The 5 Cocktail Bars That Make The Upper East Side Worth Staying Uptown For

Five bars currently define serious drinking on the Upper East Side, and between them they cover just about every register the neighborhood has to offer. Bemelmans Bar, inside The Carlyle at 35 East 76th Street, remains the UES’s unofficial official cocktail bar, its Ludwig Bemelmans murals and nightly piano intact since the 1940s. The Lounge by Casa Tua, part of the newly reborn Surrey at 20 East 76th Street, brought Miami-honed glamour to Madison Avenue and stays open to the public until 2 a.m. Jacques Bar at The Lowell, on East 63rd Street, takes the opposite approach entirely — a hushed, French-Moroccan-inspired room built for conversation rather than spectacle. The Penrose, on Second Avenue, is the neighborhood’s least formal essential, a gastropub built for a spontaneous Tuesday drink. And J.G. Melon, slinging burgers and Bloody Marys from the same Third Avenue corner since 1972, proves that not every essential Upper East Side bar needs to be a cocktail bar at all.

Photo Credit: Durston Saylor/The Carlyle

Bemelmans Bar

The Carlyle, 35 East 76th Street

If the Upper East Side had an official cocktail bar, it would still be Bemelmans. Tucked inside The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel, the legendary room is instantly recognizable thanks to the whimsical Central Park murals painted by Ludwig Bemelmans, creator of Madeline. Add red-jacketed bartenders, nightly piano and late-night jazz, and you’ve got one of those increasingly rare New York experiences that feels glamorous without ever feeling manufactured.

And then, of course, there are the martinis. The current menu goes well beyond the classics, from Madeline’s Vesper with gin, vodka and Cocchi Americano to the savory Gibson with Procera gin, umami bitters, pearl onions and nori dust. But Bemelmans isn’t really about chasing the newest drink on the menu. It’s about ordering something cold and strong, settling beneath those murals and watching one of New York’s great rooms come alive around you.

Come early for something resembling serenity. Come later for the socialites, celebrities, hotel guests and well-dressed New Yorkers who continue to make this one of Manhattan’s great see-and-be-seen rooms.

Haute Living take: some New York institutions survive on nostalgia. Bemelmans remains essential because it’s still genuinely fabulous.

The Lounge by Casa Tua

The Surrey, 20 East 76th Street

The rebirth of The Surrey brought one of the Upper East Side’s most seductive new drinking destinations with it. Discreetly beside the hotel lobby, The Lounge by Casa Tua has the residential ease that defines the Casa Tua universe: intimate, polished and designed to feel less like a hotel bar than the living room of an exceptionally stylish friend. During the day, that means cappuccinos and light bites. At night, the martinis appear and the entire proposition becomes considerably more interesting. The lounge stays open until 2 a.m. and, unlike the private Casa Tua members’ club upstairs, is open to the public.

That’s part of its appeal. Casa Tua brings a little of the brand’s Miami and Aspen social magic to Madison Avenue without trying to transplant either one wholesale. The result feels very Upper East Side: discreet rather than flashy, luxurious without being overly formal, and populated by exactly the sort of people who make you wonder whether you should have dressed slightly better.

Haute Living take: the sexy new UES address that’s already beginning to feel like it has always belonged here.

Photo Credit: The Lowell Hotel

Jacques Bar at The Lowell

The Lowell, 28 East 63rd Street

For those who prefer their luxury considerably quieter, Jacques Bar at The Lowell may be one of the Upper East Side’s most underrated drinking rooms. Inspired by French painter Jacques Majorelle and his legendary Marrakech garden, the intimate bar layers French oak paneling, leather, mirrored cocktail tables and antiqued mirrored ceilings into a space that feels sophisticated without becoming stiff.

This isn’t the place for theatrical cocktails or a scene engineered for Instagram. Jacques is about atmosphere, conversation and the increasingly underrated pleasure of sitting in a beautiful room with a properly made drink. Order a martini, settle into one of the leather seats and appreciate a particular kind of New York luxury: knowing about a place that doesn’t need everyone else to know about it too.

Haute Living take: quiet luxury existed long before it became a hashtag. Jacques is proof.

The Penrose

1590 Second Avenue

Every neighborhood needs a bar that doesn’t require an occasion, and on the Upper East Side, The Penrose has perfected the role. It is decidedly less formal than the hotel bars on this list, and that’s precisely why it belongs here. Warm, lively and seemingly able to work at almost any hour, The Penrose is as appropriate for a spontaneous drink after work as it is for settling in and accidentally staying for several more.

More importantly, the cocktails aren’t an afterthought. The current list moves from a pandan-and-lemongrass milk-washed rum punch to the Slow Jamz with gin, Campari, apricot jam and pineapple gomme, alongside classics including a Dirty Gibson, White Negroni and espresso martini. It isn’t trying to be Bemelmans, nor should it. The Penrose represents the other side of Upper East Side drinking: less polished, more spontaneous and deeply neighborhood-driven. It’s the bar you go to when you don’t particularly want to make a plan — and inevitably end up having a very good night.

Haute Living take: proof that “essential” doesn’t necessarily mean velvet banquettes and a five-star hotel.

J.G. Melon

1291 Third Avenue

J.G. Melon isn’t a cocktail bar in the contemporary sense of the term, and including it anyway is exactly the point. The Third Avenue tavern has been an Upper East Side fixture since 1972, serving generations of New Yorkers in a tiny, unmistakable room of green-and-white checked tablecloths, watermelon artwork and tightly packed tables.

Come for the famous burger if you must, but stay for the particular pleasure of drinking here. This isn’t where you order something smoked beneath a glass cloche or garnished with an elaborate botanical arrangement. Order a Bloody Mary. Order a martini. Order whatever you’ve been ordering for the last 20 years. That’s the beauty of it.

In a city obsessed with whatever opened last week, J.G. Melon’s refusal to become anything other than J.G. Melon feels almost radical. The room is cramped, the pace brisk and the formula largely unchanged — because changing it would miss the point entirely.

Haute Living take: not every great New York drink needs reinvention.

For more on the addresses actually worth your night out, browse Haute Living‘s running guide to the best spots in the cities we cover.