Brooklyn Drinks: MiniBar

You’d think a place called MiniBar in Carroll Gardens would have an inferiority complex. It even stares across the street at Frankies 457 Spuntino, a much more serious eatery and wine bar, with a very high reputation. But it doesn’t seem to care.

Because of its size, or lack thereof, Minibar skips on the usual Brooklyn bar accessories. They have no bar games, pool table, jukebox, TV, or back garden. And that’s okay with us. Sometimes all the extraneous accessories can hide why you’re really there. With over thirty wines by the glass, a smart collection of bottled beer, and a very decent amount of Bourbon, it’s the kind of bar for late nights when you need to impress. The warmly lit, brick-lined room, moves everyone that much closer together, and can be downright seductive.

For the happy hour crowd, it’s a different story. With no food and nothing really to do except to pull up to the bar and drink, it’s for serious people in need of a little hole to crawl into. The drinks are good - we settled on the Jamaican Dragonfly - but without the hum of crowd something feels a little off. They don’t have any happy hour specials, and after awhile it can feel stuffy. Or maybe we just needed another drink.

And actually, it really isn’t that small. By Brooklyn standards it may be on the smaller side, but by downtown Manhattan standards, it feels like one of those beautiful retreats where drinking is still the main priority.

MiniBar
482 Court Street
Between 4th and Luquer Streets
(718) 569-2321