The Dead Rabbit — Restaurant in New York

I had another visit to this destination cocktail and Irish pub fare location in the Financial District. This restaurant doesn't take reservations so be mindful of the timing of your visit. The three-story location is a quintessential New York City building with every square inch being maximized.

There are three levels. The first level is your classic Irish bar with sawdust on the floor to prove its real deal authenticity. There is a small shop in the back of the bar area which sells various sundries of Irish food. The second floor is called the Parlor where it is a classic sit-down restaurant vibe. The third floor is the occasional floor. The third floor is for special events. There are mainly high tables and stools.

The three levels are connected by one long straight staircase as you enter the bar. I wonder how many free shots of whiskey were provided to getting the building permit for this location. I am of course joking. This bar and place are all above board, but New York City has some amazingly tight spaces. It is not Tokyo or Hong Kong, but we make small areas work for us.

For the location and ambiance, we were sat in the Occasional room. We were located in a corner which was pretty good for our group of four. We ordered drinks, an appetizers and lunch entrees.

For the drinks, we all ordered the Irish Coffee for $12 each. Dead Rabbit is dead famous for their cocktails. I had this signature before, and it was pitch perfect as usual. We asked if they do a decaf version of this drink and we were told an unequivocally no. This cocktail for me was the high point of the meal.

For the food, there are lunch specials which I ordered the Fried Fish Sandwich which was fresh cod-type white fish. It was a significant portion. The group shared the Lobster Deviled Eggs for $15. There were lobster chunks, and it was delicious. Another person ordered the Homemade Vegetable Soup for $8 with added chicken for $2. The portion was more substantial for this bowl as well. There was another sandwich ordered, the Ham and Cheese Toastie for $16. It has Irish Cheddar, Raclette, and Smoked Ham. All sandwiches came with Hand-Cut Fries. Finally, my wife had the Short Rib Sliders for $21 This item comes with Garlic, Aioli, and Red Onion Jam. The sliders were plump and flavorful. She shared one of the three slides which were terrific.

I look forward to coming back closer to St. Patrick's Day because I am not often in the area. It is worth a visit. For all those taller gentlemen and ladies, be careful not knock your head as you walk up and down...

Edit: 6/28 came here again and it continues to blow my mind. This time around we went to the parlor room. Tbh the parlor room has the same quality of drinks but in quite a cookie-cutter vibe you can get anywhere. I, however, liked the touch of a welcome drink that totally changes the mood as you sit in. After having some drinks there we found ourselves in the chill area below and went on till 3pm. Such a great spot!!

We came across Dead Rabbit in the 50 best bars in the world. After checking out the pictures on Google Maps, I wondered if it was indeed the same place. So much so that I didn’t prioritize it. We were walking around on Friday night and noticed that it didn’t look to packed, so we asked for walk ins and they said they had some tables by the bar.

I’m so used to cocktail bars being a bit bougie that it was refreshing to enter the dead rabbit. My first impression was that of a college bar but a bit put together. As I got to our seats at the bar, that’s when this place started exuding it’s class. From the liquor to the cordials to the bitters, this bar was stacked!!

We ordered a few drinks and let me tell you, this bar cannot make a bad drink even if it tried!! The drinks were incredible! I’d probably put it up there with Patent Pending and Death and Co as my top few bars in Manhattan!! Here’s what we tried (all 10/10)

Come and Go: a very complex French 75, with honey and chocolate. Card Shark: feels like a detox juice with a shot of rum. So interesting and flavorful. The ginger carrot and thyme make it so interesting. Fall Guy - what you’d expect from a beach drink but clarified. So it 10x the flavor profile. Irish Coffee - feels like have a nice warm coffee with a shot of whiskey. The whipped cream is rich and not desserty. Highly recommend adding nutmeg.

I’ve heard their food is supposed to be good but we went there too late to eat. However we got their Irish whiskey bread pudding. It was fresh and tasty. My nit would be to make it a bit sweeter but overall amazing.

I think I’ll need to come back again to try their other drinks...

I want to preface this by saying I sat on this review for a day because I believe every place of business, especially restaurants post-Covid deserve a fair shake and I understand the world doesn’t revolve around me as a customer. This place gets a lot of traffic and we did visit on a holiday. It’s understandable that the staff would feel overwhelmed or stressed out on Halloween and that this could’ve contributed to some of what happened here.

However, we made reservations for a group of 6 for after our city hall wedding ceremony. Less than 5 minutes after being seated in the back of a completely empty bar, we were approached by the manager who had a curt and unwelcoming attitude towards us because we had a professional photographer taking a few photos with flash on. He immediately made everyone at the table feel uncomfortable which is not how you should be greeting such a large party that is about to be spending hundreds of dollars at your establishment. This was also before we’d even had a drink put in front of us. I would maybe skip this place if you are looking for the friendly “fast friends” vibe they claim to promote there. We didn’t feel welcome from the second we set foot in there. This was disappointing for it being the place we chose as our wedding celebration. That being said, the waitress saved the day by being the only nice interaction we had with any staff there, and the food was absolutely delectable. If the food wasn’t so good, the manager’s attitude as well as the unwelcoming atmosphere the staff perpetuated with their impatient and borderline annoyed handling of our party would’ve spoiled the experience entirely. I did unfortunately see a similar review here where a married couple came in and was treated poorly by this very manager. To the manager if they are reading this; consider providing your customers more context as to why you don’t want any flash photography rather than being cold and standoffish, and perhaps work on your tone and delivery. Book large groups...