The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking

The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking

The Imbible: A Spirited History of Drinking
4.5
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Monday
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
Closed
Thursday
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Friday
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
Closed
About
Are you a history buff? A science geek? A cocktail connoisseur? Or do you just love extraordinary theater? If so, The Imbible Off-Broadway shows are the perfect NYC theater experience for you! Since 2014, The Imbible shows have combined music and comedy with history, science, and of course drinks to take audiences on journeys through time and across the world while learning about and enjoying cocktails and spirits! The Imbible productions consistently receive rave reviews from both critics and guests alike. All performances include 3 complimentary craft cocktails, making The Imbible easily the best theatre deal on or Off-Broadway! Declared "Absolutely must-do in NYC" by Thrillist, rated "One of the five best things to do in New York City" by NewYork.com, and recognized with 3 consecutive TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence. "The Imbible has become a staple of the Off-Broadway scene, using music and theater to explore the great pastime of enjoying a cocktail." -Business Insider
Duration: 1-2 hours
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The area

Address
Neighborhood: Midtown West
How to get there
  • 50th St • 2 min walk
  • 50th St • 5 min walk
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.


4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles197 reviews
Excellent
149
Very good
30
Average
7
Poor
1
Terrible
10

jensearch
Huntington, NY117 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2017 • Couples
We decided to give The Imbible a try based on the great reviews — and we were not disappointed! This was one of the most fun shows we've seen (and we see a lot of shows)! As Long Islanders who frequent NYC for fun, food, and entertainment, we were completely smitten with The Imbible!

The "theater" is a small, intimate bar where you sit at a table, complete with a bowl of popcorn to snack on. As soon as the show begins you're drawn in by the interesting and well-written history, combined with the comedic and wonderfully-acted vignettes. And then there's the musical part! Complete with four-part harmonies! (My BF loved this!)

And as if you needed anything more... they serve you drinks! As part of the ticket price! No, seriously. At this point I assume you are no longer reading my review and are buying tickets to see The Imbible, which is exactly what you should be doing. Go see it. You're welcome.

**Kudos to Anthony and team. We saw you for the 8pm show on July 22 and it was fantastic. Great concept, awesome writing, wonderful cast. Loved every minute of it! :)
Written July 25, 2017
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

HanKelly
Bowling Green, KY4,501 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Looked for a show with some friends and this sounded entertaining. You learn about alcohol and get drinks in the process? Sign us up! We walked in to a high top table with small seating area with a bar as the stage and popcorn at our table. The actors were excellent and we learned a lot. You're served various cocktails that follow the story and they were good and pretty strong. It was quite the history lesson if you want to learn about how alcohol has evolved over the years.
Written April 19, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Charles T
Philadelphia, PA34 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020
Both the show and the drinks were excellent. Great actors and a really funny story. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
Written February 17, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

bridget f
Libby, MT256 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Dec 2019
If you've been to Drunk Shakespeare and enjoyed it, you probably will not like this show. It was painful to sit and witness this lack of everything. Talent, humor etc. We left at intermission. Only because we were right in the front and didn't want to disrupt the room just in case someone was enjoying it. 15 min. some folks that were sitting near the "door" (it's just a curtain that they close off the lobby) left. We wanted so badly to leave with those folks!
The greatest loss is not the wasted money, it's the loss brain cells and our time.

Drunk Shakespeare is wonderful and we will be going to see it again on our next trip.
Written January 11, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
The Imbible productions are educational musical comedies about the history of cocktails and spirits. Drunk Shakespeare is not. However, we've found that most audience members who enjoy their show also enjoy ours, and vice versa. We recognize that preferences in theater, like food and drink, are a matter of taste, and we also know that our shows are not right for everyone. As you can see from the rest of the reviews on this site, though, they are very much enjoyed by the vast majority of our audiences. We're sorry that our show wasn't what you were looking for, and we hope that your next theater experience will be more suited to your taste!
Written January 23, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

karainsantamonica
New York City, NY1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2018 • Couples
This was one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen! All the performers are completely robotic and they don’t even serve good drinks!
Written October 14, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Karan, This is the third place you've posted this review of our show in as many days -- we understand that you didn't enjoy your experience, and we apologized to you on both Yelp and Google. As we said on both of those sites, our actors are usually very highly reviewed by both audiences and critics, as are our drinks -- which you can see from the many other guests on all three sites that had a very different experience than you did. Our shows are also often cited as being among the best values in NYC as they include three complimentary drinks and our ticket prices are comparable to other Off-Broadway productions. However, we recognize that performances and cocktails are matters of taste (literally in the case of the second) and tastes vary. We appreciate you sharing your opinion of our shows with other potential audience members, but we're less sure that waging an online campaign against the show is merited. If you would like to discuss your experience further or provide additional feedback to help us improve our productions, please contact us through our website and we would be happy to talk through any input you have. Thanks for coming - we hope the next show you choose will better match your preferences! -Anthony
Written October 17, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

lemon j
New York City, NY2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2018 • Couples
I haven't been this bored since high school. This show has no interesting content whatsoever (really? people drank beer because water was polluted? wow...). The four performers are so close to the audience that you have no choice but to politely smile at their juvenile jokes (twerking is funny! Haha !) and clap at the songs (my favorite: a live demonstration of a drunk Kareoke singer. Go booze!). It's no surprise that the drinks are lame too... anybody who actually enjoys drinking would laugh at the stuff they serve you (small weak drinks prepared by actors, in a hurry, during a show. You get the picture).

