The Handy Liquor Bar

We went for pre dinner drinks before the velvet rope. Really cool ambience and good service but the cocktails are WAY overpriced for what they are and they really aren’t that good.
I’d go back if I was looking to have one drink only and would probably have a beer. The space is very cool and worth the premium.

I don’t even know where to begin as EVERYTHING is perfect about this bar! My girlfriends and I came in this past weekend simply looking for drinks, but what we got was so much more. Our bartender, Courtney, was hands down the best bartender I’ve ever had. She was SO friendly and knowledgable to a point where she was the highlight on our trip to NYC. When we sat down in the beautifully decorated bar, Courtney offered us a sample of a custom craft cocktail she was working on for a competition. It was the most refreshing yet smooth cocktail I’ve ever sipped. Our experience only got better from there. Our first round of drinks were all off of the menu, however, Courtney added her own touch to the already creative, unique cocktails. Our second round of drinks were custom cocktails based on flavors we told Courtney we were in the mood for. It was my friend’s birthday and she even managed to put a candle on the glass of a drink.
Courtney deserves a huge amount of recognition as she is not only a talented mixologist, but one of the friendliest, most welcoming waitstaff in the industry. This is a bar that I will visit every time I’m in NYC.
Thank you for making my friend’s birthday so special!

This place feels like a speakeasy. Great drinks and barmaid ! I really liked the vibe and the music.

i rate this bar an overall 3… 4 for ambiance, and 2 for cocktails. THe décor and vibe are awesome — like having a swanky cocktail it the swankiest, most luxurious library you’ve ever seen. Good music, cool kids, busy, but not overcrowded.
Sadly, the cocktails — while priced swanky — tasted like crap. Bad enough that I actually returned mine in favour of wine. For a cocktail bar to make a cocktail that tasted so bad, I couldn’t trust that the bartender knew how to make a good one. Hopefully just a bad night.

I’ve been here several times, but last night was really strange and disappointing. I ordered a Sazerac and when it arrived, it barely covered the bottom of the glass, room temperature, rimmed with sugar. I thought it was a mistake because I’ve had plenty of Sazeracs, including at Handy, but never one so tiny, less than an ounce total. The bartender and waitress told me that’s how they do it there. Sorry, that’s not how you do a Sazerac anywhere. I finished it in two tiny sips, paid $ 15 and left. What’s going on, Handy? Really disappointing.

Last night I happened to walk across this semi-​hidden gem (thanks Unilocal for helping so much with finding crazy and amazing spots like this one)! I was having a pretty hard week at work and stress levels were at all time high. I was feeling in the mood of sipping on a unique cocktail and hoping that I would find an amazing bartender/​mixologist that would just totally get and make for me a unique drink that would blow me away, and possibly make me want more. I thought to myself, well, this is a hard and difficult thing, I have a list of favorite places already, but I wanted to try something new, refreshing, sexy, not too crowded, chill and laid black but with class, sophisticated… Yeah, it was a long list of weird feelings and desires of how I wanted my night to end… I started off at a friendly nearby bar but I knew that I would have to do a long search to find what I was looking for… and 2 minutes after searching «cocktails», it was like Unilocal knew exactly what I needed. first spot to come up was The Handy Liquor Bar.
The pictures alone looked amazing enough where I immediately decided, this would be my next spot! When walking by, I did not see a sign anywhere outside, in fact, I passed the establishment without knowing and entered a restaurant to ask if they knew if this place actually existed or closed. Turns out, as I was asking the coat check/​bouncer guy, he smiled and said, you are here, behind the coat check was red velvet rope that lead to stairs that would take me down to the speak-​easy-​ish bar. It was gorgeous, it was everything I was looking for, slightly dark, with jazzy and feel good mellow music in the background, baby grand piano in a corner, fireplace, leather seating, full cocktail bar, great looking staff (not that it’s a necessity, but just want to give props to the great looking and amazingly welcoming staff). Our bartender (who I nicknamed Jay), was super helpful and made for me 5 star drinks as I mentioned the profile of flavors I liked and did not enjoy. I mean, I usually have a hard time telling someone that what they made was bad as I appreciate them being adventurous and I hate seeing alcohol go to waste, but there was no need to even try to like them, I absolutely loved them!
My first drink was tequila with green chartreuse, lime, agave, jalapeño and grapefruit. My second drink was a more citrusy tequila drink and my final was a bit more berry driven! They were all off the menu, so no names, but I can easily call them Mystic Jay, Citrus Jay, and Berry-​Jay!
Just when I thought it could not get any better, I asked for a suggestion to have a bar bite and Jay recommended The Black Truffle Toast which had a warm melted French gruyère which basically just sipped through the crunchy yet soft toast. This was Heaven!!!
When I asked, apparently, Monday to Wednesday are the more chill days, starting Thursdays and onward, the bar gets pretty crowded and a bit more difficult to actually relax. They also have one day where it’s karaōke… I love karaōke, but I am so happy that Wednesday was not that day, as I was in the mood to sit and have small talk over great cocktails and that is exactly what The Handy Liquor Bar delivered! This is a favorite in my books! Another very interesting thing to note about The Handy is that it’s sort of the most classiest bachelor’s basement with the dark character yet sophisticated charm which includes chess table and other games to enjoy while sipping your cocktails and looking classy as heck (insert another four letter word here)!!
Amazing space, great atmosphere, amazing staff, great list of drinks and ability to create your own! One thing I like to include at the end of my reviews is if this is a first, second or third date type place. To be very honest, you might like this place so much, you will only want to invite real potential suitors for yourself or people you really want to impress with the character and ensure they know that there is more to you than meets the eye! If you don’t mind running into past dates gone wrong after you introduced them to this place, then I would say this is definitely a first date type spot, perfect for talking, getting to know each other next to the fireplace or playing a table game in a sexy environment! This place is for charmers and will definitely become your next favorite spot!

