22 best bars in New York City
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There are all sorts of reasons to travel to New York – the museums, the shows, the bagels, and the city’s bar scene is among the world’s best. Friendly dives sit alongside brewpubs, wine bars, and destination cocktail dens that can dictate drink and design trends for years to come. In a city where apartments are comically small, bars are where New Yorkers go to meet friends, toast milestones, complain about their boss or ex, and engage total strangers in conversations about art, culture, sports, and whether the G train is running that weekend. Whether you’re thirsty for a boilermaker, a glass of natural wine, or an inventive cocktail unlike anything you’ve ever imagined, you’ll find it here. These are the best bars in New York City.
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Shannon Sturgis/OverstoryOverstory
Located a whopping 64 floors up 70 Pine Street, Overstory can be found via its own dedicated elevator in Saga. Patrons are not playing – they're here for serious cocktails and a great ambience. Bar Director Harrison Ginsberg delivers cool boozy concoctions like the Easy Money, featuring vodka, coconut, yuzu, lime leaf, and soda; the Montego Slay with tequila, mango, husk cherry, lime, and apricot; and the aptly named In the Clouds, featuring whiskey, Earl Grey, vanilla, Champagne, and clarified milk. Brought to you by the Crown Shy team, the service at Overstory is almost unparalleled, with a keen eye for detail.
Address: 70 Pine St 64th Floor, New York, NY 10005
Website: overstory-nyc.com
Gentl & Hyers/Le RockLe Rock
In 2022, when the owners of downtown’s perennially packed Frenchette restaurant opened Le Rock, it brought a much-needed jolt of energy to Midtown’s Rockefeller Center. Tables in Le Rock’s dining room remain among of the hottest tickets in town, but the Art Deco-style bar has a buzzy scene all its own. The glittering space has the flattering sort of lighting that makes everyone look like they just got back from a week on St. Barths (many of the patrons likely did), and a 200-bottle wine list that skews French and natural. Creative cocktails like the strawberry-scented, sparkling rosé topped Chambery Spritz and a riff of the often overlooked Martini variation L'Alaska (dry gin, yellow Chartreuse) are perfect for happy hour people-watching (is that a Vogue editor, or just someone who looks like one?).
Address: 45 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10111
Website: lerocknyc.com
Eric Medsker/TigreTigre
Reserve in advance to visit this swank Lower East Side cocktail lounge. Brought to you by the team behind Maison Premiere (another of our other favourite bars in NYC), there's a compulsory but complimentary coat check and dress-to-impress door policy, neither of which hampers the high spirits in the space. New York's bright young things fill the candlelit tables and banquettes and eight-person, U-shaped bar, requesting custom combinations off of the "Martini by Ratio" menu. The Cigarette Martini, made with Truman vodka and a juniper spirit from Copenhagen's Empirical, is among the most popular. Tigre also pours wine, spirits, and a tightly curated selection of retro and modern cocktails, with 1970s throwbacks like the Screwdriver alongside inventive drinks like the Mister Softee, named for the ice cream trucks that roam city streets in the summertime and made with Singhani, the Bolivian eau-de-vie.
Address: 105 Rivington St, New York, NY 10002
Website: tigrenyc.comAldo Sohm Wine Bar
Le Bernardin sommelier extraordinaire Aldo Sohm opened this chic wine bar in 2014, and it maintains one of the best wine lists in Midtown Manhattan. A respite from the corporate-leaning restaurants on its surrounding blocks, the space has low-slung sofas, graphic art, and glittering pendant lamps. The effect is akin to drinking in a very elegant friend's living room. Expect a mix of wine professionals and deep-pocketed executives from nearby Midtown offices, many of whom can rattle off the names of preferred vintages and intricacies of vineyard classification systems like their own phone numbers. There are 40 wines by the glass and 200 bottles on offer at any given time, spanning $15 pours of approachable Southern Italian white wines and expense-account-worthy cult bottles of Burgundy.
