The 50 best bars in NYC right now

Mace has been a regular on local and international “best of” lists since it first opened in 2015. A later move to West 8th Street gives the perennial fave a little more room for outdoor dining, in addition to a comfortable interior and 27-foot zinc bar. Its record of excellence, combined with a fresh new location helps it land in our top spot. Sip spice and botanical-forward cocktails, or one of the best frozen drinks in town, and see how fast you’ll make Mace your own personal recommendation.

An NYC classic (of somewhat recent origin; Attaboy opened in the famed Milk and Honey space in 2012) untethered from speakeasy-trappings in 2020, this LES cocktail leader was one of a few bars in its genre to demonstrate greatness even absent all the cloak and dagger themes. You can still play prohibition at the steel-brushed bar inside, of course, but it’s no longer necessary with the addition of a patio. 

Occupying a corner spot that operated under the same name for five decades, Long Island Bar comes by its retro-lite ambiance honestly. It has a way of filling up fast, and the addition of outdoor seating hasn't actually eased the crowds that much. But it's worth the wait for best-in-class gimlets and martinis, plus beer, wine and a full menu. 

A canonical NYC destination, Sunny’s still feels serendipitous when you luck into it on a random, meandering afternoon. It has nautical nods, a long bar and booths up front, tables and enough room for twangy live music in the back and a side yard for alternating breaths of fresh air and the opposite of fresh air. There’s a full bar, but they’re particularly adept at making beer here. 

The Central Casting ideal of Old New York, the Carlyle Hotel’s throwback grandeur is juxtaposed with Ludwig Bemelmans’ whimsical original murals here at his namesake bar. It’s as expensive as you’d expect, and the cover charge that starts at $10 after 5:30pm gets you a seat and nothing more, but $21 cocktails like the JFK daiquiri, mezcal martini and Earl Grey-infused Grey Goose with lemon and honey aren’t too much more than you’ll spend in less lovely environs. 

One of Smith Street’s finest since 2008, Clover Club has endured while other beloved restaurants and bars have come and go. This one’s both, plus it’s pretty all around, comfortable and still feels special, whether you’re a regular or coming by for the first time. Its bar’s the best seat on the block, and you’ll need one to peruse the whole novella of a cocktail menu. Or just try the Clover Club. 

Sohui Kim, Ben Schneider and St. John Frizell’s glittering Gage & Tollner revival was one of NYC’s best new restaurants of 2021, and the team follows that smashing success with Sunken Harbor Club upstairs. The permanent addition picks up where Frizell’s weekly parties of the same name left off at Fort Defiance when the Red Hook favorite relocated and then temporarily closed. Sunken Harbor Club’s new forever space has dramatic enchanted shipwreck themes and studied drink menus as deep as the sea.   

Good Judy has been “a home for queers + allies to join together in unity and solidarity” since it opened in July of 2020. Enter through the narrow facade and you’ll find a half-dozen seats at the glossy bar on the main level, a piano lounge upstairs and a patio in the back. 

This Time Out New York Best of the City award winner first opened in Queens in 2009. The ever-popular spot still makes standout cocktails, including the bespoke creations that first put it on the map, in an environment that's relaxed a lot over the years. 

Best New Bar honoree in our 2021 Best of the City Awards, Sidney’s Five is also a terrific full-service restaurant with fantastic charbroiled oysters, andouille corn dogs, fish and chips, burgers and raw bar items. The whole place is great, and its lovely, long bar shines even in the super booze-saturated East Village. Sidle up for a whole dedicated martini menu, plus more cocktails, wine and beer. 

While many of the best views in NYC are free, they’re even better when they come with cocktails. Panorama Room on the 18th floor of the Graduate Roosevelt Island hotel has outstanding vistas of the NYC skyline through its walls of windows and from out on its sweeping terrace. 

A few steps below the sidewalk, Jadis wine bar seems suffused with effortless romance and incidental magic–qualities frequently copied with low, golden lighting schemes and chicly rustic design, but seldom truly captured at quite this pulse-quickening pace. Be careful who you share that carafe with, as it’s easy to get infatuated here. 

Grand Central Terminal itself is rather beautiful, but running its gauntlet always requires a reward. The Campbell, née, The Campbell Apartment, in the building’s southwest corner, is the closest and best place to get one. Once the massive office of the ur-rich NYC finance guy for which it’s twice named, The Campbell’s present form toasts its original leaded-glass windows, soaring hand-painted ceiling and stone fireplace with classic cocktails. This is what all those latter-day speakeasies aspire to without the goofy costuming. 

Expertly shaken and stirred cocktails have been topping 67 Orange Street’s bar and two floors of tables since it first opened uptown in 2008. Slip into the stylish brick-lined space for novel cocktails created by its own bartenders, plus beer, wine and very 2020s hard seltzers. 

The last several months have brought a (re) resurgence of speakeasy concepts to NYC, and Nothing Really Matters is among the best. More incidentally hidden than many ironically more heavily branded bars of the genre, its gently obscured subway platform-adjacent location makes it feel safely ensconced from friends, foes and social media followers, even if it does have a particularly Instagram-worthy bathroom. 

