Roof Deck
40 bars that New York on Tap listed under “Roof Deck” around 2008, with what's licensed at each address in 2026.
Manhattan
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230 FifthPick
230 5th Ave. · Rose Hill
Still pouring
With a view like this you can forgive all of this roof deck bars flaws.
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60 Thompson St. · SoHo/Little Italy
Still pouring
One of the best rooftops in Manhattan is strictly hotel guests and members only.
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210 W. 55th St. · Midtown West
Closed; now PHD Terrace
The drinks are exorbitant, but the wrap around rooftop view of Manhattan is priceless. Sleek and sexy Ava can be an impressive spot to take out of town guests or a date, but expect the place to be slammed on weekends.
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35 E. 13th St. · Greenwich Village
Still pouring
This tri-level dance and lounge space is mostly remarkable for the disparate crowd it draws. On Thursday nights 2 hours of free booze with no cover brings out scores of boys to the PopRock gay bash, while Mondays are poetry readings and Sunday's are Brit night.
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299 Madison Ave. · Murray Hill
Still pouring
Flowers, stone railings and wrought iron and wicker furniture attract a more conservative crowd than many of the city's other roof decks bars, but at $7 for a Pilsner Urquel it's a veritable roof deck bargain.
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Broadway Bar and Sky Deck (Novotel)
226 W. 52nd St. · Midtown West
Closed; now Beast & Butterflies
The view of Broadway from the 10th floor terrace combined with reasonably priced beers makes up for the fact that the bar itself could best be described as adequate.
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500 E. 30th St. · Rose Hill
Closed; now The Water Club
You can see a different type of New York from this rooftop perch above the Water Club restaurant - a New York that for good or ill feels a lot like the Jersey shore.
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168 Delancey St. · Lower East Side
Still pouring
$7 bottle beers, velvet rope roof access, overrun by UES and BT posers. Whatever appeal this place once had has evaporated.
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236 W. 54th St. · Midtown East
No license found in 2026
Tapas and wine bar with a roof top and a good selection of craft and Belgian beer in bottles.
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554 West 28th Street · Chelsea
Still pouring
Chelsea leather bar with a roof deck and Sunday afternoon BBQ at 5pm.
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268 W. 47th St. · Midtown West
Closed; now Magic Mike Live
The ancient China Club space has received a much needed update. The roof deck formerly known as the Jade Terrace has been rechristened as Eden. The new aesthetic is a duller more professional version of the old, as is the new crowd.
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2867 Broadway · Morningside Heights
Still pouring
Columbia University kids are easily persuaded to leave the comfort of their fraternity and sorrority houses by the swan song of a beautiful glassed in rooftop and liver wrecking $6 margaritas.
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251 W. 48th St. · Midtown West
Closed; now Bar Sprezzatura
This roof deck bar is far enough away from Times Square to lose the view, but close enough to attract a crowd of tourists and midtown middle management. Cocktails start at $16 -- they've got to pay for that ICrave design somehow.
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356 W. 58th St. · Hells Kitchen
Closed
A floor lit from below, tree stump tables, no shortage of pretense, or people who drove to get here.
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Hudson Sky Terrace (Hudson Hotel)
356 W. 58th St · Hells Kitchen
Closed
This Garden of Eden on the 15th floor is open in the summer for hotel guests only, but for the chance to sip a tropical drink in a hammock over midtown it might just be worth trying to sneak in.
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La MarinaPick
348 Dyckman St. · Central Harlem
A different business is licensed at this address: Hudson Crab & Cue
Dancing, live latin music, tiki huts, and a jaw dropping sunset over the hudson. Hard to argue with really.
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641 W. 51st St. · Hells Kitchen
A different business is licensed at this address: Peppermint Hippo
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44 W. 63rd St. · Upper West Side
Still pouring
Take a dip in the heated rooftop pool, and then relax with a cocktail under the retro-cool neon glow of the Empire Hotel sign.
