St. Pat’s at Zabloski’s in Williamsburg

Wary of the usual Midtown madhouse that is St. Patrick’s Day, we hopped the L to Williamsburg and landed at my N. 6th go-to Zablozki’s. A favorite of mine for its no-frills, high-ceilinged, open interior and $3 Yuengling drafts at happy hour.

As it turns out the Yuengling is four bucks now, but on this day, so were a bunch of Irish tasties like Smithwick’s and Guinness, so this softened the blow. PBRs were also two bucks a pop. The three of us grabbed our seats at got to the gettin’. The bartender was indifferent but friendly and seemed to appreciate our smiling faces and dollar bills. She was mindful of our empty pints and a second round followed in short order. Tips in cash on the bar – the “rules” were being followed.


Paddy Saint’s day in hipster town? A buyback blessing or a curse? More after the jump…

Gearing up for round thr—EMPANADA, EMPANADA! What’s that? A mustachioed “hey gringo” selling beef empanadas out of a duffel bag? We MUST have these. As the only one fluent in broken Spanish I talk him down from 3 for $5 to 2 for $3, saving us a whopping sixteen cents per empanada (get 2 drinks in me on an empty stomach and I will negotiate you a more than favorable divorce settlement, I’m that good).

Round three is served – this seems to be going well. We milk our phantom rapport for all its worth and coax an OK from the bartender to bring in outside food (this may have been a bad idea for several reasons…)

We send the youngest in our party on a food run to the Lovin’ Cup a few doors down, knowing that said food run would yield tater tots. And tots he did bring! But somehow he managed to order $45 (yes, really) worth of other slop that even KFC wouldn’t serve on its worst day

By this time, several new (notably – angry, male) faces begin appearing behind the bar. We get nervous that we’ll get lost in the mix – with our drink history wiped clean. Our fears are temporarily assuaged when we observe a free shots and Guinnesses passed to a couple of cohorts who can only be described as Blind Melon-esque (lead singer, not bee costume), only less dead.


“This one’s on me” says the bartender with an air of familiarity that could suggest these are regulars or friends of the house.

Confident that this deal is sealed – we order our fourth round.

“Sorry, guys, shift change. He can help you in a minute.” And like that she was gone.
Was it the outside food? The oppressive male co-bartender influence? Was our hair too short? Who can say...but our conclusion is that buybacks at Zablozki’s are REGULARS ONLY. In other words: BUYBACK, FAIL.