New York cocktail bars

[hairygerbil]

I am taking my adult son to New York in February can you recommend any cocktail bars?

Hi hairygerbil,

Sadly it's a long time since I spent time in NY but I hope someone else will be along soon with some suggestions for you.

Hope you have a brilliant trip in 2027.

Definitely “The Blue Bar” at the Algonquin Hotel near Times Square!

Www.algonquinhotel.com

Dante is one of my favourites

Employees Only in the West Village

Stafili Wine Cafe (wine, not cocktails though). Always have a fabulous time there.

Vintage Green at 303 Lexington for utterly fabulous views

The thing about New York is that sometimes it’s just nice to take a wander and see where you end up - particularly for cocktails. Lots of hotels have fab bars (particularly the smaller boutique hotels). Some will need reservations though.

We found a lovely basement bar just off Times Square with live music, decent food and various drinks, think I was on beer but I’m sure they had cocktails

I think pretty much all bars will serve cocktails. You don't need to go to somewhere specific to have one. Different to the UK in that respect.

Monkey bar - fabulous

Oak room in the plaza hotel if it’s still there. Very iconic.

If you want to try speakeasy-style bars:

Employees Only
Raynes Law Room
Angel’s Share

Some of these you might need to book ahead (or at least if you wanted a guaranteed table).

It’s been a few years since I last went, but my favourite cocktail bar in New York was Death & Co. Lovely food as well as cocktails.

There is no culture of standing in the bar, so if there are no seats they won’t let you in. Lots of cocktail bars do the same, so do book if you can. You can sometimes leave your number at the door and they will call when a space comes free, but there is no guarantee that will work.

Apologies if you already know this and what I am going to say will come across as patronising (but I wish someone had warned me before I first went to NY) -cocktails in America are really strong. I was in no way a lightweight when I used to go to NY, but 2 or 3 was the maximum I could drink. (The beer is very weak by contrast though.)

Also The Weather Room which is the bar at the top of the RCA building. Best views.