Felice Columbus: A Daily 4–7pm Aperitivo at a 42-Foot Upper West Side Bar
Felice Columbus runs its happy hour every day from 4 to 7pm at 240 Columbus Avenue, at 71st Street: $12 wines by the glass, $12 cocktails, $6 Forst lager and Italian bar snacks from $7 to $12, a margherita pizzetta among them. Felice calls it aperitivo, and it runs all seven days, weekends included.
The verdict: a big, bright room to spend the window in, at fair-for-the-neighborhood prices. The Felice Martini is $12 from 4 to 7 and $19 after; the Espresso Martini drops from $21 to $12; a glass of the house Sangiovese goes from $17 to $12. The food follows — arancini and the ricotta with spicy honey and figs are $19 at dinner and $12 here. The honest caveat: $12 is wine-bar pricing, not a bargain, and the menu doesn’t say whether it’s served at tables, so ask before you settle into the dining room.
The Happy Hour
Felice Columbus’s own aperitivo menu runs Monday to Sunday, 4 to 7pm, and lists:
- Wine, $12 a glass: Prosecco DOC; a white (the house Felice Chardonnay or a Mastroberardino Falanghina from Campania); a red (Felice Sangiovese or a Tuscan Cabernet Sauvignon); and Felice Rosé. Outside the window, the house Chardonnay, Sangiovese, Prosecco and rosé are $17 a glass and the Cabernet $19.
- Cocktails, $12: Felice Martini (Meili vodka or Botanist gin), Negroni, Mezcalita, Amalfi Spritz (limoncello, Campari, Prosecco), Espresso Martini and Aperol Sour. The regular list runs $17 to $21.
- Beer and zero-proof: Forst lager or Peroni 0.0 for $6; Until Sunset, a zero-proof amaro cocktail, for $10.
- Bites: ricotta, arancini, a margherita pizzetta, or fried artichokes and calamari at $12; fries $8; Cerignola olives $7.
- Pairings, $16: martini and fries, or negroni and arancini.
The Room
Felice Columbus opened in summer 2021 in a two-level space of nearly 4,000 square feet. The ground floor is the show: a 42-and-a-half-foot bar and a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows on Columbus, with 20 bar seats and 65 in the dining room when it opened. Downstairs is a smaller cocktail and wine lounge, and the drink menu is served on both floors. The kitchen does the Felice standards, fusilli al ferretto with burrata and pappardelle with sausage among them, with pastas at $25 to $34 and mains at $27 to $56 on the dinner menu. Felice is one of three brands from SA Hospitality Group, which also runs Sant Ambroeus.
It’s a short walk from the 72 St stations on the 1/2/3 and the B/C, and from both Lincoln Center and the Beacon Theatre, which makes the 4–7pm window a pre-show option.
Other Felice branches on Happy Hour NYC: Felice 83 · Felice 64 · Felice on Hudson · Felice 15 Gold · Felice Montague. For the rest of the neighborhood, see our Upper West Side happy hour guide, and for more pours like these, the best wine bars in NYC.
Who Felice Columbus Is For
| Occasion | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| Drinks before Lincoln Center or the Beacon | Daily 4–7pm, a short walk from both |
| A martini under $15 | The Felice Martini is $12 in the window, $19 otherwise |
| A group that wants a bar, not a table | A 42-and-a-half-foot bar upstairs and a lounge downstairs |
| A weekend wind-down | The aperitivo runs Saturday and Sunday too |
| Snacks instead of dinner | $16 martini-and-fries or negroni-and-arancini pairings |