warm. friendly. big & excellent (veg/healthy-friendly) menu. solid beer list, organic cider. no attitude. at all. all kinds of people just hanging out. read more

This is a fantastic establishment. Our waitress Erin was fantastic. Not only was she super friendly, she was also super helpful in selecting a beer from the wide selection of great beer. Highly recommend! read more

Maybe it's because it's close to where I live, but I find myself here more than I would have thought. And whenever I go I feel like I'm right back in college, but not in a bad way. It's the beer, the music, the frat-sport boys. The music covers a decade or two, all of the obvious crowd pleasers. It can get crazy on the weekends, but during the week -after work or late night-it's a great, no-frills time. Can't say I've eaten their food totally sober, but it always does the trick when I have to have something greasy/salty in a hurry! read more

After our losing a softball game we should have won, we decided to drown our sorrows at Dive Bar... well, actually we just stumbled upon it because it was the first bar we saw as we were walking out of Central Park. Since it didn't seem like enough space inside, we drank outside, which was nice, but it was kind of cold (on a summer night, too-- what the hell?). They had a really good selection of beers to choose from, so we got a bunch of pitchers. And it seems that the beers change every week, which is really cool. We got some food... pretty normal stuff, hot dogs and fries, and nachos. But we also ordered Poutine, which is (as a teammate described) a dish really popular with Canadians. It was really just fries, smothered in gravy and topped with cheese curds. It wasn't too bad, and it was free, because it was left in the broiler too long and it was burnt, but still ok to eat and the waitress (who was really awesome) just took it off our bill. It was a pretty fun night, but it probably would have been better if we had won the game. read more

I work up the street from this bar- the staff is always super friendly- the bourbon wings are awesome, and they always have a good beer list. Olivia, in particular, is funny and always remembers my drinks. Lee always comes around to the tables and checks in and that Howie is super funny and welcoming. Looking forward to my next Guinness there. read more

Great neighborhood bar with friendly staff. Great food and unpretentious atmosphere. It's nice to know places like this still exist in this city. read more

The staff at this bar are incredible. Since moving to NYC, I've always wanted to find a neighborhood bar where I felt welcome and comfortable. This is it - Howie is the best bartender around. read more

The best place in town, the menu offer tons of variety. The staff is amazing. I am now a regular and Jesse our Waitress makes it feels like home. I now have a regular bar I can come to and meet friends, just stop in after a long day. read more

Kelly is the best!! Get the pulled pork sliders. Ask which beers are temporary, as some taps change often.

Cool spot on the Upper West Side. I hate to call it a "dive bar"...that seems too obvious...plus it's at least a couple of steps up from being a "dive bar". I like it though. The beer menu was fantastic...reminds me of Quenchers in Chicago (where I'm from)...the menu was great - lots of variety. Everything we ordered was delicious. I forget what my burger was called...but it had beef and chorizo and caramelized onions and it was kinda like the food I imagine I'll eat in heaven...a juicy, flavorful explosion of happiness in my mouth. The wings were good too. Tried the Dive Bar Bronx Brew ..thumbs up. The waitress did not seem to be amused by us at all...Therefore I took it as a personal challenge to make her crack a smile and in the end...I won. I tweeted and Instagrammed a couple photos and the manager ended up sending me a $20 Gift Certificate...I would have given this place 5 stars if our waitress had knocked off a bit of the surely attitude. read more

I have been meaning to write this for awhile now. This is one of our favourite neighborhood spots. The "Something to dive for" chips are not to be missed. Comfort food and vegetarian choices generally do not go together, however they do at Dive Bar! Service is friendly,and warm, Truly a welcoming little gem! read more

So pleasantly surprised by their incredible and varied beer selection. I'm rarely on that part of Amsterdam, but Dive Bar is reason enough to make the ten-block trek. read more

Didn't have any food, but the atmosphere is nice with a variety of table sizes and a huge beer list. Bud Light pitchers for $12, most nice ones around $20-24. One star off for service - pretty quick but not that friendly. read more

I came to the bar at 3:22 am and the bouncer didn't let us in because they were close, on the website it says they close at 4 am and he said well it was slow so we close earlier. I had just came out of work all I wanted was a beer or a shot before I went home. If your going to close earlier because it's slow at least say that on your site before I travel all the way there and get turned away. read more

Everyone here is great. I recently had a bartender named Megan. She was extremely understanding and accommodating, as well as professional and kind. For friendly service in the Upper West Side, I can't recommend a better bar. read more

