This place has a very warm and welcoming atmosphere. It's a bit like a living room away from home. The piano player was very good and engaging, he's there on Tuesdays which is when I was there.

Service was a little slow as he was focused more on what I assume were locals. However, there wasn't that many there to where the bartender couldn't get to me quicker. He was friendly and the atmosphere was laid back.

Quiet gay bar tucked away in midtown that ramps up the excitement with good friends and great atmosphere

Right across from my hotel, I wanted a low-key place to have a drink before heading back to my room. Mind you it's only 9:00 at night. I was unaware that it's a gay bar and I found a table away from the piano in the bar area. The crowd was already having a great time and the ambiance was good. Had a couple of drinks (not used to NY prices anymore), but they were pretty powerful so only stayed for two as I had to navigate down the stairs with a bad knee. The crowd was very friendly, met some very nice people in the hour I was there. I really enjoyed my time at Uncle Charlie's Piano Lounge.

Juan Carlos is an amazing server and Tim is a great piano man. Bravo! Sing your heart out!

I think it's fate that Jamie W. and I stayed at a hotel that was barely a block away from this second floor walk-up piano bar. That's because on our last NYC trip, we discovered Marie's Crisis Cafe in the West Village right after we saw "Into the Woods" (review: https://bit.ly/3MAZR2M). I was in the mood to Sondheim-isize with the Broadway-obsessed patrons around the piano on "Children Will Listen". Uncle Charlie's is like Marie's but less divey with less group singing. It had more of a retro-vintage vibe in a 1950's-era romcom like you would expect to see Doris Day singing "Roly Poly" to Rock Hudson in "Pillow Talk". Oh, just Google it, will ya? Jamie and I were already a bit sauced from a couple of hours at The Duplex, so we figured this would be a good choice for after-drinks drinks since we could stagger back to the hotel if necessary. We sat at a high top table for two that that was close enough to the piano player to enjoy his terpsichorean skills... But far enough away not to be wrangled into performing. Not just show tunes either. Jamie had to forcibly stop me from volunteering to sing "Taking Chances". That song was stuck in my head since we saw "Titanique" at Asylum NYC a couple of nights before, and I was drunk enough to think I could get away with Celine's long-note wailing during the choruses. I held back while several others wailed to Adele and Lizzo. Surprisingly the well drinks were cheaper here than at Marie's. Even more surprisingly, we held ourselves to just one round at $16 each (photo: https://bit.ly/3Tri718). More people trickled in, regulars probably, because they knew to sit in the back room where they could drink and provide catcalls to the ad hoc singers in relative anonymity. Jamie and I politely clapped no matter how off-key they were. Wait, is it my turn now? "What do you say to taking chances? What do you say to jumping off the edge? What do you say? What do you sayyyyyyyy?" DRINKS - 4 stars...good and stiff, appropriate pre-performance libations AMBIANCE - 4 stars...mid-century retro with a big piano...though the TV screens were distracting with the Padres slamming the Mets SERVICE - 4 stars...Juan Carlos and the server were friendly and attentive TOTAL - 4 stars...if you have a song you need to sing and don't care who's listening to you RELATED - Hungry or thirsty in NYC? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: http://bit.ly/2YS9ELs