Address: 151 W 51st St, New York, NY 10019
Website: aldosohmwinebar.com
Makani Kirwin/Sunken Harbor ClubSunken Harbor Club
Tucked into the second floor of a landmark Brooklyn building, above the swish Gage & Tollner dining room, this nautically themed bar feels simultaneously transportive and deeply grounded in New York cocktail culture. Stylish Brooklynites and quite a few who made the trek over from Manhattan fill the nooks and crannies of the dimly lit space. Some are longtime friends and fans of co-owner St. John Frizell, who introduced the bar concept as a pop-up at his now-shuttered Fort Defiance, a Red Hook cocktail institution. Sip the shiso-infused Special Daiquiri, an impressive array of tropical non-alcoholic concoctions, or find a friend to share the large-format Shattered Skull, a two-person affair made with Barbadian and Jamaican rums. There's also a short but smart selection of wine and beer.
Address: 372 Fulton Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 11201
Website: sunkenharbor.clubTALEA Beer Co.
Hailed as New York City's first female- and veteran-operated brewery, TALEA is named for its owners, Tara Hankinson and LeAnn Darland. The two former homebrewers opened this 9,000-square-foot space in 2021 and now have three other taprooms across the city. Locals fill the tables at the airy Williamsburg flagship, meeting for birthday parties, afternoon hangs, or the chance to try one of the new drafts on the sours-heavy rotating tap list. TALEA is best known for its sour beers, like the pleasantly briny Watermelon Splash and Fan Fan Tart Deco, a sour IPA named for beloved Brooklyn bakery Fan Fan Donuts. There are also light lagers, pilsners, hazy IPAs, and non-alcoholic beers, as well as wine and cocktails from a full bar.
Address: multiple locations, check website
Website: taleabeer.com
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Harlem HopsHarlem Hops
In 2018, three HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) grads and craft beer lovers opened this cosy beer bar in a Harlem storefront with a twinkling backyard. Longtime neighbourhood denizens, young professionals meeting for happy hours, and craft beer pilgrims from all five boroughs convene to drink from any of sixteen taps that offer everything from IPAs to pilsners to sours and beyond, with a focus on beers made by Black and POC brewers. There are also canned beers and ciders starting at $5 each, and a full bar for cocktails like the Uncle Nearest Old Fashioned, made with Uncle Nearest Tennessee Whiskey. The best menu items are the three bratwursts (one vegan), which are perfectly snappy and served on pretzel buns alongside handfuls of kettle chips.
Address: 2268 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd, New York, NY 10030
Website: harlemhops.comSuperbueno
This Mexican American cocktail destination on a busy corner of Manhattan's East Village always feels like a party. It's warm energy and creative drinks are hallmarks of co-owner Ignacio "Nacho" Jimenez, formerly of the ground-breaking agave bar Ghost Donkey. Its tables and barstools are almost always packed with local loyalists, cocktail nerds, well-dressed people on second dates, and raucous groups whose happy hours inevitably turn into late nights. The free-wheeling drinks menu has a culinary bent and includes everything from a mezcal margarita and green mango martini to a large-format tepache cocktail made with shochu, yuzu, and chile de Arbol. Non-alcoholic drinks, like the guajillo-infused Chamoy y Soda, are similarly impressive, as is the bar food (Ensada-style fish tacos, potato flautas, and a crowd-pleasing birria grilled cheese to name a few.)
Address: 13 1st Ave., New York, NY 10003
Website: superbuenonyc.com
Eric Medsker/Sip & GuzzleSip & Guzzle
Globe-trotting drinks innovators Shingo Gokan (Angel's Envy in New York, SG Club in Tokyo) and Steve Schneider (Employee's Only in New York and Singapore) debuted this multi-concept cocktail and dining destination in the West Village in January of 2024. Gokan helms Sip, the sleek subterranean bar with a rotating cast inventive cocktails. There's a Champagne-topped Grasshopper, crystal-clear Tomato Tree featuring Roku gin and tomato leaf, and the Mr. Miyagi, a heady mix of Scotch, shochu, Campari, and passionfruit. Schneider's ground-floor Guzzle is a livelier destination for highballs and riffs on classic cocktails like the Yuzu Margarita and Lychee Martini. Each floor has its own food menu, with some overlap. Bluefin tuna tartare and tea-smoked caviar are mainstays at Sip, while most tables at Guzzle order at least one plate of spicy fried "electric" chicken. Creamy soft serve and honey butter mochi are usually available at both.