Kate, our waitress, provided amazing service and down to earth conversation. Went here to watch the Cubs game and bartenders switched TVs to the game. Great vibe, good decor. When I visit NYC in the future, I will be spending a lot of time here! read more

I don't normally review places like this but I'd be remiss not to review my experience this weekend at Dive Bar on 96th. The windows were open on a warm Sunday afternoon and Howie's enthusiasm and energy provided laughs for hours. You can't go wrong with this place. read more

We love this place! GREAT food and decently priced drinks. Howie was so hilarious and fun. Loved him! Our group of six went in at about 12:30am on a weeknight and it was great to find a place still serving food at that time. The poutine especially was delicious! read more

Great beer selection and new TVs. The only complaint is that this neighborhood joint has been infiltrated by B&T crowd.

Great service. Howie made the night very enjoyable for us. We were looking for a friendly local bar to watch the basketball and it delivered in spades. The food hit the spot, good portions for a reasonable price. The variety of beers they had was surprisingly good. If you want a good local bar to watch the game and have some nice food then this is the place for it. read more

This place is a secret gem. Food is always great. Great atmosphere. Jesse always gives great service she makes you feel like family.

Dive hosted a wedding. Lee was generous to allow a Saturday night wedding at his bar. Terrific fun evening good food great drinks terrific atmosphere. Super happy couple. Thanks Lee. read more

Highly recommended neighborhood bar - good food with a broad menu, and a great beer selection. Friendly and attentive staff. A little loud, but not out of the ordinary for the kind of bar it is. Love this place. read more

Great bar--probably the best one on the Upper West Side. I might give it four stars downtown, but I appreciate its location enough to give it five. The bartenders and waitstaff are great and the music is usually good, too. The atmosphere can vary quite a bit depending on the night, whether there are after-work softball teams hanging around, and a host of other factors, but it's usually a fairly loud and varied group. The food is on the better end of the bar food spectrum, and is surprisingly consistently good considering the breadth of the menu. Beer selection is very good--a good range of microbrews on tap and a healthy selection of bottles, and the scotch, bourbon, and tequila selections are also quite good. read more

Loud, packed and the food is only okay, but the service is friendly and the crowd varied. Yankees AND Mets games were going, and no one seemed to mind the warring cheers. Not a great date place--hard to be romantic if you're screaming your sweet nothings--but friends, neighbors and tourists mingle and drink in the collegial, noise. read more

Can't remember the last time i was here but after a long walk in the Park on Sunday I decided to treat myself to a nice selection of cold ones. Sat at the bar, the staff was friendly as were the customers sitting around me. Got a little hungry so I ordered some sweet potato chips which were excellent. Also had a spicy corn chowder with a side salad both of which were fresh and tasty. read more

My boyfriend and I just moved to the area, and he was excited to check out Dive Bar for its well reputed beer and scotch selections. In our old hood on the UES, his favorite local bar was a beer bar where friendly bartenders were happy to talk brews with patrons and recommend something on tap if you told them your tastes. We hoped Dive Bar would be its UWS equivalent, but we were let down on our first visit. (Note: this is not really a dive bar, but a bar with a diving theme, as evidenced by the big fish tank and diving gear on the walls. We knew this going in, so it wasn't a case of unmet expectations.) I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say it could have been because we went on a Monday afternoon (MLK Day). Maybe they had their B squad behind the bar. The solo bartender was incredibly unwelcoming and unfriendly. She barely acknowledged us when we sat at the bar, despite the fact that there were only about 10 people in the entire place. She acted like it was a huge inconvenience to let us sample a beer first, and then when I asked her to recommend a light beer (they had an extensive list on the wall but I didn't recognize most of the beers on it), she flatly suggested one, then said "Nevermind, we don't have it" and walked away. She didn't smile once and seemed like she hated being there. In fact, I don't think she said more than a dozen words to us the entire time we were there, and one time when she did speak, it was with a mouthful of food. I realize it probably sucks to have to eat your lunch in between serving customers, but if you plan on speaking to people when you take their order (which evidently she didn't), don't shove a huge bite in your mouth on your way over. The nicest and most enthusiastic thing I heard her say the whole time was "Thank you, have a nice day" when we paid our tab and left. We've been to our fair share of bars and restaurants over the years, AND both have worked in the service industry in the past, but we've rarely encountered a server who put in as little effort as this woman did. I'm really wondering if she was just filling in for someone as a favor, and maybe knows nothing about beers so she felt uncomfortable or something. But even still, 90% of being a bartender (especially in this type of place) is just being friendly! How hard is that? I will say that their menu looks really good. We weren't really hungry so we didn't get a meal (he got wings that he said were awesome, I just got some soup), but we saw some unique and tasty looking dishes on the menu. So I'd be willing to come back maybe on a weeknight for a casual dinner and give it another shot. And honestly, we're hoping for the best, because we really miss having a friendly local bar to go to! read more

