Editorial
The best bars williamsburg brooklyn has to offer are spread across 8 distinct blocks on either side of Bedford Ave, and getting to know them requires a willingness to walk. We have been making that walk regularly for years. Williamsburg has been pronounced dead by trend-watchers on at least 3 separate occasions, and it has outlasted all of them. These 10 bars are why.
North Williamsburg remains the core of the neighborhood's bar scene. Bedford Ave has more options per block than almost anywhere else in Brooklyn, and the quality has held up better than the neighborhood's critics would admit.
Williamsburg built its bar culture on craft beer, and that foundation holds. The neighborhood has more genuinely good taprooms per square mile than anywhere else in New York. These are the ones that have earned their place.
South Williamsburg operates differently from the Bedford Ave strip. It runs later, feels less curated, and has some of the best late-night bars in Brooklyn. These four are the ones to know.
Williamsburg delivers more consistently than its reputation suggests. The neighborhood has grown past its craft beer roots into something more interesting: a mix of serious cocktail bars, great rooftops, and late-night spots that keep the borough honest. Maison Premiere is the non-negotiable for anyone who has not been. Hotel Delmano is where you go when you want to feel like an adult. Westlight is how you end a good night.
Walk from the Williamsburg Bridge, stay on or near Bedford Ave, and do not plan past midnight. Everything worth finding is within 8 blocks. If you want to continue south into Park Slope, the bar culture shifts noticeably — more neighbourhood pub, less scene. For the more experimental end of the Brooklyn spectrum, Bushwick is what Williamsburg looked like before it polished itself.
James has been writing about New York bars since 2011. He crossed the bridge to Williamsburg reluctantly in 2013 and has been going back every week since. Maison Premiere is his regular.
Our editors rank the best cocktail bars in Brooklyn, with what to order at each.