10 best sports bars

Best for Anglophiles: The Black Horse Pub

• Price band: 1/4

Soccer fans show up early on weekends for European matches at this low-key British pub; it serves a $12 full English breakfast, which acts as a perfect stomach-liner for the 16 international beers on tap (rotating English specials include Boddingtons). When footy's not on, the eight TVs play whatever games the neighborhood crowd wants to watch.

Best for restless fans: Break Bar and Billiards

If you're the type to get fidgety well before the seventh-inning stretch, this Astoria games emporium will keep you entertained no matter how boring the contest is. In addition to nine 50-inch flat-screens, the sprawling lounge houses 16 pool tables, arcade games (Big Buck Hunter), two Ping-Pong tables and air hockey, as well as some diversions—like a Pop-a-Shot basketball machine—that actually approximate the experience of playing a real sport (while drunk, of course). 32-04 Broadway at 32nd St, Astoria, Queens (718-777-5400, break-ny.com). Average drink: $5.

Best location: Chelsea Brewing Company

• Price band: 1/4

Sure, it's pricey and a bit corporate, but this big ol' clubhouse on the Hudson offers prime real estate and an extensive lineup of house-made brews to savor during the game (don't miss the smoky Black Hole XXX Stout). The unobtrusive crowd includes spillover from the driving range next door, and sports teams that file in to imbibe after playing at Chelsea Piers.

Best midtown stalwart: Jack Demsey’s

• Price band: 2/4

Let's not beat around the bush: Irish pubs have played an integral role in giving sports bars a bad name. But Jack Demsey's bucks the odds and offers a welcome respite from midtown behemoths like ESPN Zone and Stout NYC. Yes, it draws plenty of tourists (get over it), but there are also local crowds loyal to teams like University of Kentucky basketball and, above all else, Celtic Football Club. A 96-inch screen and a dozen other TVs cover almost anything you'd want to watch, including oft-ignored broadcasts like Irish rugby matches and UFC fights.

Best for West Coasters: Pacific Standard

• Price band: 2/4
• Critics choice

West Coast transplants and craft-beer lovers flock to Fourth Avenue to watch sports without subjecting themselves to watery, mass-market swill. Fans lounge on comfy couches and quaff 17 Cali-centric drafts—like the hops-forward Green Flash IPA ($6)—while catching the action on two projection TVs. Oakland A's zealots, take note: Wear A's apparel during A games and get $1 off pints of Sierra Nevada.

Best sports lodge: Pine Tree Lodge

• Price band: 2/4

Bro-fest sports bars are a dime a dozen in Murray Hill, which is what makes this wacky, outdoors-themed drinkery feel like even more of a find. There are cheap drinks and TVs perpetually tuned to sports, but what we like most is the outdated TV set stuffed sideways into an old barrel.

Best inoffensive frat house: Professor Thom’s

• Price band: 1/4
• Critics choice

This sprawling bi-level watering hole is big, loud and a bit fratty, yet something about it keeps us coming back for more. Maybe it's the six spacious booths with individual TVs that friendly staff will happily tune to whatever channel you want to watch. It could be the New England--loving legions who help make the bar the largest seller of Harpoon outside of Massachusetts (that is, when they're not swilling the house ale, which goes for $4 during all Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins and Celtics games). But most of all, we think it's the nachos: a gargantuan, crowd-pleasing mountain served piping hot on a pizza tray.

Best in show: Standings Bar

If only all sports bars were more like Standings, where a refreshing lineup of American microbrews encourages beer drinkers to venture beyond Bud Light. Every inch of the tiny East Village space is lovingly plastered with memorabilia and newspaper clippings, eight HDTVs cover all the action, and audio from the games always takes precedence over music ("Standings hates music," says owner Gary Gillis). Red Sox fans (Boston games are shown on NESN), Cincinnati Bengals loyalists and a number of alumni groups (University of Florida, Gonzaga) call it home, but everyone can enjoy the hospitality, which includes free pizza on Fridays (around 8pm) and gratis bagels on Sunday afternoons (1–3pm, September—June). 43 E 7th St between Bowery and Second Ave (212-420-0671, standingsbar.com). Average beer: $6.

Best vanity project: Warren 77

• Price band: 2/4

Jay-Z's 40/40 Club may be the top dog in the arena of personality-driven sports lounges, but New York Rangers star Sean Avery puts a more hipster-friendly spin on the genre at his faux dive in Tribeca. Hockey fans will appreciate the venue's commitment to the puck, as well as an original Warhol portrait of Wayne Gretzky. It's not for diehards, but if you're more interested in socializing than catching every play, the vibe is right: Groups gather around retro tabletop video games (Pac-Man), and green leather booths have individual TVs that can be tucked away in cabinets if the conversation becomes more interesting than the game.

Best for footy fanatics: Woodwork

• Price band: 1/4
• Critics choice

This thoughtful, wood-heavy soccer saloon feels like an honest response to an underserved community of fans: The well-priced beers come from craft labels (though you can get a $3 Red Stripe if you don't want to overthink it), wines represent the world's top footballing nations (Spain, Argentina), and organically driven small plates replace the usual greasy fare. But don't worry—there's not a hint of pretension in the place, and no one will look at you askew for taking a prenoon pickleback shot while catching morning matches from distant shores.