Station Cafe

Great place for a quick one before getting on bus. Bartenders are real nice; even if I just need to use the restroom.

Station Café is an old school gin mill. Draft beer, bottle beer, standard liquor, jukebox; nothing fancy just solid bartenders in a welcoming bar. What more can you say…
I have been here now a couple of times, after finally walking in after a couple of years. I am glad I did. Bartenders are friendly. They take care of business. This is not a cocktail or infused vodka crowd. Give me a Bud and a shot of Jameson’s. That is the order of business.
Station Café is a decent size bar with plenty of seating. Bar is long with 20 plus seats. Backroom with pool table and tables for groups. Bathrooms clean. Cash only. No food. Enough TVs to keep me entertain. Lots and lots of regulars. Very Irish with a mix of the «New Woodside». Like I said nothing fancy, but a good place to enjoy an adult beverage.
I will certainly make Station Café part of the bars that I enjoy in this area. Station Café lots and lots of character and atmosphere. My kind of gin mill, saloon. Good job…

Recent renovations have made the bathrooms much more pleasant. Drinks are still a bargain.

This bar is clean and straight forward with many local regulars. The staff is accommodating and owner very nice. It’s also in a great location, conveniently placed under the 7 train and plenty of cabs across the street to take you where you need to go… And the girls restroom was immaculate for a bar.

The epitome of a dive bar, and I mean this in a good way. I am a fan of Entourage so when I heard that Johnny Drama’s actually exist, I had to go. I read the reviews and was not sure what to expect.
The bar looks like nothing like it did on Entourage. We went on a Sat night around 8PM and the regulars were out in full force. The bar is just that, a bar, there is another room but it is empty and has a pool table. The bartender was friendly and makes a mean rum and coke. I’m not quite sure how comfortable a female would be going alone or if you are looking for a martini, this is probably not the bar for you.
I had a few rounds, everyone minded their own business. I did however decide to play a couple of songs on the jukebox and heads turned as soon as the songs started.
Not quite sure why the word Café is here since I did not see any food. Drinks were cheap, strong, and a great place to have a few drinks.
Highly recommend

love this place!
a queens classic. keeps me coming back to woodside.

been coming here with a local friend for the last few months, and it reminds me of my dive bar back home. i love it! bartenders and regulars are so friendly, the drinks are priced right, and i always have a good time.
but be aware: it is CASH ONLY! there’s an ATM at the DD next door, if needed :)

First of all CASH ONLY…
I know how it looks from the outside but you have to be inside the bar to see the real beauty.
Typical Irish bar with a Irish crowd. I think I was the only one who wasn’t Irish.
Bartenders are super, specially Patty. Drinks are cheap with regular beers at the tap.

Music so loud it’s distorted, this dive bar is filled mostly with senior citizens recalling days when you could buy a quarter with a nickel.

Not as bad as it looks.
We came in here on a dare. This place looks like the it would be voted «Most Likely to Host a Bar Fight» with its grimy windows from the LIRR tracks overhead and the shady gypsy cab drivers waiting outside. But we’d been day drinking for most of the day, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Station café turned out to be very similar to other NYC dive bars. The narrow room, abused furniture and the small crowd of jaded drinkers by the bar is something that you’ll see anywhere. The barely legal boys playing pool was a bit of a throw back, but the inevitable drunk and the probable prostitutes fit right in. By the time we were ready to leave, I was having a discussion with the bartender (who was Irish, obviously) about how limited UFC fighting was in a bar.
So if you’re in Woodside, don’t be afraid to visit the Station. They won’t fight you, but they will be thinking about it.
Have fun.
G

Came here for a quick drink. The bar was full but the rest of the place was empty (pool, standing room etc).
Looks like the bar was full of regular drinkers. The waitress was nice and I was happy with my drink.

