New York City’s 10 Best Speakeasies

New York City’s 10 Best Speakeasies (5 to 1)

5. The Back Room. 102 Norfolk Street, between Delancey Street & Rivington Street, LES. Serves drinks from teacups and brown paper bags. You need to get into the Back Room from an underground alley entrance. Other speakeasies take pride in the fact they don’t allow people to stand around and keep the crowds small. The Back Room does not endorse this policy and is often packed.

4. Death & Company. 433 E 6th Street, between 1st Avenue & Avenue A, East Village. First come first serve speakeasy. Mahagony wood makes for dark intimate environment. Death & Company is for dates, not groups. Good bar food and large cocktail menu.

3. Angel’s Share. 8 Stuyvesant Street, Greenwich Village. Angel’s Share is a speakeasy lounge that does not allow people to stand around. Bartenders are willing to make off menu drinks unlike many other New York speakeasies. Often a wait.

2. Milk & Honey. 134 Eldridge Street, LES. Milk & Honey opened in 2000 and is one of the best speakeasies in New York City. Entry by appointment or referral only. Drinks are served the exact same way each time down to how many times a drink is shaken or stirred. Drinks are served from freezer chilled glasses and mixers. The juices at the bar are extracted from the original fruit, they never use premade juice. Ice is twice frozen to ensure uniform dense ice.

1. Raines Law Room. 48 W 17th Street, Flatiron District. Ring the bell to call the server at this speakeasy. Intimate settings with large leather chairs and candles. Mixologists make top quality drinks, and my favorite is the Archangel with gin, aperol, cucumber, and lemon.

New York City’s 10 Best Speakeasies (10 to 6)