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I am a true believer in Google Reviews. If enough people say a place sucks, it probably does, and democracy will likely override a harsh critique if unfair. After going to one of the best bars I have ever been to — OKPB in Washington, DC — and noticing its near perfect 4.9 score, I was determined to find something similar in New York.
The experiment was simple. I would turn my after-work meetups into a journalistic quest and have a drink in all the bars in Manhattan with a 4.8 or higher score in Google Reviews. Bars would also need to have 90 or more reviews just to make sure the score was solid. I excluded restaurant bars and wine bars, judging both to be categories of their own. There were only 11 bars that filled my criteria.
When my expedition began, I expected to visit the most trendy, exotic and intimidating bars, but it took three months and more drinks than I needed to discover most of the best-rated bars in Manhattan don’t have the A-lister shine of Superbueno — named North America’s second-best bar in 2024, but rated only 4.2 stars on Google. And they don’t have the views of the sought-after Nubeluz terrace, a Chelsea rooftop with $30 cocktails and 4 Google stars to its name. Instead, they are simple, often dull, neighbourhood bars.
The 11 bars I visited were in some ways quite different. A softly lit place in the East Village that looks like a hole-in-the-wall but serves complex sake-based cocktails. An Irish pub full of office workers in Midtown with the sign “There are no strangers here, just friends you haven’t met.” A funky-looking bar in Chinatown decorated with Christmas lights and customers’ instant photos. If they have roll for their camera, you can add yours, the bartender told me, but they never do.
These are not destination bars, nor are they bars that would grab your attention if just passing by. So, why the stars? Perhaps because most of them are tiny. Intimate. Going in is like entering a private party where everyone knows each other. The majority have just three or four tables beside the bar and couldn’t host more than 30 people. They show how much New Yorkers crave what urbanists call “a third-place experience”: a gathering place within a community, a bar where you run into your neighbours and the bartender knows your name.
Take, for instance, Penny Jo’s, a jazz bar in Harlem that opened in 2019. Harlem has a strong music scene, and many musicians live uptown but commute to Brooklyn for their gigs, Seth Hachen, the bar manager, told me. “Here, they can play in their neighbourhood . . . we have the music and we have the community.”
Or Oh Craft! Beer & Wine. A place so boring-looking that I had never visited despite having lived around the corner for two years. The waiter knew most people by name and when she heard we were hungry she interrupted to point us to the best birria tacos nearby.
The experiment taught me a few lessons. The best-rated places aren’t those beloved by influencers and magazines because high expectations are a recipe for disappointment. And if high expectations equal disappointment, low or non-existent ones can at least equal a pleasant surprise.
Most importantly, the majority of us aren’t looking for a cardamom cocktail, stunning 40-flight view or serendipitous celebrity encounter. Instead, we are often seduced by the comfort and familiarity offered by these 4.8 hidden gems, which might not feel as exciting, but still feel like ours.
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