Cool dive bar we rolled in to in Williamsburg just before midnight after arriving in Brooklyn with a whole day's drive behind us. Since it was a Sunday of the Labour Day long weekend, it was not crowded so we had no problem getting a drink at the bar. There was a shot and beer special which was perfect for me, especially given that I am used to drinking stronger beers, and the shot helped to bump up things to my expectations that evening. Barside was fun to drink at, with a few people having fun at the pool table and some decent tunes playing for us, it was a nice introduction to NYC night life! read more

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I used to be a regular who enjoyed frequently dropping by in my spare time to play a couple of games of pool here ($2 per game). However after tonight, I will not be returning to Midway or recommending to anyone because of the unwelcoming & atrocious behavior from one of the bartenders (Mary). I always pay for the table for every game I play and also my friend's games at times. I'm not big on drinking so I'm mostly there to play a few games & rarely am drinking when I'm there. Regardless, she decided to be so rude and talk about me directly to other customers, insulting me and loudly screaming in front of my friend: "Secret's out! He doesn't have money to tip and he doesn't have money to drink." I was appalled and at a loss for words because I had never encountered anything like this anywhere. Wildly disappointing service. Better to go elsewhere. read more

This bar is disgusting inside. Do not get ice from this place the owners do not maintain their ice machine and it's moldy and disgusting. There is black mold in the bathrooms and other toxic mold in the main bar area and in the hvac that was found with environmental texting. This place is disgusting and the owners are horrible people. read more

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It is with a heavy heart that I type this review regarding this bar and the behavior of a bartender there named Ryan. A few friends of mine had been spending some time at The Carribean Social Club aka Tonita's. We had decided to come here with a few new friends to keep hanging out. One individual we came with was trying to communicate with Ryan and I saw the frustration on Ryan's face. When I had talked to the gentleman it was revealed that he knew little to no english. He was explaining to me and my friend that he was having a hard time asking Ryan about the menu. He wanted to know what was on tap, any specials, etc. We asked Ryan about this and he very angrily gestures towards a poorly dimmed menu and gets very upset with us. He talks over us and then I say "excuse me why are you yelling at us? Our friend cannot speak english and we are trying to translate for him". And Ryan says "I don't care it's not my problem" and very dismissively puts his hands in the air. Our friend was very devastated and says that he gets treatment like this all the time from predominantly non-POC operated bars. Very blatantly treating him with racist and belittling remarks. To think that this place tries to position itself as a safe space for the marginalized is sick and I truly hope no one steps foot in here thinking they'll be treated with genuine support. Racism, xenophobia, and bigotry like this needs to end. Period. read more

I like the vibes here. Lively music and loud crowd, pool table and games. Also local craft beer and also beer and shot are available to get you drunk. Good spot if u wanna get some quick drinks read more

Short review: You want a bar that's set in the old ways of NYC night life? Are you in WillyB and just want to get away from the boozy aesthetic? Are you trying to just have a fun time with non-frills drinks? Yup! This is your spot. You can't go wrong coming here (seriously)... Maybe your looking for a winding down bar but that's pretty popping? Yup! This is your spot too. I really need to hand it to Mary and Janette, they command the bar (with ease mind you) and provide a none pandering serving that should be championed. I'm sitting here (close to the front door) and I enjoy the smell of cigarettes (and bud). You need to appreciate the alcohol that had soaked into the bar top over the (idk how many) years. After walking up the strip I saw midway and was like I think I need to go here. Listen... Stop wasting time looking for the "best" spot in Williamsburg and just come here and enjoy your chill night. read more

Midway Bar - people sitting at the bar - Bars Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Great time. Bartender was playing pool rather than I guess, bartending? Then her friend proceeded to be a lovely person after I asked about a left bag and said I was gonna steal it? LOL I'm good on needing to steal. I do not recommend this place unless you wanna wait 20 min while they play pool and then be verbally abused by ugly friends for trying to be a decent human. FUCK THIS PLACE. read more

This divey bar is the bomb. I'd you love yourselves a hole in the wall and talking to random strangers, this is your go to place! Plus cheap drinks. Need I say more? read more

Midway Bar - Bar area! - Bars Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Decent crowd (albeit monochromatic). Slowest bartenders I've ever encountered. Like zero contest. I've been served by blackout-drunk bar jockeys faster than the ladies who work here. It's called Midway, but the service is FAR below mid. Prices are mid for the neighborhood, and the music is good. Great door guy as well. Just god awful service. Don't open a tab here if you value your time. Cash works best. read more

At the end of the day there is nothing more pleasant than getting a fuck off from the bartender. Granted I was commenting on her luscious red locks. That said service was immaculate! And the clientele high class gods! I hope they bury my ashes here!!!! read more

Excellent dive bar,excellent service, highly recommend for an authentic Williamsburg experience.

