Cienfuegos

Cienfuegos sat upstairs at 95 Avenue A in the East Village, hidden above a street-level taqueria and reached by a discreet entrance. It traded as a rum bar with a Cuban accent, and for years it was one of the neighbourhood's better-kept secrets. It has since closed for good, and is now listed as closed across Yelp, Foursquare and other guides as of June 2026.

While it ran, it was the room you brought people to surprise them. The climb up the stairs opened onto a candy-pink, tropical space that felt nothing like the street below. UrbanDaddy filed it as a secret rum bar in the East Village, which captures both the draw and the catch. The fun was in the reveal as much as the drink.

Pink walls, tropical touches and a low-lit, hideaway feel once you were up the stairs. It read as a deliberate contrast to the gritty stretch of Avenue A outside, and that contrast was the point. The space leaned theatrical, a small upstairs room dressed to feel like somewhere far from the East Village.

Rum was the whole idea. The bar carried a deep list of bottles and built its name on Cuban-style punches made for sharing across a table. The move was to gather a few people, order a punch and settle in. With the bar now closed, those drinks live on at other rum-leaning and punch-focused rooms nearby, which we have linked below.

For a drink in the same East Village stretch, try Amor y Amargo in New York for a bitters-driven cocktail, Holiday Cocktail Lounge in New York for an old neighbourhood classic, and Please Don't Tell in New York for the city's best-known hidden bar.

Planning a night out? Read our best bars in the East Village guide and our best cocktail bars in New York list. Browse more on the New York cocktail bars hub or find a drink near you at cocktail bars near me.