Brews You Can Use
by Keith Wagstaff
Amity Hall
80 W 3rd St.
Rating: 3 out of 5 L's
Of course, a bar is more than its booze. The atmosphere here is upscale Irish pub: Gently lit exposed brick, a warm fireplace, slick wooden accents, a friendly bartender with a subtle and charming Irish brogue. The crowd is a bit more grown-up than the frat pack that usually roams these parts. Think corporate casual, like the banker you know who has the Arcade Fire on his iPod next to U2 and Coldplay (which, come to think of it, describes the bar's soundtrack as well). It's all, in a word, inoffensive. If you couldn't care less about beer and you know who Carles is, consider this your seventh circle of hell, somewhere between a high school football game and a Jimmy Buffet concert. If you track IBUs and don't mind flat-screen TVs flickering in the background, this is a great alternative to the Bleecker Street bro-fest.
The mood changes depending on the time: flirtier during weekend DJ nights, high five happy during football Sunday. The pub grub is foodie friendly, consisting of hearty fare like gourmet stuffed burgers, Berkshire pulled pork sliders and a cheese plate from neighborhood staple Murray's. Like its sister bars The Half Pint and Stout, Amity Hall's handsome blandness plays to its advantage. For hophead hipsters and Blackberry businessmen alike, there is something to like and nothing to really hate about this place, which, sometimes, is all you really need in a bar.