Address: 29 Cornelia Street, New York, NY 10014
Website: sipandguzzlenyc.comSunny’s
Since 1890, this unapologetically quirky institution has been serving drinks near Brooklyn's windswept Red Hook waterfront. It became Sunny's in the 1990s and has since cultivated a loyal community of people who self-identify as poets, teamsters, painters, or all of the above. Expect friendly banter among the locals and various performers who come to play live music every night except Mondays. While this isn't the place to go for an elaborate custom cocktail, the full bar serves skillfully made Negronis, Manhattans, and other classics, as well as an array of craft and macro beers, natural wine and non-alcoholic drinks.
Address: 253 Conover St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Website: sunnysredhook.com
Photo by Don RiddleBemelmans Bar
At Bemelmans, Ludwig Bemelman's illustrations – you might remember them from the Madeline books – adorn the walls. In one panel, a bunny smokes a cigar in Central Park; in another, a man hands a boy a clutch of balloons. This is a bar where gawking is permissible. The cocktails here very much depend on who’s making them: an Old Fashioned might be a bit watery, a whiskey sour too tart. But often, a dirty gin martini is just perfectly executed. Everything is expensive – it’s clear why you’re here – so take the edge off that sensation by digging into the free, hearty snacks that float your way.
Address: 35 E 76th Street, New York, NY 10075
Website: rosewoodhotels.com
Courtesy DanteDante
This century-old watering hole is a welcome break from the comedy club-hawking flyer guys of Greenwich Village, Dante was established in 1915, and after a century, it snagged new owners and a faded grandeur vibe that conjures its famous regulars – Patti Smith, Hemingway, Anaïs Nin – of yore. There are aperitivi and Bellinis, obscure Amaro and bitters, and a Martini Hour menu (each of which is only $10 between the hours of 3pm and 6pm) for which its fans flip.
Address: 79-81 MacDougal Street, New York, NY 10012
Website: dante-nyc.com
Courtesy Joanna LinMartiny's
In early 2022, Takuma Wantanabe, the Tokyo-born head bartender of cult cocktail den Angel's Share, opened this intimate spot in an 1800s townhouse. The elegant space has three floors of carefully crafted cocktails, including a lower-level private event venue. Martiny's pours intricate, often cerebral drinks with top-shelf ingredients and prices to match. One standout is the Caprese cocktail, a refreshing combination of tomato water, whisky, grapefruit juice, basil, and milk that pours crystal-clear. No matter how busy the bar, the staff is unfailingly attentive. Want to sit alone with a fancy drink and stare blankly into your phone or the middle distance? They'll give you your space. Curious about a bottle of rare Japanese whisky or the makings of one of the more complicated cocktails? A bartender will gladly share the details.
Address: 121 E 17th Street, New York, NY 10003
Website: martinys.com
Courtesy Brent HerrigMusette Wine Bar
This cosy wine bar and restaurant sits on a Central Harlem corner next to its sibling bottle shop, Pompette, a neighbourhood favourite since 2015. The space has exposed brick walls, a slim bar, and fresh flowers on every table, making it equally popular among well-dressed locals, second dates, and wine geeks. In addition to beer and cocktails, the bar pours nearly 100 wines by the glass and bottle, and the list is organized not by region or grape, but rather by reds, whites, sparkling, orange, and "Black AF," or an array of Black-owned wine labels including New York City's own B.Stuyvesant. Expect to fall in love with your drinking companion, a well-priced glass of pet-nat, or both before you leave.