First time visiting the establishment. Ordered two well drinks and one shot and beer. Bartender claimed that the machine couldn't 'process my chip'. She asked whether I wanted to tell her my PIN code or go behind the bar and insert it. I told her I'll go behind the bar. She then took it upon herself to give herself a 20% tip on three overpriced drinks. Tip worked out to be $7 for three standard drinks (a vodka sprite, Jack Daniels and Diet Coke and a beer and shot of bourbon). She didn't let me know what she was doing. Very dishonest. Would not recommend. This behaviour was unacceptable and I left feeling cheated. read more

I love everything about this place I want someone to fuck me on the bar so I'll 100% know I'll get an std that way

This place is not here to serve you ideal dive bar experience for you yuppie fools First of all Sunday is god and all you peasants must pay for your sins. If you're weak this is not the place for you but I hear LES is. read more

I have been in here a couple of times, and every time I come in, there is a girl behind the bar with a Serious attitude problem. She's rude and ignores guest. She's never once been polite and acts like it's a disservice to her that she has to make drinks for People who come in. I'm not sure how she's still employed to be honest. read more

This is where I met my now fiancé. I fortunately stumbled into this perfectly located bar in March 2017. He was sitting at the bar writing. This place has plenty of seating. Great cheap drinks. Arcade games. A pool table. Bartenders are attentive. I tapped him on the shoulder and freshly asked him what he was writing, informing him I was the person he'd been waiting for. Now I get to disturb his writing for the rest of my life. Will be contacting this magical place we consistently revisit for drinks during any monumental event in our lives to have some friends here to celebrate our engagement at the place where we met. Midway has a special place in our hearts. If you're looking for a pretentious typical Williamsburg bar, this isn't it. read more

SUNDAY is the best bartender everrrrrrrr! Plays the best music ever One of the best bartenders I've ever come across Always pleasant to be around. I recommend this bar to friends because of her. Keep up the good work read more

Solid, fairly divey bar with cheap-ish drinks and abounding fun. There's great music, pinball machines, a pool table etc. There's an air hockey table that I don't believe was working and noticed someone else mentioned on Yelp so I guess they don't service it that often. It's super casual with decent service and a relaxed vibe. read more

What a lame bar. Went here once for happy hour and most of the draft lines were not working. I had to settle for a lesser beer. Really? The place is ugly and dark. read more

Went during happy hour on a friday. The atmosphere was nothing to write home about but they have the bar front and center and arcade games across from it. They also had a pool table in the back and a single bathroom for the place. The establishment itself was medium sized plenty of space for a few groups. The specials were reasonable and the bartender was really nice and attentive (not many people there but still). The whiskey they had was tasty and cheap! the place was good experience. Nothing amazing but not crappy. Fine place to hang out and grab a few drinks. read more

Rule of thumb in yelping. Stop being drunjk whn riting reviws. Ok so I've sovbered up a lil. When we said "Hey lets go to Midway!" my friend Jodie said "Whenever we go there we just get too drunk". After she voiced her concern we all looked at each other and firmly agreed, "One drink". I don't want to go in depth here. But there was a dance off, taught many people how to Jitter bug - Paid the taxi twice - got dropped off at another bar - had some questionable sex with my pillow - woke up next to half eaten salami. Never. Drinking. Again. I love this place. read more

Super impressed with Monday night as Caroline my tender served me. She's fun, talks to everyone and has the best taste in music. I highly suggest Monday nights, makes you feel like you in the old New York again. read more

I'm from Chicago so, like Kerri H. the name of this bar earns it a star, but what the heck, it already was running 4 stars on the way in the door. $5 beer and shot deals all night, good but modest selection of taps, pool table in the back, some cool half moon booths, co-ed bathrooms, and amazing - PAUSE - amazing music. Rock and roll, doo-wop from the 50s. Great pile of smokers out front - usually having conversations that are fun to listen to. The sensitive artist wondering why the world is such a clusterf**k, or the punch you in the face hotty talking about how she punched some other assh**e in the face. Awesome. Great dark lighting. Pool table. Great music. Great f**king music your dad or grandpa listened to when he was 22. Great drinks. Cheap drinks. Super dive bar feel - without all the real dive bar guys who work for sanitation or go around secretly collecting locks of hair from strangers (or perhaps these guys are here!) that scare away all the ladies with MFA's so I am happy hanging here. I came with a woman with an MFA so perhaps this is why I felt that everything about this place was perfect. Reminds me of the Gold Star or Rainbo in Ukrainian Village, Chicago. read more

