Double Chicken Please

"Double Chicken Please is a cross between a cocktail lounge and restaurant, and, with its sleek wood panelling and moody lighting, it feels pretty upscale. But you can eat dinner here for under $20 per person. This Lower East Side spot specializes in fried chicken sandwiches, all of which cost $16 dollars or less. Sure, the cocktails are mostly $18, but just don't go overboard on those (even though they're worth the price tag). You can sit in the casual bar area up front or book a table in the dining room in the back. Wherever you sit, order the hot honey chicken sandwich." - neha talreja, bryan kim

"Double Chicken Please was considered for Outstanding Bar, but did not move past semifinalist round." - Melissa McCart

"Named North America’s best bar in 2023, Double Chicken Please houses two distinct concepts in one snug space on an industrial-looking stretch of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The walk-in-only front bar is modeled after the neighborhood’s early-20th-century soda shops and serves draft cocktails, called “taptails," as well as the excellent titular fried chicken sandwiches. Seats in the more formal rear bar, The Coop, can be reserved up to six days in advance, and are privy to a menu of pricier, made-to-order cocktails like Mango Sticky Rice, a beautifully balanced combination of Bacardi Reserva Ocho, mango, pu’erh tea, and coconut. The more formal food menu in back includes plates of chicken liver mousse and an array of fried chicken sandwiches, including one on an out-of-this-world spicy mochi donut." - Emily Saladino, Devra Ferst

"Drinking a beet salad-inspired cocktail doesn’t necessarily sound very sexy. But in the back room at Double Chicken Please, the thick, dark pink cocktail, served up with a dollop of yogurt and a singular frond of dill, might be the beginning of a very sexy evening. This Lower East Side Bar has a front area that’s walk-in only, but it’s worth it to make a reservation in the low-lit back room, called The Coop, where you can sit on a banquette and watch a very experienced bartender make you a Cold Pizza cocktail while eating a hot honey fried chicken sandwich. " - bryan kim, neha talreja, sonal shah, willa moore

"The Lower East Side’s Double Chicken Please was ranked No. 1 among North America's 50 Best Bars in 2023, with cocktails on tap." - Laura Begley Bloom