement with some TVs. A man (the owner?) kept walking around seating people/acting as a bouncer/chatting with his buddies but really just getting in the way of the big screen. As for food, I only had fries and they were very salty. The best part of this bar is that they showed the fight with sound but next time there's a PPV fight on, I'll head somewhere else to watch,
From there outside…or from the inside for bag matter, this isn't an amazing bar. But there are a few reasons that I really dig it, despite only having been here twice…but the first time I was here did end up being for like 4-5 hours as my boyfriend and I made the bar counter stools our home, engaged in rather deep conversation and watched some UFC, no-holds barred boxing and made fun of golf.
Kay, so reasons that Gleason is one of my new favorite Astoria haunts:
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+ The Mac n' cheese here is pretty out of this world. Like seriously. I'm a Mac n' cheese snob and I was a little afraid that a SEVEN CHEESE MAC would taste rather overdone, overwhelming and that each cheese would get lost in the shuffle. WELL NOPE, it was amazing, decadent, creamy panko-crusted perfection. I also mixed in some tangy Tapatío hot sauce for funzies and it was even MORE delish. It's also only $6 for a pretty generous serving. Gleason's easily now makes my new favorite Mac n' cheese in Queens…but I have to get the truffle Mac in my fave Queens winebar again just to make sure :). I hope they NEVER CHANGE THEIR RECIPE.
+ Framed photo of Jackie Gleason? AWESOMEPANTS.
+ Wings? Do it – they're cheap, meaty-looking and smell fantastic. Boyfriend was less than impressed with his last night, but has enjoyed then in the past. I thought they looked decent, but what do I know – I was in my Mac n' cheese fantasyland! 😀
+ Mozzarella sticks – not the worst I've ever had. Juicy, succulent, melted and breaded with yummy Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Not a bad deal at all.
+ Music? Yep. All the top 40 crap you can handle packaged for you with seamless transitions by a DJ that actually mixes and isn't just pretty play on his iPad. I do warn you, it's a lot of craptacular music – but for dancing purposes it's everything you need to ass shake and jazz hands your heart out all the way in the back underneath a disco ball. I love disco balls.
+ Beer selection – not amazingly unique, but having Coney Island's "Tunnel of Love" watermelon wheat beer on tap? I've never seen it before out of the bars on Brooklyn's Stillwell and Mermaid avenue strips. It's such a delicious beer, kudos Gleason's, kudos.
+ Bartenders – friendly, efficient and last Friday night (my first time here) we got buybacks, hooray!
+ Waitresses – I can only speak for one and to be honest, I'm tempted to remove a Yelp star for her inappropriate attitude with our table and with my boyfriend and I in particular. We were dancing and yours truly was pretending to be on that "Dancing with the Stars" flow and she rudely interrupted us (literally put her body in between us in mid-turn) to let us know we had to pay in 5 minutes because her shift was over. I understand her shift was over, but her overall tone, attitude and communication skills were severely lacking and just not cool. She also took 2 beers off of our table that were each about half full – NOT less than half or like one sip – each half full :-/.
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I plan on getting Mac n' cheese here though at least like once or twice a month, so I'll chalk up our negative waitress experience to just being a fluke and keep things cool since this bar has so many other positive things going for it.
So I've been here a few times but only at night when it's bar time lol I honestly stopped going here at night because it was too crowded. I'm old now, I like quieter places lol So anyway- I came here on a Thursday afternoon for some lunch with a friend and we were the only two in there for quite some time- which was great! Haha! No complaints about that! Big difference from the night time that's for sure. So I ended up ordering a drink and it was very strong, again- no complaints! You get what you pay for and I like that. Our waitress was very attentive and very sweet. I ordered some jalapeño poppers and some cheeseburger sliders. Both were really good! Prices are reasonable as well. I also love the Jackie Gleason stuff on the walls- pretty cool. They have a lot of TVs too for sporting events. Overall, the atmosphere is pretty cool in here. They also have glass doors up front that open up during the nice weather months.
I recommend!
It's really hit or miss here & inconsistency really sucks. Their mac n cheese is bangin but only on the good days which I have yet to master. The chicken sliders are good too but don't pay extra to add anything cuz they rarely ever honor it. Cheap shots which is always a plus, just be mindful of the inconsistently when ordering takeout or delivery.