The Standard Biergarten

We pregamed here before going to a day EDM event on. Saturday afternoon.

Normally I wouldn’t really care for Biergartens, but I would say I liked this one. The people, the vibe, and the drinks were good.

For drinks, I didn’t get any beer, but instead did an Aperol spritz. For food, got the Mac and cheese balls. That was great. Also tried the pretzel, which was a good snack.

One other thing we did was do a ski-shooter with Jameson. That was fun.

Note: next time don’t buy so many drink tickets since they can only be used for beer and food (like only get 2 or 3 next time, not 6). Also might be interested to try their actual restaurant next time (called The Standard).

Buddakan

We went to this really trendy Chinese restaurant. The vibe was very night clubby, and also Gen Z.

Basically when you get in it’s like a Vegas style check in (have people behind a hotel like counter). After, you basically wait in the bar area before you get seated (even if you have a reservation). The bar area is actually quite large, and really good for a pregame (could also go to this restaurant without eating and just chill there). And the DJ was very on point playing great top 40 edm music.

After about 10 minutes we did get seated. We got the chow mein with beef, the dim sum sampler, and something that is like pop corn shrimp (it wasn’t called that, but basically an Asian version of it). Honestly, would get everything again.

For drinks got an Aperol spritz and whisky on the rocks. Can’t go wrong with either of those.

On a side note, there was a downstairs area which looked like it had bomb seating. Also, this place is near the Google office and Tao night club. Would be down to go to this place and explore the area at night next time.

Update (7/21/2024): we went back here for a friends bday. There was 15 of us, so we had to do a fixed menu. The menu is listed below, it I think the highlights for me were the lobster fried rice, the jumbo shrimp, and the cod. Other food was great, but it was just a lot of food (need to pace myself next time).

Le Bain

We stopped by this really awesome / interesting rooftop bar near Chelsea / meat packing district. It had 3 main floors. Lowest one was just the bathrooms (that had bird sounds, and you could change into swimming gear). The second floor has a dancing area, plus a pool! The rooftop had a great view of the city and Jersey. Also had a bunch of seating / lounging area. Would definitely go back. Music was also pretty chill (deepish), and people there were pretty attractive 🙂