ST ENDS

"You could offer to have drinks at your apartment, but you run the risk of sounding presumptuous or anti-social, and your bartending skills are limited to opening screw-top wine bottles and making vodka-sodas with that vodka your roommate keeps in the freezer. Suggest meeting at St Ends in Crown Heights instead. This low-key cocktail bar looks like a randomly decorated apartment, with colorful couches, lounge chairs, and mismatched lights on end tables. It’s a comfortable place to hang out, the drinks are enjoyable and affordable (especially during Happy Hour, which goes until 8pm), and there’s a nice backyard with seats around picnic tables." - Matt Tervooren

"The dimly-lit space at St Ends in Crown Heights feels a little like a furniture boutique, with mismatched couches, lounge chairs, distressed mirrors, and side tables topped with desk lamps. But there’s also a 15-seat marble bar, where you can get some of the best cocktails in the neighborhood (like one with rye, campari, and mole bitters). If you’re not in the mood for a cocktail, they serve wine and beer, too, both of which are discounted during Happy Hour until 8pm. Come here with a date and sit on a couch inside or at a communal table on the patio out back." - Matt Tervooren