Kabin

Great dirty martini!

Not my favorite bar, the positive is that they have PBR.

Horrible bar. I felt unsafe as the bathroom doesn’t lock properly and it’s in dimly light spot. Terrible bartenders who are drunk by 11. Don’t go here.

Popped in for a beer. Enjoyed a $ 2 PBR. Place looked a little sketchy but the bartender and patrons were friendly and seemed down to earth. This place was A-​OK for a quick drink.

Odd place. This is the type of place that puts hair on your chest. Dark, dingy, bartenders are tough. Has a pool table, but that looks like people have had sex on it, spilled beers, and probably spilled some blood on there as well. The setting around the table has two nice and dark corners where god only knows what has went on there. They have a touch screen with photo hunt, but at some point in the night that gets turned off unfortunately. Beers are a great price, but they’re decent. Bathroom is attempting to hit a new low. Really an odd spot. If you’re just looking for a good time and not worried about the setting, but rather your company, this could be a spot for you. Good eats in the area. Some dudes were chowing down on some BBQ from across the street in there. I guess you could always bring your own and make the night what you want it to be if you’re into pool or touch screen games.

Dive bars are dive bars. To me, they are all about the company you keep. I do always appreciate how one bartender can handle every person, whereas in a nightclub, they cant manage shit. You’ll only catch me in these places with friends who like them. I personally dont.

Grungy, but this is the East Village. Get over it.
Clientele are always friendly. great place to just chill and pregame.
Billiards in back is never crowded. Major plus.

Eh.
I know it’s a dive bar but they don’t even seem to do the minimum maintenance. When multiple beers have the same aftertaste, you know you’re in trouble!
Guys, clean the taps. Really.
Also, the staff, when I went, seemed like the kind of folks who’d be changing a diaper while smoking a cigarette. Sad.

Like somebody else said, I wanted to like this place — cool dive bar vibe with a small pool table in the back. They were out of three beers, so got a Yuengling, which tasted funny, but I figured it was just me. Used my happy hour 2-​for-​1 ticket to get a Shock Top, which tasted even worse. Something I can’t describe, but friends said «buttery,» «flat,» «watered-​down,» etc., which seem to agree with the reviews below.
I’d let a couple friends taste my Shock Top (and they thought theirs tasted funny too), so I took it back. The bartender curtly asked why I wanted to exchange it if I drank half of it (more like a quarter); I responded that I wanted to make sure it just wasn’t me. I told her maybe they should check the taps because two different beers tasted pretty back and she snapped, «They get cleaned every three weeks, you better check your tongue,» as she handed me an off-​tasting Goose Island IPA.
TL;DR: Agree with the other interviews. Something’s wrong with the beer, tastes gross. Rude response when I asked for an exchange.

I really like this place! I came here for Comedy on a Thursday and I had a really great time. Good, dirty, fun!
Coming from Texas, I felt right at home with the taxidermy and cheap/​strong drinks! It is a bit silly to only have one bartender on busy nights. I wonder why they do that!
At any rate, I think it takes a special soul to see the beauty in Kabin. I really felt right at home! Yay casual, cheap, good times.

I wanted to like this place, I really did. It had all the makings of a good time, 2for1 happy hour, taxidermy deer head on the wall, pool table, good location, decent beer selection, and galaga.
Only problem was the beer was warm and the service was terrible. Ordered 2 IPAs, both were room temp. I asked the bartender if I could swap them for something else and she offered me a glass of ice and said «…well, I’ve been serving them all day so…» After reading the other reviews on here, apparently that’s a common thing, flat, watered down, warm beer.
Won’t be coming back.

