The 23 best cocktail bars in NYC

A lot of bars try a lot harder to be as casual and comfortable as Long Island Bar. Co-owned by one of the spirits professionals credited with creating the cosmo, it follows that the famed NYC favorite would serve inventive cocktails, which also happen to be good. Classics like the gimlet, up, are great, too, and LIB has even turned that other divisive new/old classic into a fun frozen option for the summer. 

This Smith Street staple first opened in 2008, and a lot of its excellent peers have left the block in the interim. The brunch and apps are good, but it’s fair to bet that the place’s longevity is due to its outstanding drinks. The menu’s a tome and its easy to absorb a too-good namesake Clover Club before you’ve completed the reading. 

Attaboy’s historic address previously housed Milk & Honey, another nouveau speakeasy concept with a truly prudent list of rules, for thirteen years. M&H alums Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy now run the show, 10 years going, staking their claim in the cocktail scene. No more evident by the fact that both the Penicillin and Paper Plane were created within its walls. 

One 2021’s best new restaurants is now joined by this excellent cocktail bar right upstairs. And in a truly weird switcheroo, Sunken Harbor Club hopefuls have even been spotted waiting for entry down at Gage & Tollner—which is also a little tricky to get into. But if you make it upstairs, soak in the nautical decor, the sounds of the ocean and the seafaring cocktails that tie it all together.

Although it had a recent trending moment courtesy of Gen-Z, Bemelmans is quintessential old New York; a world class cocktail bar with a rare, inimitable style. Expensive drinks include the $28 vesper martini, $30 Manhattan and $38 sidecar. Cheap drinks include nothing. 

This is one of the city’s semi-secretly located spots, and one where it is legitimately a little hard to find on your first visit. It's up an exterior staircase on Cortlandt Alley near White Street, past a buzzer and down a few more industrial flights. Inside, the narrow basement space lands exactly on what other recent additions to the genre are aiming to create. It also has a throwback to a more recent trend: "bartender's choice" cocktails. Those and the stony distressed walls, intimate to just-shy of being cramped round tables and live music every night all help make a visit to Saint Tuesday a truly blessed event. 

What first began as a vintage Volkswagen minibus tour around the United States became a brick-and-mortar destination, literally and figuratively, in late 2020. It’s collected a lot of honors, including the number one position on the ‘50 Best’ organization’s list of North America’s finest bars, making reservations key to get in. But if you are a hopeful waiting to snag a table inside, the front bar, The Coop, has plenty of tipples to tease you. 

Everyone who seems to visit Superbueno seems to have a super good time. And they have the accolades to prove it, including top noms from Tales of the Cocktail, The World’s Best 50 Bars North America and a five star rating from your truly. But if awards don't really matter in your wheelhouse, their Vodka Y Soda with an underlying hum of pasilla chiles and the Green Mango Martini with conteño chile oil surely will. 

Now in its third and largest location, the accolade-accruing Mace is still among NYC’s top cocktail contenders. It is also perpetually packed at its bar, standing room tables and in cozy booths throughout the space. Its cocktails are unique, crafted with spices sourced from all over the globe. The Saffron, for example, infuses a sherry blend with that titular ingredient and adds apricot-infused gin and pineapple sage-infused amaro to the mix. Its also been known to make a mean frozen cocktail. 

This carefree restaurant and bar occupies the space held by the beloved dive bar from whence the newcomer gained its name. Milady's 2.0 got a total re-do, and it's still a worthy follow-up for the spot. The glass legend printed on its drink list should become an industry standard, and the cocktails inside the illustrated vessels are top-notch, too. 

Another classic of the yearslong NYC speakeasy concept resurgence, which itself followed the era of actual speakeasies (from when alcohol was banned) by several decades, PDT is perhaps the peak of the form. Especially since its entrance is actually hidden inside a hot dog shop behind a phone booth. Once you make it inside, feel free to admire the taxidermy while you dive into a menu of classics. 

The New York outpost of the famous French drinking den has risen again. Now located underneath La Compagnie Wine Bar, the subterrnean bar is home to French apertifs, a full line up of cocktails and bites that go above bar, like the wagyu bologna sandwich and the wonderfully crispy frog legs. 

The top of the crop of the recent hidden (or at least ostensibly obscured) bars is in the subway station at 50th Street and Broadway. It’s more charming than gimmicky, the bathroom’s neat, bottles behind the bar shine like the skyline and their contents are expertly put to use in fun cocktails. 

This place used to get so packed at primetime that planning it into an evening out required a wish and a prayer and a wad of cash, which was its exclusively accepted method of payment. Today it feels a bit more manageable,  and they take credit cards for cocktails like the rye-based Brooklyn, which gets a kiss of flaming citrus. It also has a pool table and a nice backyard. 

One team is behind the trio of hits at 70 Pine Street that include Crown Shy, Saga and Overstory. The latter is literally above it all up on the Art Deco building’s 64th floor. At $24 a piece, the cocktails are steep, too, but wait ‘til you see the price tag at the restaurant right downstairs. With that elevated perspective drinks with a breathtaking view at Overstory seem like a relative bargain. 

The Jazz Age of Harlem is alive and well at Sugar Monk. Reminiscent of the speakeasies that used to dot the area, the Harlem hideaway has been long known for its housemade amari and botanical infusions, stirred and shaken across its 20-deep cocktail menu. No matter what you order, it is bound to be magical. 

Little Branch opened in 2005 and it was many fedora wearing millennials’ earliest exposure to nouveau speakeasy elements. And it’s still one of NYC’s top options in the category. Its entrance is pretty discrete save for the line that’s been known to form outside, it lies beneath a small triangle-shaped corner building that looks like a garden shed and the cocktails are better than they need to be for the kind of place where people would gather in any case. 

This Williamsburg staple ably splits the difference between neighborhood favorite and destination worth going out of your way for. Its abundant absinthe offerings have also outlasted places that started dabbling with the trend around fifteen years ago, it has an excellent tableside martini service and its lovely garden is among the city’s finest. 

As asserted in the headline, these are only the best of NYC’s cocktail bars. So it follows that this is another Time Out New York Best of the City award winner. The 14-year-old spot pretty much made fancy ice and ‘trust us’ menus a thing on a wider scale in 2009 and it’s remained consistent over the course of its existence with the occasional pivots like the addition of outdoor seating for obvious reasons. 

One must come first to be served first at this 17 year-old NYC cocktail classic. There are no reservations, you see, and the place is pretty famous, so it fills up fast. Its style has speakeasy concept crossover appeal and its meticulous drinks all hover around $20. 

Katana Kitten spans two floors, but both are fairly small and cozy. A main-bar feeling bar and back, skylit seating alcove are up top, and the dim lighting downstairs makes it seem even more intimate. Terrific highballs, signature cocktails, sake, beer and wine are available in either space. 

This had a dedicated hospitality industry following back when it opened in 2004, so you know Employees Only wasn’t pulling any punches. It’s still one of the city’s most venerable drinking institutions, with standout Manhattans and even an espresso martini to appease the trend seekers.

This 19th-century saloon has three levels to explore, but it is unlikely you'll be able to clock all the frames that climb up to the ceiling. But after a few drinks, you can certainly try. Irish coffees made every which way change with the seasons. Newer tipples constantly grace the menu, like the Butternut Squash Margaritas and Fig Newtown Manhattans.