The Haunt

I would have given this a higher review, but the staff is rude. I have been to the Haunt for various occasions: many crush parties and a low key acoustic concert. At all of these time, the staff were being rude. Its annoying and makes me not want to go back.

Came to The Haunt to see James McMurtry - anyplace in NY that will book him is a place I'd go to again.  Ample parking is available, albeit hard to figure out when a show draws a big crowd (don't park in the bus lot).  The layout inside lends itself to a good viewing experience.  Bar service was slow and the locals crowd a bit too much at times.  But all in all it's what you'd expect for a hole in the wall bar.  Did not try the food - it smelled good though.

I went to the Haunt again last night with a group of girlfriends for karaoke night. The crowd was fantastic--a really colorful selection of students and townies alike (it's universal--everyone loves a good karaoke night!)--but the overall experience was not good enough to make me want to go back again. I get that it's called "The Haunt," but I'm always baffled by the decor of this place...it's like it's trying to exude some southern charm with the fake window boxes and ivy climbing up the walls, but the wrought iron fence and gravestones and skeletons over the bar just gives the impression that the clearance rack at a Halloween superstore threw up all over the place. Not to mention that everything is clearly covered in an inch of dust.

The BBQ can be hit or (usually) miss. Of the four times I've been there, three have been a miss. Wednesdays happen to be wing night as well as karaoke night, so we all shared a few different flavors of the smoked wings (meh), sweet potato fries (average), and nachos (disgustingly soggy). Someone later tried to order ribs and the waitress (apparently there is only one for the whole place, so you might as well order two beers at a time) mentioned that they were out, because Thursdays are their smoking days. So...does that mean that the wings we were eating had been smoked a week ago? Hmm. Maybe that would explain why they weren't that stellar.