Elite Event: Pinks

So funny that I had bookmarked Pink’s a few days before getting the invitation for this event. I’ve heard only good things about this spot and upon visiting, all my expectations were blown away!
The food, booze and atmosphere were all great. Buffalo Trace whiskey and diet coke really hit the spot on the warm day. The service was so fast and friendly! The truffle popcorn was the perfect compliment to the drinks. The chicken in waffle batter was crispy and the BBQ sauce and ketchup were house made! I loved the bacon and corn fritters but my favorite was the spicy shrimp. Wow. I really can’t wait to go back and order that. Well worth the extra hour at the gym.
Chef Amanda came out to personally introduce herself and give us he opportunity to thank her for having us. The owner, Alex, was so warm and engaging. He invited us back for two-​for-​one burgers and Bingo on Tuesday nights. They also have live music (hence the stage) and performances. Alex told us about his musical background and gave us a little history on the décor. Which, by the way, is friggin awesome. The grill of the car, art, stage and chandelier — just go. Go! See it, absorb it, order the chicken and waffle bites. You won’t be disappointed unless you have no taste buds.
Many thanks to our hosts — Alex, Chef Amanda, the quick, friendly bartenders and Ruggy! So glad I stayed in the City for MDW and attend this great event!

Hailing from the blue flooded state of Texas, I was a little green around the ears. As a gold Unilocal Elite transfer, I had heard that the Big red Apple had many legendary events. My first party at Pinks did not disappoint. Brown Buffalo Trace whiskey flowed from the bottles and I drank myself to a shade of purple. Manhattan elites, orange you glad that we have such a great Community Manager in Ruggy? I hope that previous comment doesn’t have him blushing red.

Pink Floyd, Mr. Pink, The Pink Panther. You gotta love everything pink. Well maybe not pink eye… but besides being a great color Pinks is an awesome new establishment that was nice enough to open their doors to us for the past weekend’s Unilocal event!
With Memorial Day weekend upon us it was nice to hit up this Saturday event with a marathon of other drinking activities to proceed it. Luckily I survived.
Owner Alex was super chill. He’s in a band and got to talk to him about music for a bit. Found out the place was this old divey sports bar that was hell on earth. Luckily he was able to turn it into a very nice spot, that intend to hit back up in the near future.
We were treated to some refreshing buffalo trace drinks. As well as some bites. Some guacamole, jerky, and some chicken that was fried and battered. Similar to a dumpling but not really.
Thank you to the staff at Pink’s. It was a nice addition to my Saturday plans. Big thanks to Ruggy for setting up, organizing, and inviting us out that day in between trips to Fire Island.

