The Leadbelly

Love this place, it has become my regular spot. Carmine the GM is great, always accommodating. The cocktails are great. They have my favorite wine beaujolias– which is very rare. The ambiance is beautiful, great looking crowd. I love when they have live bands playing and also oldies.

I met up with some friends after work before we headed to a concert. I tried the oysters, the grilled cheese, the truffle fries, and had a whiskey ginger to drink. The food was absolutely delicious and the drinks were really good. The place is somewhat spacious for New York so small-​medium sized groups can be seated here. The décor is cozy with suitcases packed in a shelf and vinyls against the wall. The waiters were attentive. Cozy place to meet up with friends or a date.

Some mistakes stick with you for a long time. My mistake was that I missed the happy hour special. Luckily, this is an easily remedied regret.
Ended up coming here for some cocktails with friends. Like others have mentioned, they make a mean whiskey ginger. Cocktail prices range from reasonable to above average, but you can watch the bartenders, so you know they actually put care into it (also why it takes a while for the drinks to come out).
The place is actually very long, with a front room and a back. The back definitely looked much cooler, though we just had a half booth by the entrance.
Wanted to try the oysters which I’ve heard a lot about, but it wasn’t happy hour anymore, and I’m not made of money (yet).

Cute intimate bar. Complimentary truffle popcorn. Drinks were fine, servers were fine, Kusshi oysters were the best!

We didn’t have a reservation and I was afraid we wouldn’t even make it in the door but the bouncer steered us towards a teeny table in a really awkward location. Oh well, lesson learned — always make a resy. Despite this, and the fact that we were far from the awesome jazz band playing, I still loved the Leadbelly. If we had been seated farther inside it might even have been 5 stars. In any case, this is an awesome spot to hang out and have a few cocktails (definitely more of a bar than a restaurant, though they do serve part of the Fat Radish menu, owned by the same people). Learn from me and make a reservation so you can sit close to the live music — hard to beat that. Drinks-​wise, my boyfriend had a gin gimlet, and I went with one of their cocktails, a spicy margarita which was okay. Next time I might try a gimlet or something more classic, but I’ll definitely return.

Fun vibe. Horrible service. Ok food. Staff seemed totally unaware of what was happening around them. Asked for a glass of wine and waiter brought the bottle over, except he had just picked up my wine glass. Our food took forever to arrive, when a friend asked what was going on, they said it was across the street. (We knew the sister restaurant was there but if you didn’t that would be weird) Another friend asked if a drink was sweet, was told no, and it tasted like Kool-​Aid. To top it off, we initially ordered two hamburgers for the four of us and they only brought one.

Bad food and way overpriced. Do not recommend. We got three salads and the burger and they were not good. None of them. We were all surprised how salads could be so ruined … And a burger!

d-​bags. I live in the hood and came in with 3 guys. I walked in and my friends were told it was a private party, though I was inside and all cool. Doorman was busy dicking around and flirting with some chick outside. I saw my friends waiting on the sudden door policy and walked back out and he was all private party, no place to sit and gestured in. There was a whole section, bar was half full. Door guy decided it was reserved. I don’t pay that crap.
We left to go to our regular bar — Clandestino. Should have gone there to begin with but were willing to drop more cash here. Won’t go back, not to Fat Radish either even though we have dropped good cash prior over time. Enough bars and restaurants an the Lower – LES to spend my cash.
I live here and know my options, I don’t need this BS.

Good food and cocktails. Shhh. Don’t tell anyone else though.

Great décor, very average food and drinks. This part of «Chinatown» remains one of my favorite parts of the city and have been waiting to try this place out. The highlight was certainly the duck fat fries which were 6 huge steak fries with delicious sauce. Everything else was definetley good but nothing I would come back for. If you don’t want to wait 2 hours at mission Chinese and looking for something else in the area then check it out

Disclaimer– we were there 5pm to 8pm. Not exactly prime fun time.
Place was entirely empty so was severly lacking in atmosphere. Drinks were ok as were staff. Food was really tasty; fries, asparagus, oysters & scotch egg.
Will defo come back at a more socialable hour to see what all the fuss is about.

cucumber julep
very cute oyster bar with tasty drinks.
soft lighting and cute décor details.
definitely an easy place to mingle for hh
or get a bite and drinks before heading elsewhere.

The oysters are delicious. The bartenders are very good at what they do. The cocktails– I wish were a little bit stronger :) but they are very tasty!
Great atmosphere and lighting too!

