Need access to secret NYC bars/speakeasy. Please hope me.

June 29, 2008 10:54 AM

There are hidden and secret bars in NYC (Manhattan) and there are really secret. Some need phone numbers. I need your help.

There are a couple of bars in NYC that require you to be hip enough to know someone who knows someone who knows their phone number. I won't even mention some of their names....so it doesn't come up on a search.

Essentially, a modern speakeasy.

I'm an occasional NYC visitor; when I'm there, I'd like to take my friends somewhere special (they're all well behaved 30 somethings). I love the idea that there's a secret door, etc.

Except I'm not in the social NYC scene enough (nor are the friends I have there) to get these phone numbers. Can you please hope me?

yes, emailing me via mefi directly is fine if you're uncomfortable posting the number where it can be searched.

Yup I also already know about this prior post.

posted by filmgeek to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

It's not so secret (and is mentioned in the other post), but walking down a hatch in the sidewalk and down an underground alley to get into Back Room is pretty cool.
posted by Frank Grimes at 11:53 AM on June 29, 2008

Just was at the back room this week...really liked it....which makes me want to go to the other ones (one has an unlisted number.)
posted by Towelie at 12:20 PM on June 29, 2008

I no longer have the phone number (honest), but I suggest you start asking around about Milk & Honey.
posted by saladin at 12:51 PM on June 29, 2008

Sigh. Yes, M&T is the one that I was trying not to mention by name.
posted by Towelie at 1:23 PM on June 29, 2008

So secret, in fact, that only 88 people have reviewed Milk & Honey on Yelp.
posted by TryTheTilapia at 2:16 PM on June 29, 2008 [4 favorites]

Either people post the info on the internet and ruin the secrecy of the place, or they privately mefi mail you and this post is of no benefit to anyone else. Hmm.
posted by chelseagirl at 2:19 PM on June 29, 2008

"Secret" bars in NY are poorly kept. Think you're too cool to mention any here? Please. Even Newsday's giving the rundown.

Go to Angel's Share, near St. Mark's (mentioned in that article). It's upstairs, in the back of a Japanese restaurant. The cocktails are meticulously prepared and there's no standing, so be prepared to wait if you're not there early.
posted by mkultra at 4:10 PM on June 29, 2008

Why would a place go to all the trouble of excluding the general public, but still allow a guy like you in? There are obviously all kinds of exclusive clubs in NYC, but a bar that is hard to get into does not a speakeasy make. It just seems to me that any place that would do that is probably putting on some cartoonish airs of exclusivity.

(And please, let's not set such a low bar for "speakeasy" that it can be satisfied simply by not being listed online. Bars existed before the Internet.)
posted by Brian James at 5:20 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

The back room at Crif Dogs on St. Marks. They make a mean manhattan.

Ok, so it's not really secret, but your out-of-town friends will get a kick out of the entrance.

Don't know the Name/Number. How do you get there? Go in to Crif Dogs & look around. Especially at the phone booth.
posted by swngnmonk at 7:11 PM on June 29, 2008

The place in Crif Dogs is PDT.
posted by subtle-t at 8:40 PM on June 29, 2008

There was a website for this, I can't remember it now unfortunately. It mentioned Crif Dogs and Milk and Honey. Anyway.

Ironically enough, a Google search for "Hidden Bars in NYC" turn up:
Lonely Planet BlueList
Media Somehow Can't Stop Finding Hidden Bars
Yelp Hidden Bars New York
Clandestine Bars on Gothamist
From AMNY

Oh, the numbers are on the AMNY article.

And I'm obviously not from New York.
posted by drea at 10:17 PM on June 29, 2008 [1 favorite]

Make a reservation for PDT. It's awesome.
posted by zackola at 6:29 PM on June 30, 2008

If you want to take your friends some place special in NYC, take them to a place that's reliably got good drinks, good service, perhaps relatively reasonable prices, and isn't so pretentious that they're pretending they're secret. The only actual "secret" bars in NYC are people serving drinks at home.
posted by anildash at 11:02 PM on June 30, 2008

Aw fake secret bars are fun. I actually had one on my block, look for the green light by the trashcans etc, and I miss it now that it suddenly vanished.
posted by CunningLinguist at 6:58 PM on July 8, 2008