Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

There are lots of great places to get a cocktail in the city. A few to get you started: Pegu Club, Flatiron Lounge, Campbell Apartment, PDT, Death & Co.

@izatryt In Midtown, I've heard good things about the cocktail program at Grayz. The Bar Room at the Modern is also a good choice.

@bklee: if you are looking for well-crafted cocktails with fresh juices, original recipes, and bartenders who can reliably execute the classics, as well as good ambiance, service, and relative quiet, get in line with the rest of us! Just kidding.

The best place to get a seat and be able to enjoy your cocktail seated are also the most difficult to get into because they don't allow standing. Because they don't allow standing, you can actually hear yourself think, but if you arrive at prime time, the waits can be an hour or more. IMO, these would be Milk & Honey, PDT, and Death & Co. Milk & Honey is impossible to get into unless you know the secret contact information to get a reservation and they have a long list of rules that many dislike (no fighting, no name dropping, no play fighting, men cannot talk to ladies without an introduction from the bartender, no hats, no loud talking, exit the bar quietly, etc.)

Angel's Share also doesn't allow standing but the cocktail program there is not as good as PDT and Death & Co. and the Asian bent is not for everyone. PDT takes reservations, but Death & Co does not. However, PDT's reservations are only take at 3pm on the day of, and the bar is always first come, first served. Death & Co is a little bit larger and easier to get into.

You canmore easily walk into Pegu Club, Flatiron Lounge, Campbell Apartment, Tailor, etc. but those places do allow standing. I don't believe any of them take reservations. Of these, I would pick Tailor or Pegu Club on a non-weekend night. Tailor is probably easiest to get into and most civil because the downstairs lounge is relatively empty and quiet Sundays through Wednesdays, especially before 8pm. Pegu Club also has good ambiance but runs a bit touristy due to its reputation and location. Campbell Apartment and Flatiron Lounge are in places where there are a lot of offices and many people duck in for a post-work drink, making it louder and harder to get a seat. It does get rather loud in both of these.

in addition to some of the above recommendations, i also like tillman's (by flatiron) and little branch (village)