Trackside Bar & Grill at 61 New Dorp Plaza North, Staten Island, New York.

Came to this spot looking forward to it.

Reviews were stellar, location was convienent, right off the SIRR New Dorp station. Was first planning on going with my girl, but was in the neighborhood and had some time to kill- so i gave it a shot.

First impression was it used to be some sort of .99 cent store that had had a pop up bar thrown inside.
but would never let first impressions cloud my judgement.

a couple of older gentleman initially seemed very welcoming.and laughingly invited me in, holding the door as i came in. They were definitely frequent visitors and were enjoying their time there, on first glance most of the people seemed to be from a similar time, and all seemed to know each other, including the bar staff.

But this is part of the bar scene anywhere,
so not knowing anyone and not being familiar with the place, sat at the only available seat at the end of the bar-hoping for the best-many times in bars in the city, random conversations will be struck up with total strangers who you may never see again. Didnt feel that vibe here.

The bartender asked my order, asked if they had any IPA, shook his head and said they had none on tap or bottles- only miller lite, bud, bud light, coors, sam adams and maybe and one more like guinness or stella on draft, similar in bottles.

with this selection, i picked sam, bartender poured a glass and said $5, typical price, gave him a 20, he gives me back 13, first sign

After this the Frank Sinatra started playing,and the staten island vibe really came through.with a crew of bikers stopping in.second sign

at that point i knew not to come here again and was glad i checked it out before showing up for a date.

like i said i had high hopes to have a cool local bar with good food and fun times like most of the glowing reviews state, but its obvious where a majority of them came from, and it might be that for some people, but makes me realize why id much rather go to a spot in the city thats a little more chill

no disrespect