My first time here during the fall was a great experience. I love martinis. During a recent experience, the bar apparently now pours more vermouth then gin, which is incorrect while charging 15 plus for this beverage. This is unacceptable for the price charge and for the principle of the matter. I do not recommend this place. I also witnessed the bartender stirring drinks with her finger.

It’s a pretty awesome place. It’s small and located in the basement, but the music is cool and the chill loungy vibe is pretty unique in an old-​school kind of way. The drinks are strong, although at New York prices $ 15 – 20. We got one of the booths in the corner, so it was very private. It’s a perfect pre-​club kind of place. Coat check is at the door.
I usually have my vodka Red Bull, but I asked them to do something unique to it, so they added a splash of pineapple juice and something else. It was delicious!

Good dranks. Good service. Good place to take a date. I’ll be back for more.

I came here on a first date on Monday or Tuesday I think and there were only about 10 people there, plenty of room. The bartender was friendly and gave advice on their *incredible* Old Fashions. We hung out on the couches and ordered food, also delicious. Great first date spot as they have games to play. Later on there was live music which was also great, would definitely stay for that another time.

Incredibly over priced drinks. I would have enjoyed my drink if I didn’t constantly have fruit flies flying in my face. (I saw at the bar) there are ways to avoid this problem and it costs about $ 2.
So. Many. Flies.
A lot of side conversation, my empty glass sat on the bar for about 10 mins before they offered me another one. The staff here was average. They didn’t make me feel welcome at all.
They give you the check in a box here. I feel it’s appropriate. It’s actually more like a coffin because it’s a great place to see your money die.

5 star on appearance and vibe alone. 4 star on drinks. I think they are good. I wish the menu was a little more complex. Negronis and old fashions. Of course they had the seasonal menu, but it was all very light looking.

Yeah, I came here once and it was swell (My bartender upstairs was awesome and the drinks were great) but if I remember well the downstairs drinks weren’t that impressive. Regardless, I thought they were fun (upstairs) so I thought I’d come back again.
So I tried to come back again with friends on a rainy Thursday night (as a second stop, after being treated like VIPs at the fancy cocktail bar BFlat). The upstairs was closed down but the downstairs (which is The Handy Bar) was still open. However, just as we were going to go downstairs the guy at the door stops us because my designer friend was wearing shorts. Excuse me? I, being indignant, walked downstairs and found that some guy at the bar (apparently the owner says the door man?) was actually in shorts himself. I pointed this out to the door guy, who said he was just following orders. I laughed and told him their attitude is going to push themselves out of business. Hahaha! Never going back again! I don’t understand this new level of insecurity and need for overcompensation: the place isn’t fancy and they’re just pissing off clientele.
P. S. And from what I saw… it was really empty downstairs. Pretentious weirdos…

This underground place is weird. The bartender was a jerk and acted like he had better things to do than ask what’d I’d like to drink, such as talking to a server. I was one of 5 people at the bar and it wasn’t busy. After over 20 minutes (i was a server for 8 years, I know what 20 minutes is) I asked the host could he make me a drink. On the other hand the décor/​overall ambience was nice and intimate. I definitely wouldn’t go back here. If you’re looking for a place to go with your classy girlfriends, don’t go here.

