RankTheBar top bar info
Bar Contra
A cocktail-led reboot of the former Contra space, with precise drinks and serious snacks in a compact room.
Why we ranked it a top bar:
At 138 Orchard Street, Bar Contra turns the former Contra space into a sharper, darker instrument. It is a cocktail-led room for people who care what is happening behind the bar and on the plate. The snacks are serious, the drinks precise, and the room compact enough that every conversation seems overheard by history.
Who would like it: cocktail-scene followers, creative-drink lovers, food-minded drinkers, and Lower East Side regulars.
Drinks: precise, modern, and often boundary-testing.
Food: serious snacks rather than filler.
Crowd: industry-literate, downtown, alert, and fashionably unsentimental.
Best night: Wednesday.
Price: not confirmed in the report.
The report notes Bar Contra as a 2025 James Beard semifinalist and a destination for creative nonalcoholic drinks.