A new generation of customers has claimed this swanky Upper East Side bar at the Carlyle as their own, says the New York Post, but if you’re craving Old New York, there’s no better place than Bemelmans no matter your age. The place is known for its great drinks and service in a space with live music and murals by Ludwig Bemelmans. There’s a cover charge that starts at $10 per person. And yes, cocktail prices can tower above $28.

Created by late cocktail visionary Sasha Petraske, Dutch Kills is still one of the top places to go for original cocktails. Request a specialty cocktail based on liquor and taste preferences or order off the menu with cocktails like the Tiger Chilled Coffee, made with rum, cold brew, absinthe, and a float of sweet whipped cream. Upstairs, they more recently added Debbie’s, a live music bar.

Japanese cocktail bar Katana Kitten has two settings depending on the mood: Upstairs is a more open area for sipping cocktails like its Amaretto Sour (rye, amaretto, salted plum, honey, lemon, egg white, red shiso), while downstairs is closer in style to an izakaya. Katana Kitten made a splash in 2018, the year it opened, taking home a title for “best new American bar” and the awards have kept coming.

Paradise Lost achieves the rare thing of being kitschy but having substance to back it up. The interiors are a fever dream for adults who grew up on Rainforest Cafe, with cocktail garnishes and tiki cups. Drinks include Mai Tais, a passionfruit-gin drink that warns “a couple of these and you’ll start seeing little green men!”, and one with Spam-infused mezcal.

This Mexican cocktail bar is run by a former employee of Ghost Donkey, a popular bar in the East Village that closed during the pandemic. The bar stays open until 2 a.m. or later every night with a rowdy crowd that chases mezcal shots with beef consommé. Cocktails, like a green mango martini and a mole Negroni, start at around $20. Make a reservation.

Double Chicken Please, the “number one” bar in the country, comes from Taiwanese bartenders GN Chan and Fay Chen. They serve around a dozen cocktails on tap, plus fried chicken sandwiches, from the front of the bar. The magic happens in the back, where the team reimagines popular foods — cold pizza, a Waldorf salad — as drinks. Cocktails start at around $20.

Sam Ross and Michael McIlroy changed this city’s cocktail scene with Attaboy, where cocktails have been made by request since 2012. Offer up a favorite liquor, or a desired flavor, and out comes the cocktail of your dreams. (Hopefully.) With its dim lighting and intimate vibe, this is a great place to start or end a night, which are also the times when it’s easiest to get a table. More recently, they expanded next door with Good Guy’s, serving aperitivo.

Maison Premiere, Williamsburg’s New Orleans-inspired cocktail bar, still serves up charm all these years later. With all the change in the neighborhood, this bar has remained consistently excellent. It’s lush outdoor patio will open soon, from April until November.

Decorated like a sunken ship, this windowless bar is best on cozy nights. Located a couple of flights above the historic restaurant Gage & Tollner, it functions as spillover seating for those waiting for a reservation, as well as only of the spots for a night cap in Downtown Brooklyn. Its owner St. John Frizell, previously ran one of our other favorite cocktail bars, Fort Defiance (now gone).

Opened in 1951, the Long Island Bar holds court on a prominent corner in Cobble Hill. The bar is now run by Joel Tompkins and Toby Cecchini. (The latter bartender is credited with creating the Cosmopolitan.) It remains a great place to drink, with reasonably priced cocktails, like martinis and gimlets, that don’t need theatrics to impress. The cheeseburger and cheese curds are among the reasons the Long Island Bar has remained popular, straddling bar and restaurant with ease.

Owners Jeremiah Stone and Fabián von Hauske Valtierra, flipped their former tasting menu restaurant Contra into Bar Contra last year, with Dave Arnold, known for experimental Existing Conditions, and Booker and Dax. In addition to expertly crafted cocktails (the Banana Justino is an Arnold classic) find snacks like scallops and stuffed chicken wings. It’s currently a 2025 James Beard semifinalist.