Ten Degrees Bar opened on St Marks Place in 2008 and has, since then, outlived almost every other tenant on the block. The room runs as a wine lounge with a low-key cocktail programme on the side, and the format has not changed in 15 years: 40 wines by the glass, four cheese boards, dim candle-lit banquettes, and an extended late close on weekends.
The bar attracts a steady East Village crowd of long-time residents and a slow trickle of NYU graduate students who treat it as a Sunday-evening reset. Vinepair's 2022 New York wine bar guide called it "the bar your East Village friend has been recommending for a decade," which captures its place in the neighbourhood map: it does not chase trends.
A narrow front room with red banquettes and low candle lighting, a back room that opens around 7pm with a similar setup. The bar itself seats four. Time Out described the lighting level as "deliberately too dim to read the menu," which is the design intent; bartenders walk diners through the list rather than handing it over.
Order a glass of the Sicilian Nerello Mascalese ($11) and the cheese board with the manchego and the truffle honey ($24). The cocktail list is short — four classics, rotated seasonally — and the negroni ($13) is the one to take; regulars on r/AskNYC consistently flag the spirits programme as competent but not the reason to come. Skip the espresso martini per recurring Google review complaints.
Mostly East Village residents and small date-night groups; the room rarely gets to a roar even on weekends. Eater NY's 2023 East Village late-night roundup noted the bar's strength is "refusing to become a club after midnight," and that the Thursday 4am close attracts a quieter crowd than the surrounding cocktail rooms.