If there’s anything New Yorkers like better than eating and drinking, it’s doing so on a dime. Just look at our deep affection for boozy bottomless brunch, hole-in-the-wall dive bars., and cheap eats for delicious proof. Here, we've collected the best happy hours NYC has to offer, a crop of top-rate bars offering deals for after-work crowds and beyond.
Discover the absolutely best happy hours in NYC, with food and drinks which boast great vibes and plenty of bang for your buck.
10. Diamond Lil Bar
Weekdays 5-8 pm
Need a quiet oasis to read a book or escape the raucousness of other bars' happy hours? Settle into this tasteful, magical lil Greenpoint drinkery for $7 old-fashioneds, Moscow mules, and espresso martinis.
9. 169 Bar
Daily 11:30am–7:30pm
These days, 169 Bar is packed to the brim with young people looking for a good time. True, the venerable dive has evolved, scene wise, but thankfully, the soul of the space has remained, nor has the dirt-cheap deal of $3 beer-and-shot combos.
8. Bunton’s World Famous
Daily 4-8 pm, weekends Saturday-Sunday 2-7 pm
As it’s owned by Run the Jewels and TV on the Radio collaborator, Kareem Bunton, it's no surprise this Bushwick bar feels musical (it has a ’90s-club vibe). Check out the 1400-square-foot outdoor area and sip $7 frozen drinks any ol' day and $5 beers, $6 wines, and $7 well drinks during the week.
7. Broken Shaker
At the Freehand Hotel's interpretation of their Miami favourite, Broken Shaker offers a reverse happy hour deal featuring a $7 daily punch.
6. El Techo at Llama Inn
Monday and Tuesday 8–10 pm
Llama Inn serves up the best Peruvian bites in New York City. And although it’s been around for a few years now, few know that atop the plant-drizzled restaurant is Llama Inn’s rooftop bar, El Techo. Serving an entirely separate drink and food menu from their downstairs at happy hour you can get buy-one-get-one draft cocktails.
5. Dutch Kills
Daily 5–7 pm
Team Dutch Kills, which lured serious drinkers all the way out to Long Island City, Queens, when its cocktail saloon opened in 2009, opted for a far more bustling backdrop—right off Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue—for its follow-up: But despite such a crushingly hip setting, Richard Boccato and his crew don’t fall prey to the preciousness or pretensions of its Brooklyn-bar brethren. All cocktails are $10 during happy hour.
4. Marlow Bistro
Sunday–Tuesday 4:30–11 pm
At this Upper West Side modern Mediterranean spot, all wine bottles are half off during happy hour.
3. Alameda
Weekdays 5–7 pm
At this romantic cocktail bar, you can get buzzed and fed for just 11 or 12 bucks. Choose a combo like the classic beer and a burger, the fancier boquerones and prosecco, or the oddball sherry and chorizo. Then settle down at a rustic wooden table and get smug when some poor schmoes come in at 7:01 pm and have to pay $13 for chardonnay and $12 for cheese fries.
2. Excuse My French
Mon-Wed 5-8 pm, Thu–Sat 5–7 pm, Sun 2–8 pm
Contrary to what the name might imply, there’s no swearing on the menu at this basement bar from Paris-born chef Johann Giraud and manager-barman Ricardo Valdez, who met while opening the first U.S. outpost of Ladurée in Soho. There are, however, picturesque French cocktails served in a narrow 30-seat space, fitted with blue-and-gold damask wallpaper and budget replicas of famous paintings, alongside traditional small plates, which are steeped in house-made ingredients as well as French history. Except for two-for-one deals on selected drinks, beer, and wine.
1. Fish Cheeks
Weekdays noon–3:45 pm and 5–7 pm
Named after the Asian delicacy, this seafood-forward Thai newcomer is as family-style as it is family-run. Brothers Chat and Ohm Suansilphong (the latter is an alum of Bangkok’s acclaimed Nahm) act as co-chefs, bringing kitchen chops honed under their restaurateur parents in Thailand. At the 58-seat comfort-food spot—designed with colorful scalloped tiles and a shingled outside awning that emulates fish scales—you’ll find a happy hour deal that includes $1 Oysters, $5 beers, $8 wines, and $10 cocktail
