The Hard Swallow
“Cheap drinks(tallboy & a shot of well for $6), great music & arguably the nicest bartenders in the East Village.”
“Daily daily happy hour specials from 12pm-6pm include $3 well shots,$5 call shots,$8 top shelf shots & cheap beers as well.”
The Hard Swallow
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
2 reviews
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How / Why is Big Lee's not on Yelp yet?
We passed by it one afternoon, and decided to go in for a beer, and it turned out great!
The bartender was wearing a corset (she mentioned that was their "thing", all the bartenders wear corsets, and she was super nice and chatty.
A lady was sitting at the end of the bar, i think maybe she was the owner/manager? Anyways, she got up and picked a few songs from the juke box (really good picks) then came over and told us she left a few credits in the machine and we could pick the rest! That really got the party started, and after that we fed a few more dollars into the machine and payed it forward by telling another patron that we'd left a few songs for her to pick! Then everyone was picking songs and having a great time!
Nothing fancy about this place, no gimmicks, (other than the corsets, I guess) just a good old fashioned bar, the way it should be!
So, Spanky and Darla's is gone in theory, but there's still a bar in this location – Big Lee's.
The vibe is a little bit different than Spanky's. It's much darker inside – I think they painted the walls dark black and put up an American flag in the window to block the light. Looks like they were going for a grungier – throwback East Village bar vibe.
The music was WAY too loud to have any sort of conversation, and the drinks weren't nearly as cheap as I remember them. Paid $17 for a Brooklyn Lager and a Bulleit Bourbon on the rocks. $17? It was a Thursday during happy hour time. $17? Ugh, no. This would cost half that, if not cheaper, at some bars in the area.
Don't have much else to say. It's just kind of a dark bar with expensive drinks. I wish them the best, but I'm not sure how they'll compete, hmm….