Bars near the Empire State Building

A recent addition to 2021’s new rooftop bars and viewstaurants slid in just under this year’s late summer wire. Daintree, on the top floor of midtown’s Hotel Hendricks, is the latest venture from Parched Hospitality, the group behind another recently opened chic rooftop lounge, The Sentry Flatiron, among other NYC venues. And, just like Parched's last opening, Daintree is notable for its Manhattan skyline views.  Take an elevator up to the hotel’s 29th floor and you’ll enter a 180-seat space packed with leafy potted plants, tumbling vines and walls of windows. The flora, color scheme and vistas all bring the outside in, while a 70-seat terrace does the reverse. The south-facing vantage point has a clear line to the Empire State Building with plenty of possible snapshots from myriad angles. Each space has its own full-service bar.  The drink menu is authored by beverage consultants Tristan Brunel and Gates Otsuji, the latter of whom recently spoke with Time Out about the future of drinking in NYC. Martinis take the spotlight, with five options prominently featured (all $18), followed by “Everything Else,” which mostly includes cocktails, but also a dare or two. The “Oh Behave” for example, is a bottle of Champagne, a dozen oysters and a room for the night ($1,000).  Snacks absent propositions include caviar and chips ($48 for 12g), uni deviled eggs ($19) and complimentary chicken salt seaweed popcorn with another winking note to “just ask for more.”  The vibe: Almost like a...

The team behind Dear Irving and Raines Law Room opened the second outpost of the former in midtown. Dear Irving on Hudson is a bi-level cocktail bar that takes up the 40th and 41st floors of the Aliz Hotel in Times Square. While the bustling location is worlds away from the quiet block of Irving Place, the founders are sticking to some familiarities. Most noticeably, a handful of cocktails and a "time travel" theme, with one floor akin to 1960s James Bond and another decked out in Art Deco finishes. The vibe: It feels like a rooftop lounge on top of a schmancy hotel in Times Square, which isn’t a bad thing–it’s just that everything feels highly curated because it is. Different corners each have their own vibe ranging from 70s living room to retrofuturistic afterparty.  The food: The menu is eclectic–lobster guacamole next to steak au poivre next to spiced nuts. All of it tastes nice but none of it stands especially proud. The drink: There’s a small selection of beers and some wines, but this place is all about cocktailing. There’s a big variety on the menu, such as a smokey, spicy Xantolo featuring reposado, mezcal, and spiced pineapple.Time Out tip: The place was designed for you and a date to locate the perfect nook.

Most rooftop bars rely on their expansive vistas to woo the crowds, noting the sky-high vantage as the main attraction. For Magic Hour, the spot from TAO Group that crowns the Moxy Times Square hotel, its view of midtown and the Empire State Building is just a footnote. The team plays up the idea of an “urban amusement park” in its palatial 10,000-square-foot space, with rotating carousel seating, a topiary garden and Foreplay, a putt-putt course filled with animal statues in NSFW positions. In addition to its playfully named cocktails, like All Spice No Drama (Bombay Sapphire, strawberry shrub, allspice dram, rosemary), the bar also serves small plates like duck carnitas tacos.

Only incidentally one of NYC’s latest speakeasy concepts, Nothing Really Matters aims only to be “the best cocktail bar in the universe,” rather than a late-arriving throwback. But it still fits the bill better than many of its contemporaries by virtue of its recessed entrance in a midtown subway station alone. Find your way downtown-bound to see whether the style tracks.  The vibe: Vaporwave. The decor is like a piece of polished obsidian; dark but glistening in all the glowing neon. The back bar looks like a crystal altar.  The food: Chips, nuts, popcorn, olives, and caviar with crem fraiche if you feel like taking that plunge. Pizzas are available to order to the bar Tuesday - Saturday 5pm-11:40pm, but there’s no kitchen. The drink: There’s a few wines and beers, but the name of the game here is inventive, fun, seasonal cocktailing so the menu could be completely different depending on when you read this.  Time Out tip: If it’s busy, don’t ask the bartender to decide which cocktail you should drink–they’re there to make a living, not to please you, so be a grownup and make a decision on your own. If it’s slow, call a liquor and let the bartender do what they do. If you don’t feel like rolling the dice, try Cyllan’s Rum Punch–rum, pineapple, mango, passionfruit–it can get you in some trouble but, if you’re worried, refer to the bar’s name. With Julien Levy

