The 15 Best Cocktail Bars in New York

Why it's here: The most-awarded bar of its generation — twice No.1 on the World's 50 Best — and at 4.7 stars across 8,400+ Google reviews, the public agrees with the judges. What's good: The Irish Coffee downstairs in the Taproom remains the city's benchmark; the Parlor upstairs is where the menu stretches out. Who should go: Everyone — it's the rare world-famous room that still works as a casual pint stop.

Why it's here: 134 Eldridge is the old Milk & Honey address, and Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy kept the no-menu bespoke format the whole world now imitates. What's good: Two adjectives and trust — Ross invented the Penicillin and the Paper Plane, so the improvisation has pedigree. Who should go: Small groups, early or late; walk-ins only, and the door knows when the room is full.

Why it's here: The 1915 caffè reborn as the World's 50 Best No.1 of 2019 — the corner of MacDougal that taught America the negroni hour. What's good: The negroni sessione and the aperitivo menu before 7pm; brunch hours make it the list's best daytime entry. Who should go: Aperitivo people and anyone romancing the Village — book; the corner tables go first.

Why it's here: The most exciting bar of New York's current wave — a fixture in the top tier of the World's 50 Best, at 4.4 across 2,300+ Google reviews. What's good: The Coolhaus — cocktails built like dishes (cold pizza, mango sticky rice) in the back room; fried chicken sandwiches up front. Who should go: The curious — queue early for the front room if you can't get the back-room book.

Why it's here: The 2006 original that codified the modern dark-room cocktail den — 4.5 across 2,000+ Google reviews and a menu that still sets national direction. What's good: Put the book down and give the bartender two adjectives; the seasonal originals outdo the greatest hits. Who should go: Date nights and students of the craft — join the list at opening and take the first seating.

Why it's here: Masahiro Urushido's Japanese-American highball house — a Spirited Award winner for the world's best new bar that settled in as a top-tier mainstay, at 4.5 across 1,100+ Google reviews. What's good: The Toki highball and the Hinoki martini; the boilermakers pair better with the mood than anything fancier. Who should go: Groups that want world-class without whispering — it's the loudest great bar in the Village, joyfully.

Why it's here: A bitters laboratory the size of a kitchen — 4.7 across 900+ Google reviews, the highest score on this list, from a room with no citrus and no apologies. What's good: The Sharpie Mustache, the Black Rock Chiller, and whatever the bartender builds from the amaro wall. Who should go: Spirit-forward drinkers; eight stools, so go off-peak and settle in.

Why it's here: Julie Reiner's Brooklyn parlor — the room that brought pre-Prohibition drinking back to the borough and trained a generation of the city's best, at 4.6 across 1,000+ Google reviews. What's good: The namesake Clover Club, raw-egg silk and raspberry, plus the city's most reliable sour family; weekend brunch cocktails are quietly elite. Who should go: Anyone who thinks Manhattan owns this list — the back room with the fireplace says otherwise.

Why it's here: A New Orleans-leaning oyster-and-absinthe salon with a James Beard medal for its bar program — the most transporting room in the city. What's good: A julep from the dedicated julep menu and a dozen oysters at the marble horseshoe bar; the garden out back in summer. Who should go: Long afternoons sliding into evenings — it rewards the unhurried more than any bar here.

Why it's here: The phone booth in Crif Dogs still works — the 2007 speakeasy that launched a thousand hidden doors and somehow kept its standards while they multiplied. What's good: The Benton's Old Fashioned — bacon-fat-washed bourbon that became a modern classic — with a chili-cheese dog, because contrast is the point. Who should go: First-timers and returners alike; same-day reservations open at 3pm and vanish by 3:05.

Why it's here: Kenta Goto's exacting Lower East Side room — Japanese precision applied to American cocktail culture, with the Sakura Martini as the city's most elegant signature. What's good: The Sakura Martini and the miso wings — the pairing that defines the place; the okonomiyaki rounds out a full evening. Who should go: Quiet-precision drinkers — it's calm, exact and best midweek.

Why it's here: The green neon PSYCHIC sign has marked the door since 2004 — the bar that proved a speakeasy could also be a great late-night restaurant. What's good: The Amelia, the Mata Hari, and the full dinner served until late; the psychic takes walk-ins even when the bar can't. Who should go: Industry workers and night people — it peaks after midnight when the second shift arrives.

Why it's here: A 1950s diner-bar restored rather than themed — Toby Cecchini, inventor of the Cosmopolitan, pours behind the original formica. What's good: The Gimlet — Cecchini's house-made lime cordial rewrote it — and the burger that regulars argue is Brooklyn's best. Who should go: Anyone allergic to speakeasy theatre — bright lights, straight talk, perfect drinks.

Why it's here: A parlor-floor den named for New York's 1896 liquor law — velvet sofas, tin ceilings and call-button service that takes the queue out of ordering. What's good: The Gold Rush and the rotating classics menu; press the bell, order for the sofa, repeat. Who should go: Conversational evenings in fours — it's built for groups the way most cocktail dens aren't.

Why it's here: A MacDougal Street basement holding 4.5 across 1,100+ Google reviews — the neighbourhood's serious-cocktail sleeper under the comedy-club strip. What's good: Inventive seasonal builds at a fair Village price; the wallpaper-and-portrait room earns the lingering. Who should go: Pre- and post-Comedy Cellar crowds who want the night's best drink within a block.

Mace builds its menu around spices sourced worldwide, the work of Nico de Soto and Greg Boehm. The West 8th Street bar has held a place on the World's 50 Best Bars list for years running.

Sip and Guzzle splits over two floors on Cornelia Street from Shingo Gokan and Steve Schneider. Guzzle upstairs runs American classics while Sip downstairs follows a quieter Japanese template.