Address: | 148 W 24th St, New York, NY 10011, USA |
Phone: | +1 212-390-8455 |
Site: | barcadenewyork.com |
Rating: | 4.4 |
Working: | 12PM–2AM 12PM–2AM 12PM–2AM 12PM–2AM 12PM–4AM 12PM–4AM 12PM–2AM |
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Eric Ma
Met a few friends here for games and eats. I had heard a lot about it and the place doesnt disappoint. Just as a bar I suppose its all right. Wooden floors, open rafter type ceiling with little air conditioning. A few tables scattered about to supplement the decently long bar. But then theres the arcade games. That obviously makes it stand out a little bit from a normal bar. It also drives a fairly different audience than your normal sports bars that populate the city. There are too many games for me to list but some of the standouts for me were: Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man (which seemed very fast), Daytona USA (two seats), Pong (non-original cocktail table), and a couple Star Wars games. Most of the games work great but there are a handful that could use some refurbishment. One that sticks out in my mind is this two player trackball basketball game where one player has a stuck button. Sadly it becomes impossible to play. The food I had here was great. I had a fried chicken on waffle sandwich with a side of tater tots. The sandwich tasted as great as it sounds with maple syrup butter dipping sauce. If I call that great then I have to call the tots super duper great. Wonderfully crisp outside seasoned perfectly with nice hot insides. AND THEY WERE SHAPED LIKE TETRIS TETROMINOES. It doesnt get any better than that for an arcade themed restaurant bar! :)
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Casey Penk
They only charge a quarter per play! This is unheard of for anything in NYC except bananas. Their selection is quite good, and thankfully focused on classic games. They offer classics like Space Invaders and Joust, and mainstays like Tetris. (How many versions of Tetris are there?) Not so much 90s games like racer after racer or DDR. This place is not about cutting-edge graphics. They only have one real racer, which is for the better because it forces players to venture out. Theres a cute, cheesy 80s game that uses prerecorded clips to look like a movie. And most importantly, they have the original Super Mario Bros.!!! I was surprised by the variety of offerings, which encouraged me to try new things and give seemingly-odd titles a try. Slither seemed rather boring, but turned out to be eminently bizarre and thrilling. If you browse youll surely find some surprises! This is obviously great for groups, and a considerable majority of games offer two player (X-Men does six). With some of them, you wouldnt even think its possible and its probably not even a good idea! (Try the wall climber, which requires two players to control a dudes different limbs). This adds to the hilarity and corniness that helps make gaming what it is. Theres no cover and I didnt buy any drinks. No pushy staff — I never had to interact with an employee!
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Tyler Lund
The idea behind barcade, a bar with good craft beer and vintage arcade games is great, but the execution is a little lacking. The beer menu is in fact pretty solid with lots of smaller name craft beers from a few local brewers as well. The menu is a bit heavy on the stouts and IPAs, but isnt bad. The downside is the crowd and the sticky machines. Catering to the video game crowd, you end up with some interesting characters here. In the two hours here, I was challenged to a racing game by a stranger who was just sitting in the game "challenging" any other patrons walking by, as well as getting pushed off the TMNT game. You cant fault the establishment for the crowd, but they dont help much. In fact the staff seemed to be pretty disengaged in general and when we reported a broken glass under one machine, they just shrugged. It wasnt cleaned up 15 minutes later.
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Tobias Elmøe
Awesome idea: beer and old school arcade games. I went in here on a rainy day while staying in New York, after having read about it. The gaming machines were well kept an all of them were functional. It was a great blast from the past as I wrestled against the poor joysticks of the time and the lowres that can make any man blind after a while. I mean that in a good way. Only downside was the waitress who seemed slightly annoyed with the whole thing. She started by asking me if I was here to "get warm". As if I was just there to spend air and waste their time. I thought it was a strange way to greet customers. Oh and not even a comment on a $6 tip on a $30 bill. Anyway, great idea and execution of the arcade and beers. 4/5 - Would come again.
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Steve Peca
Walk in. Go to bar. Order chicken and waffle grilled cheese. What you do after this is up to you, but you will need to do this first. Delicious fried chicken breast between waffles with melted cheese. Doesnt get better does it? Wait, it does, because it comes with a side of syrup for dipping. Perfect portion size as well, but I would suggest pairing it with Tetris shaped tater tots. Along with that, you can play some fun retro arcade games. My top two were Tetris and Ninja Turtles...classic! Wash it all down with plenty of beer, they have a great selection. I went with an apple cider for something sweet which was nice. Perfect place to chill out with friends after work.
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Jonathan Chan
Excellent place! Unlike what I expected, they dont just rely on the gimmick of being an arcade and bar in one. The bartenders are super nice and get your drink quickly (at least on a Thursday). Rather large selection of draft beers, especially for a bar not touted as a "biergarten" (blech) and even a cask. Food is pretty great. I try to be pescetarian, but I cheated and ate a wing because it looked so damn good. Sue me, it was worth it. Fish tacos are on point. The games are all in pretty great condition as well. PacMan is always good for a fun, competitive time, though youll burn through your tokens rather quickly.
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byron4545
I didnt eat or drink anything, I just came for the games. A whole bunch of arcade machines, from the late seventies to the early nineties. From classics like Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Galaga or Q*Bert to Alien 3, Daytona USA and NBA Jam. All of the ones that I tried worked nicely and you could play them for a quarter each. Customers were nice (no kids in there) and the bouncer was friendly. Personnel was unobtrusive and let you play your games. I was there at 9 or 10 pm during the week and most people there actually were playing video games. Had fun, would come again.
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Jonathan Mullen
The drinks here are reasonably priced for the area and they have a huge selection of beers, but whats most impressive is the huge selection of vintage arcade games. Some of the more popular games (Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Crazy Taxi) are hard to get a chance at, but there are a lot of less popular games which are every bit as fun. My personal favorite is the Atari lunar lander game. The best part is, almost all the games are just a quarter with a few 50 cent games scattered throughout. The machines are mostly clean and in good repair.
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sunny crays
Such a fun place! I got hooked on Mortal Kombat here. The food prices arent terrible, and you dont even have to order anything if you dont want to. Nice place to game or chill depending on your mood. Good atmosphere. Friendly employees and customers as well. You cant bring kids in here though. I saw a lot of people with kids get turned away. This is a bar. No, you cant give your kids some quarters and have them play games while you drink. Take them to a movie or something.