Fat Buddha
“Where else can you munch late night at a bar until 4 am and get down on a dark little dance floor to awesome music spun by really sick DJs?”
“They play the most insane mix of oldies/hip hop/top 40's to keep everyone in your party satisfied and dancing.”
“Heard an assortment of 80s and 90s hip hop, funk, pop, old school, R&B, and some other jams.”
Fat Buddha
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Good For Dancing: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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After a 2 year hiatus since my first visit to this hotspot in EV (East Village), I feel as if an update is needed. I've tried getting in 1 or 2 times in the last year but because of either fights or too many dudes (just guessing), I didn't get in.
On the weekends, expect a cover still. I know a lot of people are turned off by this but even women have to pay a cover albeit $5 instead of the $10 they charge to men. Aside from this, the bouncers have been generally nice and keep a nice handle on the line.
The crowd is still pretty much the same but i will say that the second time that I was there on a Friday night the crowd was a little more mature than the first time that I went. Party was still live. The classic hip-hop joints were still being played. And just in case you were wondering, it is the only accepted hip-hop to play in my opinion.
No Fetty Wap, thanks.
The bar area can and will get crowded. 3 bartenders were on hand to make drinks/ pour beers but even that can be a challenge for the kind of crowd that they get day in and day out. I got my drinks without much of a wait but other people might have a different experience. I will say that the bartenders were quick in both making mixed drinks and pouring beers. They no longer have the MAD HATTER which i really wanted to enjoy again but in its place they have the Drunken Ginger something cocktail. If I wasn't so many drinks in plus more at the bar when I got there meeting up with friends I would have most likely taken a photo of the menu. But it is the drink that has ginger liquor and a whiskey base for reference.
Not the worse place to hang out with friends on a Friday night.
Cheap cover and seems to be a popular place for partying. That said, it was way too crowded and there isn't even really a DJ. The music is played through speakers. The floor was more sticky than usual and place was too small and cramped in general.
If you come too late, they start scrutinizing the girl to guy ratio a lot more. We managed to get in with 3 girls to 6 guys, but they were really reluctant. Cash only for cover – $5 for girls and $10 for guys. Dress code seemed a lot more lax than nicer places.
Paid $10 cover for guys, $5 cover for girls. Initially the quoted price was cheaper, but once they saw our ratio they decided to charge more.
Fat Buddha is a pretty small venue and it was packed. Music was overly loud and made it difficult to hear anything without yelling. Ratio inside was pretty horrendous at 2am although my friend told me last time he came it was much better around 12am. Maybe it was an offnight here, but our group wasn't really digging it so we left after 30 min.
I follow YouTuber Timothy DeLaghetto and a few months ago he posted a vlog in which he was partying it up at Fat Buddha. So immediately after watching that blog I bookmarked Fat Buddha on Yelp. Now, I probably have over 100 businesses bookmarked on Yelp but it was something about this place that my brain kept saying, "Candace you need to check this place out"!
So last Saturday was the day. My cousin and I were hanging out in the East Village; therefore, the prime opportunity to investigate Fat Buddha. They opened at 5pm we arrived somewhere around 6. The music was on point which created a nice laid back vibe. On Saturdays they have a happy hour that starts at 5 so the bar started to get crowded fairly quickly. People were ordering food and drinks. I had the Saketome and Green Tea martinis. Both were very good and I'd get them again. We also had 2 shots. I can't remember the name of them but it was a mixture of Fireball and Rum Chata. The wings seemed to be very popular here on my next visit I will definitely give them a try.
The service was decent. The bartender seemed a little stressed out and didn't go out of his way to make us feel welcomed but he got the job done. I'd definitely recommend this place to people who are in the area and I'll definitely return!
Stopped by Fat Buddha with a friend for an event that was hosted there. Not imposing a cover charge for the event was extremely appreciated because covers are dumb.
Anyway, we ended up getting a couple of drinks, punctuated by a round of kimchi backs. Service at the bar was really impacted so it took us a while to get a bartender's attention, but the kimchi backs were surprisingly worth the wait. I'm sure everyone around me appreciated my breath afterward too, so all-in-all I'm glad we went for those.
I'm tempted to come back to Fat Buddha, but I'm so turned off by the likely $10 I'll have to shell out just to get in that it probably won't happen again. There's too much going on in the East Village to justify that!
Been here many times late at night. I hear it gets crowded but I guess I've only gone when it's not too bad
Its literally just a room with a center bar and standing room and chairs around the bar. There's perhaps a few tables in back and one in front
Happy hour til 8pm even on Saturday?! Awesome it was empty too!!
$8 lychee martini or mimosa. Well drinks were cheaper. $7 buns or wings or $2 edamame (At the bar ONLY)
–lychee mimosa: yummy drink!!
–lychee martini: pretty strong, not as girly as the mimosa
–bulgogi fries: crispy, not bad
Good music here too
East Village has some of the coolest bars! Fat Buddha is definitely one of them. I can see why people choose to spend their birthdays here.
It was a snowy Friday in March when I celebrated my birthday here last year. It was around 6pm and it still had a decent crowd. They can reserve the tables in the back for large parties.
The ambiance is dark to the point where you can see your food to enjoy it and chill to point where you can let loose on night on the town. If you're looking for a place that plays 90s old school hip hop vibe, you'll love this place.
The bulgogi bowl was memorably dry and not authetic Korean, but we'll let it slide because it's an Asian fusion restaurant.
I wish it was a little easier to pay for large groups. For big parties, it reccommended to BRING CASH! The bill can only be spilt 4 ways.
It definitlely got complicated at the end of the night.
Overall, I'm glad I chose to have my birthday here. They tried their best to be accomdating.
I usually don't get upset but screw this place. Tried coming here two nights ago and I didn't know there would be a bouncer nor a dress code. I don't live in NY, just in the area as my father is at the hospital with open heart surgery so I was exploring the town. Night one, got denied entry for violating some sort of dress code. Cool, I'm okay with that, I planned to go back and the come back the next night with proper dress code…..
Night two….while being ignored I asked if I can go in. I was asked to move to the side while a couple other people were going in. Then I was asked for ID, when the others weren't and they just got out of a cab so not like they were out for a cigarette or anything…ok cool, here's my ID…then was told will be a cover charge to go inside, uh I told him I'm just there to eat, not club/dance/drink around the bar, so I could get back to what I needed to do, yet he still insisted. So I said no thank you, thanks for ruining my plans two nights in a row, goodnight. I went next door to the Dinnertable and spent $140 all alone. Glad I could spend my money somewhere that was actually worth it. I had a great time there, and now am glad my experience at the fat budda was terrible because I never would have found the Dinnertable.
Overall, even though the pictures and food look great of this place, I am 0 for 2 here and have zero plans to go back, based on my poor experience.