Happy hour in Greenpoint: where to go, what to order
Happy hour in Greenpoint runs at MADRE, a contemporary restaurant at 214 Franklin Street recognized by the MICHELIN Guide, on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 5:30pm to 7pm and all day Sunday. The bar pours oysters, cocktails, draft beer and rosé, and you can walk in without a reservation. The Sunday window is the one worth planning around, because it runs the length of the day rather than ninety minutes.
Where to find happy hour in Greenpoint
Franklin Street is where most of the neighborhood’s evening drinking happens, and MADRE sits on it at the base of the Franklin Guesthouse, a few blocks from McCarren Park. That location matters more than it sounds. A happy hour you have to travel to is a plan. A happy hour you pass on the way home is a habit.
What separates happy hour here from a neighborhood bar is that the same kitchen the MICHELIN Guide recognized is the one sending out food to the bar. You are not choosing between good drinks and good food at a lower price. The bar menu comes from the same pass as dinner.
If you are still working out the wider neighborhood, our guide to restaurants in Greenpoint, Brooklyn covers where to eat on and around Franklin Street.
When happy hour runs at MADRE
There are two windows, and they behave differently.
Wednesday and Thursday, 5:30pm to 7pm. The classic after-work slot. It opens the moment dinner service starts, so the room is quiet at 5:30 and filling by 6:30. If you want a seat at the bar without waiting, come early in that window.
All day Sunday. This is the unusual one. Happy hour runs the entire day, which means it overlaps brunch service from 11am to 4pm and carries straight through the evening. A Sunday that starts with Greenpoint brunch can slide into oysters and a drink at the bar with no gap in between.
The restaurant is closed Monday and Tuesday, so the week’s drinking starts Wednesday. Worth knowing before you walk over.
Oysters at happy hour
East Coast oysters are the anchor of the bar menu, and they are the reason to sit at the bar rather than a table. Oysters are a food that rewards being close to the person shucking them. They arrive faster, colder, and in the order you want them.
Order them first, before anything else, and order more than you think. The mistake people make with an oyster happy hour is treating half a dozen as a decision rather than an opening. If you are two people, a dozen is the right start.
If you want something warm alongside them, papas bravas and cornbread madeleines with whipped honey butter both hold up next to a cold plate. The full MADRE menu shows what the kitchen is running this season, and it changes, so treat any dish as an example rather than a fixture.
What to drink
The happy hour list is short on purpose. A sangria built on red wine with grapefruit and strawberry, a gin drink with vermouth, suze and st. germain, and a martini made with sherry and the house mignonette, which is the same mignonette that goes on the oysters. That last one is the drink to order if you only order one. It is a bar making a joke about its own oyster program and then executing it properly.
On tap there is a rotating Kings County Brewers Collective draft out of Bushwick, and a draft rosé. The rotating draft is worth asking about rather than defaulting past. KCBC changes what it sends over, so the beer on Wednesday is not always the beer on Sunday, and the bartender will tell you what came in.
If you would rather skip the alcohol, the full non-alcoholic list stays available. It is built on Seedlip rather than assembled from juice, and drinks like the Golden Snitch and the Limonada Verde are made with the same attention as anything with gin in it. Ask for it by name at the bar.
Sunday happy hour, and why it is the one to plan around
Most happy hours ask you to arrive inside a narrow window on a weekday, which means leaving work early or missing it. An all-day Sunday changes the shape of the thing entirely.
It means you can come at 1pm with a newspaper, or at 4pm as the brunch crowd thins, or at 7pm when it feels like dinner. It means a group that cannot agree on a time can agree on a day. And it means the slowest, least-scheduled day of the week is the one with the best pricing, which is close to the opposite of how most restaurants run it.
Practically, Sunday is also the easiest day to get a seat at the bar. The Wednesday and Thursday windows compress everyone into ninety minutes. Sunday spreads them across nine hours.
Sunday also sits well inside a day spent in the neighborhood. McCarren Park is a short walk, the Greenpoint waterfront and the East River ferry are the other direction, and Franklin Street runs between them. A long walk and a seat at the bar afterward is a better use of a Sunday afternoon than either one alone.
Walking in versus booking
MADRE takes walk-ins at the bar and at tables, so happy hour does not require a reservation. Walk up, sit down, order.
That said, the bar is not enormous, and Wednesday and Thursday between 6pm and 7pm is the busiest it gets. If you are two people, walking in is fine. If you are four or more, or you want a table rather than bar seats, book through Resy and you will not spend the first twenty minutes standing.
For a larger group, the restaurant hosts private dining and buy-outs for up to 50 guests, and the events page is where to start that conversation.
Frequently asked questions
When is happy hour at MADRE in Greenpoint?
Happy hour runs Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30pm to 7pm, and all day Sunday. MADRE is closed Monday and Tuesday.
Does MADRE have an oyster happy hour?
Yes. East Coast oysters are on the happy hour menu at the bar, alongside cocktails, a rotating Kings County Brewers Collective draft and draft rosé.
Do I need a reservation for happy hour in Greenpoint?
No. MADRE welcomes walk-ins at the bar and at tables. For groups of four or more, or if you want a table rather than bar seats, booking on Resy is the easier route.
What is on the happy hour drink list?
A red wine sangria with grapefruit and strawberry, a gin cocktail with vermouth, suze and st. germain, and a martini made with sherry and the house mignonette, plus draft beer and draft rosé. The full non-alcoholic list built on Seedlip is also available.
Where is MADRE?
MADRE is at 214 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, at the base of the Franklin Guesthouse, close to McCarren Park and the Greenpoint waterfront.
Plan your visit to MADRE
Happy hour at MADRE runs Wednesday and Thursday evenings and all day Sunday, at a bar that takes walk-ins and a kitchen the MICHELIN Guide recognized. Sit at the bar and start with oysters. Book a table on Resy through our reservations page, or for a group, send a note through the events page.