Sunny’s Bar

What a great spot. Tucked away in Red Hook, Sunny’s is blessedly hidden away by time and space from the TV and rustic furniture-​bloated NY bars of today. Great bartenders, unbelievable tunes, and a great performance space in the back. They were serving $ 4 Finestkinds in bottles, which kept me happy when I came to watch the Three Bridger Theater Company perform an atmospheric holiday reading of A Christmas Carol.
Wish I lived in the neighborhood – Sunny’s is that good.

Good people, great music, cheap drinks. Go on a Saturday for the bluegrass jam but go early – it’s now so popular in recent years it gets packed in the back room. One of my favorite places in Brooklyn, hands down.

This is a pretty good venue, hey! It is just what you imagine from a great bar: cosy, with vibe, a crowd of people all having fun and some wired live music. There is plenty to discover. And it´s even worth the long busride back to Manhatten!

100% agree with other reviewers; Sunny’s is a pretty unique spot that feels like stepping back to another era. No beers on tap, cash only but it has nice red leather banquets to relax in, vintage photos of Red Hook on the walls and apparently bluegrass on Sunday night! We stopped by here after trying Brooklyn Crab, and while I’m also a fan of Crab, it feels sort of like it’s trying to emulate the vibe that Sunny’s pulls off naturally.

I love Sunny’s… it’s like being transported into another time and place where people hang out at bars and listen to great live music… selfie free zone.

Sunny’s Bar is a rare gem in New York City. You need to make the trek out here, and make it on a night that there is live music playing. It might change your life.
You see, bars used to be a place where life happened. You go, you meet the new and regulars, you don’t focus on the preciousness of the drink selections but rather how your overall quality of life was improved by your going there.
Sunny’s bar is a quality of life kinda place.
I visited Sunny’s on a late night that Smokey Hormel’s Round Up band (look this up – sensationally good, and for a reason) was playing on a Wednesday night when the Internet said it was closed (try calling ahead for hours or just going in person if it’s not too much of a trek for you). I was transported to another time, another place. There was young, there was older. There were dresses and dressed up, and the laid back t-​shirts, too. There was dancing (oh boy, is there dancing here). There was smiling. There was applause. There was more smiling.
The pleasures here are simple and sublime.

The best bars in NYC are in Red Hook.
Maybe not the best cocktail bars, or the best beer bars, or the best wine bars, but those are not usually the best bars anyway.
The best bars are the ones you can feel at home at, even if it’s your first time there. The ones where you can have a weird conversation with a complete stranger that makes you laugh when you think about it later on, as opposed to spurring you to wash your hands.
Sunny’s is one of these bars.
It’s a bar where you can escape the rest of NYC to spend an entire glorious, relaxing, afternoon in the little backyard, and then take a break from drinking to go sit on the bench outside and watch the sunset. Most evenings you’ll probably stumble on some live bluegrass, or a family party, or a strange and hilarious art show in the back room, and you’ll probably be welcome at any of them.*
I’m surprised and happy they made it through the aftermath of Sandy, and I hope it’s gonna be around for a long, long time to come.
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*Provided you stop acting like a dick.

sweet spot! drinks are cheap, the vibe is chill, got to see a really sweet blues/​jazz band perform for relatively free. Plus it has a garden!

Sunny’s is a super cozy bar in Red Hook. It doesn’t have any draft beers and doesn’t offer many craft bottles; however, what Sunny’s lacks in beer is compensated for by the coziness of the bar, the friendless if the crowd, and the awesomeness of the musicians.

THIS PLACE IS AWESOME. We went on a Saturday, earlyish, and at 10 they had an amazing jam band. Gin and tonics were keeping me friendly, a bunch of patrons randomly started a great game of trivia in the courtyard, and then the 10:00 jam band came on and the players just kept coming. And to the jam band woman playing the lap harp: I want to be you when I grow up.