looking to unwind post work? come to Pinks
need a late night boozing? come to Pinks
want comfy craft food with your cocktail, beer or whiskey? come to Pinks
it’s not hard to answer «come to Pinks» if you like to chill out, eat, drink, and listen to music. seriously.
day drankin’? yeah i’m a fan. so getting the confirmation on this event was like a high five from heaven! whooo. i have problems, but day drankin’ ain’t one of them.
strolled in here on a bright Saturday. caught up with the mayor of Manhattan RUGGY! got tagged and and scanned. onto to the fun…
layout? Pinks is a medium sized space. the bar dominates the space, set in the middle to right hand corner. bar seats a lot despite the space being on the smaller side — ~ 15 bar stools. immediately off the entrance on the right are some small tables and further right is a small raised stage for live music, etc. to the left of the entrance is tables and banquette seating and further back is a high table and the bathrooms. the space has a good amount of flow & open space. i imagine on a primetime nights (TH, FRI, SAT) – this place is packed. for a place on the smaller side — it doesn’t feel claustrophobic or overly cozy. the lighting is clean with some brightish spots here and there. it probably leans to the more low-​lit side at night. more on the ambience later…
drank/​z? the booze floweth via the fast hands of drink slinger Tiffany and owner Alex. Buffalo Trace got the soda and ice pour over cocktail treatment which was tasty n boozy. first up was a cherry soda and whisky combo –a hit amongst Unilocalers. the soda cut the Buffalo Trace smokiness nicely and amped up the inherent sweetness of the whiskey itself. another dranky-​delicious combo was the Buffalo Trace and ginger ale – crisp refreshing from the ginger ale with all the bite of whiskey. i opted for Buffalo Trace, club soda, and a splash of diet soda for the rest of the day since it was a bit less sweet which is how i like my drinks in general – do this, err drink this!
food? plenty. tasty. small bites. my faves. my fave of the afternoon were the chicken n waffle bites – waffle battered chicken chunks fried and served with maple-​y syrup. nice touch of sweet, savory, and spicy. the addictive truffle popcorn endlessly being shovelled by Unilocalers into their pieholes were yum as well. chips n guac (can’t go wrong here! mmm), brisket jerky, corn fritters (i think) rounded out the eats and were delicious in their own right. we wuz fed well it with bite-​sized eats. :thumbs up like the Fonz:
the staff at Pinks? dope. Tiffany and Alex kept the booze and conversation flowing throughout the afternoon. their enthusiasm and smiles definitely infected the room bc the entire day at Pinks was a great time start to finish. the dude who was bussing the glasses, plates, etc. was a ninja. serious hustle at Pinks and the team there made sure we had not a want while we were there. i think people talk about customer service at the restaurants and bars. at Pinks, they embrace it with their own style, flair, and energy, believe! :applause: for their welcoming us in to Pinks and making the day one to remember.
the décor/​ambience/​vibe? awesome! influences: country, rock n roll & punk, gritty custom car culture, and NYC dive bars. there is a hood and grill from classic Thunderbird: grill mounted behind the bar. the hood mounted against one wall. lots of exposed brick. lots of stained distressed wood. tinned (or panelled) ceilings. rock’n’roll/punk accents all about. there’s a lot of character and thought put into the way Pinks was visualized. the central theme that ties it together is the custom car shop culture. i like that Pinks has its own narrative, an opinion, a perspective… it’s not a generic «faux» dive or cocktail bar that’s trying to be everything to everyone. it has a story that it’s ingrained in the food, drank/​z, staff and establishment itself. it’s refreshing and energizing that we can find still bars in the east village like PINKS that ARE «cool» as opposed to trying to be «cool.» its charm is a sweet balance between rugged n slick. well played Pinks. well played.
a big thank you to Ruggy and his team for putting together a Saturday and Pinks. no small feat on a long weekend when everyone is away or dashing about the city. kudos to them!
drops mic, so i can double fist two more Buffalo Trace cocktails!
i out!
p. s.: if this review doesn’t haven’t you curious about Pinks… their Tuesday 2for1 hamburger happy hour should!

Gotta love the weekend (especially holiday weekend) events with Unilocal,another good excuse to day drink :). Was one of the first onto the scene at this cool slightly alternative bar in the east village. Upon arrival I was greeted with shots and Buffalo Trace Whiskey galore, made first with Cherry Coke, and afterward with diet coke (at my request). There was also a fairly frequent replenishment of atomic shrimp, (glazed to perfection), beef jerky, guac and chips, and other party favorites.
The bartender was super friendly and was pouring drinks quickly even with the bar surrounded. This was a pretty chill event even with +1s allowed and it was easy to mingle with old and new Unilocalers alike. Thanks to ruggy as usual for setting it up, will put this spot on my list of places to check out next time I bar crawl the east village.

I have been to Tons of elite events this is not a lie or understatement but I usually don’t say oh man, I absolutely loved the vibe of this place– I will 100% be back here in the next few weeks. This was that rare time (there were others of course but not many). The food that the Unilocalers got to sample was very tasty. I want to come back on a regular night to try some of the other dishes or at least a full version of some of what I had here. IT was a holiday weekend in Manhattan, sure some people were out of town but the 1pm to 3pm Unilocal event was on point. The bar scene got crowded but never too out of control, we did have some great bartenders slinging the drinks and shots. This is one of few events I feel like I saw almost everyone doing shots, usually it is not that many.
I loved the atomic shrimp (will try again), truffle popcorn (it was good), beef jerky (or was that steak, mighty fine tasting Jerky), Chips with Guacamole was a hit (most people were sampling it), chicken in the waffle batter (syrup was perfect on top– it was great tasting by itself too), and fried oreos were there (I missed it, was probably distracted at the bar). The drinks were nice as well, Bourbon and whiskey shots at 1pm on a saturday was not too strong or too early for me. Ruggy picked a good spot for our event, got to meet some new Unilocalers as well. I had a great time, it was the gold standard of the day. The two other events that I headed to later in the day could not even reach half the level of fun I had here. Pinks itself seemed like just a great venue. The ginger and bourbon drink helped my mood get better while I was there and the whiskey shot with the habanero pickleback chaser was amazing. I say amazing but not too spicy, just a bit of a kick, that you sometime need though. Cheers to the Great Unilocal times that everyone seemed to have this past saturday on the long Memorial Day weekend. Lots of smiles from the Elites, proving they had a good time. Look forward to coming back here soon on a regular night for the punk vibe.

