15 Best NYC Restaurants And Bars To Celebrate Halloween 2022

There's really no Halloween celebration in America that can compare to New York's Village Halloween Parade. The 49th march of costumes will, as usual, start at Canal Street at 7 p.m. on Halloween, and proceed up to 15th Street, although you can only stand and watch the parade from King Street and above, with points south serving as a staging area. This year's theme is freedom — something we're all eager to feel these days. When you're done with the main event, you'll likely want to celebrate a little freedom of your own at a great venue. The official parade destination is Webster Hall, presently redubbed "Webster Hell," but if you're looking for a different vibe, we've got you covered with great places to celebrate Halloween in New York City. Don't make the mistake of trying to camp at a bar on Sixth Avenue: you won't be able to see over the crowds lining the street. Visit these venues instead.

No, you're not waiting till evening to celebrate Halloween! Head on over to Starr & Wyckoff in Brooklyn for The Evil Queen's Halloween Drag Brunch at the appropriately named Queen (although not as appropriate as it would be if it were two blocks north on the actual Queens border). Normally held on weekends, the event is breaking all the rules because the laws of conduct hold no sway on Halloween. The Mediterranean eats here are as tasty as the gathering is fun, so you'll probably be able to comport yourself easily and breezily at whatever your afternoon plans are after this. Defy all society by brunching on a Monday and rolling up to the parade appropriately lurching like a zombie, or see if you can park it long enough to make the evening drag show at nearby House of Yes. Back-to-back drag show parties? Bet you can do it if you fill the gap between this lunch-hour extravaganza with some trick or treating.

This is Halloween! This is Halloween! No, seriously, at Beetle House, every day is Halloween. Here, Tim Burton's films inspire a goth vibe that tricks and treats nonstop, even before Jack Skellington pokes his skull in. It's one of the very few restaurants where saying Betelgeuse's name three times all but guarantees he shows up, and it's the only bar where the person sitting next to you will correct you for thinking he spells it "Beetlejuice." Find your pop-goth partner here to sway moodily to The Cure, or hijack Christmas with, the choice is yours. If you're not a Burton fan, the theme restaurant also extends its reach into other grim fares, like horror authors and all sorts of dark majesty reign here. Beware that Halloween makes this spot a high-demand destination, and Beetle House recommends making reservations if you want dinner and a freakshow. If you're just there to show off your hand-stitched "Mars Attacks" spacesuit at the bar service, you can leave your reservations at the door, but be ready to wait for entry no matter how polished your helmet may be. Ack ack, indeed.

As if the name of this Brooklyn bar and DJ space weren't apt enough for Halloweening, Our Wicked Lady is hosting The Black Lagoon, a traveling, Halloween-themed pop-up haunted-bar-within-a-bar running all October. Part cocktail cave, part scream house, the experiential venue celebrates everything fun about Halloween by celebrating it as so much more than just a bubbling mug with a plastic spider. You can sample a taste of what's in store for the evening from your desk by listening to curated Spotify playlists and shopping custom-designed Black Lagoon merch like mugs, glasses, and even prayer candles. Tip your bartender Zofia well, and enjoy the strongest pours this side of damnation. Of course, if you'd rather dance than dally with the devil, Our Wicked Lady is also hosting a rain-or-moonshine rooftop dance party at 7 p.m. in celebration of Dia de Los Muertos. You won't raise the roof so much as stomp it down, but it's a good time regardless.

While Otto's Shrunken Head doesn't have any official Halloween events listed on its calendar or social channels, the freaky tiki bar is sort of Halloween all year round with day-glo chic popping up amid its retro den comfort. While it's often called a punk or even goth bar (two good flavors for Halloween partying), it's probably more accurate to characterize it as New York's only psychobilly bar with a side serving of surf rock. It's the perfect place to wear your Rat Fink costume in hopes of meeting a retired Suicide Girl, or your Suicide Girl costume to meet a real Rat Fink. With skulls, shrunken heads, and an overall atmosphere of expert sinning, it might take you a while to realize it's one of the coziest bars you've ever enjoyed. The Alphabet City institution just celebrated its 20^th anniversary, so why not hallo your ween off all night before taking home one of its trademark shrunken-pompadour mugs?

If you've got geeks in your group, or are looking for some structured activity with your libations, this one's a no-brainer (sorry about that, zombies). Set in a traditional English pub, The Cauldron Co. is a hands-on molecular mixology experience that can also be kid-friendly. This downtown branch of a transatlantic chain is a great pick for visiting families looking for some Halloween fun with their Statue of Liberty sightseeing, or for locals who want to get away from the madness of main celebrations going on in other parts of the city. FiDi's made strides toward nightlife in the past decade, but it can still be a quieter retreat after business hours, and not every New Yorker wants debauchery and crowds. For the Ravenclaws among you, The Cauldron Co.'s Halloween potion program is an excellent reservation to book, perhaps paired with its pumpkin-carving experience. With two floors and both indoor and outdoor seating, you've got options whatever your COVID comfort level.

