Our journey to find the most elusive and intriguing bars of the world began with our first trip New York City and stumbling upon an unmarked door with the best craft cocktails inside. The Big Apple is famous for having a growing number of speakeasies and hidden bars. We return every year and yet still have plenty more to visit. Here is a list of places we’ve been, stopped by, and plan on reviewing soon. Enjoy our list of the 12 Best NYC Speakeasy Bars.
1 Le Boudior
Rating 5.0 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
The most seductive speakeasy we’ve found, Le Boudoir cannot be missed in your travels through beautiful New York. Hop the train to Brooklyn and travel through a secret bookcase within the French restaurant upstairs to find Marie Antoinette’s Boudoir below! Highlight: Red crushed velvet everything.
2 Raines Law Room
Rating 4.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
With no reservations accepted, you may have to wait a while to gain entrance to this dark and cozy subterranean establishment. Trust us, it’s worth waiting for, even in the cold. Highlight: Pulling a lamp string for service.
3 Dear Irving
Rating 4.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
Sister bar to Raines, this speakeasy elevates the senses with gorgeous sitting rooms to chose from along with top notch cocktails. This place encourages reservations. Highlight: Dripping crystal curtains.
4 Garfunkel’s
Rating 4.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
The most difficult bar to find, Garfunkel’s is a true hidden oasis. Enter through a restaurant below and enter a cozy living room plush with tiny couches and chairs. This speakeasy also offers High Tea by reservation in the afternoons, a rarity.
5 Little Branch
Rating 4.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
The darkest hidden oasis we’ve had the please of drinking in, this bar deep underground is worth the find for its unique entrance alone. Find it literally on the corner of the host building. Highlight: Peeing by the flickering of one tiny candle.
6 UES.
Rating 3.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
We all scream for ice cream, until we realize we can have booze too! For a wacky Alice in wonderland vibe, check out UES. and all it’s confectionary glory. Highlight: Walking through a wall of ice cream.
7 Garret West
Rating 4.0 / 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
A perfect vintage atmosphere within a wall that looks like a dive bar from the outside. This bar offers two differing sections, the front is full of dark tiny booths for a more intimate experience or go through to the bar at the back for a skylight, dim lighting, and a more casual vibe. The drinks here are subperb, some of the best we’ve ever had.
8 Apotheke
Rating 4.0/ 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
For the chemistry enthusiast, this bar themed after a vintage pharmacy is the coolest. Found on the most famously horrific bend in Chinatown, this “speakeasy” is very popular, loud, and almost club-like. Highlight: The theme (total science nerd).
9 The Back Room
Rating 3.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Oct 2018
Truly prohibition themed, all drinks are searched in oversized tea cups. A spacious speakeasy with multiple tiers of flooring, this place gets crowded on the weekend but feels like a cozy party in someone’s living room. Highlight: The extra creepy entrance.
10 Dutch Kills
Rating 4.5 / 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
A perfect vintage atmosphere within a wall that looks like a dive bar from the outside. This bar offers two differing sections, the front is full of dark tiny booths for a more intimate experience or go through to the bar at the back for a skylight, dim lighting, and a more casual vibe. The drinks here are subperb, some of the best we’ve ever had.
11 Sunshine Laundromat
Rating 4.0 / 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
No frills and no liquor. This bar comes with one of the best entrances, authentic vintage pinball machines line the walls for play, and craft beer lovers can rejoice. This is an altogether different kind of speakeasy, and we were A Ok with that. Definitely swing by for a fun afternoon (and bring cash).
12 Peachy’s
Rating 4.0 / 5.0 | Visited: Sep 2019
A fresh surprise, Peachy’s fills your senses with cherry blossoms and candles in this dark underground lair of Asian comfort. Vibrant and unusual drinks fill their menu as well as fun drinkware like lucky cats and Buddha. Full of neon signs and intriguing décor, this is soon to be an Instagram icon even though there is a strict “no photos” sign.