The jukebox is, rather unfortunately, not free. This may cause you to give the bar a low rating if you happen to be a moron.
If however you’re a normal person, you might really like The Station Café. It’s old school New York and friendly. I watched the election of Pope Francis here (not on purpose) which made for some pretty hilarious banter. The bar is dark, presumably because if the wife catches you in here again, you’re fucked. Top marks for showing football (soccer) and keeping bottles in ice troughs, but also because a man came in with a Jack Russell who promptly scurried over to an old Irish guy at the end of the bar who heartily greeted the hound with ‘Ah Seamus!’

I’d give it five stars if the jukebox were free.

Love this place. Where else can you find someone to put $ 50 worth of credits into the Jukebox and let you play whatever you want?

I’m far from a Dive Bar girl but this place is so right up my alley. Filled with crazy Irish men and drunks (beware of the dancing man), you’re sure to be entertained. It’s been around since forever and looks like it but that’s the charm. Who doesn’t miss old seedy NY bars?
A BIG thank you to Patty the bartender for saving my friend and I from the crazy Rikers man and keeping the Magners flowing!!! You’re a lifesave love!

Station «Café» has a special place in my heart. It’s a dive bar and you don’t see them in NYC anymore.
It’s dark, quiet and there is always a game on. The drinks are cheap and plentiful. You want a cosmo or a fancy mixed drink? Not the place for you. Go to Manhattan and party with the bridge and tunnel crowd.
It’s under two train tracks (the LIRR and 7 Train) but it’s quiet. The bar tender is friendly and quick to strike up a conversation. I hope places like this stay open in this Starbucks & Purell world.
This place had it’s 15 minutes of fame in Entourage when Johnny Drama bought out the bar and opened up his own place.

«café» is a fun bit of hyperbole, but who cares! This place had always looked (from the outside) like the kind of place where a record would scratch if anyone female or under 40 years old walked in. Thankfully we gave it a shot and had a great time. There’s good music, lotsa space, Tony took good care of us behind the bar, and one of the old timers even said he was glad to see young people there. Overall the place has a great rust belt feel to it that makes you feel like you’re in Allentown or Erie or Akron or Rochester. It’s the kind of place that you almost see in NYC but there it is, under the tracks; a smudge on the face of a diamond. I’m glad it’s there.

I know I know. I’ve been getting a lot of heat since writing my first review about my first experience at Station Café. Perhaps it wasn’t fair to base a review off of one experience, but sometimes that’s all you get. And lucky for Station Café I’ve given them multiple chances and they’ve proven me wrong.
The 2 major problems I had before were the smelly bathroom (haven’t gone near it still), and the huge guy-​girl fights I witnessed. And let me also point out that I am not «a woman who looks completely out of place in Woodside» and have lived here for 4 years, and I’ve seen a lot.
I love a good dive just like anyone else, but something I do not approve of in ANY bar anywhere is to see women getting hit by men. Pretty sure THOSE fighty people got off the train at the wrong stop and were just plain stupid, haven’t seen anything like that in Station Café in the multiple times I’ve visited since. In fact, I’ve had very awesome experiences. Getting to know some of the locals, playing pool (and kind of kicking ass), and saddling up at the bar enjoying Magners with excellent friendly service from Tony. So much charm, so much to love.

I love this place. It’s what a bar is meant to be — no pretense, no ritz, no remote effort to cover up the fact that you are going out to drink yourself to an adequate level of sedation. I’d guess that Station Café was last redecorated around 1973, and even then it was just addition of a couple new posters to the walls. What I like most is that the bartenders are fantastically friendly, always remember your name, mix a mean drink and are eager to keep you drinking.
This is definitely not the place to go if you are seeking multitudes of draft beer options (there ain’t none) or lots of drink mixers from a handy spout (they use 2 liter bottles). It’s just a basic bar of the variety that is becoming increasingly rare in this city.

I love Station Café! It is a laid back bar that has cheap drinks and a pool table. The service is great… you gotta love a bartender that knows your name and is nice enough to chat with you!