The Return of New York's Beer Gardens

For some of the best European beer selections in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, check out these six spots.

By Denise Shoukas

“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy,” Benjamin Franklin once said—and the recent resurgence of beer gardens in New York is proving him correct. For decades at the beginning of the last century, popular beer halls dotted Manhattan and its surrounding boroughs, providing community meeting spots for waves of Eastern European immigrants. That trend is back and growing with more new openings reported regularly. The following six beer gardens—ranging from an upscale Lower East Side spot with a northern German bent to a mammoth outdoor space in Long Island City—are inviting spots to find delicious imported beer and top-notch food.

BOHEMIAN HALL & BEER GARDEN

Astoria, Queens
This 100-year-old Queens beer hall remains a gathering spot for a new generation of New Yorkers.

The borough of Queens is home to the oldest beer garden in New York. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden remains a magnet for beer-loving, laid-back revelers, ranging from Mohawk-wearing hipsters to older gentleman gathering for an afternoon card game.

Built in 1910 by the Bohemian Citizens’ Benevolent Society of Astoria, a fraternal organization dedicated to preserving the region’s Czech and Slovak communities, this beer hall initially was constructed as a meeting place for ex-pats. Ironically, the space was finished just as Prohibition began, but the hall has clearly stood the test of time. It has a no-frills, welcoming interior space with a wooden bar and booths, while the large outdoor space is filled with umbrella-shaded picnic tables that seat six each, and a central stage with a large screen TV, where live music or movies happen each month. Although the space officially seats 800, more people file in during the big events, including Czech & Slovak festivals and costume balls.

A variety of Czech and Austrian beers are on tap, including Czechvar and Golden Pheasant with prices ranging from $5 for a half-liter mug to $15 for a pitcher. Traditional Czech dishes keep visitors satisfied, including starters like Anglická Slanina (double smoked bacon served cold with crunchy pickles) and Utopenec (marinated spicy knockwurst sausage served cold) to entrees such as Oven Roasted Veprová (pork loin served with sauerkraut and bread dumplings), and Halusky with Brynza (homemade potato pasta with traditional Slovak cheese made from sheep milk). Alternatively, many visitors choose to enjoy simpler fare from the outdoor grill. The enormous wooden doors in the outdoor space and the simple architecture are a reminder of the beer hall’s history, while the hum of up to 800 people enjoying themselves makes it easy to believe that Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden will be here a century from now. The garden, which is open seven days a week, stays open until 3 a.m. on weekends.

HALLO BERLIN FOOD, WINE & GARDEN BEER HALL

Midtown Manhattan
What began in the 1980s as a cart selling German sausages in Greenwich Village is now a multi-location mainstay for hearty German soul food. With a motto like “New York’s Wurst Restaurants”, visitors know they’re in for a good time.

At the flagship restaurant and beer garden on Tenth Avenue, patrons can get a fix of German beer and satisfying food, including currrywurst, pork sausage cut into slices and seasoned with curry sauce. There are at least seven imported German draft beers, including Radeberger Pils and Munich Lager, offered in mugs, steins, humpens or big pitchers, $5 to $17, respectively. There is also an interesting selection of imported and specialty beers such as Kölsch and Bitburger Pils that range in price from $5.50 to $10.

As with all authentic beer gardens, customers can get a jumbo German pretzel with mustard or butter or fill up on specialties from bratwurst and grilled knockwurst to Bavarian meatballs and hoyerswerdaer schnitzel. The owner, Rolf Babiel, passed away in 2009, but his family continues to run the restaurants in his honor.

LORELEY RESTAURANT & BIERGARTEN

Lower East Side
A bit of Cologne’s classic Brauhaus on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Loreley Restaurant & Biergarten is an authentic Northern German beer garden that takes its food as seriously as its beer. Owner Michael Momm, a professional musician, DJ, and music producer who grew up in Cologne, created the space seven years ago as a homage to his upbringing in northern Germany, where the Brauhaus is a way of life. 

Situated in Manhattan’s trendy Lower East Side, Loreley, named for the siren who sits on a rock high over the Rhine River and lures mariners to their death, isn’t a raucous beer hall, but rather a lovely spot to spend time with friends and family—though it can get very noisy when the crowds arrive on the weekends. Warm exposed brick, large wooden tables and a festive outdoor garden area with communal seating attract a diverse crowd of New Yorkers mixed with many German couples and families, as well as Europeans looking for a place that feels like home. Five flat screen TVs broadcast sporting events; big competitions like the World Cup warrant big-screen projections.     