Address: 420 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037
Website: musettewinebar.com
Courtesy Emmanuel RosarioDouble Chicken Please
Named North America’s best bar in 2023, Double Chicken Please houses two distinct concepts in one snug space on an industrial-looking stretch of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The walk-in-only front bar is modelled after the neighbourhood’s early-20th-century soda shops and serves draft cocktails, called “taptails," as well as the excellent titular fried chicken sandwiches. Seats in the more formal rear bar, The Coop, can be reserved up to six days in advance, and are privy to a menu of pricier, made-to-order cocktails like Mango Sticky Rice, a beautifully balanced combination of Bacardi Reserva Ocho, mango, pu’erh tea, and coconut. The more formal food menu in the back includes plates of chicken liver mousse.
Address: 115 Allen St, New York, NY 10002
Website: doublechickenplease.com
Daniel KriegerBar Goto
Come here – a minimalist shelter from the storm of Lower East Side partiers – for okonomiyaki, sleek Japanese design, and excellent highballs. Kenta Goto, owner and barman, was once at the dearly departed Pegu Club, and has retained that famous bar’s excruciating attention to detail. It shines in his highballs and the delicate coupe cocktails, such as one made with a rosy cherry blossom, sake, gin, and maraschino. The food here is not an afterthought. The okonomiyaki – that killer izakaya drinking standard of fried cabbage and kewpie mayo, dancing with bonito flakes and stuffed full of pork belly, rock shrimp, and squid that will transport you to Tokyo – is some of the best in town.
Address: 245 Eldridge St, New York, NY 10002
Website: bargoto.com
Al RodriguezThe Long Island Bar
The lights over the booths are intimate and old-timey, and the decades-old bar itself – note the quadruple-panelled mirror by the cash register – is stunning. Folks throw on their nice pair of jeans, or some good earrings, to come here. Co-owner Toby Cecchini (who, incidentally, invented the Cosmo at The Odeon many years ago) has a following, and his cocktails are known around the city, so it’s a bit of a see-and-be-seen along the bar. The menu sports a short list of slightly twisted classics – a martini made with junmai daiginjo sake, a gimlet with ginger-lime cordial, a white negroni sbagliato. Pick one off the menu or list a mix of flavours you like; you’ll end up happy either way.
Address: 110 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Website: thelongislandbar.com
Courtesy 67 Orange67 Orange Street
Since 2008, this Harlem jewel box has been serving some of the city’s best cocktails. The stylish crowd includes early-in-the-game dates, locals grabbing after-work drinks and snacks, and multigenerational friend groups discussing world events and craft cocktail culture, and vibing to a soundtrack of jazz classics, hip hop, and Latin tracks. An impressive cocktail list spans classic sazeracs and inventive creations like the Umegroni, made with gin and ume liqueur, and a large-format Brazilian Rum Punch. Weekday happy hours from 5-7 pm. include cocktails, tilapia tacos, and crispy chicken sliders; the kitchen also serves plates of flash-fried Brussels sprouts or panko-crusted mac and cheese.
Address: 2082 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, New York, NY 10026 Website: 67orangestreet.com
Courtesy Nicholas Lee Ruiz/Dead RabbitThe Dead Rabbit
Sometimes, the beverage programme at hyped bars starts to rest on its laurels. This is not the case at Dead Rabbit, a tri-level Financial District destination which offers an impressive mix of classic and house cocktails, a devoted list of Irish Whiskey drinks, draft beers, and non-alcoholic creations. Food menus vary by floor, with some overlap. Try Irish-accented pub grub like Guinness-braised burgers and chicken pot pie in the lower-level taproom, and smoked salmon deviled eggs and lamb chops in the upstairs Parlor Room.
Address: 30 Water Street, New York, NY 10004
Website: thedeadrabbit.com
Courtesy Death & Co.Death & Co.
Unless you show up right when they open, you'll want to make a reservation, lest you end up on a a very long list. Death & Co. cropped up on New Year’s Eve, 2007, and made one hell of a splash. The drinks were so precise, containing instant classics now mimicked nationwide (and now available nationwide, too), that it lured talent who have since opened their own famous bars. Look for riffs on classic cocktails like the Jungle Strut, which substitutes the traditional Jungle Bird’s rum, Campari, and pineapple juice for sotol, clairin, and watermelon. Things get much more esoteric than that, though, so flip through the huge book to see what you might want.