This casual low-rise rooftop is just as enjoyable as some of its sky-high peers. The first come, first sit, second floor fills up fast, however, so dispatch a member of your party to get there early and make sure to reward ‘em with gimlets, old blossom rum lemonades and frozens into the evening. 

This Williamsburg mainstay beloved for its chicly distressed interior and romantic ambiance is best known for its oysters and absinthe. Sip a potent variety of the anise-forward spirit in the lush backyard.

The bar at Contento, one of the best new restaurants of 2021, has enough wines by the glass to keep us coming back, but not so many that we never get around to actually ordering, plus beer, cocktails and a terrific dinner menu. Said bar also has just enough spots to give the full-service restaurant equal drinking and eating crossover destination appeal, and its design keeps people with disabilities front of mind. 

This mildly maritime-esque bar’s menu is frequently updated with themes like CATS!–”not the musical” and Nicholas Cage. This season’s sips nod to the Spice Girls. Gin up your Girl Power with a pisco-based drink by the same name, blanco tequila Wannabe or vodka Zigazigahhh.

Yet another one of the past year’s ubiquitous speakeasy-inspired bars, Saint Tuesday is closer to the archetype than any of the rest. Its Cortlandt Alley entrance is hard enough to find to humble even the most smug among us, and getting to the bar still feels like the Goodfellas Copa shot once you’re through the door. It's also pretty inside with vaguely old-fashioned design, there’s live music every night, the drinks are good and, as of this spring, reservations are available to make getting in a little easier. 

Hovering near the top of special occasion libation destinations, Overstory is also poised among the clouds on the 64th floor of a downtown Art Deco skyscraper. Yes, special occasion is still a euphemism for spendy, and Overstory actually pays off as a ‘worth it’ splurge. Its nicely crafted cocktails are all $24, and the views from its wrap-around terrace approach priceless. 

If you know anything about one of the world's most famous speakeasy-style bars (sip the irony), you know that it is located down a few stairs, inside Crif Dogs, and beyond a phone booth that longtime bartender and present owner Jeff Bell recently pointed out may be unrecognizable to the newest generation of drinkers. After years underground, PDT expanded with the outdoor addition of PDT Tropicale last spring. 

Is seasonally-open Pilot, docked at the south end of Brooklyn Bridge Park, a bittersweet reminder that all things are as ephemeral as a warm breeze on a summer day? Sure, but it is also simply more practical to operate during the temperate months, which happen to be at their peak at this very moment. Board before it closes for the season on October 30 for drinks, raw bar items, views and vibes that make you feel like the world is your . . . you know. 

Visit the beautiful Bar Room in the historic Beekman Hotel for high-key romance that really wows. The soaring atrium locale is ornate from its soaring ceiling down to the bar, which is topped with martinis and all manner of other classic and creative cocktails. Tables, armchairs and large booths populate the rest of the space, should you wish to sink in a little longer. 

This woman-owned brewery opened its first taproom in Williamsburg in March of 2021, followed by a second this June. In addition to refreshing, fruit-forward beer and seasonal suds, cocktails, wine, and snacks are also on the menu. Sit inside our out, grab a draft and pick up some canned beer to go when it's time to say goodnight. 

This three-year-old bar in Greenwich Village was recently named the tenth best in the world, making it NYC’s highest-ranking contender. See what the buzz is about over highballs, carefully crafted signature cocktails, boilermakers, sake, beer and wine across Katana Kitten’s two stylish floors. Skewers and small plates are available to pair. 

Fantastic Manhatta is back after a pandemic hibernation, with the same sensational 60th floor view visitors first flocked for. It also recently launched its new chef's new menu, just in time for fall. 

Smith Street’s designation as an eating and drinking destination has ebbed and flowed over the years, but Brooklyn Social has held steady as a prime cocktail spot since 2004. It seems to have settled out of its once impossibly crowded state, but we’re always looking over our shoulder for the masses to return to its low key bar, flock around its backroom pool table and fill up its hidden patio once more. 

Aptly named Old Town has occupied its ever-changing neighborhood a block above Union Square since 1892.  It was possibly pushed into actual speakeasy status during prohibition, but the bar does not dine out on that confoundingly popular designation today. Instead, the large-but-easily-crowded staple’s neon sign beckons all for beer and all the other expected beverages, plus bar food. It's also one of the easiest hangouts in the retail-saturated Union Square area. 

First opened in the earlier years of NYC’s great cocktail resurgence, Death & Co. is still a top pick for booze devotees who take their spirits seriously. Seating is first come, first served in its effortlessly glamorous space, so prepare to break a sweat if you’re trying to nab a spot at peak imbibing times. 

A real-deal dive bar in an area less and less hospitable to the genre, Montero’s a grizzled old charmer decked out in the seafaring accoutrement you’d expect from a spot that got its start serving sailors so many years ago. Today, it lights up on karaoke nights when visitors belt out PBR-emboldened versions of former and current hits. 

No dearly departed hares here: the Dead Rabbit has been one of NYC's most award-winning locales since it first opened in the sometimes sleepy Financial District in 2013. The place still gets packed for terrific food and drinks, including a best in class Irish coffee. 

