If you like sunsets, cheap cocktails, and fresh air, you picked a great time to visit New York. Patios and rooftops abound at bars and restaurants throughout the city, opening up in spring to welcome some long-overdue sunshine. The happy hour deals on drinks and snacks make these outdoor options all the more appealing. You might like a harbor view at Boat Basin Cafe, a negroni and celebrity-spotting at Dante, or a luxuriously large patio with ivy at Lavender Lake. Wherever you choose, you’ll be taking full advantage of New York’s warm-weather fun at these outdoor happy hours!
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Boat Basin Cafe
Be warned: Boat Basin Cafe is probably the most popular option on this list. But that’s because the location overlooking the Hudson River mere yards away is just too good to pass up. Expect a crowd pretty much always, but the sunset view will make you forget the five-minute wait at the bar. Although Boat Basin Cafe isn’t yet open for the season (check the website later this month), their happy hour specials in the past have lasted 4-7pm, Monday to Friday, including sangria, beer, and bar bites. W 79th St. at the 79th St. Boat Basin, 212-496-5542, boatbasincafe.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: The Malt House
A dependable option in Greenwich Village, The Malt House has plenty of comfort food at happy hour to go with your brew. Monday to Friday, from 4-7pm, find $5 rosemary fries and wings, $1 oysters, a variety of discounted beers, and $6 cocktails like Moscow mules and sangria. This is a narrow outdoor seating section that fills up quickly in the warm months, but we promise the inside is just as fun! 206 Thompson St., 212-228-7713, themalthousevillage.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: The Stag’s Head
If you’re looking for cheap beer at lunchtime, come to The Stag’s Head in Midtown East, where happy hour starts up at 11am on weekdays and lasts till 7pm. The modestly sized back porch is filled with picnic tables, perfect for you and friends kicking back with $5 craft beers and discounted lunch specials served until 4pm. 252 E 51st St., 212-888-2453, thestagsheadnyc.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Dante
The bartenders at Dante would have you know this: a negroni is a bright-red Italian cocktail made with gin, campari bitters, and sweet vermouth. No one does the negroni better than Dante, a bar in Greenwich Village with an entire page devoted to this signature cocktail on its menu. Be sure to come for #thenegronisessions (i.e. happy hour), where your negroni will be $10, daily from 3-6pm. The “patio” seating is pretty tight at Dante on the thin, crowded sidewalk of MacDougal, but the people-watching makes up for the lack of foot-room. 79-81 MacDougal St., 212-982-5275, dante-nyc.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Dos Caminos
$8 margaritas? Look no further than Dos Caminos, with its five locations throughout the city. Monday through Friday, Dos Caminos holds happy hour from 3-6pm and 9pm to close, and you’d be well-advised to take advantage of the patio while you munch on guacamole and sip your series of margaritas, sangrias, or Tecate. Our personal favorite is the SoHo location, with its sizable, fenced-in patio on Houston, but check out the website for other locations with outdoor seating, including those in Midtown East and the Meatpacking District. SoHo: 475 W Broadway, 212-277-4300, doscaminos.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Bonnie Vee
Bonnie Vee might be one of the better happy hour spots in Manhattan, for the sheer fact of its green-cushioned couches on the patio for ultimate relaxation. Its happy hour is 5-8pm Monday through Friday and includes specialty cocktails and discounted snacks. Have a Yukon Cornelius, a slushie made with bourbon, apple cider, spices and citrus, for $10, or wine for $8. Draft beers are $5, while the chicken tinga tacos are a preposterous $2! This is another popular pick, so slip out of work a few minutes early to grab a couch for the group. 17 Stanton St., 917-639-3352, bonnievee.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Bar Hugo
At the chic rooftop treasure that is Bar Hugo, you’ll find a miraculous happy hour that lasts till 8pm, Monday through Thursday. That gets you $6 beer, $8 house wine (the rosé is fabulous), $9 well drinks, and $10 specialty cocktails. On the patio side, you’ll have a gorgeous view of the Hudson; on the other, a look at the city from 20 floors up. Located in the not-quite-SoHo, not-quite-West-Village neighborhood of Hudson Square, this place has the advantage of less foot traffic, but word has gotten out, so get here as early as you can! 525 Greenwich St, 212-608-4848, hotelhugony.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Rooftop 93
You could spend all evening photographing the sparkling skyline at Rooftop 93—and many do. But before you take a seat on one of the white couches at this nightclub with an open-air patio, have a drink or two from their happy hour menu. You can have a tropical cocktail like the Purple Tide or the Summer Breeze for BOGO (buy one get one) 50% off. They also serve $7 sakes, house cocktails, and popular beers like Brooklyn Lager and Corona. Happy hour is 5-8pm every day! 93 Bowery, 212-966-9033, rooftop93.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Pearl’s
A groovy little spot in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Pearl’s will greet you with a strong Caribbean cocktail and an aqua picnic table for the warm weather. Happy hour is Monday through Friday, 4-7pm, when you can snag an $8 rum punch. That’s lime, rum, bitters, and the fruit juice of your choice! Pearl’s also excels in frozen cocktails and the bake & shark sandwich, a Trinidadian mainstay made with two pieces of flatbread and fried shark in the middle. 178 N 8th St., 929-276-3528, pearlsbakeandshark.com
NYC Happy Hours Outdoors: Lavender Lake
Lavender Lake is everything a Brooklyn bar should be: spacious, relaxed, and equal parts rustic and suave. The back patio is decked with more Brooklyn prerequisites—twinkle lights and ivy—to complete the hang-out-all-night feel. You’ll want to post up from 4-7pm Tuesday through Friday, or anytime Monday, for their happy hour deals. Select drafts are $5, Victory Prima Pils cans are $4, house liquor and select wines are $7, and house cocktails like the Two of Wands (peach and ancho chili and rum) are $12. 383 Carroll St., 347-799-2154, lavenderlake.com
