Bars near the Empire State Building

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.

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.”  Daintree is located at 25

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.

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. 

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 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).

This Hell's Kitchen watering hole packs a lot of glittery, pseudo-Victorian personality into a small space. Patrons can sip cocktails off the backs of sexy centaur mannequins, or park at the bar while bopping their heads to tunes from various DJs during weekly theme nights.

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.

Found inside the Moynihan Train Hall of Penn Station, the nation's busiest transit hub, this is the kind of place that makes a long journey home just a little bit easier. A full-service bar, the newly-renovated spot is clad in American walnut and polished bars giving it an upscale feel.  Make your way through the long list of beer, wine, and handcrafted cocktails during your visit. Found across from Madison Square Gardens and Hudson Yards, it's a great place for co-workers, whether you're commuting or heading East to the Hamptons. It's also an ideal meeting spot for sports fans – particularly those cheering on the Knicks and Rangers. To keep you entertained? There's DJ's Wednesday-Thursday and live music every Friday starting at 2pm. It may even make you want to miss your next train....