3 ½ stars. I liked the liquor bar. I would definitely go back. Intended on going to the burger bar upstairs but it’s really small so our larger group headed downstairs for a cocktail. The small plates of avocado toast and hummus were much better than I had anticipated. The cocktails were strong and smooth with gorgeous garnishes and a couple are even served out of measuring beakers! They offer board games of all sorts which makes this soho old library looking bar seem nerdier and more casual than uptight. I docked stars because the waitress had no idea what she was doing. It was the middle of the day, we were the only table in house, and she couldn’t keep up. While she was very pretty, shouldn’t she know what kind of liquor is in a mint juliep? Or what gins they stock?

I never give reviews, but I really had to if I’m going to call myself a socially conscious person. The bar is cool; décor, nice; wait staff, friendly; however, I felt like I was transported in time to an era we’d rather forget due to this establishment having a bathroom attendant who simply opened the door for guests.
Can you not give this person a more dignifying job?! I don’t want him to lose his job, but making sure the bathrooms are cleanly should be divided equally amongst the wait staff. And it’s not like other bathroom attendants who have a place to sit in a larger bathroom area. This person is squeezed between two doors in a dark corner in the back of a bar room! Doesn’t anyone object? For this reason, I would not go back unless they email me telling me that this person was given a more dignifying job. For shame!

On a whim my friend and I found ourselves at the Handy Liquor Bar. We came in right as they were opening. The staff was attentive, even though they were busy prepping for a private party, and very knowledgeable. Not to play favorites (come on… this is Unilocal… that’s what we are really here to do, right?) but Eli was a great bartender! He made us cocktails– I had The Smalls Gimlet (very tasty) and my friend had the Drugstore Cowboy (sooooo delicious– usually made with pineapple but because they hadn’t prepared the fresh juice yet Eli substituted peach in, which was amazing– very cool Eli thought on his toes!) Then we both asked Eli to go wild and make us a drink– mine with gin (81^st Amendment– also great) and my friend got another drink… which I have no clue what it was… THE DRINKS WERE STRONG OKAY!
Eli also recommended other bars that the staff go to around the area which was very kind.
TL;DR — Drinks are fantastic, strong and a little pricey but worth it. Service was phenomenal; the staff seem to be a group of friends and they appeared to be having a good time. Staff happy = customers happy.

This review is just for the downstairs bar.
Tried two of their old fashioneds which were good but the overall experience is, well, confusing.
Looks like a library in a nice house (think «leather bound books») and one of the couches had a giant teddy bear you could snuggle with but they were setting up for live music or a DJ. The space seemed pretty small for such a performance. Plus, they had a basketball game on the projection screen on the stage. Maybe it would be a good place to rent out to watch (insert major sporting event here)? It’s also a bit crowded near the WC with a bathroom attendant and a big old jukebox…
This space appears to be cursed (something like 3 different concepts in the last 4 years). Drinks were good, but this place needs choose one vibe and run with it.

I love the vibe in this place. It’s a wonderful throwback to a classier time, with bookshelves and a fireplace complete with a hearth. The seating is comfortable and cozy. I’d greatly recommend this place for an after dinner refreshment with intimate conversation.
The cocktail selection is among the best I’ve seen downtown. There is live music here frequently that adds tremendous value to the ambiance. The staff is friendly and attentive, and I’ll be having this place in my lineup of cocktail lounges to take friends and visitors.
The only drawback, I’d say, is that it’s in less favorable location. Nonetheless, it’s worth the easy trek and you’ll feel right at home at The Handy Liquor Bar.

Get to the Chase:
Pros:
1) Went downstairs for the bar, and it was very well-​kept, not too busy or crowded
2) Great vibes (very Mad Men style)
3) Jukebox
4) Can book tables and have your own customized drink menu for special events (though not sure of the price as it was a friend’s event)
5) Waitress, Petra, I believe was an absolute trooper and super fun! Although she didn’t drink she was game to have shots of water with my friends and I. She made sure we all had drinks, cups, shot glasses, and seating.
6) Bartenders did not ignore you, like most other bars, and have great mixed specialty cocktails
Cons:
1) Could be good or bad, but appeals to a more mature crowd (not the young rambunctious early 20-​somethings)