The building dates from 1895.
The place is filled with charm and atmosphere. It doesn’t carry interesting beers (and there are no drafts), but it’s still a very cool place to hang out.
I wish I could have gone during one of their music sessions, as it should be a lot of fun.

This place is so cool it shouldn’t be on Unilocal,it should be on an onion server somewhere so only cool smart people could find it, that’s how the bar is, sitting on the edge of nowhere facing the atlantic ocean. I have honed my bluegrass skills from playing here over the past 7 years, and though some noobish musicians have started coming by and dominating the jam, they are starting to get some common sense and a lot of them are growing musically too. The place is so nurturing, girls are pretty and the people are honest. Just the other night my date left her phone in the bathroom came back two hours later and it was still there. Tone the the owner jams in the back and sings Dolly Parton or Hank Williams, good times had by all. Watch out for the killer banjo player hot licks may burn you.

Bartender must have been having a bad night.
The night was busy. Someone bumped into me and spilled my drink.
Immediately turned around and explained what happened to the bartender.
He proceeds to get angry, calls me a 5 year old and tells me he doesn’t give away free drinks.
I’ve been a bartender, I’ve worked in the food service industry for years. An accidental spilled drink ain’t giving away free drinks, and certainly doesn’t call for such condescending nastiness.
Used to like this bar, but changed my tune because of that bitter man who needs to learn some manners.

We went early in the evening, and it was empty. They’re more crowded in the summer, but I think I prefer winter. It was quiet and cozy, and they had a great mulled cider. The live music is worth a visit.

I really love this spot.
Great drinks, awesome atmosphere. I’ve never been anywhere like it in nyc.

I wish I could give 6 stars to this place. It’s a GEM and I hope it stays hidden for the most part.
All I can say is it’s all about Smoky Hormel-​his band every Wednesday just brings everyone to their feet for an epic Texas Style Swing dance party. Good to hear some familiar music and I feel right at home. Drinks are totally reasonable and it has that amazing quirky divey feel to it!

This is the best bar.
The back room here is the best sounding room in New York City to hear live horns.
Sunny is a veteran of the Soho loft scene, back when there was an up and coming and cutting edge art scene IN Soho. They have art classes in the back room on Sunday afternoons.
Even though Sunny’s is now well known internationally, and is considered to be an NYC landmark, their distance from the nearest subway station means that you can still get a seat/​stool on most nights, and it doesn’t too often get uncomfortably crowded.
Late late nights here under the right conditions can be both surreal and inspirational.

As one of the oldest bars in NYC, and a place that has made a strong comeback since Sandy, this is a place truly deserving of its reputation. Though I no longer live in the neighborhood, and it’s a very far trek for most people, it’s an old school charmer that anyone who lives in Brooklyn should check out at least once. The cocktails and beers are simple, which bespeaks an older time. What stands out about the place is the ambience, which presumably hasn’t changed much over the years.
The downside is that at night the bar is packed with boisterous newcomers, and it detracts from the overall enjoyment. As of last night, it’s become a very yuppy-​ish crowd. No idea where they’re coming from – Carroll Gardens?
My advice: check it out on an afternoon!

I don’t think I came at the right time or without enough people but somehow I was convinced to go to Sunny’s, at the heel of Brooklyn. It’s divey, but not in the ratty sort of scroungy way– more in the ‘this could be someone’s house’ way. It’s actually very reminiscent of the house bars you find in Austin. Around 11pm, an awesome live band showed up and played for a not too packed crowd. It seemed like everyone had come from all over Brooklyn, but knew everyone else AND the bartenders. I love the back area that’s so quiet despite the music and the little backyard. I’d definitely come back and probably stop over at Brooklyn Crab to catch some food, too.
Also, nearly all beers are $ 6 and all mixed drinks are $ 7.

Came here last night for the Rodeo,
Wednesday night is cowboy night. I haven’t heard such great live music like that in a while. Sunny’s is now my new favorite bar in Brooklyn.
CASH ONLY