Location: 795 8th Avenue [b/w 48th & 49th St] New York, NY 10019
Cuisine: International Bar food
Items: 2 cocktails, 2 appetizers, 2 Entrees
Best Dish: The sliders are great but the buffalo calamari is a must have for buffalo lovers. It is the perfect blend of two bar food staples.
Overall: As the name suggests this is a space to be social. Bring your friends for a night out or be bold and make some new ones. The atmosphere is fun and inviting, great for after work socializing.
Mondays
My companion couldn’t resist the call of the “Dread Head” This colorful concoction is made of Parrot Bay, 99 Bananas, Fresh Pineapple Juice, Melon Liquor, and Sloe Gin.
To go along with our beverages we sampled a few appetizers. We began with the buffalo calamari. I love fried calamari and I love buffalo wings, this dish is the perfect marriage between the two. Crispy but tender bits of calamari fried to perfection and drizzled with Buffalo wing sauce. These are amazing and a must have. The calamari comes with blue cheese but you can request ranch dressing if you prefer.
In addition to the calamari we ordered a round of pulled pork sliders. Juicy bits of tender pork drenched in a smoky sweet barbecue soft served on soft sweet buns. The sliders come four to an order, ideal for sharing, accompanied by a generous helping of french fries.
After our appetizers and a few rounds of the trivia game we dove into our entrees. I ordered the Traditional Arepa, with Shrimp. Plump juicy shrimp is served in a garlic and tomato sauce with jalapeno puree over a Colombian style corn arepa.
My companion ordered the “Social Burger”. This isn’t your typical burger. An 80z patty is presented topped with a sweet Thai Chilli Glaze, Avocado, papaya, watercress, red onion and a goat cheese ginger mayo. One of the better burgers in the city, the meat was juicy and succulent. Don’t try to be dainty or neat with this one, this was made to be eaten with BOTH hands.
After filling our bellies and enjoying one last round of delicious coconut mojitos, we continued the fun trivia game. Most of the bar participated in the competitive game. Each group or table came up with a unique name and answered the questions with the paper and pencil provided by the friendly staff. After 5 amazing rounds we were victorious, we won third place and I won best handwriting! Not bad for our first attempt.
First prize was $25 off of the total bar tab but we won the real prize of the night, a blue ray copy of “You’re Gone” starring Stephen Dorf. Woohoo! Along with trivia night the venue also has ladies night and a reverse Happy Hour starting at 11pm. For more details on the special events at Social Bar visit them in person or online at www.socialbarnyc.com