10 best cocktail bars in New York

New York offers many attractions, including world-class museums, theatrical productions, delicious bagels, and a vibrant bar scene. Brewpubs, wine bars, and destination cocktail dens coexist with welcoming dives that set the New York bar for future drink and decor trends. Bars are where New York go to meet friends, celebrate anniversaries, vent about their bosses or ex-partners, and strike up talks about art, culture, sports, and whether the G line is operating that weekend with strangers in a city where apartments are hilariously small. You can get anything you’re craving here, including creative cocktails unimaginable and boilermakers, as well as glasses of natural wine. The top bars in New York City are these.

Dante

Established in 1915, Dante is a refreshing retreat from the flyer boys of Greenwich Village, known for their comedic clubs. It has undergone a transformation over the years, attracting new owners and a faded grandeur ambiance that evokes memories of its legendary clientele, including Patton Smith, Hemingway, and Anaïs Nin. Its devotees flip for the “Martini Hour” menu, which offers unusual Amaro and bitters, aperitivi and Bellinis, and only $10 for each between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m.

Martiny’s

Located in a townhouse from the 1800s, this cozy establishment was founded by Takuma Watanabe, the head bartender of the popular cocktail den Angel’s Share, who was born in Tokyo. Including a private event room on the lowest level, the sophisticated establishment features three floors of expertly created cocktails. Martiny’s creates sophisticated, frequently thought-provoking beverages with premium ingredients and costs to match. The Caprese cocktail, which flows crystal clear and is a delicious blend of tomato water, whiskey, grapefruit juice, basil, and milk, is one of the best. No matter how crowded the bar gets, the staff always pays attention.

Musette Wine Bar

Nestled adjacent to its sister bottle shop, Pompette, a local favorite since 2015, this quaint wine bar and restaurant is on a corner in Central Harlem. Attractive to well-dressed locals and wine lovers, the area boasts exposed brick walls, a narrow bar, and fresh flowers on every table. The wine list, arranged into reds, whites, sparkling, orange, and “Black AF,” or a variety of Black-owned wine bars, including New York City’s B.Stuyvesant, is nearly as long as it isn’t categorized by area or grape. The bar also serves beer and cocktails. Be prepared to fall in love before you leave with your drinking partner, a reasonably priced glass of pet-nat, or both.

Baby’s All Right

Drinks are free-flowing at this 5,000-square-foot pub and performance space in South Williamsburg, where the stage is occupied by independent bands, drag performances, and other acts. There are standard drinks like Rye Manhattans and Espresso Martinis, as well as Miller High Lives and a specialty boozy slushy. The kitchen keeps the party going in the evenings with a good, if unspectacular, selection of tacos and nachos. It’s even more vibrant at Baby’s well-liked weekend brunch, which serves house drinks with breakfast sandwiches topped with arugula and Sriracha aioli and brioche French toast. Tickets can be reserved by checking the onsite calendar since prior headliners such as SZA and Billie Eilish have sold out weeks in advance.

Double Chicken Please

I’d be happy to help you clarify the text and correct any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors you may have. Please provide me with the text you would like me to rewrite. It houses two separate concepts in one small area. The neighborhood’s walk-in-only front bar, named “taptails,” is styled after the soda shops of the early 20th century and offers great fried chicken sandwiches and draft cocktails. Up to six days in advance, patrons can reserve seats at The Coop, the more formal rear bars, where they can enjoy a selection of more expensive, made-to-order drinks including Mango Sticky Rice, a masterfully balanced concoction of Bacardi Reserva Ocho, mango, pu’erh tea, and coconut in ney York city. There are chicken liver mousse plates on the more formal menu in back.

The Long Island Bar

Aside from the decades-old bar itself (notice the quadruple-paneled mirror by the cash register), the lighting over the booths are cozy and vintage. People dress nicely in jeans or elegant earrings and come here. It’s a bit of a see-and-be-seen along the bar because co-owner Toby Cecchini (who, incidentally, invented the Cosmo at The Odeon many years ago) has a following and his cocktails are well-known around the city. The menu features a few slightly twisted classics, such as a white negroni sbagliato, a gimlet with ginger-lime cordial, and a martini prepared with junmai daiginjo sake.

Bar Goto

Come here for great highballs, stylish Japanese décor, and okonomiyaki—a minimalist haven from the Lower East Side party scene. Owner and bartender Kenta Goto was once employed at the sadly closed Pegu Club and has carried over the painstaking attention to detail from that illustrious establishment. It shows in his highballs and the elegant coupe cocktails, like the one with the maraschino, sake, gin, and rose cherry blossom. This place’s cuisine is not an afterthought. Some of the best okonomiyaki in town are the killer izakaya drinking standards, which consist of fried cabbage and kewpie mayo, dancing with bonito flakes and packed full of pork belly, rock shrimp, and squid that will send you to Tokyo.

67 Orange Street

Since 2008, this Harlem gem has been serving some of the city’s best cocktails.The sophisticated clientele consists of couples heading out on first dates, locals getting after-work cocktails and bites, and intergenerational buddy groups chatting about current affairs and craft cocktail culture while grooving to Latin, hip-hop, and jazz tunes. The outstanding cocktail list includes unique concoctions like the Umegroni, which combines gin and ume liqueur, and a large-format Brazilian Rum Punch, in addition to traditional Sazeracs. Happy hours occurs from 5-7 p.m. on weekdays. The menu includes panko-crusted mac & cheese and flash-fried Brussels sprouts, along with cocktails and crispy chicken slider

The Dead Rabbit

At popular bars, the drink menu occasionally begins to savor its successes. Dead Rabbit, a tri-level venue in the Financial District, provides an extensive selection of house and classic cocktails, as well as draft beers, Irish whiskey beverages, and non-alcoholic creations. There is some overlap in the food offerings across floors. Sample taproom fare with Irish influences, such as chicken pot pie and Guinness-braised burgers, in the downstairs taproom, and smoked salmon deviled eggs and lamb chops in the upper Parlor Room.

June

Henry Rich and Tom Kearney’s June Wine Bar is only two steps away from street level, but what a difference those two steps make: This is a cozy, evocative room with warm, romantic lighting and a style reminiscent of bygone Paris. Since June is a natural wine bar, you can find numerous options for skin-contact wines or a bottle of Jura wine. Maybe the only drawback is that the extensive wine list may be too much for a beginner to handle, but fortunately, the knowledgeable staff is ready to offer assistance. Before heading out for a heartier meal somewhere, start the evening with one of the menu’s small dishes, such as ricotta toast with lemongrass and tomatoes.

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