You knew it would be here. The question was never whether the House of Yes is ready for Halloween, but whether your Halloween is up to the challenge of House of Yes. While much of the city dreams of a better party than the one they're slogging through at whatever has replaced Tonic as the bar for people you don't want to party with, House of Yes is out in Bushwick beckoning everyone who left their invitations to Heidi Klum's Halloween party unread. If you've got the pose and the poise to help demolish all artistic expectations, kick your night into gear by getting fired up at the early show of Absolutely: A Drag Spectacular, or bury it still kicking in a shallow grave with the Gala of the Gone, a dark masquerade that's less goth and more the underrated Jennifer Lopez film "The Cell." Amid the performance art, House of Yes promises a sort of open-world eeriness where you might quaff a cup at an altar to an Archon or just lounge on a plush couch while the spirits pass through you. Yep, you can reserve a table, and you probably ought to.

You know Slate's a letdown. We know it. Even the regulars know it. Hear us out: The reliable level of obnoxiousness here is, for one night, the draw. The thing is, there's no shortage of disappointing venues promising New York's hottest Halloween party this night of the year. And there's no shortage of frat boy playgrounds that make most of their money fleecing the fleece vests of this city. If you're bar-hopping, odds are you want to avoid the disappointing venues and frat boy centrals alike, so why not take the initiative and tell your friends to meet you at the sporty-but-not-a-sports-bar bar that is, at the very least, an actual playground?

To be clear, we're not suggesting you intend to visit Slate's Thriller party. We're saying you should keep it in your pocket for the inevitable moment of figuring out your next move because $18 is no risk for a Halloween party cover charge. Sometimes you just want a throng of costumed people down to make out with strangers, and if there was ever a night for a soulless bar, it's when souls are vacating the undead anyway. You won't meet Mr. Right, but you might meet Mr. Hyde. And you know something? At least Slate tries. There are worse places to end up than a watered-down Fat Cat's with a slide. Without a plan, you could end up at Tonic... only to realize that Tonic closed during the pandemic. Spooky!

There are a lot of bars in New York, but only one comes with both a mini golf course and a cheeky name. Actually, Swingers has even more connotation than you might suspect, since it began in swingin' Shoreditch, London before opening up its New York location this summer. If your putter's swinging, go a-ringing at the NoMad funspot's Samhain-special reservation, for a special spooky Halloween cocktail, zombie caddies/servers, and a Halloween makeover of its links. A round of golf will cost you $26 per person at Swingers, but you're free to just head to the 19th hole if you'd rather not have all the fun in the world. (To be clear, the 19th hole is the bar, not your grave.) For those who still go at life with zeal, food, drink, and golf packages start at $53. Costumes are encouraged in either case, even if it's that sneaky gopher from "Caddyshack."

Leather and spikes? Check. Does the venue name stem from a terrifying and inexplicable mania in which people dance themselves to death? Check. Cyclopean skull and crossbones logo? Check and check. You are officially in Halloween country when you step into Saint Vitus, the Greenpoint nexus of New York metal, hardcore, goth, and punk. The Black Sabbath Cover Band Rehearsal party is back, and this is as much of a supergroup as it is a tribute act. The lineup includes members of Interpol, Krallice, Dearadoorian, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The doors open at 7 p.m. for all you generals and/or witches to gather in your masses for this all-star performance, and don't wait to buy your tickets, because more performers will be announced as the date draws closer. Remember that this is the bar that reunited Nirvana by combining it with Joan Jett and Sonic Youth, so expect incredible things from this show, even if it doesn't resurrect a dead band.

Speaking of Black Sabbath, how about one in the historical sense? Parties are fun, but they don't have to be shallow hedonism. If you want to put some depth in your festivities while the rest of the city is outgoing wild, Honey's — the Brooklyn sit-down embodiment of Enlightenment Wines Meadery — is bringing that really old-time religion back to the holiday. Writer and witch Pam Grossman lead a Samhain celebration that Honey's is calling Witch Fest. The five-hour experiential celebration includes lectures, tarot readings, and divination of beach flotsam, a communing with the spirit world, and education about the holiday and its often misunderstood celebrants. Honey's detailed press release outlines the entire schedule for the free event, which includes a glass of the brand's extremely appropriately labeled Memento Mori dandelion wine. If you're more worldly-minded than witchery, you'll still have fun learning about fermentation in the "Night of the Living Death" segment and might even be inspired to make your own mead out of local NY honey. A quick reminder that while the occasion itself is free, the Samhain ceremony and the apothecary-led "Mugwort Magic" medicinal workshop are ticketed and limited, so book those in advance if you're interested.

