Travel across Manhattan, Staten Island, and more to discover the 20 best book cafés and book bars in New York City.
New York is a city that runs on coffee; that’s why we’ve picked out the 20 best book cafés and book bars, from the Upper West Side to Staten Island.
McNally Jackson Books Seaport
McNally Jackson is an independent bookstore chain with multiple locations across the Big Apple, each with their own unique appeal.
Its Seaport branch, for example, invites visitors to grab a book and stay all day. The first floor is home to the store’s café and wine bar, with movie theater-esque carpeting and cozy booths and tables. Upstairs has an elegant but still inviting feel, with wooden floors, Persian rugs, and rows of bookshelves in between comfy lounge areas.
Topos Bookstore Cafe
Need a friendly face in the big city? Turn to Topos in Ridgewood, Queens, for a dose of old-fashioned warmth and laid-back hipster vibe. The inside is bright and welcoming, with mismatched furniture, eclectic wall art, and the kind of this-and-that décor that gives a place personality. Though its selection is mainly secondhand, you can find a few new titles as well.
On the café side, many reviewers talked about its reasonably priced drinks and tasty treats. They offer both indoor and outdoor seating—perfect for relaxing with one or two newly bought books.
Cafe con Libros
With a shopfront declaring Black, Feminist & Bookish (half-hidden behind some lovely hanging plant life), Cafe con Libros makes no secret about where it’s coming from. It spotlights women writers, particularly diverse writers, but doesn’t fuss about sticking to a particular genre.
While it doesn’t have a ton of seating, the café offers friendly service alongside some great coffees and lattes.
Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore
Named after an informal society of English women intellectuals in the mid-18th century, this shop was designed from its conception in 1999 to be a radical feminist bookstore. Since 2020-2021, it has changed locations and began running as a full-worker co-op (i.e., “employee-owned” rather than run by a specific manager or owner).
Regulars love the sense of community and the creative menu, which often includes fun names like Lavender Menace (for coffee with lavender syrup) and London Fog Latte (Earl Grey with vanilla).
Book Club Bar
Coffee is hardly the beverage of choice for every bookworm out there. If you’d much rather have a cocktail with your favorite read, try Book Club Bar. With a bare brick wall, natural wooden shelving, and a candle-bearing fireplace, this book bar offers a cozy, intimate vibe.
Book Club Bar has a great selection of books and comic books and a literary-themed menu with cocktails and coffee. And, as a little Easter egg, you can find the first chapter of the comic book Persepolis plastered on the bathroom wall.
The Center for Fiction
This spot is big on aesthetics, creating a calming, open atmosphere for visitors. The main feature is the massive bookshelf lining the wall, facing out into the natural light let in by floor-to-ceiling windows. It’s a simple but striking design.
Behind the front-facing shop and café, however, is an exclusive club. Members get special access to upstairs working spaces and an outdoor patio.
Barnes and Noble Café
Head to Manhattan’s 5th Avenue for Barnes and Noble Café, which has a checkerboard floor and the perfect fix for a sweet tooth. It’s actually just a run-of-the-mill Starbucks on the second floor of a Barnes and Noble, but sometimes the familiarity of a well-known franchise can offer a spot of comfort in an often crazy world.
Like most Barnes and Noble, it offers a broad selection of books across a wide variety of genres for people of all ages. So, it makes for a nice stop with a group who have varying interests.
Shakespeare & Co. Broadway
Shakespeare & Co. has been independently owned since 1983 and has two locations: one on Lexington Ave next to Hunter College, and a more recent store that opened on Broadway. While its Lexington location shut down its coffee shop, Broadway’s café is thriving, with a wide selection of teas, coffee, wine, and beer alongside a decent selection of pastries and sandwiches.
Its book selection caters to a broad array of tastes, so it’s sure to have a few to grab anyone’s interest.
New York Public Library Café (The Library Shop & Café by Amy’s Bread)
Any tourist who pops into the New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building is bound to want to pick up a volume themselves. For that, there’s no place better for that than the Library Shop. Its collection includes classics and newer titles from a variety of genres.
Meanwhile, the café is a branch of the ever-popular Amy’s Bread, and has plenty of delicious items on sale, from pastries to salads. The service provides that signature, grumpy New York charm, which will no doubt be a delight to tourists hoping to get the full Big Apple experience.
Molasses Books
Molasses Books is an all-in-one bookstore, café, and bar. It has a very cool, hipster vibe that attracts many creative types. Its atmosphere is friendly and laid back, and to many, is a home away from home where they can relax in one of many hidden nooks or mingle with like-minded people.
This place serves up some quality espresso in addition to its alcohol selection. Books-wise, its collection has a mix of new and used titles that prop up the hip, artsy vibe.
