Best Martinis in the East Village

The best martini in the East Village depends on the job. One search is for the room that only pours martinis. The other is for a glass that is already cold, tonight, with no reservation needed, and still cold at 1 a.m.

We used the menus and the hours pages that are public now, and we dated the older write-ups when a bar’s own site does not print the drink. The citywide price list, including Hawksmoor’s sub-zero martinis and Canto’s frozen espresso martini, is best martinis in NYC. This page stays in the neighborhood.

At a glance

FKA: is the freezer door, priced, until 4 a.m. Madeline’s Martini is the dedicated martini bar on Avenue C. Sweet Linda and Bateman’s are cocktail bars with martinis on the list, and you will not get a trustworthy number from either homepage.

• Coldest, latest, walk-in: FKA: freezer-door martinis, $28, until 4 a.m.
• The martini bar: Madeline’s Martini, 171 Avenue C
• Cocktail bar on 2nd Avenue: Sweet Linda, 29 Second Avenue, 21+
• Cocktail bar on 6th Street: Bateman’s, until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday

Quick reference: the best martinis in the East Village

Prices are printed where the bar prints them. A blank cell means the public page does not give you a number, and we are not filling it in from a third-party list.

Bar	What you are ordering	Price	The clock
FKA: Formerly Known As	Freezer door: Duke’s Style, Vesper, Fisherman’s	$28	4 p.m. to 4 a.m., every day
Madeline’s Martini	A martini bar on Avenue C	Not on the current public menu	Check Resy; published hours disagree
Sweet Linda	Espresso, pornstar, and a gin-vermouth Purple Rain	Not printed	Hours vary; the site says so
Bateman’s	A cocktail bar on E 6th Street	Menu is an image	Until midnight Sun to Thu, 2 a.m. Fri and Sat

1. FKA: Formerly Known As

Best for: The coldest martini in the East Village, from 4 p.m. until 4 a.m.

The freezer-door martinis are the cold order, and every one is $28. Duke’s Style is named for Dukes in London, the bar that made the straight-from-the-freezer martini famous: Ford’s Gin, Botanist Gin, Tito’s, and Ketel One. Ford’s is a London dry gin built with bartenders. The Botanist is an Islay gin made with 22 botanicals foraged on the island. No vermouth is printed on that line. The Vesper is Ford’s Gin, Tito’s Vodka, Kina L’Aero d’Or, Lillet Blanc, and lemon oil. The Kina is the detail: the Vesper in Casino Royale called for Kina Lillet, which was reformulated decades ago, and Kina L’Aero d’Or brings back the bitter quinine bite. The Fisherman’s Martini is vodka, oyster-shell-infused Lustau Vermut, cucumber water, and pickled shallot. Lustau is a sherry bodega in Jerez, its vermouth is built on sherry, and the oyster shell ties the glass to the raw bar ten feet away. The section sits on the menu under its own name, next to the nitro espresso martini, which is $15 and a different drink. That one is covered in best espresso martinis in the East Village.

Cold, here, means the glass was waiting in the freezer. It does not mean a blender. It pours thick and silky, with no ice melt, into vintage glassware that makes a Tuesday feel like an occasion. If you wanted the slush with mascarpone, that drink is at Canto, at $19, outside this neighborhood, and the citywide page explains the split. If you wanted a martini that hurts your teeth in the first sip and still tastes like gin or vodka, stay on this list.

These sit at the top of our menu. Icon cocktails are $15. All three freezer-door martinis are $28. You are paying for the freezer pour and for a bar that does not change the offer at midnight. The room takes walk-ins, and you can book a table on Toast. It is at 221 2nd Avenue, between 13th and 14th, open 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day. The kitchen does not leave early. The savory pairing is the raw bar: West Robbins oysters are $1, the seasonal East Coast oyster is $2.50. A dozen West Robbins and the Fisherman’s Martini is $40. The vermouth was infused with oyster shell, and the oyster is sitting on the same menu.

• Address: 221 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003
• Price: $28
• Must-order: Duke’s Style for the freezer pour; the Fisherman’s if oysters are coming

2. Madeline’s Martini

Best for: A bar on Avenue C built around martinis

Madeline’s Martini is at 171 Avenue C, also called Loisaida Avenue, at 11th Street. Forbes, on April 24, 2023, described the opening list: the house martini is gin, equal parts sweet and dry vermouth, maraschino, and house bitters. The Dirty Peacock is vodka, dry vermouth, black olive brine, and stuffed olives. Martini by the Sea is mezcal, sea lettuce brine, and bianco vermouth. The Breakfast Martini is black tea gin, lemon, and marmalade. Time Out, three days earlier, said the bar planned frozen bottles in the manner of Dukes in London, and that the menu also held a vesper and a 50/50.

That is a 2023 news account, not a menu we can read tonight. The house site links out to a menu and to Resy, and the menu page does not give up its text to a simple fetch. We are not going to pretend a 2023 price exists. It does not, in the story. If you want the East Village bar whose whole idea is the martini, this is the other door. If you want a printed price and a freezer-door spec before you leave home, ours is the list that publishes both.

Hours are the messy part. Time Out in 2023 said Wednesday to Saturday, 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. Eater’s venue page shows a different split, with Monday and Tuesday closed. Those two reports cannot both be this week’s schedule. Check Resy before you promise anyone Avenue C.

• Address: 171 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009
• Price: Not printed on a page we could read
• Must-order: The house martini, if the 2023 spec is still the one they pour

3. Sweet Linda

Best for: A designed cocktail bar on 2nd Avenue, with martinis among other drinks

Sweet Linda is at 29 Second Avenue. The public menu names the drinks and the build, and it does not name the price. The La Cabra Espresso Martini is Japanese vodka, coffee liqueur, La Cabra espresso, and aged amaro. The Pornstar Martini is vanilla-infused vodka, passion fruit liqueur, and orange cream bitters. Purple Rain is butterfly pea blossom infused gin, dry vermouth, lemon, and lychee. The Matcha-Tini is ceremonial matcha, yuzu, distilled mujen, melon liqueur, and yoko strawberry. Purple Rain is the gin-and-vermouth drink on that card. The espresso and the pornstar are martinis in the wide, sweet sense.