Thanks Ruggy for squeezing me into this East Village gem!!!
This was my first official Manhattan event and it was a blast. The event started at 1:00pm. My husband and I arrived at 1:5 pm and it was already getting crowded. When we were getting ready my husband asked me what he should wear. And I said «what ever you normally wear». I looked at Pink’s Unilocal page before hand and knew it was a total rocker bar that accepts tattoos and musicians with open arms. I was delighted to see the intimate space. There were cool car parts used as décor. Alex the owner was super cool. And talked to us awhile. He let us know that they have live music at the bar Sundays and Mondays. And they have happy hour during the week. We will definitely be returning.
There was snacks provided. I am a pescatarian so I grabbed some of the shrimp and the truffle popcorn. The Bourbon Trace cocktail was a bourbon cherry coke topped with a maraschino cherry.
My husband and I chatted up with the recent Unilocal Elite Brianna C. and her plus one. They were super sweet and it was great to meet knew people.
A special shout to Tiffany our bartender! She was a riot and her «Whiskey Senses» were spot on. Before you could say anything, a whiskey ginger ale was refilled and ready for consumption. Definitely how I like my bartenders, with bartender special powers.

This was my second Unilocal Elite event of all time and also the first one that involved a bar scene and I have to say, this definitely ranked among one of my favorite bar situations of all time! I think one of the things that made it the so much fun was that with us all being Unilocalers and friends of Unilocalers, it automatically gives you this sort of comradery that makes you more prone to just walk up and talk to everyone (well maybe a sense of comradery and tons of alcohol, lol), so naturally I met a whole bunch of you yesterday and had an awesome time doing so!
Pinks in itself was a great venue for this because I feel like it’s size makes you more prone to socialize and I really enjoyed the art work that they had up. Also, the bar tenders were super personable and accommodating. Pretty much as soon as I got in there, Ruggy reminded me that pickle bag shots are the bomb diggiddy. I mean really when I first heard of pickle back shots a while back, I thought they would most certainly be the most vile decision I could possibly make on a night out but they’re amazing and they were in super abundance here! I also enjoyed the oh so hilarious homie John, that informed me that he doesn’t drink, every time he downed another shot.
Me: «What’cha ordering?»
Him: «Water.always water man. I don’t drink… yeah, let me get some more shots of whiskey.» lmao XD

*** Great bar scene, Delicious customized drinks, Friendly staff ***
Wow. The Pinks Lemonade drink is so delicious. Loving the vibe here and the bar snacks are really delicious too. Would definitely come back here on a weekend night to check it the scene.

Perhaps it’s just that I get into all of the best events or Ruggy is just THAT good. Wow. I went two non Unilocal events after this and they didn’t even come close.
I was one of the first two Unilocalers on the scene and I could not have been happier. Libations flowed, food was on point and forever stocked, the music was a perfect combination at just the right volume.
I’m not surprised to be the second review for this event because everyone is probably still buzzing or trying to sleep it off. Buffalo Trace is on my list of must haves now. Smooth, smoky flavor that mixed well with pretty much everything and was equally tasty straight. The food was awesome with such a huge variety that I didn’t even realize I missed trying some items. I had the atomic shrimp, the chicken, truffle popcorn, their beef jerky, fresh guacamole with chips and probably a few other things I’m forgetting.
The staff at this joint NEVER missed a beat: no one was ever too busy or had a bad attitude. Seven months after their opening I can see why this place is going to be a hit. The décor, cleanliness and overall ambiance makes this place one worth returning to more than once. Even plus ones had to admit this sort of event is what makes being elite attractive.