Loved the beer selection. Food was disappointing. We got the Seinfeld Sandwich (or something with a name like that...pesto, mozz, tomato) and the Catfish banh mi. Latter seemed to be made by someone who'd never had a banh mi. Overloaded with thick slabs of white onion and any flavor was lost in the overwhelmingly massive loaf of bread. Tasted like I was eating bread and raw onions. Needed less bread, less onion, and more picked daikon. Perhaps the other more traditional pub food is fine, but avoid the banh mi and seinfeld sandwich. Maybe I'm just hyper disappointed because I was craving a banh mi. Good beer though! read more

If you like Belgian beer, this is the place for you. We love wheats so we are sort of regulars because we live close. There is some outdoor seating, and they have growlers you can also have them fill cans for you from the draft. My husband is an Army Diver so we love the Mark-15 dive helmet decorations they have, and we've bought about six growlers as Christmas gifts for our dive friends. read more

What a surprise!!! Such a great place to unwind on a Friday night after a long week in a cubicle. HOWIE THE CUTEST BARTENDER EVER IS SUCH A BONUS. Now time to talk about the Sancocho (Dominican soup) .... in addition to the bomb sliders they have and the savory appetizers that flood the menu. The best! Very attentive bartender (Howie the sweetest) and everything just plain old pleasant. Will be back for Howie and maybe have some drinks as a bonus. read more

Over the weekend, I joined a friend at Dive Bar. Our servers were Meghan and Jessie. They were both fantastic, friendly, and were the gem of my experience. The food was good, the array of beers on tap is great and I would highly recommend, not just a visit to Dive Bar on the Upper W, but also ask for either of the servers who took care of us. I come in and out of town and Dive Bar is now one of my favorite spots. Thanks, Ladies! read more

I'll say again--this is a home away from home for me/us; not just to get beers, but to sometimes have lunch as well, and I always have my out of town guests join me here at least once (or twice). I consider Jessie and all the other great servers and bartenders friends, and I don't say this his lightly. The selections are great, (food and beer) with even some foods to satisfy a vegetarian's tastes as well. Not to mention food items on the daily menu that has kept the options fresh and enjoyable. Three cheers to Dive 96!! I'll be back soon.... read more

Pretty sweet beer selection for a UWS bar... Dive Bar tries to live up to the name, but it's still 96th + Amsterdam, with nice tables, tons of TVs, and upscale brews. Been a few times, and it doesn't disappoint. read more

Great beer selection. And what sets this place apart is the fact that they serve the Canadian delicacy, Poutine. Nothing better, especially on a cold night, than to have a dish of steaming fries, brown gravy and cheese curds. Awesome! A must have every time we go there. read more

Great bar and awesome food! Good selection of beer and nice staff.

Rundown: Clean sports bar. Lots of TVs. Your game will probably be playing. Excellent list of beers, solid beer grub (fried pickles, yesss!) as well as menu of good food. Not outrageous or amazing, but good. Good oysters. Good lobster mac and cheese. Good beer. Good service. What more could you ask of a neighborhood joint? I wish they would fix their sign, though--it makes it hard for people to find it. read more

Titled "dive bar" you expect a cheap beer bar with tvs that smells a little like vomit. But this location is awesome. Great look and amazing craft beers. The bartenders and staff are fantastic with outgoing personalities and you'll always find a die hard fan there to chat up sports or anything else. The food is also surprisingly good for a "dive bar." I highly recommend. read more

Fine, fun, but not a little too nice to be considered a dive bar. Pretty good mussels!

I am visiting, for my ninth time to, New York, but this is my first time here. I'm absolutely in love with this place. We had Jesse as our server and she KILLED it. I promise you, this is the place to be. I will be back tomorrow: read more

Alas, my husband and I find ourselves back in the city living temporarily a block away from this amazing, warm bar oozing with character and great energy. It will be our watering hole during our nine month stay here. Drinks are stout and properly made, food is outstanding bar fare, and the service is super friendly and attentive. Highly recommend!!! read more