Reliable Tavern

About this place Reliable Tavern

Reliable Tavern on West 47th Street is Hell's Kitchen's dive bar option — a small, unpretentious space that makes no attempt to compete on the entertainment or production front and is better for it. The location in the heart of the Broadway theatre district means the after-show crowd arrives around 11pm: stagehands, front-of-house staff, performers finishing runs at nearby theatres, and the people who love going to bars after the theatre finishes. The drinks are cheap by Manhattan standards. The interior is basic. The vibe is genuinely welcoming in the way that dive bars achieve when they are not trying. For visitors who have been priced out of the more elaborate Hell's Kitchen options or who simply want a drink without a cover charge and without go-go dancers on the bar, Reliable Tavern fills that role reliably. It is the kind of bar that every gay neighbourhood needs and that tends to disappear when rents rise — the fact that it is still here is itself a small victory.