Haven

This place has great DJ.
We had a good time with their music, he even played our request. But unfortunately, our bar experience was not that great.

It’s a lounge place of two floors with really really loud music. I came here twice! They have good happy hour specials but they end at 8pm :(Last night I came here for a bday party (on a Sat night). The place was packed w/​97% of just indians and bollywood music all night long!
It’s a good place to try in midtown east if you’re looking to lounge in and do hookah only. Their bar area isnt that big but upstairs has a lot of cute couches and stuff where you can chill w/​group of friends!

This place used to be one of finest wine bars around midtown area before it turned into HAVEN. I went there last saturday night which is also their Bollywood Fusion night.
For many NYers who are familiar with the bollywood club scene in NYC, this is owned by the same guy who used to own Kemia few years ago.
This place has ghetto ass banner outside advertising its bollywood night which takes away from a nice entry to a lounge. This place has many flaws and if I could give it zero stars I would. The first is structure of the bar. It is very narrow with no concept of a dance floor. As soon as you enter, you have to navigate your way through sweaty people to get to the bar on the main floor. The stairs are weirdly situated and the place gets packed. Service was non existent where I had to ask the waitress three times before I could get drinks on my table. There is a $ 40 minimum on the credit card (are you serious… who are you?). The hookah is really shitty with one guy running around making it. The guy takes cash only and pretends he has nothing to do with the waitress serving us on our table. If you want Hookah in the neighborhood, I would recommend Horus which just opened in Midtown East.
Overall all it was a bad experience. I didn’t get to taste the food here but I am glad I didn’t stick around for that. The music which is why many of my Indian brothers and sisters might come here is a JOKE. They are playing the same songs they used to play at Kemia 3 years ago… have you heard about updating your playlist?

This place is weird. Complete dive bar, with a over enthusiastic DJ and the brightest lasers ever placed into a 10×15 room.
The music is super-​trance and very loud for the size of the bar.
Only two positives: 1) drinks were strong and 2) bartenders were nice.

I have an interesting relationship to this place. A spot that doesn’t really totally fit my idea of cool, yet I found myself there in front of cameras making drinks for cute girls. Yes indeed, a scene from my illustrious reality tv career took place in this here humble establishment.
So sitting upstairs while the lights are being fitted and pointed at things downstairs, listening to people chatter, and patty in the other room go wild about something, I waiting for the moment of truth.
Later in front of the cameras, and flirting with my dates, we mix up a vodka tonic, or rum and coke. A mixologist mans the bar, and tries to guide us, but we end up getting the shaker stuck, and no one can pour anything except all over themselves.
I’ve also been to a few dance parties here. It has the air of a living room that wants to be fancier than it is. Does that make sense?

Are they advertising it as a dance club? Are you kidding me? It is at best a lounge /​pub with no existence of a dance floor, considering its small space. They fill in the place with as many people as they can so that every square inch of the floor is occupied. Forget dancing, there is no place even to move! Dont get me started with the DJ. I went there on a saturday night which was their BollyFusion event with DJ Manan Shah & DJ Menace playing. Their DJ-​ing was indeed a menace! ‘Mere khwabo me jo aaye’ after a ‘waka waka’!! At a bollyfusion party, a desi brass band can do better than them.
Looking at the place owners strategies, I would not recommend this place to anyone.

* Went here on a couple of Fridays to attend the Indian nights where they play Bollywood & latin music. It was packed with the desi crowd. Depends on your luck, your mood and other factors, the experience can be a hit or miss.
* They have hookahs! Hooray! but drinks are pricey at about 8 bucks a pint. Happy hour — 50% off.
* The upper floor has seating area and a cute balcony where you can smoke and drink and eat and chat, if dancing is not your cup of tea.

Both times I have been here, I was forced. Totally not my scene bc the music is too ethnic (Indian) for my taste. The place gets packed and on more than one ocasion the men got too touchy and of course you can’t turn around and curse them out bc by the time you turn around, there are so many ppl there that you don’t even know who to curse out, so I just moved arnd a lot.
THIS PLACE GETS VERY PACKED AND HOT. I find that if you aren’t into Indian music you won’t have a good time.