Loreley considers itself a restaurant first, and serves elegant comfort food from an ever-changing menu. Interesting starters include currywurst, bratwurst with curry/tomato sauce served with French fries and fresh liverwurst on German rye bread with pickles. For a full meal, the refined entrees include potato pancakes with smoked salmon or with applesauce and lingonberries, beef roast marinated in vinegar and spices, potato dumplings, braised red cabbage and Wiener Schnitzel. A menu favorite are the soft pretzels, made fresh everyday on-site. The food is complemented by a seasonal selection of 12 German beers on tap, like Spaten Ur-Märzen ($6 to $16), and a constant supply of Cologne’s favorite brew, Kolsch, which is served in traditional narrow glasses that fit into the circular tray, or kransz, ($30). There’s a large space downstairs, perfect for private parties.

RADEGAST HALL & BIERGARTEN

Williamsburg, Brooklyn
As customers approach Radegast Hall & Biergarten, the authentic beer garden facade hints at the warm and trendy Austro-Hungarian beer hall that awaits them inside. Owners Ivan Kohut and Andy Ivanov, born in Slovakia, transformed two empty warehouses in a hip section of Brooklyn into an inviting space in 2007. With its subdued lighting, open-beamed high ceilings and wooden booths and bar, the inside space is easy to hang out in for hours. The brick-walled beer garden is filled with long, wooden tables, natural light and has a retractable roof and infrared heating, which means inclement weather is never a problem. Patrons are keen on the live music events or on simply gathering to watch the World Cup, accompanied by pitchers of beer.

Inspired by a 1890s-style beer garden, Radegast serves 13 drafts on tap, most with a Central and Eastern European bent, and served by the half-liter, liter or pitcher ($7 to $18, respectively), and 45 bottled beers ($7 to $12). Selections include Gosser and Hacker-Pschorr Maibock on tap and Eggenburger Urbock and Spaten Optimator in bottles. And the food matches the quality of the imported beer. The chef, Joanna Ivanov, the wife of one of the owners, prepares a variety of specialties from the kitchen that range from veal schnitzel with German potato salad and sour pickles to baked palacinki (blintzes) stuffed with spinach and shallots, topped with Manchego cheese. The grill emanates the wonderful aromas of grilled items, from Polish kielbasa to Black Angus burgers. Also on offer, warm Bavarian pretzels with homemade spicy mustard, sea salt and small pickles. Each weeknight, Radegast pairs an entrée with a beer that complements the dish, as well as a beer and dessert pairing. No reservations are accepted but it’s not a hardship to drink a beer at the bar while you wait. Radegast has become so popular that the owners are expanding around the corner this spring, adding a 2,200-square-foot space designed primarily for large parties.

STUDIO SQUARE (S2)

Long Island City, Queens
Studio Square, or S2, a 30,000-square-foot beer garden designed by four Queens locals, debuted in 2009 in Long Island City, Queens. When full, the vibe can be more like a club than a beer garden, but with enough indoor and outdoor space to seat 1,000 at a time. S2 offers a great selection of 15 imported, domestic and craft beers on tap, such as Ommegang Rare Vos to Abita Purple Haze, ranging in price from $7 for a half-liter to $18 for a pitcher as well as taps for vodka and Studio Square’s own sangria. The space has numerous bars to alleviate waits and picnic tables are available in the vast cobblestone courtyard.

Customers can stand around a fire pit for warmth or grab a stool on the covered patio area that hosts large-screen TVs for sports-watching. A separate indoor area has beautiful wooden tables and its own bar. The grill, set up in a concession-style manner, offers fare such as hamburgers and portobello mushroom “burgers” plus Schaller & Weber hotdogs, bratwurst and chicken souvlaki.

ZUM SCHNEIDER RESTAURANT & BIERGARTEN

East Village
Opened in 2000, Zum Schneider transports patrons to a Bavarian beer hall in Germany with its boisterous, joyous atmosphere. The ceiling is a sea of fake tree branches that give the illusion of a German countryside. Customers sit back with a large stein of one of the 12 German beers on tap, including Schneider Weisse, with prices ranging from $4 to $14, or ten specialty bottled beers such as Weihenstephaner Vitus Weizenbock, with prices ranging from $5 to $8. They can peruse the seasonal Bavarian-German menu, which includes weiner schnitzel and Wammerl, smoked pork belly cooked in sauerkraut. Even the vegetarians among the guests will feel at home with items like schwammerlragout, a bread dumpling in a creamy mushroom sauce.

There’s often a celebration happening at Zum Schneider, whether it’s live music, the World Cup or Oktoberfest. During warmer months, Zum Schneider hosts pig roasts right on the sidewalk near the outdoor seating, which is in front of the hall rather than out back. Zum Schneider also has one requirement: When toasting, customers must look each other in the eye when clicking glasses. Consequence if you don’t—a seven-year dry spell. Prost!—Denise Shoukas

Denise Shoukas is a regular foodspring.com contributor and is the author of foodspring’s food forager blog. Read more about Denise's Beer Garden experience in her blog post "A Beer Garden Clost to My Heart."