It might be named for an Irish poet, but the Turtle Bay tippling spot has become renowned for its nightly free karaoke. Come Halloween Monday, that beacon of amateur singing will don costumes. Legally, they can't call it The Masked Singer, but why would they want to? Guessing the identity of that Frankenstein's monster crooning "Monster Mash" isn't the fun here, the communal joy of singing together is. After all, this is a bar that is so beloved that the Keats website quotes a customer as saying it's the reason he moved to New York, while NY1 reports that one of its patrons bought it during the pandemic last year just to keep the "family" together. As this event is fundraising, Keats's karaoke comes with a rare cover charge of just $7 in advance ($10 at the door), and up to $40 if you really want to buy out a raffle ticket block. To sing a song will be $3 with a $20 option to cut the line. The affordable pricing ensures everyone's having a ghoulishly good time while still keeping the community singing in harmony. COVID-19 vaccine status enforcement is in strict play here, so keep that in mind.

While the waking nightmare of "Sleep No More" haunts the halls of The McKittrick Hotel year-round, it won't surprise anyone to learn this atmospheric venue also throws an eerie Halloween Ball. In fact, Halloween rolls big here, where only a few grand events dot the calendar. This year, The Lost Garden experience challenges guests to embody a theme of transformation into nature's interpretations of their souls' true shapes. (The McKittrick elaborates on the costume themes in its FAQ, and also provides an inspiration page.) The Lost Garden may have you feeling like you wandered into a deep-wood ritual you don't fully understand, but there's elegance atop its woodsy revelry. You can book the ball in conjunction with a Sleep No More performance or as a standalone experience. It's not cheap at $166 and up to $600 for the full experience, but it comes cheap when you account for an open bar and a guarantee of a certain refinement absent from so much of the city's revelry. People who wish to miss out on all the fun can get bargain tickets for $107, but won't be able to enter until the witching hour.

If your perfect Halloween celebration is less about the raucous pageantry and more about communing with the spirits, you'll find the Dark Ages quiet you seek at Burp Castle: probably the East Village's only contemplative bar. When not shushing loud customers, the bartenders pour very good and mostly Belgian beer, so any spirits you encounter will definitely be of the ectoplasmic variety, and readily believable in this monastery-themed retreat. And if you're an old-time regular who doesn't need to be introduced to this medieval beer museum, you should still listen up: If you pine for the days when the bartenders wore monk's robes here, Halloween night is your best chance to catch another glimpse of their return in costume. If you time your visit right on that Monday evening, you might even luck into Burp Castle's free French fries. Miss 'em and you'll have to buy your own across the street or one of the Belgian frite shops of your choice, but you're allowed to bring them in here, and they pair so well with that tripel you just (quietly) ordered.

Gone is the Slaughtered Lamb. Gone, Jekyll & Hyde. Gone, Lovecraft. Fortunately, there's still one bar in the area that feels like a horror scene by design, even if you have to creep a toe above 14^th to enter it. The Headless Horseman is your best celebration of Northeast Yankee horror if you can't hop on a Metro North to Tarrytown and visit Sleepy Hollow itself. Oddly, the atmospherics may be the second reason to stop in for dinner, where the food is elevated above the usual pub fare, and quality cocktails go toe-to-toe with a craft beer list. Although, those atmospherics definitely remain no matter how cozy and old-world the inside may feel. You can say you kept the Halloween vibe while also stuffing your face. Order a Sleepy Hollow cocktail to start, and, what the heck, close out with one of the mason jar sundaes. This is a headless bar for bottomless stomachs, and now you're ready to party all Halloween night. Just... wait an hour before you start dancing.

Sometimes you just want that massive, classic Halloween dance party where crowds of people and hordes of demons are shaking the floorboards. There are plenty of them in this town, and a lot are terrible. Make sure the holiday is done right by returning to the experts. There are plenty of giant spaces hosting long Halloween parties (wave hi to 230 Fifth, everyone!), but The DL always has a knack for making big-venue gatherings feel like an adventure rather than the frustrations of being up in the club. The Salon Halloween Stomp looks to be no exception. So even though the party starts at 6 p.m. and runs till 1 a.m., you might still have enough juice to find another haunt after the witching hour. It's amazing how much party stamina you can find when you're not dealing with the worst parts of the NYC nightlife scene. Or when you're a zombie. They never get tired.