I went to Haven on a weeknight with a friend. We enjoyed their great happy hour specials — $ 5 wine, $ 4 beer and $ 5 well drinks. We both ordered the Cabernet and it was actually really good for a discounted special — I was pleasantly surprised. They also had great affordable bar snacks. We ordered sliders and the spinach dip. Both were pretty good, and definitely better than most bar food.
The decoration is nice — kind of dark, but nice and cozy. The chandeliers, couches, and decoration in general were very pretty. We sat at the bar and the bar tenders were very nice and attentive. They were quick to refill our glasses. They had a huge pitcher of sangria on the bar which a lot of people seemed to be ordering since it was part of the happy hour special — but to us, it looked kind of gross and it didn’t have fruit — sangria without fruit?!
There was a loud event that was taking place upstairs so it was a bit disappointing that I did not get to check out the upstairs. But that event ended relatively early and the bar was much quieter and nicer after that.
Also, I hear this place has hookahs — while I did not get to try it, i will be sure to try it the next time I go since I will definitely be going to Haven again!

I don’t remember much, so that means the drinks were strong and delicious! They are pricey ($ 14 for a Long Island) but I’m from Atlanta so I don’t know what’s standard and what’s not… there’s also a $ 40 credit card minimum and they take your ID when you start a tab… that’s REALLY weird to me. Especially when you only have two bathroom stalls for women.
Space is airy. Bartenders are friendly.
Music was on point for their Bhangra Night.

******************* THIS IS FOR HAPPY HOUR REVIEW*******************
Friday Night, YEY! Let’s go CRAZY!
Drinks are Strong and $ 5.00? (from 5 – 8 PM) HOLY COW!!!
Can’t go wrong with that. So I ordered a white sangria and the bartender just kept pouring alcohol to my cup!
Mini tapas looked good (didn’t order cause i was into the drinks).
Music was mixed of Hip Hop /​Reggaeton /​Spanish salsa, merengue) since my friend William C. and Leslie O. was Promoting the Happy hour that night.
After happy hour, I went to get ramen with my girls and then back for the after HH party (which was around 9:30) and the place got crowded. It was also a Bollyfusion and DJ was spinning a mix of Hip Hop (which my group requested) and some Indian music and it was interesting.
Then we ordered a Hookah (mango flavor) which cost $ 25.00 (Cash only and please include tip) since it’s a different staff. SO the HOOKAH arrived and compare to hookah places, this was the little TINY bottle HOOKAH but it was STRONG and GOOD!
ended up staying until 1 AM and took the train back home since it was 2 blocks away from the place. It’s a very convenient location if you are taking the public transportation.
PS… WEAR EARPLUGS because music is HELLA loud!, I ended up popping my ear the entire night!

Last Friday I stopped by William C.‘s INNER SANCTUM FRIDAYS for the first time.
The «Cheap drinks & pretty venue» caught my eye! So at 6:30pm hustled uptown after work.
Haven does not look like much from the outside but it was impressive inside; it must have been a house or restaurant in the past. I actually hesitated at the front door, walked back outside to double check the address. Yup, it is the right place.
As you enter Haven you step down into what appears to be a large comfortable hangout and dance floor with the DJ playing tunes. Across the floor and in the other room is an impressive bar with open ceiling into the second floor and two sets of stair leading to the upstairs. Obviously there is more space for entertaining guests.
I was a wallflower at the corner of the bar and did not realize that just 10 feet away were a group of Unilocalers; who know! I even ping Helena to see if people were upstairs.
it was dark and I did not recognize people. This is NYC so we didn’t jump in front of people’s faces and yell « Unilocal?» Finally one of the people came over and asked me if I was part of Unilocal.
(Note to self– study and memorize everyone’s profile pictures!).
Like William C. said, this place is very a pretty venue and drinks are cheap until 8pm.
Oh, it is 7:55pm; ANOTHER beer please!

This place has it all. I’ve been Deejaying every friday during the afterwork party «inner sanctum». This place has a friendly environment with an awesome look. A bit dark in lighting but I assure you it definitely sets a great mood. In addition to a great happy hour drink menu, services also include a tasty food menu and hookah. The music consist of a mix of Top 40, 80’s, 90’s, dance & Latin. Haven afterwork is bound to become the new hotspot for many.

This is a pretty cool spot to come to with a group of friends to kick back and have a few drinks and lounge after a long day at work or just to show out of town friends around in the city…
The décor of Haven is pleasent, kind of Indian style. Two floors and a balcony to chill and enjoy the atmosphere. Bar tenders are very attentive which is something that is kind of wary these days in NYC spots. Drinks aren’t overly expensive but at the same time not really cheap. But being that the locations is somewhat upper east side, that is not too much of a bad thing.
Two drawbacks I would say about this place is: for one it is EXTREMELY cold in here… like freezing cold. Went last night and it was an 75 – 80 degree night out… so even with the outside air coming in because the balcony is open, the air outside could not really be felt cause that AC was on full blast… I don’t even wanna imagine what its like during the winter. Other drawback is the $ 40 credit card minimum… I really dislike how lounges and clubs try to jerk ppl from using there cards to purchase drinks or making them spend more than they are willing with these unnecessary minimum fees. People are gonna drink regardless so I don’t see the point in these fees. Final draw back: This place only plays techno/​house music… did not hear one hip-​hop/​reggaeton/​even rock song the whole night which made it a lil uncomfortable but nonetheless still an okay spot to come after work or if you wanna take a date on a nice night out.

