PJ Hanley’s

Sadly, its been reported that they’ve files for bankruptcy. Read more here:
Really unfortunate since it’s the oldest bar in Brooklyn. Hanley’s is the best place to watch a sports game or to celebrate a birthday/​wedding/​anything ever. Great friendly staff and quick service. Sad to possibly see it go.

I love this bar! Wish it was in my hood and I would be there all the time!
Service is friendly. They have a great patio (covered), and even tv”s outside for some of the games.
And its really about the pizza, YUMMM, the slices are fantastic!

Hosts all our rugby related parties, the staff is incredibly nice and attentive, the bartenders are very nice as well. Big outdoor area, covered in the winter, pool tables that are always free and good for watching big games. Food is great and beer selection is good. A good overall experience. Come some nice weather, you’ll see the Brooklyn Women’s Rugby (and probably the boys too) popping in on the weeknights for an after practice pint!

Went here after the chef was hired from Keg & Lantern. It is wonderful, better than Keg & Lantern and everything I wanted for brunch! I had the pulled pork sandwich with sweet potato fries. The sandwich is smothered in 2 different BBQ sauces and the fries are dusted with a sweet & savory seasoning. My husband had the breakfast grilled cheese sandwich (can’t remember what it was actually called) and it was a smooth white cheese on grilled challah-​type bread with scrambled eggs and chorizo. SO DELICIOUS! He got a side of cheesy grits which were delicious! We also tasted the grilled corn pudding and I could have eaten an entire pan. Crispy on the outside and full of creamy, corny, goodness inside. We’ll be going back to try all the other things on the menu!
Also, this bar is a WONDERFUL space! It’s kid friendly and they have a really nice outdoor seating area. There is also an event space with pool tables.

Originally when we moved to the ‘nabe’ a year ago, we checked this place out one night for dinner. We were really turned off by the douchey-​irish pub bar vibe, and the food (nachos) were VERY mediocre. Glad I don’t live on that block, the crowd can get a little retarded on the weekend nights.
Back to the food — SO GLAD we gave this place a second chance. Apparently they’ve hired a new chef! We have been back several times to enjoy a cold drink on their patio. My husband claims their burger is now BETTER than Prime Meats (go figure), & other burger joints in the area. I have had their veggie burger, which is by far one of my favorites (black bean w chipotle mayo) MMM. but my all time favorite is the hummus appetizer they offered a few weeks ago, INSANE, bring it back, please!
Anyways, I would personally stay away on a sat /​fri night due to the kind of crowd this place attracts at those times. Neighborhood blue shirts listening to cock rock. NAH.
But, nice job PJMH — the food is much much better.

Great experienced, but overpriced.
The décor is the first thing I noticed. The place has a very strong presence– the interior has a sit-​down counter and long wooden picnic tables, while the outside garden has a more café-​style feel to it, walled off, with regular seats and tables for four under a huge awning. During the night they light the outside up with torches.
We took a seat outside, and the first thing I noticed was the potted plants on the center of the table. I thought it was a really nice touch.
The menu was fairly small and hard to read. The thing I noticed most about was how expensive everything was. I ended up mistaking an appetizer as a meal.
The waitress was exceptionally nice and checked in often. Service was exactly as it should have been.
As for the food itself, I ordered the blackened catfish tacos, and the table split up an order of sweet potato fries and mac and cheese. The presentation of the tacos was classy – the sliced lime, jalapenos, two tacos, and avocado crema were carefully arranged in a symmetric pattern. As for the taste, I didn’t find the tacos particularly interesting nor good. It was strictly substance. The sweet potato fries and mac and cheese were slightly better than average, but everything here was overpriced so it didn’t surprise me.
Overall, the price is way too high to justify, especially when there are many great places nearby, but if you can get past that it’s a pretty good experience.

A sports bar in the neighborhood. That’s about the best description I can provide.
They do have a bunch of beer on tap, which was a pleasant surprise. It’s not all Bud. I wasn’t up for trying the food due to the atmosphere, just didn’t feel comfortable in a loud noisy place filled with older drunken folks yelling at the TV.
I’ll be back… but only when some friends want to watch a game in a public setting. Seems to be the best reason for a visit here.

