Best-of list · City Guide
Nine New York bars worth your money, from Lower East Side speakeasies to Midtown hotel rooms and a Garment District rooftop. What to order and when to go.
The short answer
9 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
New York's bar scene isn't monolithic. From the cocktail rooms of the Lower East Side to the old ale houses of the East Village, from Midtown hotel bars to a Garment District rooftop, the city's drinking culture splits across distinct pockets, each with its own attitude and crowd. This guide covers nine rooms worth your money, grouped by neighborhood and by what they actually pour.
What follows isn't a ranking. Rankings are exhausting and ultimately wrong. Instead, what you've got here are bars organized by neighborhood and drinking style, with specific recommendations for what to order and why each one matters. These are the places where locals actually go, not the ones that photograph well on Instagram. Some are legendary. Some are nearly impossible to find. All of them have something to prove.
You get in through a phone booth inside Crif Dogs on St. Marks, and it has worked that way since 2007. PDT seats around 45, so book on Resy seven days out or eat the wait. The bartending is dead serious. Order the Benton's Old Fashioned, the bacon-fat whiskey drink that made the room famous. Go early on a weeknight.
Full listing & hours →Attaboy has no sign, no menu, and no reservations, which is the whole point. You knock at 134 Eldridge, name two flavors you like, and the bartender builds from there. The crew came out of Milk and Honey, so the drinks land exact. The worst seat in here is still a good seat. Get there before 8 or wait on the sidewalk.
Full listing & hours →McSorley's has poured since 1854 and serves exactly two things: light ale and dark ale, two mugs at a time. Sawdust on the floor, wishbones over the bar, cash only on a busy day. It is a tourist stop now, sure, but go on a cold weekday afternoon and it still feels like the old city. A few bucks a mug, and do not ask for a cocktail.
Full listing & hours →The East Village original closed in 2022, but Angel's Share came back at 45 Grove Street and landed at No. 43 on World's 50 Best North America for 2025. Same house rules: no standing, no big groups, quiet voices. The Japanese-style cocktails run precise and run about $20. Worth the trip for a date that needs to impress. Show up at opening or wait.
Full listing & hours →Employees Only opened on Hudson Street in 2004 and still runs late, with the kitchen going past 1 a.m. There is a tarot reader at the door most nights, which sounds like a gimmick and somehow works. Order the EO Gimlet, and stick around for the chicken soup they pour for the whole room at closing. Best after midnight when the industry crowd rolls in.
Full listing & hours →The King Cole Bar inside the St. Regis on 55th is where the Red Snapper, New York's Bloody Mary, was poured first. The Maxfield Parrish mural behind the bar is the real draw. Drinks run north of $25, so this is a one-and-done splurge, not a session. Jackets preferred, attitude optional. Best for an early drink before dinner when you want old-money quiet.
Full listing & hours →Bemelmans, in the Carlyle on 76th, is named for the Madeline illustrator who painted the walls in 1947, and those murals are still the whole mood. A cover charge kicks in once the piano starts, usually around 5:30, and the martinis run past $30. It is a splurge and it knows it. Best for a nightcap with live jazz when you want to feel grown up.
Full listing & hours →Maison Pickle at 2315 Broadway is a comfort-food room that keeps more than 200 spirits behind the bar. The French dip is the signature plate, but the cocktail list holds its own against places that take themselves twice as seriously. Open to 10 p.m. most nights, with weekend brunch from 9. Best for a casual Upper West Side dinner where the drinks still matter.
Full listing & hours →Top of the Strand sits on the 21st floor of the Marriott Vacation Club on West 37th, under a retractable glass roof that keeps it open year round. The Empire State Building view is the reason to come, not the food. Open Wednesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight. Best for a warm-night drink before the crowd works out it is up there.