Went here on Thursday night, and another Friday night, had a great time and somehow ended up staying until 3AM :)
I didn’t mean to review this place at first, but after seeing some negativity on here I just had to give my input, this place is simple cool and unpretentious ! Nice down to earth bartender (or two, on Friday) gave me a drink on the house! I will definitely come back.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a cool looking place (emphasis on the «looking»), but I don’t think it’s worth the trip.
The hunter-​style décor is nice and the music selection (rock/​blues) is great, but that’s about where it ends. I stopped in since I was early to meet some friends in the Village and came across their 2-​for-​1 happy hour special. Not bad, right? Buy a beer, get a ticket for one free drink whenever your ready. Well, it’s a nice concept, but not when the beers aren’t even potable because of how watered down they are. Got a Long Trail IPA for my first drink and it tasted like complete swill; the Bud Light I got for my second drink tasted stronger.
The atmosphere was a weird hybrid of overly-​tatted metalheads and barely 21-​year-​old bros who clearly are still in the «oh my God, I can’t believe I’m legally here!» phase. It also took a few minutes for the bartender to notice I was staring her down with my money out to order — the bar was pretty empty, by the way, so it’s not like she was overwhelmed.
Not impressed with this place at all. You can do a lot better on 2^nd Ave.

Cheap drinks and comedy are what saves Kabin. It’s the diviest of dives.
I’m into that, but in the East Village there are plenty of similar spots, so I get to be picky. Here, 2 issues jump out at me: only 1 bartender and lack of seating.
Drinks were just fine, and they have $ 2 PBR (the portion of the dive stereotype I wholeheartedly reject). No liquor specials, which is a major thumbs down in my book. Prices were already cheap enough so I shouldn’t really complain.

This place is a dump. D-​U-​M-​P. dump. dump. dump.
Flat beer, watered down booze. dump.
Did I mention it was a dump?
Dump.

Whenever I walk into a bar and Blurred Lines is playing, a shiver runs up my spine and into my brain telling me immediately to leave. But then like the song, another part of my brain says you know you want it… Damn you Allen Thicke’s kid.
Needless to say Kabin, is like most of the establishments along 2^nd Ave that cater to, lets say a younger crowd. Not to be an ageist, but this a spot where you listen to crappy music, drink overpriced beer, regale in Santacon adventures, and try to find your future ex-​wife. Aside from those draws, they have a great selection of shot and beer specials, which I will say is what drew me in the first place. However, I never had a chance to get a shot and beer because there was only one bartender working on a packed Thursday night. Waiting over ten minutes at the bar and no service, no hello, nada. So instead of dealing with the garbage service and garbage music, I fox trotted to Sly Fox and had a much better time.
This place is what it is. Maybe a 23 year old me would have loved this place. Or maybe a 23 year old me would have been just as pissed at being ignored at the bar. Oh well, you get what you pay for…

Solid dive bar on second ave. Cheap drinks, digital juke box, and a pool table in the back. Friendly regulars and there’s a secret back room that has comedy on the weekends. Bathrooms are uninspiring.

Don’t even waste your time. This is not a dive bar, it’s worse.
The bartenders are terrible. The atmosphere is fake.
There’s no reason for anyone to ever visit a place like this.
Can you tell I had a bad experience?

Felt kind of deceived coming here. Walking by we ducked in to ask the overly friendly bartender about deals and they told us it’s BOGO for happy hour. Perfect, there were only two of us that wanted a drink. We order a round and are told $ 12. Shocked at $ 6 per beer for HH, we asked what’s up? She told us it’s BOGO but each person HAS to get 2 beers. Seems a bit raw when we really only want ONE beer each (we were bar hopping). The thing is, if you want to pound them down, this is a great deal. If you want to be a responsible drinker, this place isn’t so great.
My two stars isn’t so much about what happened above. It seemed that ALL the beers on tap were either warm, pure foam, skunky, or just nasty. You probably think I’m exaggerating, but we were NOT the only party that felt that way. We went through a total of four different beers before we settled on one, Brooklyn Lager. The Abita Purple Haze was vinegary. Props to the bartender for being super cool about wanting us to switch out so many times (she must’ve known their taps were bad).

Looks nice from the outside, so I anticipate this spot being cool in the summer or possibly happy hour.
I stopped in on a Thursday night before a holiday weekend, so I’m sure the experience was a bit off from normal Thursdays. Anyways, they had $ 5 shots ever hour (different varieties), which is bad considering continentals 5 shots for $ 10 deal. They also have cheap PBR for those fancying the old blue ribbon. I unfortunately wasn’t digging either.
The only saving grace for me in this spot was the comedy show (free) in the back room. Nice date/​hang spot but seating is limited and tight.
Ill stop back when it’s warmer and I’m in the East Village to give this spot another try.