Address: 433 E 6th Street, New York, NY 10009
Website: deathandcompany.com
Courtesy LeyendaLeyenda
Walking down Brooklyn’s bustling Smith Street, it’s hard not to notice Leyenda, with its large, arched windows and red-tile overhang, which wouldn't look out of place in parts of Latin America. From esteemed NYC bar professionals Julie Reiner and Ivy Mix comes this lively spot that leans deep into the spirits of that region as well as the Caribbean's, including rum, tequila, and mezcal. Try them in cocktails like the Tia Mia (mezcal espadin, Jamaican rum, orange Curacao, lime, and orgeat); or sip them on their own, preferably alongside the Latin-accented small plates. Hardly standard bar grub, the kitchen turns out tuna ceviche, pupusas churrasco skirt steak nightly, and at its popular weekend brunch.
Address: 221 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Website: leyendabk.com
Melissa HomThrees Brewing
Gowanus's Threes Brewing is one of those rare New York City taprooms that can please almost everyone. There are booths, a stellar backyard, a large bar, and beers that will impress hops nerds as well as folks who simply want a glass of something cold on a hot summer day. As the name implies, it's a functioning brewery, and the menu shows off not only the house-made beers but a rotating cast of brews from producers like Allagash, Suarez Family Brewery, and Other Half, a Brooklyn favourite. Each is listed beside its flavour profile, and many come in a range of pour sizes. There’s a small list of wines and cocktails, too.
Address: 333 Douglass Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Website: threesbrewing.com
Courtesy No BarNo Bar
Angela Dimayuga, who blossomed into a darling of the culinary world back when she was running the kitchen at Mission Chinese New York, is the brains behind this queer bar at The Standard Hotel, where she’s also the creative director of food and culture. The drinks list is short and full of swagger, and includes specialties like the Say Gay, a blend of vodka, aquavit, tangerine, and lemon; bar snacks include crispy artichokes with lemon herb aioli and sweet potato tots with miso mustard. Swing by for a date or a themed evening (like a screening of RuPaul’s Drag Race).
Address: 25 Cooper Square, New York, NY 10003
Website: standardhotels.com
Courtesy Maison PremiereMaison Premiere
The little round marble bar and a whiff of New Orleanian dishabille catch your attention first. This Williamsburg standby is renowned for its cocktail programme, oyster happy hour, and general Southern Gothic vibe. The light is made for Instagram, and you’ll see brunchers taking full advantage of it. Absinthe addicts, attention: This is your bar. There’s a whole separate menu devoted to absinthe cocktails, a real vintage drip in-house, and barkeeps who know what they’re doing with it all. Brews are mostly locally sourced and tasty, and the non-absinthe drinks shine, too.
Address: 298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Website: maisonpremiere.com
Courtesy AttaboyAttaboy
Inside the former Milk & Honey space where the modern cocktail revival began, the speakeasy vibe remains, and the bespoke cocktails served today would make Sasha Petraske proud. If there’s a beer or wine list at Attaboy, it’s irrelevant. Everyone has a cocktail in hand – a pricey one. This is a menu-free environment, so bring your inner cocktail nerd and any questions you might have. Sam Ross, founding co-owner, invented the Penicillin, and if you haven’t tried that combo of ginger, lemon, and Scotch before, let today be the day.
Address: 134 Eldridge Street, New York, NY 10002
Website: attaboy.us
GettyJimmy's Corner
That a bar in the heart of Times Square is so tourist-free is one of many mysteries at Jimmy’s, a boxing memorabilia-saturated spot once dominated by the Midtown media set. In one snapshot, the late longtime owner and former boxing trainer Jimmy Glenn poses with the late Muhammad Ali. Especially if you have to visit out-of-towners in tow who, bless their hearts, really only want to see Times Square. It’s a way to sneak them a little bit of Real New York. They’ll be grateful.
Address: 140 W 44th Street, New York, NY 10036
Webite: facebook.com