We were hoping that the new look and new menu were both signs that things had improved. We were wrong. The pulled pork sandwich was cold and really mediocre, with off-​the-​shelf BBQ sauce mixed with buffalo wing sauce (?!). And the «jalapeño corn pudding» is almost certainly canned creamed corn with maybe some corn meal in it. It tastes just like creamed corn.
They also have one of the most expensive burgers on Brooklyn — $ 14. Cheese: $ 1. Bacon: $ 2. Fries: $ 3.50. So a bacon cheeseburger with fries is $ 20.50.
The pizza is outstanding. It’s also the most expensive pizza I’ve ever found: $ 25/​pie. It’s great pizza. You’ll have to decide for yourself of *any* pizza is worth $ 25/​pie. Sometimes the answer is yes for us, but not often.
The service is polite but spotty and often hard to track down.
Between the smoking area by the outside bar and the people smoking outside the bar, there is absolutely no smoke-​free seating outside.
If it weren’t for the ample outside seating, this would be a 1 star review. It’s sad, because this would be such a gem if they could get their act together.

BEST ONION RINGS EVER!!!
The wings are okay and their beer menu is good. It’s nice to sit outside and kickback. As far as the other stuff on their menu, I haven’t tried it. Wait staff is nice and the atmosphere is laid back. When I was there, the bar inside was packed!

**UPDATE**
bumping pj’s up to 4 stars. Their service has improved dramatically, and their food, with their new chef (who is super nice), has also improved. the menu features more items, better prepared, and the quality above par. keep it up pjs.
Ok, it looks like PJ’s has upgraded their bar menu with better flavors. Their sister restaurant Buschenschank is amazing, perhaps they’re taking some cues from its success.
At any rate, PJ’s has been a local hang out for me now going on a few months, hopefully they keep it up. Bumping up to 3 stars.

As has already been said by many other reviewers, having drinks outside on the patio is really nice in the summer, but do not eat here. The food is okay at best, but it’s way over priced, and the portions are small. Not to mention they got a «C» grade, and it seems as though they may have tried to bleach out the sign because you could just barely see it – not like any other grade sign I’ve seen.

The bar that has been here over 100 years, I went with a few of the neighborhood residents and I would have sworn this was Brooklyn’s version of Cheers. We sat in the huge outdoor patio section located right on the corner of 4^th place (great for people watching). My friends were saying hi to every other person that passed on the street, they even knew other diners there, so if you want to meet a Carroll Gardens local, they are all here or at least about to walk by.
Pulled pork nachos — The pork itself was great enough to order solo. The only thing lacking was the cheese, more cheese, it’s nachos that is the one thing you have to have everywhere. The chef came out to speak with us, he is some über cool, probably Bob Marley fan, tall light skinned man with dreads.
Pizza — Who gets pizza at a bar? Well Italians do (Cathy, Danielle, Rob, & I) when they are at an Irish bar on Columbus day that’s who! The green pizza was deliciously crispy and thin, full of pesto, spinach, tomatoes, and amazing goat cheese. For 10 bucks the individual pizza is large enough to share without secretly hating the other person for taking a slice.
We stayed here for hours, without being rushed out, in fact the waitress even brought us pitchers of water to keep us entertained. While dining here, you will notice how many French people are in the neighborhood. You will also begin to realize that everyone smokes in this neighborhood, and everyone does it in this outdoor patio, so if smoke bothers you while you eat sit inside. The bathrooms are clean but be sure to stop for a game of PAC-​man on the way to the restroom. We spent 4 hours there without being rushed out in the slightest, we laughed, we cried, we did it all… what happens at Hanley’s stays there…

A comfy spot to throw one or two back, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to do this only on an off-​night. Many times I have walked past this bar thinking the patio seemed really awesome, as did the cavernous interior, only to keep walking because it’s just not my scene. I can’t fault them for that, as they are making scores of people very happy from the sounds of it. Nor can I fault them for cramming giant flat screen TVs wherever they can (including that otherwise inviting patio that reminds me of Park Slope’s The Gate). I know people want to watch their game. I know people want to bring along the kiddies, too. Yep. Just not my scene. It’s OK. They don’t need the likes of me on those nights…
On an off-​night however, say a Monday night, it’s fine. I really felt comfortable here sitting at the bar, drinking wine and ignoring the game that was being played out around me. Bartendress seemed like a native Brooklyn girl, which is refreshing to see in this borough often filled with clueless holier-​than-​thou transplants. Hell, I was vested in a second glass, even though our pie that had arrived from the adjoining South Brooklyn Pizza was getting cold.
PJ Hanley’s is a straight-​up good old school bar that would a regular haunt, if not for the aforementioned gripes (cue Miss Crankypants).

ugh — i can’t stand this place.
the service sucks, the music sucks, i don’t understand the crowd — which is a mix of parents with their young children, local italian boys and gals, old dudes, and yuppies.
they also don’t have any craft beers on tap.
the only thing going for them is that south brooklyn will serve their pizza inside hanleys (they are attached.)

