Formerly the Avenue B Social Club, this East Village space is now Manitoba's, a good place to have a drink with friends and reminisce about the glory days of rock n' roll. There is a stage in back, where you can see rising young bands play for free. At other times, the jukebox jumps and the crowd mellows to the scene. All you punk fans out there take note; the bar is owned by Dick Manitoba, front man of the seminal punk band the Dictators. The Dictators are still going strong and are touring in Europe.

Suggest edits

BIRDEYE FOR BUSINESSES

This profile is powered by Birdeye. Over 90,000 businesses use Birdeye everyday to get more reviews and manage all customer feedback. Birdeye helps millions of local businesses to be found online with all their reviews and accurate business information. Learn more about Birdeye

4.5

★★

201 reviews

5★128

4★37

3★12

2★5

1★3

16 reviews have no rating

Reviews(18)

Google Reviews(183)

Sort By:

Featured

keller on Insider Pages

4 months ago

Killer bar! Owned and operated by The Dictator's own Handsome Dick Manitoba, this bar kicks ass. The walls are covered with framed photos of those who made up the New York punk scene in the 70's, the beer is reasonably priced, the bar staff are on top of things and if you feel like playing pool you can head downstairs. Overall a good drinking atmosphere.

pepelapeu on Citysearch

12 years ago

The Truth – Manitoba's is the real deal. Handsome Dick Manitoba made sure to maintain an authentic, no-nonsense East Village bar when he decided to open this place. Great bartenders (Chris is the best), good drinks, air-hockey and one of the best jukeboxes in the city.

rockerchick on Citysearch

13 years ago

Great Bar for Punk and Garage Music Lovers – Love this bar. My partner and I go there often just to hang out and have a few drinks and play music. Very cool, mature, low key, non pretentious crowd. Great atmosphere, cheap drinks and many cool pics on the walls. Most of the bars in this area are too trendy with over priced drinks, and the crowd is mostly made up of arrogant, young, annoying, snobby hipster types. At Manitobas, the crowd is all ages and the people are cool, "real", friendly people just out to have fun and socialize. Plus, Handsome Dick Manitoba is not bad on the eyes either, lol.

Featured content

Net Promoter Score Explained

SEO for small business 2021 - Online reviews are the latest strategy

lilreddy on Yellow Pages

★★

13 years ago

It doesn't get better than this place! Best bartenders, music, booze, and people!!!! Stop by during happy hour and browse the amazing photos on the walls, meet some unique regulars with amazing stories, and get to know the fantastic bartenders. If you're really lucky you might just get to meet Handsome Manitoba himself!!! The prices are cheap enough you'll have cash to spare on the games, jukebox, or even a sandwich from across the street.

keller m. on Insider Pages

★★

15 years ago

barman99 on Citysearch

15 years ago

OK Gin Mill – Manitobas is an ok,no frills gin mill.Some cool photos of old time punk rockers and a pretty good juke.Only thing is I was there at like,midnight on a friday and the place was almost empty.Probably a good spot to meet up with friends before heading for someplace more jumpin'.

jflow007 on Citysearch

16 years ago

real deal – best bar in the east village. good bartenders,good drinks. nothing fancy shamancy, but who needs it? I don't know what the person that wrote the bad review is talking about. the place doe not smell anyworse then half the trendy little overpriced bars in the village. People here are friendly, its defiently NOT yuppie, and if you've seen the jukebox you have no room to complain.

sg3000 on Citysearch

16 years ago

Laid-Back – Let me start with a story: A few months ago, I was waiting on line at 7B for the bathroom, but it was taking forever. I think someone was either dying or screwing in there. Anyway, I needed to go, I skipped across the street to Manitoba's. Their bathroom was lineless, and I did my business and walked out. My friend and I noted, however, that some good music was playing. We left. Flash forward to this past Friday night. I was on my way to 7B again to play photohunt, and I had to use the facilities before I got there. I remembered the bad bathroom conditions at 7B, and the good bathroom conditions at Manitoba's, so I stopped in there first to use it. Yet again, a really good song was playing. My friend and I stayed for a beer and then noticed that Manitoba's, too, has photohunt (the bar computer game). Not only that, I checked out the jukebox and the awesome bartender had loaded it with money so that customers could go through it and pick some songs. I put on 7 songs, including Joan Jett's "Bad Repulation." When it came on, the bartender showed me a glossy photo of her that he had autographed and lemented that he couldn't find the right spot to put it. We gave each other 5. Well, anyway, Manitoba's is my favorite spot to have a beer, play Photohunt, listen to A+ punk rock, and use the bathroom. Highly recommended.

jumpinjeremy on Citysearch

16 years ago

This place is burned out. All the hip locals and musicians cleared out long ago.Now it's strictly for weekend yuppies rockers,sports bar types and tourists.The reviewer whose favorite feature was the "free air hockey' says it all. It's also a very "boys only' vibe and females avoid this bar.The fact that the place smells so bad doesn't help.The bartender told me the bathrooms are actually vented into the bar instead of outside ! That explains why the place smelled like doo-doo!

Get more reviews. Get more customers.

Get more reviews from your customers with Birdeye. Dominate search results. Beat local competitors. Grow your business. Easy, done.

GET MORE REVIEWS BOOK A TIME