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2 West St. · Financial district
Closed
Relatively small and perhaps a little dull, but the view is neither. Step out on the roof deck and have your breath taken away by one of the best views of the Statue of Liberty to be had this side of the Hudson.
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Roof Club (Grammercy Park Hotel)
2 Lexington Ave. · Grammercy
Closed
This beautiful, elegant space on the roof of the Grammercy Park Hotel feels more like a home in architectural digest than a hotel bar. Hotel guests only.
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1000 5th Ave · Upper East Side
Closed
With free music, a bar, a sculpture garden and awesome views why is it you've never been?
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45 W. 35th St. · Chelsea
Closed; now The Lookup Rooftop Bar
One of the best options in the area - a view of ESB, an outdoor roof deck, and reasonable drinks can make for a pretty nice all around experience in the summer.
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Salon De Ning (Peninsula Hotel)
700 5th Ave. · Midtown West
Same bar, now Pen Top
The roof deck at the Peninula Hotel shoots for 1930's Shanghai decadence and doesn't fall far from the mark. 23rd floor views of midtown and a
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1015 2nd Ave. · Midtown East
No license found in 2026
Every weekend these three floors of utterly bland and unremarkable décor fill with humanity to match. As the owners of these countless collared shirts and water bras attempt to mask their own banality with endless rounds of Apple Pucker and Jack and Coke, neighborhood clinics ready themselves for the deluge to come. If that's your cup of tea may we also recommend Turtle Bay, Naked Lunch , and Depo-Provera .
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Thom's Bar (Thompson Hotel)Pick
60 Thompson St. · SoHo/Little Italy
Closed; now Sloane's
The swank second floor bar of the Thompson Hotel is not the kind of place you want to show up to under dressed - for example just after leaving a wedding.
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411 3rd Ave. · Rose Hill
Closed; now Bella Union
The numbers say it all. 32 Plasma TVs. 3 floors. Top 40 music. And 8 gazillion people jammed in on a Saturday night.
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Top of the Tower (Beekman Tower)
3 Mitchell Pl. · Midtown East
Closed; now Ophelia
Some of the best views to be found anywhere in the city make all other considerations a distant second at this deco piano lounge on the top of the Beekman Tower.
Brooklyn
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289 Kent Ave. · Williamsburg South Side
No license found in 2026
The old truck repair garage for the Domino Sugar Refinery is now a cavernous restaurant, bar and dance space with a massive roof deck.
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249 4th Ave · Gowanus
Closed
Sexy bi-level lesbian bar and dance club from the former owner of Meow Mix.
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MotoPick
394 Broadway · Williamsburg South Side
Closed
A rusted bicycle hanging from a wall serves as the only sign for this hidden bar and café. There are few (perhaps no) more attractive and unique interior spaces in the burrough - an idealized Parisian Café crammed into the narrow corner of a warehouse.
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Rocky Sullivan'sPick
34 Van Dyke St · Red Hook
A different business is licensed at this address: Ad Catering + Events/ Maison Grey/ Bloom & Tonic
For 11 years Rocky Sullivan's was a Grammercy fixture. Now it's moved to this comfortable Red Hook space. Thanks to the craft ale, live music, frequent readings, brick over pizza, and a roof deck it might be even more popular in these new digs than it was in the old ones.
Already closed by 2009
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Boudoir BarPickClosed by 2009
273 Smith St. · Carroll Gardens
A different business is licensed at this address: Zombie Hut
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China ClubClosed by 2009
268 W. 47th St. · Midtown West
Closed; now Magic Mike Live New York
No longer the A-list draw it once was, this opulent to the point of tacky club has become far more fun.
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IkonClosed by 2009
610 W. 56th St. · Hells Kitchen
A different business is licensed at this address: Spectrum Catering And Concessions
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Jade TerraceClosed by 2009
268 W. 47th St. · Midtown West
Closed
The rooftop lounge on the third floor of China Club enjoys great sight lines, and a little less thuggery than can be found below.