A Stella draft or bottle costs $9 at Fanelli Cafe, which is about as clear a starting point as this old SoHo bar offers. Brooklyn Lager is also listed at $9, while house red or white wine comes to $12 a glass. The important qualification is that no current happy-hour schedule is publicly verified, so these are menu prices rather than a confirmed discount. Fanelli is at 94 Prince Street, on the corner of Mercer, and stays open from 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday, then until 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. It is a practical place for a beer, a burger and a little New York history, provided the expectation is a good-value drink rather than a formally advertised promotion.
Karpo can check the latest hours, help with the route and point to a nearby backup when Fanelli is full. The current menu gives you a sensible $9 starting point.
Fanelli’s cheap-drink case starts at $9
The drinks list is straightforward. Stella and Brooklyn Lager are both listed at $9, either as a draft or bottle in Stella’s case. House wine is $12 a glass. Those prices make Fanelli a reasonable answer to a search for a cheap drink in SoHo, even without a verified happy-hour window. The food menu keeps the same plain-spoken mood. The Rascal Burger is $12, a 4-ounce burger with American cheese, and is the lowest-priced full burger option on the current published menu. The Pat LaFrieda Hot Dog is also $12, with chilli for another $2 or sauerkraut for another $1. These are bar orders, not elaborate detours from the drink.
The Baked Buffalo Wings cost $18 and come with blue cheese and hot sauce, making them the more useful choice when the table needs something to share. Steak Frites is the splurge, at $48 for a 16-ounce prime New York strip. A simple order makes more sense when the room is busy. Time Out notes that complicated, trend-driven drinks can be frustrating in that situation, so keeping it simple is the better move. Fanelli’s appeal is not a long cocktail performance. It is a cold beer, a hot dog or burger, and the feeling that the room has been serving this sort of evening for a very long time.
From an 1847 grocery to Fanelli Cafe
The building’s story gives the drink a little more weight. The 94 Prince Street site operated as a grocery from 1847 through 1863, then briefly became a porter house in 1864 and 1865 before returning to grocery use in 1866. It became a liquor establishment again in 1867. The present five-story brick building dates to 1857, and the attached Mercer Street building contains the cafe kitchen. This is not a bar borrowing a vague old-New-York look for atmosphere. The address has moved between groceries, liquor and food service for generations.
Nicholas Gerdes ran a saloon at the site from 1878 to 1902. Harry Green followed with Prince Cafe from 1905 to 1922, and Michael Fanelli gave the business its current name in 1922. The Fanelli family sold it to Hans Noe in 1982. That succession matters because the cafe’s character comes from continuity rather than a single founding myth. The pressed-tin ceilings, dark wood and long bar suit the history, but the useful detail is simpler: a $9 beer here is being poured in a place that has spent much of its life as a neighbourhood drinking and eating room.
The front bar is different from the back room
Fanelli is not one uniform room, and knowing where to order changes the visit. In the front room, order directly at the bar. In the back room, wait for a server. The distinction is practical rather than ceremonial, especially when the cafe is busy and people are arriving for different reasons. The front has the more immediate bar feeling; the back gives a slower table setting for food and conversation. There is no publicly stated reservation policy or booking platform on the opened venue pages, so the dependable plan is to arrive, find the appropriate room and ask staff how service is working that day.
Timing is part of the room’s character. Mornings are described as the sweetest, most local time, before daytime SoHo tourists arrive. Wednesday evenings also tend to bring a quieter local crowd, which suits a beer and burger without the feeling of an event. Saturday is the opposite proposition. The entrance can become difficult, with the crowd pressing against the door, and personal space is not guaranteed. The venue’s stated hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, while the homepage describes service more loosely as 11 a.m. until late.
Prince Street is easy to reach, but not always easy to enter
Take the N, R or W to Prince Street, then walk to the corner of Prince and Mercer Streets. The address is 94 Prince St, New York, NY 10012. That location makes Fanelli convenient during a SoHo afternoon or as a stop after shopping, though the ease of reaching the corner should not be confused with guaranteed entry. Saturday nights can be packed at the door, while Wednesday evenings are comparatively local and quiet. If the visit matters, calling 212-226-9412 is the only publicly listed contact route, since no reservation policy or booking platform is stated on the opened venue pages.
Parking is not the main reason to choose this stop. Apple Maps lists street parking, but no dedicated parking facility is identified in the opened listing. The subway is the clearer plan. For a first visit, arriving earlier also gives more choice between the bar and back room, and it avoids treating the late hours as a promise of a calm table. Fanelli remains open later on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but the same nights can bring the heaviest pressure at the entrance. It is better approached as a flexible stop than as a tightly timed booking.
Fanelli versus SoHo Park and The Ear Inn
SoHo Park at 62 Prince Street is the more direct alternative when the main requirement is a clearly advertised happy hour. It is a nearby beer garden with an all-day, every-day happy hour and no formal advance reservations. That gives it a stronger claim for someone searching specifically for a discount window. Fanelli offers something different: $9 Stella or Brooklyn Lager on the current menu, a longer historical thread and a more established cafe-bar atmosphere. The tradeoff is certainty. SoHo Park makes the promotion explicit; Fanelli makes the setting and the old room the point, while its current happy-hour schedule remains publicly unverified.
The Ear Inn, at 326 Spring Street, is the later-running backup. It is a historic Lower Manhattan bar open daily until 4 a.m., with a kitchen until 2 a.m. and reservations by phone. That suits a night that has moved beyond SoHo’s earlier drinking hours, though it is not the same kind of Prince Street cafe visit. Fanelli is better for a morning start, a quiet Wednesday drink or a burger beneath pressed tin. SoHo Park is better when an all-day happy hour matters most. The Ear Inn is better when staying out late is the deciding factor. Each solves a different problem.
- Address: 94 Prince St, New York, NY 10012, at Prince and Mercer Streets in SoHo.
- Hours: Sunday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. to midnight; Thursday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; the homepage says 11 a.m. to late.
- Reservations: No reservation policy or booking platform is publicly stated; the listed contact number is 212-226-9412.
- Getting there: Take the N, R or W to Prince Street; street parking is listed, but no dedicated car park is identified.
- Price band: Stella or Brooklyn Lager at $9, house wine at $12, burger and hot dog at $12, wings at $18, steak frites at $48.
Tags: #NewYorkCity #SoHo #FanelliCafe #PrinceStreet #HappyHourNearMe #CheapBeer #BrooklynLager #StellaArtois #RascalBurger #BuffaloWings #SteakFrites #HistoricBars #WatchParties
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Ask Karpo first
Before heading to Fanelli Cafe, ask Karpo to check the current hours, live wait, best route from your starting point or whether SoHo Park is the better backup.