Midway is never a destination bar for a full night, but it's a great spot to grab a drink or two before moving on. My friends have definitely noticed the surly bartender others mention, but personally it was never an issue for me. As long as I get my $5 beer & shot it doesn't really matter if the bartender smiles at me. read more

This is the new spot from the same owners of Ontario Bar. The bar is all brand new but looks like it has been a bar for the last 50 years. There's a pool table and large leather banquettes in the back and some arcade games near the front. I've only been there on a Friday night... but so far so good! Really nice bartenders, 3 dollar High Life's, and a good crowd. But the bar seems off to a slow start... probably because they're not on yelp yet! Worth checking out. read more

We went there early so luckily it's not packed n still in happy hour;) I had cider, yeeea... Lol was really good. We had fun with those games. Bartender was extremely unwelcoming, grumpy! read more

How is it I never wrote a review of this place? Here goes- this is one of the coolest dive bars in Williamsburg. I have to make that distinction because some people like fancy, brightly lit or well furnished bars. I like dive bars. They are dark and the walls are cluttered with personality. The bathrooms are graffiti ridden. Midway, excels in this regard. Where Midway excels the best is in service and a friendly atmosphere. It can get busy, especially on weekends but the bartenders are experts at serving everyone in proper order even if there are 27 people who think they're next. Jeanette, Sunday, Emily and Mary are great! Sorry if I missed anyone. Give this place a shot and I promise, you won't be let down. Ciao, fellow alcoholics and barflies. read more

No, no, no, I'm sorry, 3.5 stars is not the least bit appropriate for this bar. I feel like some folks may just not recognize a good dive when they see one. I was charmed by this place immediately when the bartender mistook me for someone else and got kind of flirty. Call me biased for that, but it's amazing how far a little flattery will go in my book. Adding to that, the music was excellent. If all they played was Otis Redding's greatest hits on repeat all night, I'd be happy, but they cranked out one good solid tune after another from someone's ipod featuring a variety of eras and artists. I drink my bourbon neat, so I guess I'm a poor judge of their cocktail skills, but if you want to go to the kind of place where the tender identifies as a "mixologist," I'm going to guess this is not the drinking establishment for your taste. There is Pacman, there is Buckhunt, there is pool. The bar has plenty of seating, and if you walk up a couple of steps, there's booth seating, too. Judging by the fairly good-looking crowd I witnessed here, you can probably pick up a handsome guy or gal with the help of a few picklebacks (whatever that is... New York, you are so silly). If I lived in this neighborhood, this would definitely be my regular spot of choice. read more

Ah, it makes sense that the people who own Ontario own this place - it has the same-ish vibe, but as someone else mentioned, is a bit nicer inside. I reallllllly liked Midway when we were here the other day, and as my cousin said, there is for some reason the highest concentration of attractive gentlemen of all the bars in Brooklyn (given her taste, which is kinda brown haired intentionally stubbley white dudes...). The dudes at Kings County are a little more my speed, but then I'd rather look at the ladies anyway, so what am I even saying?! Regardless, the patrons of Midway all seem very chill and cool - not much pretention here at all. The drink specials at Midway are awesome, too. Highlife is $3 all the time, and I believe it's $4 for a beer and a shot. There are cool 80s arcade games if you're that kinda person, and there's pool and plenty of room to chill out, out back. My favourite part of the evening, other than witnessing my cousin's sheer joy at the sausage fest, was watching a very fancy gentleman French braid some lady's hair. Just sayin. I definitely wanna come back here again soon. It seems like a nice place to chill out after work. Because happy hour is my real occupation. read more

Come for the drinks. Stay for the music. Oh and the credit card machine is back. read more

When is a dump not a dump?? When they serve glasses of liquor the size of texas & play music that makes you want to shake a tail feather of course. I mean, how can it be a dump if you are too insanely wasted to know or care that it's a dump? Well, I have to say that the people there were definitely entertaining. My boyfriend & I bumped into this place & decided to go in. Shortly after, a group of wasted chicks came in. We were sitting at a large table so the chicks asked if they could share the table with us so we obliged. It was packed & we didn't mind at all. Long story short, between the 3 girls, they spilled about 4 beers. One even dropped a whole damn beer on the floor & blamed it on her friend that was 5 feet away from her. The chick that dropped the bottle was really pissed at her friend & started telling her off. Did i mention how entertaining the people were? The drinks were strong & reasonably priced, the music was good. If you can stand loud, drunk, obnoxious, funny people this is the place for you. read more