The Art Deco-styled bar and restaurant evokes a bygone era with touches like antique smoked mirrors, intage murals of burlesque dancers and a ceiling covered in Chesterfield-inspired cushions. Some drinks also skew to theme, with recipes from Prohibiton and an entire menu page focused on European-style gin-and-tonic service. If you're more thoroughly mordern, try the signature cocktails made with ingredients like coffee-pecan bitters and tomatillo-infused mescal. The vibe: It almost feels like a beautiful Parisian train concourse bathed in golden light. Downstairs is duskier, tres cool millennial The food: Sort of a gastropub brasserie hodgepodge upstairs. An assemblage of snacks downstairs with some asian inspired dishes. The drink: Upstairs can handle any classic cocktail with aplomb, but they specialize in a variety of Gin and Tonics. Downstairs the drinks are whackier and more nouveau, like the Nighthawk cocktail featuring brown butter, Cynar, and coffee whiskey. Time Out tip: Choose your own adventure, but doing dinner upstairs and then continuing with drinks downstairs feels right.

This boxing-themed dive bar is certainly more colorful than its Times Square brethren: Owner Jimmy Glenn can be found telling tales of his days as a coach at a nearby gym, and mirrors are covered with photos of his right-hook big shots. These days, it’s magazine honchos, not KO kings, who slum it here. The joint ain’t fancy—the full bar is standard, four beers are on tap and there’s soul on the juke—but it covers the basics just fine. The vibe: Divey, with boxing ephemera all over. This is old-school New York–it evokes classic 70s films. The drink: Simple, straightforward. Beers, glasses of wine, mixed drinks from the well. If you want something more involved, the bartender can handle it but this isn’t really the place for that.  Time Out tip: As your coach, We’d advise you to stay nimble; rather than throw haymakers all night, stick and move with a beer and shot, vodka-soda, cider on ice–one-two combos that may not be fancy but get the job done.

The 25th-floor rooftop bar in midtown is dedicated to Elsie de Wolfe, the 20th-century actress, socialite and interior decorator. The team behind the Refinery Hotel decked out the indoor/outdoor space in a glam aesthic of 18th-century French style. Chef David Burke created a menu of elevated American plates, while the cocktails are named after Elsie's tony life (The Windsor, The Colony Club).

At this 54th-floor bar that almost brushes the sky, expect an impressively extensive drinks menu where innovative and classic cocktails take center stage. In fact, the cocktail menu is split into several themed sections, including spiced and shaken, stirred and spirit-forward, bubbles and fizzes, winter in the tropics and more. If you’d rather not partake in the cocktails, Bar 54 also offers beer, wine and spirits with mixers. The bar food menu is concise and includes snacks (olives, nuts), plates for one (burgers, flatbreads) and dishes to share (cheeseboards). Views run from sky to sea and the 1,400-square-foot terrace is outfitted with wood-paneled walls, leather banquettes and outdoor fireplaces.   

A new kind of bar just opened in Greenpoint, where the experience is not just about sipping top-notch cocktails in a well-designed environment, but about listening. Aptly named Eavesdrop, the destination is a 36-seat cocktail and listening bar that seeks to mimic the experience New Yorkers usually have while hanging out in friends' apartments and "taking turns mixing on a cheap controller," says co-founder Dan Wissinger in an official statement about the opening. "We love New York's nightlife, but none of the places we knew replicated that living room," he says. What, exactly, is a listening bar? Although similar spaces first popped up in Japan in the 1950s, they're now found all across the world, boasting high-end audio equipment playing a curated list of records. But the folks at Eavesdrop—where the front is a traditional cocktail bar and the back transforms into a listening space—wanted their project to "extend beyond 'expensive speakers in a bar,'" says designer Danny Taylor of audio consultant service House Under Magic. And so, in additon to a state-of-the-art sound system, the 1,000-square-foot Eavesdrop is a beautifully designed destination that feels welcoming and also happens to serve a delicious food and drink menu. Expect to indulge in small bites inspired by Japanese cuisine (sesame slaw, blistered tomatoes, sticky rice, miso and pepper carrots, among other offerings) and wash them down with natural wines and cocktails like the Moonstruck (Mckenzie empire rye,...

Brothers Martin and Mark Whelan have the luck of the Irish: After success with St. Andrews and Maggie’s Place, they’ve scored 16,000 square feet for their beer theme park, Stout. You can sample 142 beers and devour oysters, or pub grub like shepherd’s pie and fish-and-chips.