"Your Kind of People" Aren't Welcome Here
This past Friday night, a group of Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill residents headed out for some drinks, but their usual favorite watering holes (the bar called “Bar” at 280 Smith and Zombie Hut at 273 Smith) weren’t an option: “Barbar smelled funny, and Z-hut was too crowded,” reported the reader. Instead, the group decided to check…
This past Friday night, a group of Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill residents headed out for some drinks, but their usual favorite watering holes (the bar called “Bar” at 280 Smith and Zombie Hut at 273 Smith) weren’t an option: “Barbar smelled funny, and Z-hut was too crowded,” reported the reader. Instead, the group decided to check out Quench, the lounge on the corner of Sackett and Smith. They ordered cocktails, but then learned that the bar is cash-only. One member of the party left the bar to grab some money from a nearby ATM. That’s when the trouble began…
“The owner and the bouncer got all huffy thinking that we weren’t going to pay. Then, it turned out that the drinks were terrible/un-drinkable, but they wouldn’t give a refund or remake the drinks and told us they didn’t want our kind of people there anyway! Now, they could have meant ‘the kind of people who would say something about a disgusting drink,’ but looking around, the other patrons were 100% guys who shave their arms and girls with fake tans, so we left the paid-for drinks on the bar and went home.”
Damn, girl! We hate to besmirch a bar that has bestowed us many a cheap happy hour—we’ve never been given any flak while sipping their refreshing $5 mojitos. (Granted, we have been hit on by men who were old enough to be our dads while we were ordering said cocktails, but that’s a small price to pay for such potent $5 drinks!) That said, this anonymous tip doesn’t seem to be an isolated occurrence—we found a couple more haters with similar complaints on Citysearch. Has anyone else had problems at Quench?
how many balls do you want
I worked at Quench and was there the night of the blackout. It’s getting a bad rap. But I’m nostalgic for the old days, when both Luis Prima and Radiohead could get equal play on the jukebox. I felt protected by the regulars and if I was ever in trouble, I’d turn to them. I miss the Quench Wench.
I worked at Quench and was there the night of the blackout. It’s getting a bad rap. But I’m nostalgic for the old days, when both Luis Prima and Radiohead could get equal play on the jukebox. I felt protected by the regulars and if I was ever in trouble, I’d turn to them. I miss the Quench Wench.
Came upon this site by accident but have to post. Grew up in carroll gardens in the 80’s, now living out of state. Visited the neighborhood last year after being gone for 15 years and hardly recognized it. I remember when the “liberals” started coming in during the mid 80’s but don’t recall any tension or hostility between the new people and the natives. Back then there was only one bar and it was on the corner of First Place and Court Street and definitely a locals only place. I have to say that I was sad and disappointed to see how much the neighborhood has changed, there is just no real character any more despite all of the trendy restaurants and bars. And the gangsters or wiseguys or whatever you want to call them were the real thing — probably what made the neighborhood safe. There is no way that anyone not native to the neighborhood could ever understand what has been lost and why the old timers might be territorial. But please people have some respect for what some consider to be sacred.
What I wouldn’t give right now for a slice of nino’s or sal’s pizza and a lemon ice from court pastry …
I love you guys…you are fightin’ over a bar in Brooklyn…the world is such a big place and you should spend more time trying to better your life. The boy’s from the hood keep this place safe believe it or not. You can walk down smith street at 4 am and if you were in any trouble these so called “wanna bees” could save your life. Your mother, your father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather..ect. You get the point..Thanks for raising my property value. My brownstone’s are worth million’s and my kid’s are straight. If you knew what I knew was gonna happen, you might have made the right investment’s also. I thank God I had the balls to leave my country and come to the land of freedom. If you can make if here you can make it anywhere…such a true statement..small town boys and girls- Welcome…Good Luck & enjoy the neighborhood I call HOME!!!!..need apt’s…$2500….just think I paid 20,000 for the place you offered me 4 million..thank you again…Go to Quench a buy a round for the neighborhood boy’s. Show them some respect instead of putting up your nose because they definetly have a lot of class.
My girlfriend lives in CG – we go to Quench sometimes – we’ve met the owner – she’s behind the bar usually – very nice woman who let my gf change her glass of wine when she didn’t like the taste no problem
I remember when Carroll Gardens was all magma, then came the dinosaurs. That’s when things really went to shit.
Neighborhoods change, usually for the worst if you ask the people who grew up in them. No point in lamenting that. But what’s been lost in south brooklyn are the two things that made it a great place in the 70’s & 80’s: authenticity and community. Not that I don’t miss the heros from Dom’s Grocery, or the Rex Cinema, nickel bags from Junior, when the only option on Atlantic was the International, when going out for dinner meant choosing Sam’s, Helen’s, or manhattan. What made this neighborhood was the fact that people were neighbors, looked after each other’s kids on the block, were protective of each other’s well being. You didn’t have to go to one of two dozen bars to meet the people who lived next to you. There was continuity, familiarity and protectiveness. It was more insular and less tolerant than it is today, but the bond to it was created by something more than the latest French restaurant or high-priced baby boutique. As time goes on, when I walk up my block I see fewer and fewer people that I recognize by name, and can say hello to, and share anything more meaningful with than a scorpion bowl. The population is mostly transient now, younger, more affluent, and with that have come good things like sushi and nice rents for owners. I still wouldn’t live anywhere else in the state(s) (man that sunset over the waterfront viewed down degraw), but places like brooklyn social typify the fact that the area’s character has been lost to waves of residents who don’t understand it or who more likely are just oblivious to it. As thriving as the neighborhood might be, the community died years ago.
tisk, tisk, boys… lets get back to the original posting, ie ‘Quench’. The real interesting thing about the neighborhood now is the drug dealing going on outside of the bodega at Union/Smith (drugs or girls, I can’t figure out which), followed by the drug dealing going on in front of Quench, followed by the drug dealing in front of Zombie Hut (at 3 in the am). Bar Bar does smell (sorry Leno) and Monteros is a fabulous place. Ever notice how often the cops walk Smith Street now… someone’s obviously not paying their street tax to the correct people. The next on the ‘to be derided here’ list is Cafe Dore- they seem to be doing the Jamaican Street Crew thing on Sunday nights… boy has Smith Street changed. Angry Wades has got a real angry vide to it, so does PJ’s on Court. Brklyn Social is just plain pretentious, sort a like the Go-anus kiddy yacht club, only with a roof over it.
All the cousins and ‘next generation’ destined for Q are sitting in the park at 11 pm on a Tuesday night, fyi.