Exclusive New York City Nightlife: Best Bars & Speakeasies

New York essentially invented the modern speakeasy aesthetic twice — once during actual Prohibition, and again in the mid-2000s, when a wave of hidden-entrance cocktail bars revived the format and, in several cases, went on to change how the rest of the world drinks.

Bemelmans Bar

Inside the Carlyle, detailed in our hotels guide, Bemelmans Bar has operated beneath its 1947 Ludwig Bemelmans murals for nearly eight decades, and remains the single most requested piano bar reservation on the Upper East Side.

PDT (Please Don't Tell)

Opened on 24 May 2007 by Jim Meehan, Brian Shebairo, and Chris Antista, PDT is entered through a vintage phone booth inside Crif Dogs, the East Village hot dog shop next door — a gimmick that became one of the defining images of the 2000s cocktail revival, and earned a James Beard Award for outstanding bar program in 2012.

Employees Only

Tucked behind a working fortune teller's storefront in the West Village since 2004, Employees Only helped define the modern craft cocktail movement from its Art Deco dining room, its bar program going on to win Tales of the Cocktail's Spirited Award for World's Best Cocktail Bar and a top-five ranking on Drinks International's World's 50 Best Bars list.

Bar SixtyFive

On the same 65th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza as the landmark Rainbow Room — now reserved for private events — Bar SixtyFive remains open to the public with an outdoor terrace overlooking the Midtown skyline, the closest most visitors will get to that famous 1934 room's view without an invitation.

Planning a Night Out

PDT and Employees Only both take reservations for their tables, though bar seating is generally first-come; arriving before 9pm improves the odds considerably. Bemelmans charges a music surcharge in the evenings once the piano begins. Bar SixtyFive's terrace is seasonal and weather-dependent, so an indoor backup is worth having.