80s Cover Band and Cheap Eats on the UWS

I was up at the Columbus Day Street Fair today to see one of my favorite cover bands in the city - The Gilfords. Every other Saturday night they perform at the UWS staple Prohibition (with no cover), which features live music 7 days a week. They do an amazing job covering 80s songs, even throwing in some Beatles now and then, and they never cease to get the whole bar dancing and singing along. I highly recommend it for a fun Saturday night, and it’s a great place to bring out of town guests. However, they don’t have any drink specials on these nights so even a Bud Light will run you $6. And it gets packed, so be prepared to elbow your way through the crowds to get to the bar.

Moving on, we strolled through the street fair and as we were walking back to the subway station, a sign outside Malachy’s caught our eye - $4.75 for a burger, salad and fries. That may actually be cheaper than McDonald’s. My friend and I decided to try it out since they were also having their Sunday/Monday night wing special - $0.20 wings.

Upon entering we quickly realized that we were in a special place….one of the diviest (is that a word?) bar I’ve been to in a while. The ceiling lights were rose-colored bulbs giving it a seedy, 70s feel, and they couldn’t even afford chairs for all the tables - quite a few had folding chairs. The bar was filled pretty well for 5 pm on a Sunday, but the crowd was mostly regulars. Nonetheless, I liked it in its own way and the bartender was really nice and attentive.

We ordered 10 wings for a whopping $2.00 and the burger special. We were pretty disappointed in the wings. They were overly fried and lacked any good buffalo flavor. After two I stopped, it wasn’t worth it to try to finish the plate. The burger was about a quarter pounder and was pretty good. I mean, nothing special, but what would you expect? However, the fries were delicious and reminded me a lot of McDonald’s fries. The one thing we were confused about was the “salad.” Apparently they define “salad” as a pickle spear, but we weren’t about to pick an argument over a $5 meal.

With two diet Cokes (I know, we were wild on a Sunday), the wings and burger and fries deal, we racked up an $11.50 bill. There are classier bars and better food around, no doubt, but it was good enough for what we wanted and we were happy to only be out a few dollars each. If you’re in the area and looking for a quick and cheap bite to eat, check it out. Just don’t venture into the bathroom.