P&T Knitwear Bookstore, Coffee & Podcast Studio
This place is one of a kind; a mash of bookshop, coffee shop, event space, and podcast studio, all crowded into a concrete floor warehouse kind of interior. The bold orange and yellow signboard give it a pop art cinema vibe, something only helped along by occasional movie screenings and amphitheater-style seating.
As odd as it might all sound, it comes together into a perfect hangout spot. The book selection includes both mainstream and indie publishers, and covers an impressive range: academic, fiction, children’s, young adult, and more.
Bibliotheque
Bibliotheque is a book café and bar in the heart of SoHo. The walls of the dining area are lined with books and art, and the room comes with plenty of sofas and comfy chairs to relax in. And while the dim lighting in the evening is hardly ideal for reading, it certainly completes the “Bookstore and Café by Day/Wine Bar by Night” Batman transformation they’re aiming for.
From the food side of things, they offer plenty of fresh baked goods and a nice charcuterie board. They also have a decent wine selection, and quite a few praises for their daytime coffee as well.
Every Thing Goes Book Cafe
This is the largest used bookstore on Staten Island, offering a diverse collection of secondhand books, vinyl records, and CDs. Basically, they meant it when they named this place “Everything Goes.”
The café specializes in organic and fair-trade coffee, plus fresh fruit and sweet treats. It provides a cozy atmosphere, filled with a pleasant sort of clutter and a lively hustle and bustle. The shop also hosts various performances including live music, poetry readings, and more.
The Drama Bookshop
The Drama Bookshop always makes a dramatic entrance—how can it not, with such a stunning art display tunneling through the air? This shop has more to offer than just stunning aesthetics, though. It specializes in all film and theater-related literature, including plays, scripts, and books on cinema.
It has a small section for coffee and seating, but really, that’s all a sideshow to the main event: the pure love of cinema embodied in this store.
The Lit. Bar
The Lit. Bar isn’t just a great book bar; it’s the only independent bookstore in the Bronx. It was opened in 2019 by Noëlle Santos, a Bronx native, who wanted to bring literature back to the neighborhood after the closing of the only local bookseller.
It offers a wine bar and a curated selection of books, with a focus on local and diverse authors, including black feminist writers and Bronx-based authors. It also has a fresh and unique interior design, with an indoor tree growing out of the corner and art painted on the walls.
Yu & Me
Located in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Yu & Me is an independent bookstore in NYC owned by Lucy Yu, an Asian American woman. The bookstore’s initials, YM, are the same as her mother’s, and its collection is curated to highlight immigrant stories, particularly those that speak to the Asian American experience.
Its interior design is eclectic, but homey and welcoming, brimming with personality. It hosts regular events like open mic night and serves coffee and beer for a more relaxed atmosphere.
Housing Works Bookstore
This SoHo charity shop is entirely staffed by volunteers, and all profits go towards supporting people with HIV or AIDS who are homeless. Its stock is filled with donated books, clothes, CDs, and household goods, creating a diverse mix of items that’s always full of surprises.
The café side serves various drinks, including coffee and beer. Overall, it has a very elegant, polished interior that’s easy to relax in.
Bungee Space
Bungee Space is another fusion, located in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and combining art bookstore, fashion boutique, and café into a single, artistic space. It specializes in art books, zines, and photo books, often featuring works by emerging artists and independent publishers.
Alongside art books, the store showcases fashion-forward clothing meant to draw artists’ eye. Many visitors also praised the coffee and tea, which are made by a Japanese tea master.
Dear Friend Books
If you need a bit of calm in Brooklyn, duck into dear friend books—a name which, in itself, promises a peaceful and welcoming escape from the city. The simple, natural wooden shelving and spacious arrangement make it easy to relax at the bar with a drink of your choice. The menu is very broad, including wine, sake, tea, and kombucha, among others.
The book selection, while relatively small, is varied, and bound to pique the interest.
Strand Book Store
The Strand Book Store is one of the oldest and largest bookstores in the Big Apple, located in Manhattan’s East Village. It boasts over 2.5 million volumes that it touts as “18 miles of books,” covering a wide range of genres from philosophy to finance. Here, you can find both classics and a dedicated section to banned books.
The café is small, but it offers a decent coffee and a few tasty treats to give you fuel for more book-hunting.
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Migz
K Lou
K. Lou is a writer born in the U.S. who found her way to Japan through a spiritual calling—or, more precisely, better access to tea. She writes about travel, culture, and the occasional creative piece, inspired by her enduring love of books. This love began in high school when K. Lou carried books around to avoid seeming odd while lost in thought. Once she started reading, she never stopped. With zero regrets, she continues to explore the written word and invites others to join her in celebrating its varied forms.