I love this place! My date, and I stumbled upon this place on Valentine’s Day, and I am so glad I spotted it. The ambience is very dark, and jazzy. Dim candlelit lighting which I thought was very romantic. The Staff is extremely funny, and kind. They make you feel welcome.
We sat at the bar, and started off with a couple of drinks. My date ordered some beers, and I started with a glass of Chardonnay, and two or three Smoke Signal drinks (Orange drink with salt on the rim of the glass) let me start off by saying the Smoke Signal cocktail is the best cocktail I’ve ever had in my life!!! So Delicious with the perfect amount of smokiness, a slight sweet flavor hits your palate, and the salt on the glass balances the sweet, smokiness perfectly. Take it easy on this drink! It will definitely have you feeling nice & tipsy. I can’t wait to go back just for my smoke signal cocktail.
The Bartender is so cool, down to earth, and very skilled in making cocktails. He knows his stuff; therefore you will not be disappointed. You get a small bowl of complimentary popcorn. Even the popcorn was delicious. The only reason why I didn’t give 5 stars is because the food selection is limited, the hostess at the front informed us about their sister restaurant directly across the street «Fat Radish» for more food options. He also recommended the crab gratin which I did order, and man was it delish! He was super sweet! Such a Beautiful person inside & out.
Thanks for the friendly environment & great drinks! I will be back!

Lead belly is an awesomely cute place on the LES and Chinatown border. A group of friends and I went for the happy hour special. Since it was a Saturday, it was one of very few places that had $ 1 oysters and drink specials. The place had just opened for the evening so it was relatively empty when we first arrived. It began to become more crowded as we were leaving.
The lighting was nice upon entering. The décor earthy and the music was at a good level to have a nice conversation.
The waiter had already set a few of our friends up and he approached us to tell us the specials for the evening. We ordered a few different appetizers and everyone was pleased with the choices.
–The Scotch egg
–Truffle fries
–Bacon wrapped Brussel sprouts
The menu isn’t huge. Perhaps because the oysters are the real star of the show. We ordered about 4 dozen and they were fresh and very good. One order appeared to have smaller oysters that were a bit sweeter.
The wait staff was attentive and friendly the entire time.
We will definitely be back for another happy hour!

I was so happy we stopped in here. We were waiting for a table at the Fat Radish (see review) and stopped by to have a glass of wine and oysters. Even though we’re are familiar with freshwater oysters in Florida, Jimmy and I had never gone to an oyster bar that had so many different selections.
Carmine was are server and he was just awesome. We were only there for a short time but he was so knowledgeable and attentive. We ordered a dozen oysters and a glass of wine. It was such a great start to the evening.
The atmosphere was so quaint. Had a nautical theme and low lights. Snuggling up to my fiancé on the lower bar seats was nice. Highly recommend going!

It’s a 4 on weekday nights (and for oyster happy hour), and a 2 on the weekends. I used to live across the street and took numerous friends, fellow Unilocalers, and the occasional date here over the years but I never really felt like making it a super-​regular spot.
Great cocktails (the Happy Hour special is highly recommended) and a pretty good wine and beer selection. Most of the food is good to share with a group, especially the oysters (just get a dozen, 6 is never enough). I liked the avocado toast and truffle ‘fries’ (they’re more like truffle oil-​drizzled potato wedges), as well as the Scotch egg. The peeky toe crab was also fun, but I don’t always go with crab eaters. They’re now serving the fat Radish burger, but for $ 19, you’re probably better off with just oysters.
It looks like they’re no longer doing trivia, which is great because it wasn’t a good trivia experience. It’s too narrow of a bar with difficult seating (small tables and stools) and some of the other teams were cheating (and also found themselves uproariously funny). It’s filled with similar clientele late nights on the weekends, so I recommend showing up early for happy hour then peacing out.

My friend and I came here on Wednesday night for a casual dinner. I walk by this place all the time and have been meaning to try it and I am happy I did.
The Pros: $ 1 oyster Happy Hour, service was fantastic, good music, good drink selection. Scotch Egg was also delightful.
The Cons: Tiny tables (I’m a tiny girl but these tables are seriously small even as a single-​seater), woobly chairs, a little too dimly-​light.
Overall wonderful dinner and food. I would stop by again but opt for the more spacious bar, unless I want to eat on top of my friend again

I came here with a friend of mine on a Thursday night during their happy hour in order to have some of their oysters before we were heading to dinner in the neighborhood. We had seen this place after dining at the Icelandic joint Skal nearby. It is located across the street from the Fat Radish and shares a kitchen (I think) for their hot food.
Their happy hour oysters were Barcat and Malpeque (both east coast) that night which means $ 1 each. A great deal. We split a dozen of the HH oysters and had one each of their other offerings (that night’s selection consisted of: Ninigret, Montauk, Shigoku and Kusshi).
We sat at the bar (though I don’t think you have to in order to take advantage of the HH deal) and had a couple of glasses of wine with our oysters. Our oysters came out within 15 minutes of ordering them, which was perfect. In the meantime, while we were sipping our wine, they had freshly popped popcorn for us as a free bar snack. I love that!
The space itself is very nautical in its theme. With weathered white painted wooden walls and white washed cement covered brick. My friend and I loved their bathroom set up, too. Just a neat space. I definitely want to go back another time to try some of their other food, and of course for more oysters.

I came here for oysters and I was not disappointed. They were fresh and served with cocktail sauce and vinegar. We asked for a side of horseradish and they gladly gave us some.
I haven’t tried anything else here, but I’ll definitely try it the next time I come!