Editorial
New York bars have a reputation for expense that is partly earned and partly mythology. The $24 cocktail at a Midtown hotel bar is real. So is the $6 draft lager at a Bushwick dive. The city contains both extremes and everything between, and knowing which door to push makes the difference between a $120 night and a $40 night of equivalent quality.
This guide is built around 5 bars across Lower Manhattan and North Brooklyn, all under $10 a drink for their standard offerings, none of them compromising on atmosphere or quality to get there. Our editor James Harlow ran this route twice: once to verify the prices and once to verify the experience. The total spend on both runs came in under $45 including tips.
"The idea that drinking well in New York requires money is a myth that expensive bars benefit from perpetuating. Our editors are here to correct it."
Start at Rudy's in Hell's Kitchen before 7pm. Take the subway (C or E to West 4th, or the 6 to Bleecker) down to Nolita for Genuine Liquorette. Walk 8 minutes east to Barcade on St. Marks. From there, the L train from First Avenue to Bedford Avenue puts you in Williamsburg in 20 minutes. Skinny Dennis is 4 minutes from the Bedford Avenue stop on foot. Pine Box is a 12-minute walk or 1 rideshare stop east.
The full after-work bar scene in New York covers more price-accessible options across all five boroughs. For the broader overview of New York's bar landscape from budget to premium, or to explore the hidden gem bars in New York where price and quality diverge most interestingly, our city guide has both covered.
James covers the American bar scene from a base in New York, with regular trips to Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, and Nashville. He has been writing about bars and spirits for 14 years and believes that a city's best bar is always the one its residents go to on a Tuesday.
One email, every Friday. Our editors’ top bar picks across 60+ cities — places worth the detour.