At the midway 'bathroom break' (during which they do 'trivia' where they ask you questions about the show so far to keep you from leaving) we ran out of the theater in an attempt to save what was left of the evening. It was as close as I ever got (or hope to ever get) to escaping a bank robbery.

If you do decide to go, a word of advice: The 'premium' seats (cost a bit more with an extra drink) are actually the worst seats in the house. You sit at the bar in the front of the room while the performers are standing to your side so you have a 'side view' which makes this sad show even more awkward and unfunny.

I felt bad for the performers (except for the main guy who I believe wrote this and should spend the rest of his days on a cruise ship barred from ever returning to broadway). They are good singers/actors and deserve a better gig (YOU ARE STILL YOUNG. GET OUT !!).
Written June 23, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
lemon j, We're so sorry you didn't enjoy the show! We've found that the vast majority of our audiences find the content to be extremely interesting and the presentation unique and engaging. We have had national liquor brand managers leave the show and tell us they learned something. As we share the same information that I teach in my Professional Beverage Management programs at the culinary school level, and also in my restaurant consulting practice when I open new bars, we often use light comedy to make learning the heavier parts more enjoyable. We understand that our shows are not for everyone, though, and we try to say right up front on our website that lovers of science, history, and food culture are likely to enjoy them -- though we have many, many audience members tell us they don't drink and hated school, but love our shows. In fact, our most common audience reaction is, "If college was like this, I would have actually gone to class!" We're also regularly told that our Gin and Tonic and Old Fashioned are the best many guests have ever had, but as a career bartender I know that not everyone likes every drink. I do wish you would have stayed through the entire production before writing this review, as you weren't able to see or evaluate fully half of the show. You also would have received your special fourth drink that came with your Premium Seats, and may have gotten to see why those seats are by far the most popular in the house. Finally, our lead actor did not write the show -- I did, and as I said it is based on three decades working as a bartender, restaurant owner, and professional beverage educator for culinary schools and major liquor brands. All of our actors are New York-based professionals with years of experience, including cruise ship experience which is highly respected and sought after. Again, I'm very sorry you did not enjoy the performance. We have four very different shows for audience members to choose from, and we hope there is one among them you would like better! -Anthony
Written July 19, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Joanie R
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2018 • Couples
This was my Birthday Weekend my husband booke this Show to Surprise me he was so happy and excited to take me to this show finally!!! It was the worst show I have ever seen in my life!! We surffered through one hour of it! Thank
God their was an intermission where we could escape and go back to our Beautiful Hotel the Sheraton in Weehawken New Jersey that saved the night!!! I feel so bad for my husband because he spent so much money for this show that was done in a little bar not even on a stage!! Actors Horrible, The Setting Horrible thank God for him and my beautiful Hotel!! First time I ever left early for a Show in Manhattan đź‘Žđź‘Žđź‘Žđź‘Ž
Written May 6, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Joanie R., I'm SO sorry you didn't enjoy the show!! As with any theater, our productions aren't for everyone, and we try to give potential audience members as much information as possible to help them decide whether they would enjoy an IMBIBLE show. For example, it says on our website that the show is performed in its entirety in a bar, and many of our audience members choose to attend for that very reason. I do wish you would have stayed until the end before writing a review, as you may have gotten a larger sense of the show's context and ended up having a better time. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your birthday weekend and were able to find another show in Manhattan that was more suited to your taste! -Anthony
Written July 19, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

JB777NYC
New York City, NY40 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2018 • Couples
The performers were amazing considering that the show content was NOT funny , NOT musical and absolutely PAINFUL to sit thru. I needed 3 DRINKs to recover from it. Not sure where they got the great reviews (bot reviewer perhaps).
One said "one of the top 5 things things to do in NYC" ; would love to see what the other 4 were. I cant imagine who actually enjoyed this show. I usually only review stuff that I think is worthwhile but this was REALLY BAD. Again performers were talented but drinks and material WERE HORRIBLE.
Written March 13, 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
JB777NYC, First off, I wanted to say I'm sorry you didn't find our show to be enjoyable -- it's difficult to create theatre that appeals to everyone, but we do try. Secondly, I wanted to assure you that our reviews do not come from a bot. We try to provide as much information about our shows as possible on our website, as they are very unique and may not suit everyone's taste. In fact, the unique mix of education and entertainment we offer is one of the reasons most of our audience enjoys our shows. I hope your next experience at the theatre is closer to what you're looking for! -Anthony
Written July 20, 2018
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

April R
Sacramento77 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2016 • Couples
The performers are talented singers, but the production is --- well cheesy. The history of alcohol is pedantic, the drinks were not particularly tasty-- a shandy, a gin and tonic, and what I think was an overly sweet southern comfort. The location is a bit of a dive, the restrooms were scary. They tried really hard and the singers were talented, but I'm sorry, the story line was boring which was surprising since and they were talking about alcohol and sought to engage the audience. The audience ranged from the millennial guy who slept through the whole thing to a girl who laughed hilariously at everything. Really, you can find a better way to spend the evening.
Written August 22, 2016
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

chris r
Melbourne, Australia22 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2019 • Couples
Do not think about it, just go. Great night out. What a way to gain an understanding of the history of drinking. The music and commentary were portrayed in such an innovative way with performers that really put themselves into it.

Highly recommended.
Written July 20, 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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