The FAQ says the bar is 21+, reservations go through Resy, and hours move with the day, the season, and private events. They tell you to read the hours page each time. Do that. Two cocktails and small plates is the visit they describe. It is a cocktail bar that glows, a short walk down 2nd Avenue from us, and it is the right room when the martini is one drink inside a longer menu. It is the wrong room when you wanted the price in advance and the freezer door.

• Address: 29 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003
• Price: Not printed
• Must-order: Purple Rain if you want gin and vermouth; the La Cabra if you want coffee

4. Bateman’s

Best for: A cocktail on East 6th Street, with a martini if that is what they are pouring

Bateman’s at 308 E 6th Street calls itself a cozy cocktail bar and prints the hours in text: Monday to Thursday 5 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. The menu page says it is a sample of the most recent menu and shows it as an image, so there is no sentence on the page we can quote for a martini price or a spec. Aggregator sites list numbers. We are leaving those off, because they are not the bar’s page.

Use Bateman’s when you want a cocktail bar that stays open until 2 a.m. on the weekend and you are willing to ask what the martini is. Use FKA: when you want the freezer-door line written down, at $28, on a night that runs past midnight on a weekday. Bateman’s closes at midnight Sunday through Thursday. FKA: is still open. The rooms are doing different jobs.

• Address: 308 E 6th Street, New York, NY 10003
• Price: Not available as text on the menu page
• Must-order: Ask which martini is on the board, then look at the clock

If the cold one is worth leaving the neighborhood

Two rooms outside the East Village own the words people mix up with this search. They are not substitutes for a walk to 2nd Avenue. They are the comparison, so the words stay honest.

Hawksmoor at 109 E 22nd Street prints Sub-Zero Martinis and labels the page a sample. The Hawksmoor Martini is $24: Fords gin, Little City dry vermouth, lemon oil. The venue closes by 11 p.m. Monday to Wednesday and by midnight Thursday to Saturday. Punch, on September 17, 2021, quoted the opening beverage director calling it the coldest martini in New York. The gin in that story is not the gin on the current card. Go for the steakhouse and the sub-zero list. Do not go at 1 a.m.

Canto is the frozen espresso martini, $19, finished with mascarpone and Baileys, at 117 Perry Street and at 2014 Broadway. That is a blended drink. Order it when you wanted the slush. The full price table for both rooms, plus The Dickens and the Ivory Peacock, is on the NYC martini page.

How to choose a martini down here

Four checks, then you can stop reading menus.

Cold means the freezer, unless the menu says frozen. Freezer-door is the word on our menu. Madeline’s, in a 2023 Time Out piece, was planning frozen bottles. Sweet Linda and Bateman’s do not use either word on a page we can quote. A shaken martini can be excellent. It is a different temperature story from a drink that lived in the freezer until you ordered it.

A printed price is part of the decision. $28 and $15 are knowable before you sit down at FKA:. Madeline’s, Sweet Linda, and Bateman’s do not give you that on a stable public menu. If the number matters, start with the page that has one.

The dedicated martini bar and the neighborhood bar are both real. Madeline’s exists to pour this drink, on a side street off Avenue C, with a reservation link. FKA: pours it next to $1 oysters, arcade games, and a kitchen that stays until 4 a.m. Pick the ceremony or pick the night that keeps going. The first-date notes cover the room when the conversation matters as much as the glass. The date-night list is wider than martinis.

After midnight, the list gets short. Bateman’s hits 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sweet Linda will not promise a standing close. Madeline’s hours need a fresh check. The freezer-door martinis at 221 2nd Avenue do not have a weeknight exception.

Come for the cold one. 221 2nd Avenue, $28, until 4 a.m.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best martini in the East Village?

For a cold one you can order from open until close, the freezer-door martinis at FKA: Formerly Known As, 221 2nd Avenue. All three are $28: Duke's Style, the Vesper, and the Fisherman's Martini. The bar and the kitchen run 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. every day, and you walk in. Madeline's Martini at 171 Avenue C is the room that exists only to pour martinis.

What is the coldest martini in the East Village?

The freezer-door list at FKA:. The drinks are kept in the freezer and poured cold. Duke's Style is Ford's Gin, Botanist Gin, Tito's, and Ketel One, at $28. In April 2023, Time Out reported that Madeline's Martini planned frozen bottles in the style of Dukes in London. That was a plan in a news story, not a price on a current menu.

Where can I get a cold martini in the East Village late?

FKA: is open until 4 a.m. every night, and the freezer-door martinis stay on the menu until close. Bateman's, at 308 E 6th Street, runs until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and until midnight the other nights. Sweet Linda tells you to check the hours page because the schedule moves. Madeline's hours on public pages do not agree with each other, so check Resy before you cross town.

How much is a martini at FKA:?

$28, for any of the three freezer-door martinis. The nitro espresso martini is a separate drink at $15. A dozen West Robbins oysters is $12 on top of the Fisherman's, because those oysters are $1.

Is a frozen martini the same as a freezer-door martini?

No. A freezer-door martini is a cold, spirit-forward martini poured from the freezer. A frozen martini, in the way bars like Canto use the word, is a blended drink. Canto's frozen espresso martini is $19 and finished with mascarpone and Baileys, in the West Village and on the Upper West Side. The East Village order, if you want it ice-cold and still a martini, is the freezer door at FKA:.