Pentop Bar

Recommends

CSMobileUser2

Joined 5 years ago

Updated decor. Decor is now modern Asian-style w/large sofas, etc. No matter the design, the view is spectacular and the service is excellent...

Recommends

Contributor

Joined 10 years ago

The bar atop the Peninsula Hotel is currently closed for renovation, but is scheduled to re-open in May, 2008.. The Scene
An older midtown pack hops on the Peninsula Hotel's express elevator to secure a place in the sun. The decor is nothing fancy--beige stucco walls, a few hanging planters and your basic weatherproof patio furniture--but a roof is a roof. And in a city still starved for decent outdoor seating, the open-air bar is 23 floors closer to the sky. Though the space is more amid the buildings than above them, the view still beats out the best of the dark-and-smoky bars.

The Crowd
All suits and sunglasses, it's not the wildest scene in town, but it is a scene: all hands reaching for the ringing cell phone, arms flagging down another round and frantic seat swapping and rearranging of chairs. Penthouse-priced drinks attract wallet-bulging execs and refined-looking hotel guests on a break from Fifth Avenue shopping. It's high-in-the-sky living with the folks who know it best.

Doesn't Recommend

SCaron42

Joined 9 years ago

OVERPRICED drinks and BAD service. We thought we would check out the rooftop bar, hearing so much about it for a while. The Peninsula Hotel is a classy upscale, lovely hotel to stay at, though a bit worn around the edges (dirty carpet, etc.), but still a decent place to stay, but for six hundred a night there are far better choices. So, a beautiful Saturday, 5 pm, we were ignored for 20 minutes. 4 of us. If you are not 17 yrs old with big sunglasses the servers don't see you. The drinks cost twenty two dollars each, no lie. We left and went to the Modern, on 53rd, got great cocktails as well as excellent service and fabulous food. Don't bother with the rooftop bar at the Peninsula, it's pretentious and overpriced.