NYC Historic Bar
Established 1874
THEN
* Clientele: longshoremen
* Popular drinks: locally brewed beer
* Bar talk: 1873 Wall Street collapse and Depression
NOW
* Clientele: locals, sports fans
* Popular drinks: martinis, beer
* Bar talk: Skyrocketing NYC real estate market forcing locals out of the neighborhood
Interesting facts from NY Restaurant Magazine:
«During the 131 years of its existence, the bar has had only four owners, making it not only one of Brooklyn’s oldest bars, but one of the most genuine „neighborhood bars“ in the borough. Important note for those in the armed forces: The first drink is on the house for anyone wearing a military uniform. „If Uncle John [the previous owner and WWII vet] ever saw us charge a serviceman,“ says co-​owner Deborah Hanley, „he’d turn over in his grave.“ »

By all accounts, P.J. Hanley’s should be a cool neighborhood pub. It’s got a huge outdoor patio and bar. It’s got a big-​ass projection screen for sporting events. And it’s apparently over a hundred years old. All this place had to be was OK and it’s already head and shoulders above your average drinking establishment. Well, this place was not OK.
The Upside Down Nachos were nothing more than a bowl of chips and soupy salsa on the side. Our waitress was more concerned with taking shots with a table of loud dudes behind us. And while the fact that you could also order from next store neighbor South Brooklyn Pizza’s menu seemed promising, the pie was simply hard bread with dry vegetables thrown on top. Where was the olive oil? Sorry SBP, but the bright spot you were seemingly providing to this pub quickly extinguished itself with one sub-​par crunch.
The food came out quick enough. And by quick enough, I mean I was able to get outta there that much more quickly. P.J. Hanley’s has potential, there’s no contesting that, but a joint that doesn’t make the most of what it’s got, well, that just isn’t my type of joint.

A great place to watch the game (any game) with the real locals (as opposed to the frat-​boy scene down at Angry Wade’s).
We took our chances with the $ 3 «clearance sale» beers, and drank Presidente, Pacifico, Molson XXX and other rando beers all day watching some football (and some Yankees, much to the loud annoyance of some dude who kept bitching «who wants to watch baseball on Sunday?»…um, us). Other than the Twisted Tea, the beer selection process turned out to be one of the more amusing parts of the day.
Fairly decent bar food (great pizza from South Brooklyn Pizza), friendly service, friendly crowd and just a good vibe.
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??? You know where to find me on Sundays.

If this place is the oldest bar in Brooklyn, claimed to be in existance since 1874 and having only four owners since… its hard to say if that is believable. With the projector and large flat screen tvs, neon lights and Britney Spears blaring on the speakers… one cannot be certain. It definitely doesnt LOOK like the oldets bar… and the lime green benches and dark green overhang really dont make it look that great. Going in with that expectation makes you want to see SOMETHING authentic.
The coolest thing hanging up, as pointed out by the person who took me to this place, was the old Ebbets Field photo. I was not drinking that night (was that the problem?) but my counter part had PorkSlape Pale Ale in a can for two bucks.

You can mingle with Irish politically-​connected locals, old drunks sipping beers at the bar, and the usual crowd of young Carroll Gardens newcomers at this bar.
The pizza is delish! They make really authentic NY pizzas here, yum. I don’t know about the other food but it looks like your standard fried /​grilled pub food.
Bartenders were friendly, nothing special but you can’t expect five star service at a pub.
The outdoor seating is plentiful and fantastic! I wish more bars had this much space outside…

I have very mixed feelings about this place.
pros:
–huge outdoor seating which can accommodate large groups
–very relaxed atmosphere
–nice selection of beers
cons:
–terrible service
–terrible food
come here if you don’t plan on eating and just want to hang out with friends somewhere outside