Hi-Life: $2 Oysters Every Day and a Noon Happy Hour on Weekends
Hi-Life runs happy hour 4–7pm on weekdays and noon–7pm on Saturday and Sunday, at the bar and the tables, at 477 Amsterdam Avenue on the corner of 83rd Street. Well drinks, margaritas and daiquiris are $8; cosmopolitans, champagne cocktails and house wine are $9; select draft pints are $7. Every day from 4 to 7pm, Blue Point oysters and Little Neck clams are $2 apiece.
The verdict: the raw bar is the reason to go. Two-dollar oysters every day of the week, Sunday included, means you don’t have to plan around it. The drinks hold up too — off the clock, frozen margaritas and champagne cocktails are $12.95, so $8 and $9 is real money off. The honest caveat: shellfish is capped at 12 pieces per table and sold “based on availability,” the weekend raw-bar window is still only 4–7pm, and the $17.45–17.95 house martinis sit outside the deal.
The Happy Hour
Cocktail specials run Monday–Friday 4–7pm and Saturday–Sunday noon–7pm. Well drinks $8, margaritas and daiquiris $8, cosmopolitan $9, champagne cocktails $9, house wine $9, select draft pints $7 (the beers aren’t named). The raw bar runs 4–7pm daily: Blue Point oysters and Little Neck clams on the half shell, $2 each, 12 pieces maximum per table.
The Room
Hi-Life says it opened in 1991, modeled on the 1930s “Restaurant & Lounge”: a vintage neon sign, an art deco bar, booths and banquettes, and flat-screen TVs. The kitchen does flame-grilled burgers and steaks, big pasta bowls and salads, plus a sushi bar the restaurant bills as the first at a non-Japanese restaurant in New York. Brunch runs Saturday and Sunday. The 1 at 86th and 79th Streets is closest, and a second Hi-Life sits at 1503 2nd Avenue. More nearby in our Upper West Side happy hour guide and the city’s best oyster happy hours.
Who Hi-Life Is For
| Occasion | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| Oysters on a Sunday | $2 Blue Points and Little Necks, 4–7pm daily, weekends included |
| A long Saturday afternoon | Cocktail specials from noon to 7pm on weekends |
| A group dinner | Booths and banquettes; parties of seven or more go through group dining |