From Bemelmans at The Carlyle to the King Cole bar at The St. Regis, there are certain storied cocktail bars that are as beloved as the hotels. In fact, sometimes the ideal way to soak up a hotel’s scene is to order a cocktail at their bar.
Since it opened in the spring of 2022, Laser Wolf in The Hoxton, Williamsburg, has lured a cool crowd—even by Brooklyn standards. Perhaps it’s the view that looks out past the iconic water towers to the glittering Manhattan skyline. Perhaps it's the high wattage crowd—there seems to be a celebrity sighting each week. Perhaps it’s Michael Solomonov’s crowd-pleasing Israeli cuisine. It could be all three, but the restaurant also has one of the most innovative cocktail programs in New York. Try the Sour Patch Kids, a blend of tequila, sour cherry, and lime or Challah-Day Spirit, a concoction of vodka, green apple, walnut liqueur, and lemon.
Although it’s newer, the Swan Room at Nine Orchard on the Lower East Side has become one of the most popular spots to enjoy a properly mixed drink, and for good reason. This grand room used to be a former bank and features vaulted ceilings, crystal chandeliers, fluted columns, and pink marble walls. Tuck yourself into one of the floral-patterned banquettes and order a cocktail from one of the city’s most diverse drinks menus that features everything from light aperitivos and smoky mezcals to aged Japanese whiskies. Then toast to snagging a seat at one of the city’s most glamorous watering holes.
Entering the lobby of the Bowery Bar at The Bowery Hotel in downtown Manhattan feels like stepping on to the set of a vintage noir film— there’s potted plants, massive leather armchairs, a grand fireplace, and even a stack of newspapers to peruse while you wait. The crowd is slick, and the lights are low so it’s the perfect spot to order a martini straight up or one of their signature cocktails like a Bowery 75 with Bombay sapphire, ume, lemon and prosecco.
For more spots on this list, read below.
Hard to believe an architectural gem of the Beekman’s stature went neglected for so many years, but we’re happy to report that it’s back in business, and it’s been put to the best possible use. (We would say that, wouldn’t we?) The Beekman, a Thompson Hotel, to give it its full name, is an Old New York original, an 1881-vintage skyscraper from the days when a skyscraper meant nine stories of terraced red brick. And if the silhouette doesn’t convince you of its landmark status, a glance upwards surely will, as you walk across the towering central atrium with its pyramidal glass skylight.
Bowery Lobby at The Bowery Hotel
From the outside it’s clear enough that the Bowery Hotel is a relatively recent addition to the neighborhood, but what’s inside is such a faithful homage to classic New York you’d be forgiven for starting to think it’s been here forever. Its eclectic, bohemian look helped usher in a new kind of romance in boutique-hotel style, and the timelessness of its aesthetic means the romance is still fresh long after the glossy minimalism of some of its contemporaries has begun to fade.
Guests of Williamsburg's hip Hoxton Hotel who seek to sip a cocktail while enjoying a stunning sunset over Manhattan need to just hop on the elevator and head to the rooftop to reach Laser Wolf. Of course, scoring a reservation at this hot spot is not as easy. Michael Solomonov's and Steve Cook's skewer house is especially buzzy, where lights are strung overhead and trendy music and a bustling open kitchen add to the vibe.
Panorama Room at Graduate New York
The Graduate hotels tend to play an outsized role in the hospitality scenes of the college towns they call home, but this one stretches the traditional definition of “college town” just a bit. Even many New Yorkers are still unaware that Roosevelt Island is home to the Cornell Tech campus, a satellite of the Ithaca-based Ivy League university. Graduate Roosevelt Island is the island’s only hotel, and in typical Graduate style it’s dedicated to the campus that it serves.
Whether or not the phrase Dimes Square means anything to you, you’ll appreciate the mini-neighborhood Nine Orchard calls home. Here, at the east end of Canal Street, where the Lower East Side meets Chinatown, there’s a buzz that’s reminiscent of some of Downtown’s earlier golden ages — and, in Nine Orchard itself, there’s a hotel with enough character and personality to become a proper neighborhood institution.
Titsou at Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York
Hotel Barrière Fouquet’s New York is a combination of two well-loved phrases we never thought we’d see together; the Parisian luxury hotel brand has indeed set up shop in Tribeca, marrying some very French Art Deco–inspired interiors with a post-industrial brick structure that could hardly be more Lower Manhattan. The result, as you might imagine, is a hit in both the fashion and food worlds, and gets to the heart of what people love about both Tribeca and Paris.
Hero Image: Hotel Barrière Fouquet's New York - Titsou Bar