It takes a certain je ne sais quoi to be able to achieve the perfect balance between nice and dive, to not cross the boundary into too nice or too dive. If nerdy puns and bad humor may take hold for a moment, I'd say that the perfectly executed midway-point between said elements is in fact Midway bar. Midway bar boasts absolutely nothing besides a chip rack, pool, dirty bathrooms and Big Buck Hunter. It's perfect. The drinks are cheap, the music good, and it's the perfect place to hole up with friends whether it be summer or winter, when you're indoor-sulk-in-a-bar has to get the best of you. This year, put trust and your time (and your money) into Midway; your surely certified friendly neighborhood dive. read more

I love this bar. It's rare that a new bar opens, I'm told to go there, and I quickly grow to like it. Midway is a rare exception. As Sarah said, it's the new bar by the owners of Ontario. If my friends ask what it's like I say, "It's like Ontario, but in a nicer space, with a few arcade games and a pool table." By "nicer space," I don't mean super fancy, as it manages to keep that nice homey/divey feel we all love while still being quite spacious inside. Just like Ontario maintains a faux-Canadian theme, this one does a pretty good job of doing a faux-carnival thing. The bartenders are friendly and easy on the eyes, and the drinks are quite cheap. The only downside is that they won't be able to open the backyard area they want this summer due to the permit process - at least I think that's what the one bartender told me after my 5th or 6th $4 dollar tap Gansett (the beer from the movie Jaws, I was told). I usually stick to the "other" side of the BQE in Williamsburg except on special occasions, but I've been finding myself making the trek over to Midway more and more often, sometimes getting food to go next door at Taco Chulo or across the street at the arrepas place and bringing it back to Midway. read more

First time: Planned on meeting a friend at Clems, it was packed, so we changed direction, into Midway we sauntered... This place looks straight out of a smokey and the bandit movie... comfortable island bar with cushy swivel stools, pool table out back, some video games... I like it. Cute bartender, she let me charge my iphone. It was happy hour. The music was recognizable... GnR etc.etc... we enjoyed the drinking. Second Time: In I sauntered to meet a friend and have a few friends meet us... Cute bartender, she let me charge my iphone. It was happy hour. The music was recognizable... Van Halen...etc.etc... we enjoyed the drinking. Third time: In I sauntered to meet a friend and have a few friends meet us... Cute bartender, she let me charge my iphone. It wasn't happy hour, but it was friday night, and we're all known to be especially rich on fridays... The music was recognizable... we enjoyed the drinking... I could do this a few more times... read more

I'm from Chicago so immediately the name of this bar earns it a star. Shot and a beer deal for high life/whiskey and tecate/tequila? Second star. All the bartenders are babes. Third star. Food cooked for kids in the industry on Sunday? Fourth star. FIFTH STAR JUST BECAUSE. I keep seeing exes here... minus a star. This place is huge and no matter how packed it is I can always find seating -- okay, just take your five stars. Plus there's a pool table. I guess some people like that shit. read more

Sooo much fun. Awesome bartender, fun games, and a pool table. Big booths to hold all your friends and shenanigans, I had a blast here. read more

Went for the first time last night. I always drink gin and soda water, and always Tanqueray. Was served well gin out of the Tanqueray bottle, when I said it wasn't Tanqueray I was verbally abused by the bartender and not offered a different beverage. Tried to be polite, but she shouted that they don't marry bottles here and that it is Tanqueray and there's no way I could possibly know the difference from the taste and that I was stupid. Will obviously never return to this bar. read more

Good selection of beer and drinks, excellent beer with shot special! Great vibe, the crowd seems pretty chill and friendly, and a large pool table in the back. One thing I'd say though, is that one of the bartender will bitch you out if you don't tip her right, so that's minus one star. read more

There's dive and then there's dive. I don't normally write reviews but I felt I had to in this case. My friends and I used to be regulars here. But in the last few months, I don't know what happened but the place has really gone downhill. Several of my friends got food poisoning because, as it says it some of the other reviews, they don't clean the drink wells (do yourself a favor and only order bottled beers if you go). I also saw rats behind the bar more than once. And, this one is not a hygiene issue and I hate picking on someone but come on, we're is 2022...! The main bartender treats all the male patrons really well and has such attitude serving any female patrons to the point of making you feel uncomfortable to order something. It's really not okay and pretty sexist honestly, I don't know how she's still employed. There's plenty of unpretentious dive bars in Williamsburg with good vibes, you can find one that won't make you sick and where the bartender will serve you with a smile, regardless of your gender. read more

Between the pinball machines (which take dollars so you don't have to keep getting change from the bartender), plenty of space to sit down, a pool table, good music, and even an air hockey table (which didn't seem to actually be putting out any air but whatever), this was the perfect spot to have a low-key drink on a weeknight. Bartender wasn't friendly at all but in a spot like this it would feel a bit weird if he was friendly, to be honest. It's a slightly dingy dive and perfect for what it is! read more