A friend of a friend opened up Haven, and I stopped by in March for a friend’s birthday party. I know people hate on Haven when it comes to happy hours and their drink prices, but I really enjoyed the venue.
The bar/​lounge isn’t large and is narrow, but fun times can still be had there. The back of first floor is a bar. In front of it is a lowered area with a DJ that can open up to become a small dancefloor. The DJ when I went was pretty good. Props to him for playing LMFAO’s «I’m in Miami Trick». The second floor has a lounge setup with a small outdoor deck for the smokers. Waitresses walk around to take your order, which is good b/​c the bar can get crowded.
If I were to plan a 200 person of less birthday party, I would consider throwing it at Haven.

Any place that welcomes you with a butch woman patting you down like a criminal before you walk in is a sure sign your night will go wrong in that place. And this is exactly what you’ll find at Haven. Went here for a birthday party on a Friday night before the lines started and in about five minutes after midnight, cops were inside the place like it was a prison ward! I jetted out of there as quickly as I can! I’ve never been in such a ghetto place in Manhattan before! WTF!
Also there’s a bald, short, black dude that walks around like he owns the place (maybe he is the owner) that was very disrespectful and was so easy to tell people «I WILL GET YOU KICKED OUT» if you even look at him in a wrong way. My friend was sitting by the bar and I guess he wanted to take away the chairs from the bar but he didn’t even ask my friend to get up from the chair, but he DEMANDED that she get her «ass out» of the chair or he will have her removed. What owner or even manager treats their customers that way! Another dealbreaker that made me and my group jet out of that place!

Went there for some after-​work drinks with a friend last week. Had read the reviews about the watered down drinks, but didn’t find that to be the case here.
The first bartender was prompt and courteous. She was friendly and helpful. The second bartender however wouldn’t lift his head from a separate conversation and then didn’t know what a Black and Soda was — (a fairly straightforward scotch and club soda), which irritated me to have to explain its ingredients given how long I had to wait for it.
Anyhoo, my buddy and I decided to have a seat and escape the bar’s crowded standing area, when the manager and owner came by separately to say hi. What a friendly place, I thought this was.
Well they must have thought I was a Michelin rater, because even the chef stopped by to chat and offer some suggestions. We had the chicken quesadillas, spicy shrimp and mac & cheese and they were seriously good. I mean gourmet bar food good.
Overall, I had a great time and would definitely go again. You can probably add another ¼ star to the rating if you enjoy mainstream hip-hop/R&B music.

Went here for happy hour w/​a friend. Considering that I live 2 blocks away I said why not. From their website and reviews I thought it would be a decent place to just hang out after a long day of work.
:disappointed:
The interior was super tacky. I felt like I was in some cheesy soap opera set w/​ugly colors and muggy feel. We decided to sit at the bar since it seemed like the best seating in the restaurant. The crowd was a mix of «blah» professionals and students. Place was quite empty compared to the other bars on 2^nd ave on a Thursday evening (BORING).
We ordered their nachos which were drenched in oil. GROSS. There were barely any happy hour drink deals (boo) and their vodka cranberries were weak-​sauce. I kept asking the bartender. «stronger stronger!» but I don’t think he understood me (barely spoke engrish) ‘cuz they were still weak-​sauce (boo!!!).
So if you want strong well-​made cocktails w/​yum appetizers and a chill ambiance. this place is SOOOO not the place to go. :)

Cute.
A little difficult to get to– but not too far from anything either. That being said there arent a lot of people and Im sure youll get served rather quickly.
Its a multi-​level lounge with great décor and a balcony. The second Floor overlooks the bar and tis rather cozy. I on the otherhand came in alone and wanted a little more o-​the old people watching. I would probably go back, nice place as far as Im concerned.

Decorated like a cross between a Victorian Brothel (lots of dim red lights and globes) and a Victorian Library, this place has a surpisingly chill vibe despite the displayed antlers.
Long bar, two levels and a bacony, cozy nooks to canoodle in and large tables for groups.