On a busy stretch of Williamsburg where bars come and go, Bar Nico is staking its claim by doing something deceptively simple: acting like a real neighborhood pub.
Open for less than a year in the former Philomena’s space, Bar Nico blends Australian pub sensibilities, Italian comfort food and a distinctly Brooklyn emphasis on community. The result is a space that feels lived-in rather than curated.
“We’re not a wine bar. We’re not a cocktail bar,” Nati Rabinowitz, minority partner and bartender, told Brooklyn Paper. “You don’t need a reservation. You just show up, like your local back home.”
Bar Nico was founded by Australian natives Callum and Morgan Sigg, along with partners Justin Deering and Rabinowitz, all Brooklyn locals.
Like the Siggs, Rabinowitz is no stranger to the Brooklyn bar scene. A longtime Williamsburg fixture, he previously worked at Pencil Factory and Blinky’s, two bars that helped define the neighborhood’s social fabric.
“I bartended at Pencil Factory for about four years,” Rabinowitz said. “When it closed, it felt like a huge loss — not just a bar, but a community space.”
As Pencil Factory’s closure loomed, Sigg and his partners approached Rabinowitz about joining Bar Nico. For Rabinowitz, the decision was immediate.
“What a privilege to help create a new space where people can come back together,” he said. “It’s community-driven, community-led. By the people, for the people.”
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That ethos extends beyond the bar top. Rabinowitz runs events, social media and ordering, helping shape the atmosphere that regulars now associate with Bar Nico. There’s no rigid programming schedule, but something is always happening — whether familiar faces reconnecting or first-timers becoming repeat customers.
When the kitchen first launched, the concept was deliberately stripped down: one dish a day, offered at a low price point. Italian food anchors the menu — pastas, lasagna and chicken parm — but simplicity was the point.
“We came in thinking we’d just serve one dish a day,” Callum Sigg told Brooklyn Paper. “But over time, we realized not everyone wants Italian food all the time.”
Four and a half months later, the menu has expanded to three or four rotating options each day, pulling from different cuisines while still centering comfort. Each night, the main dish changes — whether steak frites, spicy shrimp pasta or hearty lasagna — while snacking staples like fries and the chef’s crispy Thai chili wings, billed by staff as “the best within four square miles,” are always available.
The evolution, Sigg said, came from listening to customers and staff and seeing what actually worked in the space.
Drinks are intentionally straightforward. Deering has developed a small cocktail lineup that emphasizes drinkability and value over spectacle. Options include a frozen horchata, an espresso martini with coconut milk (LSD Crime Spree) and a cucumber gin rickey (Some Velvet Morning). But it’s the $8 beer-and-shot combos that anchor the menu — a small, deliberate nod to the kind of no-frills vibe that defines Bar Nico.
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Bar Nico’s aesthetic nods to rock history. The name itself is a reference to Nico of The Velvet Underground and a photograph of the singer hangs behind the bar. A CD jukebox sits nearby, reinforcing the bar’s throwback feel.
“We wanted it to feel approachable,” Rabinowitz said. “Like the kind of place you’d go in your hometown.”
To further establish its sense of community, Bar Nico hosts watch parties for big games, and plans to celebrate Aussie Day each year — a day marked by sausage rolls, meat pies and Australian beers, paying homage to the Siggs’ heritage.
Bar Nico is open daily from 5 p.m. to midnight, with weekend hours from noon to midnight. There’s a bike lane out front, no reservations, and no pressure to order anything more than what you want.
In a neighborhood that’s constantly reinventing itself, Bar Nico’s appeal lies in resisting reinvention altogether — choosing instead to be steady, welcoming and familiar.
“Come on in,” Rabinowitz said. “We’re happy to have you.”
Bar Nico is located at 790 Grand St., between Bushwick Avenue and Humboldt Street in Williamsburg.
