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The 10 Best Bars in NYC Right Now

The 10 best bars in NYC right now, from North America's number one Sip and Guzzle to a 19th-century Red Hook saloon, with what to order at each.

Priya Nair
Updated 2026-06-30 10 ranked bars

The short answer

Our editors' №1 is Sip & Guzzle.

10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.

Best overallSip & Guzzle
Runner-upDouble Chicken Please
Third pickAttaboy

New York has more good bars than any city in the world, which makes a ten-strong list an act of ruthless editing rather than discovery. We wanted a spread: the newly crowned best bar in North America, the rooms that reset modern cocktails, and the century-old dives and beer gardens that still matter.

These ten span Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens rather than all five boroughs, and we say so plainly. Each is a real, currently-open room we would send a visitor to, ordered from the buzziest new arrival to the oldest institution.

We drew on each venue's own listings, North America's 50 Best Bars 2026, Time Out New York, and pattern-read Google Maps reviews, cross-checking that every room was open before publishing.

The 10 best bars in NYC right now

Editor's №1

Sip & Guzzle

Greenwich VillageCocktail barNorth America's No. 1 bar 2026

Newly crowned the best bar in North America.

The roomSip & Guzzle, a two-floor Greenwich Village bar from bartenders with Tokyo and New York pedigree, topped North America's 50 Best Bars in 2026 barely two years after opening. The ground floor is casual; the upstairs Guzzle Room is the destination.

Order thisA precise, low-key classic downstairs, or book upstairs for the full menu. Reservations help; the award brought the crowds.

Full listing & hours →

Double Chicken Please

115 Allen Street, Lower East SideCocktail barNo. 35 in North America 2026

Sandwich-flavoured cocktails that somehow work.

The roomThe front is a fast fried-chicken counter; the back Coop is one of the most inventive cocktail rooms in the country, ranked No. 35 in North America 2026, with drinks built to taste like Mango Sticky Rice or Cold Pizza. It sounds gimmicky and drinks seriously.

Order thisThe Mango Sticky Rice or whatever themed drink is trending, plus fried chicken up front. Expect a wait for the back room.

Full listing & hours →

Attaboy

134 Eldridge Street, Lower East SideCocktail barNo menu

No menu, no sign, bartender's choice done right.

The roomBehind an unmarked Eldridge Street door in the old Milk & Honey space, Attaboy has no menu; you name a spirit and a mood and the bartender builds to it. It is the template a decade of New York cocktail bars copied.

Order thisName a base spirit and how you feel, then trust the rest. Small, cash-friendly, often a short line.

Full listing & hours →

Dante

79-81 MacDougal Street, Greenwich VillageCafe and cocktail barSince 1915

A century-old Village cafe and the negroni's American home.

The roomDante has traded on MacDougal Street since 1915 and reinvented itself into a former World's Best Bar, built around aperitivo and a deep negroni list. It is all-day and unfussy, as good at noon as at midnight.

Order thisA negroni from the flight, or a Garibaldi with its fluffy fresh orange juice. Sidewalk tables in warm months.

Full listing & hours →

Death & Co East Village

433 E 6th Street, East VillageCocktail barSince 2006

The East Village room that reset modern cocktails.

The roomDeath & Co opened in 2006 and helped define the modern American cocktail bar, a dark, tightly run East Village room with an encyclopaedic menu and best-selling books to match. Reservations turned it from speakeasy to institution.

Order thisAnything off the seasonal menu; the staff handle obscure requests too. Book ahead, especially at weekends.

Full listing & hours →

Maison Premiere

298 Bedford Avenue, WilliamsburgOyster and cocktail bar

Absinthe, juleps and a marble oyster bar in Williamsburg.

The roomMaison Premiere is a New Orleans-by-way-of-Williamsburg oyster bar with a horseshoe marble counter, an absinthe list and some of the best juleps in the city. The back garden is one of Brooklyn's prettiest.

Order thisA dozen oysters at happy hour and a mint julep or absinthe serve. Garden seating in summer is worth the wait.

Full listing & hours →

Karasu

DeKalb Avenue, Fort Greene, BrooklynHidden Japanese cocktail bar

A speakeasy-style Japanese bar behind a Fort Greene restaurant.

The roomKarasu hides behind Walter's on DeKalb Avenue, a dim, jazz-scored Japanese cocktail bar with Japanese whisky, precise highballs and no obvious front door. It is the Brooklyn move for a late, quiet drink.

Order thisA Japanese highball or a whisky flight, plus izakaya snacks. Walk-ins are possible, but go early.

Spring Lounge

48 Spring Street, NolitaDive barOpen from 8am

Nolita's stuffed-shark dive that never closes early.

The roomThe Spring Lounge is a red-fronted Nolita dive open from 8am, hung with taxidermy sharks and pouring cheap beer to a mix of regulars and strays. It is the antidote to the reservation-only rooms uptown.

Order thisA cold draft, and a free hot dog on Sundays. Cash-friendly, no attitude, open very late.

Sunny's

253 Conover Street, Red Hook, BrooklynWaterfront saloonSince the 1890s

A 19th-century Red Hook saloon with live music nightly.

The roomSunny's sits on the Red Hook waterfront in a building that has poured since the 1890s, saved by its community after Hurricane Sandy, with bluegrass and old-time jams most nights. The trek out is the point.

Order thisA whiskey or a beer and a seat near the band. Live music nightly except Mondays; bring cash.

Full listing & hours →

Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden

29-19 24th Avenue, Astoria, QueensBeer gardenSince 1910

New York's oldest beer garden, under the Astoria trees.

The roomThe Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden in Astoria has poured since 1910, a huge tree-shaded Czech beer garden run by a Slovak cultural society, with pilsners by the litre and kielbasa off the grill. It is the summer move in Queens.

Order thisA litre of Czech pilsner and a plate of sausages. Cash bar; go on a warm afternoon.

Full listing & hours →

How we picked

How we picked

We rank on the quality of the drink, the character of the room, and whether locals still go, then spread the list across styles and neighbourhoods rather than stacking it with new cocktail bars. That is why the newly crowned best bar in North America sits alongside a 19th-century saloon and a Czech beer garden.

We publish an honest ten and we do not pretend it covers all five boroughs; these rooms sit in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Where a place trades on history or a dive-bar mood rather than technical cocktails, we say so in the entry.

Last reviewed 2026-06-30 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.

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