An ideal neighborhood go-to now in its second decade, Sweet Afton must be doing something right. The beer, wine, cocktails and weekday happy hour where some of the above are priced from $5-$13 are a good start, and the roomy indoor and back patio seating areas don’t hurt, either. 

Not to be confused with similarly named establishments around town, Russian Vodka Room’s stout 52nd Street exterior opens to a long piano bar and dining room filled with vodka infusions, occasional live piano tunes and a full menu including pâté, salmon roe, caviar, schnitzel and stroganoff. It's an old favorite with a lot of character, seemingly impervious to Times Square’s chain-creep. 

The team behind Dear Irving added a second outpost on the 40th and 41st floors of the Aliz Hotel in Times Square in 2019. Its high design is a little 60s-era James Bond and a little Art Deco, and -on Hudson serves some of the best cocktails in an area where venues often skate by on simply existing. 

Bartenders at this cool downstairs bar serve fantastic sips in such unlikely vessels as upturned “lightbulbs,” honey bears and even glowing approximations of lava lamps. Retro tunes and amber hues play off of wood paneling and beaded curtains inside, and there’s a dreamy, vine-lined garden out back. 

As evidenced by La Noxe’s popularity, the New York City subway system sure does drive people to drink. This subterranean destination is adjacent to the 1 train in the 28th Street station. When traveling above ground, try your luck at the bell at 162 West 28th Street; you’ll need all the good fortune you can get for a shot at sampling the buzzy spot’s exclusive libations.  

Historic Julius’s autobiographical headline is “New York’s oldest gay bar and Greenwich Village’s oldest bar.” Today, the small, iconic spot hosts parties, events and a happy hour weekdays from 5pm to 7pm. It's also known for its burgers, available in a few varieties, plus sandwiches, classic sides and bar snacks. 

Dating back to 1762, Fraunces Tavern doesn’t look a day over 260. In addition to modern conveniences like indoor plumbing, its distinct spaces serve as a one-stop-shop for a few different photo-ops: grab a beer at the main bar, sip Brenne beside the fireplace in the whiskey room or head up to the landmarked building's latest concept, its new, second floor piano bar. 

One of the oldest bars in New York City, McSorley’s Old Ale House has the sawdust on the floor and dusty aged curios to prove it. The prices seem suspended in time, too: Dark or light ales are $6 per pair of half pints. Yes, you must choose from just two beers, and your one [1] order is served in two [2] mugs. Most of McSorley’s food (sandwiches, burgers, dogs) is under $10. 

This exemplar cocktailer in a historic clock tower that was once a piano factory where portraits of long-ago luminaries presently line the walls sure checks a lot of boxes. Fill in the rest over Champagne Charlies, made with gin or vodka, honey, passionfruit, lemon juice and prosecco and served in a coupe. 

The crowds that started filing into Leyenda for Best American Bartender Ivy Mix’s “pan-Latin inspired” cocktails when it first opened in 2015 have seldom slowed since then. Though it’s roomy, the Smith Street space, where candle light flickers off a tin ceiling, fills up quick for freshly shaken and draft drinks. 

One of NYC’s latest viewstaurants (that is, restaurants with a view) opened on the sixth floor of Williamsburg’s Wythe hotel last summer. In addition to its lovely vistas, Bar Blondeau has small plates, plus lots of beer, wine and cocktails to choose from, including more low- and no-alcohol options than you’ll see elsewhere. 

Pegu Club alum Kenta Goto’s polished black-and-gold venture is nicely secluded from the chaos of nearby Houston Street. Expert cocktails are joined by many Japanese whisky varieties and a brief but satisfying snack menu. 

The team behind Harlem’s popular ramen destination ROKC (where drinks quickly became the main attraction) was at it again at the end of 2019 when they opened NR on East 75th Street. Super-simply named cocktails betray their show-stealing presentation: the mezcal-based Grapefruit is literally smoking, the tequila Cucumber is served in a green bell pepper, and the Pineapple + Passionfruit with rum is on fire.

Tacky-chic glamour gilds this 70s casino-style bar. It also has very modern-day Greenpoint elements like a backyard, pool table and, of course, booze. 

This decades-old East Village mainstay—said to have hosted Frank Sinatra, Allen Ginsberg and Joey Ramone—is a welcome anomaly in a city with so much turnover. And though the place has been polished in more recent years—duct-taped booths traded for green banquettes, neon beer signs for gilded sconces—its charm never dulled.

Evil Twin's novel suds are beloved by craft beer devotees who got a brewery, nicely-sized taproom and adjacent, roomy outdoor space to sip the stuff back in 2019. 

Helmed by beloved neighborhood fixture Lucy herself, Lucy’s is best experienced in the lively evening hours. After dark, locals shoot pool on two worn tables and choose tunes from a jukebox that includes Paul Stanley and polka king Stan Yankovic. Plan to pay cash for your beer and shots. 

You'll need to act fast to nab a seat at the short, cinematic and dramaticly lit bar that sets the stage for NYC's most romantic new restaurant. Or just grab a spot elsewhere in the long dining room, where excellently inventive cocktails are paired with great Szechuan tapas.