- Czech and Slovak Festival is May 23 and 24, 2009, 1 p.m. till late, $10 - Brass band!
- So much fun to hang out in the beer garden under the trees
- One of the best places in Queens to bring friends and visitors
- Kid-friendly
- Always seems to be a seat available
- Harried servers when there's a big crowd
- The wait until the beer garden opens in the spring with the warm weather
- Live music only on special weekends
- Address: 29-19 24th Ave, Astoria, Queens. Located between 29th and 31st Sts.
- Phone: 718-274-4925 Fax: 718-728-9278
- Hours: From 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from noon on weekends.
- By subway: The N to Astoria Blvd > walk one block north on 31st St > left on 24th Ave.
- By car: Exit Grand Central at Hoyt Ave > turn north on 31st St > 1 block and left on 24th Ave.
- Beer Garden: Open in warm weather and full on Memorial Day Weekend for Czech and Slovak Festival.
- Music: There are performances all year, more during the summer. Some are free; others charge $5-$10.
- Bohemian Hall and the beer garden are available for weddings and other special events.
- Astoria has attracted many Bohemians, some from the Czech region Bohemia, others escaping Brooklyn.
- Bohemian Citizens' Benevolent Society of Astoria runs the Hall as a Czech & Slovak cultural center.
Just a block from the elevated N subway and in the heart of urban Astoria, the Hall's proud facade looks like the Czech and Slovak cultural center that it is. A narrow entrance leads into a dark room with a nice wooden bar and booths, nice but not that impressive.
Keep walking right through the bar and out to the garden. It's amazing.
The beer garden is a wide-open space, surrounded by a high wall, seating several hundred people comfortably at picnic tables shaded by big old trees.
There's table service, though on a busy weekend, the wait can be long. Czech entrees cost $8 to $14, and most are very filling platters of meat and potatoes. Try the salads (red cabbage, coleslaw) and the potato dumplings (but skip the plain bread dumplings). Most weekends, you can order grilled sausages, burgers, and mushrooms from the barbecue cook. Wash it all down with great Czech and German beer.
Throughout the year, there's live music, both inside the dining hall and outdoors on the stage. Call ahead or check the Hall's website for special events and cover charges.
- The beer garden opens for the season in the spring with the warm weather.
Its biggest party is Memorial Day Weekend's Czech and Slovak Festival, a two-day festival of folk dancing, brass band music, and beer drinking, a highlight of the Queens summer.
