Harry's New York Bar — Restaurant in Paris

When Ian Fleming decided upon a favorite bar in Paris for James Bond, there was only one option for the discerning secret agent: the legendary Harry’s New York Bar. As laid out in the 1960 short story A View To A Kill, when in Paris, 007 “invariably stuck to the same addresses… if he wanted a solid drink he had it at Harry’s Bar.” By then, Harry’s was already nearly 50 years old, and an institution for some of the most hard-drinking American expats in the City of Light.

Harry’s started as a bistro which was purchased and converted into a bar by American jockey, Tod Sloan, opening on Thanksgiving Day, 1911. Called simply “The New York Bar,” the actual wooden bar itself was imported in from Manhattan, and a Scottish barman named Harry MacElhone was hired to run the joint. In 1923, Harry bought the bar outright, added his name, and began to turn Harry’s into one of Paris’ most legendary watering holes.

As American writers, artists and sportsmen began to flock to Paris during the Jazz Age, Harry’s New York Bar became a staple on the hard drinking circuit. Its address, 5 Rue Daunou, was the bar’s calling card, with advertisements in the international press running a tagline telling visitors to simply ask taxi drivers to head to “Sank Roo Doe Noo.”

Those who followed the ad’s directions included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack Dempsey, Thornton Wilder, and most famously, Ernest Hemingway. It was in the dark mahogany piano bar decorated with faded American College pennants that George Gershwin is said to have composed An American In Paris. Along with journalist O.O. McEntyre, Harry created a society for his illustrious guests, the International Bar Flies, whose aim was the serious business of drinking. Members had their own secret handshake and decorated their narrow silk ties with a tie clip featuring a two friendly looking, well dressed flies.

As well as being the adopted home of legendary ex-pat drinkers, Harry’s also claims to be the home of legendary drinks. Fernand Petiot is said to have invented the Bloody Mary there in 1921 (although other accounts place the restorative cocktail’s birthplace at Manhattan’s 21 Club by George Jessel). Harry MacElhone himself invented the French 75, a potent mix of champagne, gin, lemon juice and sugar that Harry likened to being hit by a French 75mm artillery shell. His 1919 book, “Harry’s ABC of Mixing Cocktails” also included the equally strong Side Car and White Lady.

Today, Harry’s remains a quaint, welcoming neighborhood bar, still run by the MacElhone family; the current owner is Harry’s grandson’s widow, Isabelle MacElhone. With no televisions and the only music coming from George Gershwin’s piano room downstairs, couples nestle together in what claims to be Europe’s first cocktail bar, virtually unchanged, and still serving up the same well-made drinks that made it a second home to Hemingway and Fitzgerald.

And the International Bar Flies are still going strong, just as they were the night James Bond said to his taxi driver “Sank Roo Doe Noo,” beginning a memorable evening in Paris “culminating in the loss, almost simultaneous, of his virginity and his note case.”

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Line wait: ~45 mins on a Tuesday around 1900, when the bar was somewhat busy but not crazy. A group of 5 without all members present were seated before me, followed by a group of 3, then almost another a group of 2, before I was finally sat. Seems like politeness in queuing will do you absolutely no good, and the line management situation seems out of control if this is just a Tuesday.

Ambiance: pretty quaint, cozy on a chilly November evening, and there was a decent buzz -- loud but not raucous. Kind of a vintage American bar setting with American college pennants laid up high throughout, a wall section of American city first responder badges, and a wall section of currency from around the world. Nothing you haven't seen or heard in an actual Manhattan bar.

Drink wait: 20 mins for a simple chien chaud, almost got the order wrong apparently, but the server double-checked it wasn't a bloody Mary and came back with the right one. Ordered something off menu (mentioned liking gin, chartreuse, benedictine, suze as a random flavor profile with which to work), and it took 10 minutes this time which was much more acceptable.

Service: seemed fine, appreciated them double-checking and not getting the drink wrong. Decently bilingual with English for all the American tourists, and quite polite. Marred by lack of queue organization.

Drink: haven't had many chien chauds, but it was one of the better executed ones. Short of delicious, but I don't chalk it up to a fault of the preparation. Second drink was a Monte Cassino. A classic cocktail and executed well. Unfortunately nothing innovative, but it followed my liqueur mentions very precisely (maybe too precisely; I'd mentioned I wanted see if the bartenders could make something new/interesting).

Overall: For my personal taste, I can't recommend Harry's New York Bar super highly based on: relative price compared to similar-level European cocktail bars, level of innovation, and wait times both outside and inside. In the last several decades, the evolution of mixology, sourcing, story-telling, and service has just progressed too far for a classic bar to hit top marks for me without absolutely nailing every category. It's a storied bar, but there are plenty of landmarks and museums oozing with if the aim is simply historical significance.

However, I cannot fault the execution of the drinks themselves, and the selection of drinks is completely serviceable. It's a good match particularly for those that don't often go to bars and want to have a bona fide NY bar experience, or for those who do and want to stick to classics executed competently.

Their bar wall is well-stocked on the standard liquors, liqueurs, and bitters, based on the menu. Nothing exotic, so it seems generally based on classics and main variants thereof, which makes sense: this seems in character with the intention of the bar.

This is a 6.5/10 for my personal visit, because of my visit's line management (or lack thereof), combined with the lack of innovation/creativity, and price. However, for those looking for a classic cocktail bar experience with knowledgeable and competent bartenders, this is a...

We had a disappointing first visit to Harry's in September. We love History and wanted to go even though we don't drink alcohol due to health reasons. We had researched the place and according to their online menu they DO HAVE a selection of non alcoholic cocktails listed on the menu. We love our mocktails and were also planning on getting one of their hotdogs each. When we came we were seated which was nice. The menu we were brought didn't have the non alcoholic cocktails we had seen online?? We asked our waiter about it and he made a big deal about Harrys being an 'Alcohol Bar' which made us feel bad. We asked about the mocktails and instead of bringing us the list of what was available including softdrinks--he just was like well what do you like and had no idea what was available which made things far more stressful. We also ordered 2 hotdogs which never turned up. We saw LOADS of amazing looking hotdogs going out but nothing showed up for us. We actually tried MULTIPLE times to flag someone down and got the hostess who was dismissive as heck and said 'oh your waiter will take care of it' and didn't. We WANTED to order MORE mocktails too but we couldn't get anyone's attention to order. We noticed a lot of standing around and chatting amongst the waiters/hostesses but despite being not far from the bar we couldn't get anyones eyes to order. Had to physically go up to the bar to pay.

Not sure if they stopped caring about us because we weren't ordering booze or just being clueless or if we should have gone up to the bar to chase things more I don't know---it was our first time so we didn't know what we were supposed to do. Being seated initially and what the hostess was implying it seemed to be more of table service.

Will give Harry's another chance but were REALLY disappointed. I'm writing this here in hopes that they DO read it and will treat everyone including non alcoholic drinkers the same and as well as alcoholic...