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New Yorkers love to joke about midtown, but there’s more to the neighborhood than the M&M’s store. It has the lights on Broadway , some of the city’s best restaurants , and plenty of places to drink . And midtown’s best bars go beyond the office happy hour destinations you might expect: You’ll find real deal dives , impressive rooftops and Old New York classics .
If you were just passing through town and only had a couple of hours to lounge, The Campbell (née, The Campbell Apartment) in Grand Central Terminal is one of the finest places to do so. Famously formerly an erstwhile magnate's private office, it became a bar in 1999 with ownership shifts and aesthetic updates in the interim. Its present design highlights include original leaded-glass windows, a lofty hand-painted ceiling and stone fireplace. It has some relatively topical house cocktails (like an espresso martini), but you’ll want to sip the classics here.
Jimmy's Corner has been one of midtown's finest bars since the late boxer Jimmy Glenn first openedhis eponymous spot in 1971. It'ssoakedin boxing memorabilia, skews divey, and remains the top option for a normal bar with real character near Times Square.
Midtown’s greatest Russian bar feels cozy like a private lodge; dimly lit and wood paneled with angles and nooks suitable for canoodling. Vodka infusions line the bar, all available in cocktails or on their own, and you’re likely to catch live piano music on your visit.
One of thefanciestlocales in town, The Modern's Bar Room serves a slightly more approachable iteration of all that pomp. All manner of drinks are on the menu, along with oysters, steak tartare, pasta, fish and chicken.
The coterie of folks who love purportedly hidden and/or speakeasy-themed bars flocked to Nothing Really matters when it opened with a whole bunch of ‘em around early 2022—and this one’s actually good! Enter the downtown-bound 1 train subway station at 50th Street and Broadway, descend the stairs and find it on the right. Every commuter should be so lucky.
New to both the midtown and rooftop bar categories, Daintree has sweeping skyline views featuring the Empire State Building, a dedicated martini menu (along with other cocktails, wine and beer), cozy sofas inside and a roomy terrace outside. It also has a smattering of snacks likeoysters, burgers and harder to findkangaroo skewers.
Times Square is full of advertisements masquerading as attractions, spiders men and jostling crowds, but darn if you don’t have to pass through sometimes. And Dear Irving on Hudson is so nice it’s worth going to Times Square
. The chic, mid-century modern space has new and classic craft cocktails, light bites and dramatic views of NYC from 40 stories in the sky.
If the Hatter (colloquially known as the Mad Hatter) moved to Manhattan and harnessed his love of menacing into the hospitality industry, the resulting operation might look like Ophelia. Everything just seems a little outsized here, including the black and white checkerboard tile floor, high ceilings, geometric windows behind the bar, velvety banquettes and the city view.
As chaotic as Grand Central can be, between its eponymous Oyster Bar and The Campbell it sure boasts a high concentration of iconic NYC destinations. This one first opened in 1913 and still serves all manner of shellfish, cocktails, wine and beer under arching tiled ceilings that mirror the greater terminal’s lovely design.
Well! It seems like speculation about whether Rockefeller Center is/going to be NYC’s latest, greatest food destination has wrapped. It’s mostly pretty okay in there, and that’s just fine! Five Acres, which is also a restaurant, has a verdant, wrap-around bar on 30 Rock’s lower level. Novel, botanically-oriented cocktails join standards, beer and wine. There are also $16 lobster chips if you’re there for a work thing and trying to stay sober-ish, and, I’m not trying to say that I know you, but I bet you won’t run into anyone you know down there, for what i’s worth.
The "& Grill" here is somehow simultaneously an understatement and an overstatement. There is no grill! But there are free hot dogs with every drink, if you wish. With most of the dive’s pints priced at $5 and under, that’s a lot of dogs!
This offshoot of Le Bernardin right across the galleria shares a bit of culinary commonality with that august institution, asthis menu, too, is overseen by chef Eric Ripert.Paircheese and charcuterie, pasta, short rib and a few duck preparations with recommendations from the studiously authored wine list.
Thisplushhotelbar dating back to the 1930s is said to have crafted the earliest version of that present day brunch staple, the bloody Mary. The throwback respite from midtown still has them on the menu, along with most other libations in creation, all in view of its titular royal mural.
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Althoughlast year wrought quite the resurgence , the last of New York City’s real-deal speakeasies ceased operation in 1933. That’s the year prohibition ended, and once that odd bit of wise legislation managed to pass, in spite of hidden entrances, decoys, and hooch-obscuring levers and pulleys, wowie-zowie, all those gin joints turned into bars!
Some of those bars, like 21 Club , remained open in various forms for many more years. Any place popping up in the interim is simply speakeasy-inspired. These newcomers aim to approximate Jazz Age style absent its inconvenient trappings. See, just like we wouldn’t take a suborbital flight and call it space travel, we can’t really say we fully comprehend the sights, smells, tastes and heartbeat of erstwhile speakeasies.
After speakeasies, but with better booze (fewer errant pest particles), improved air quality (no smoking), and modern conveniences like online reservation platforms, air conditioning and mobile payments to follow up with the moochers in the group. Some have circa (19)20s details for days and others would make a dramaturg’s stomach turn, but their semi-hidden entrances, Old New York decor and appearance of exclusivity are almost enough to make us feel like we’re about to light up a Chesterfield, sip some cold clear liquor and–what?–oh, we’ll Venmo you later.
Ironically famed the world over for its concealed location down a few stairs, inside a hotdog shop and through a telephone booth, PDT is a genre classic that first opened in 2007 ahead of NYC’s
Speakeasy-style bar revival. Although, as proprietor Jeff Bell points out, many newly minted drinkers may have never actually used a telephone booth, all the bells and whistles are a reminder of a time when this city really committed to a bit. It's also cozy and comfortable as a rich guy’s hunting lodge, and the are drinks best in class, so prepare to wait for entry. Most nights, it seems like a job for Superman.
Occupying the former Milk and Honey space (which opened on New Years Eve in 1999), there’s now a whole generation of drinkers who could be forgiven for thinking Attaboy has been here forever. Its narrow interior, anchored by a brushed steel bar, is chicly worn, and plenty of old-timey tipples are available. Some still say it’s a little hard to find, so here’s a tip: The address is 134 Eldridge Street, and it reads “AB” on the door.
The late Sasha Petraske’s imprint is all over NYC cocktail culture, and particularly deep in the speakeasy bracket. Attaboy ancestor Milk and Honey, Time Out New York Best of the City award winner Dutch Kills and Little Branch are among his most famed operations. Little Branch first opened beyond a barely there, nondescript (except for the line that often forms outside!) doorway and down a staircase in 2005, and it’s still got top-notch classic and bespoke drinks today.
This is the best of all those self-described speakeasies that have opened in recent months. Its Cortlandt Alley address is genuinely hard to find the first time you try, you must buzz for entry and even then it’s still a few levels below ground. Downstairs, it feels like a private lair with the pulse-quickening promise of intrigue. And, like any proper hideout, it’s almost impossible to get in, but the recent addition of reservations makes planning a little easier, at least.
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.
In theory, you and a companion–yet to be determined friend or foe–will turn up Norfolk street just
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