Upstate: A Daily 5pm Happy Hour at a No-Freezer Oyster Bar
Upstate Craft Beer & Oyster Bar runs happy hour 5–7pm, seven days a week, at 95 1st Avenue on the corner of 6th Street in the East Village. That’s the first two hours of service, since the bar opens at 5pm daily. What it doesn’t publish is the deal itself: no items, no prices.
The verdict: an easy window to hit, and a deal you can’t price in advance. Every night counts, weekends included. But the bar publishes the times and nothing else, so you’re walking in on faith. The regular menu sets the baseline: starters run $14–17 and mains $18–24, and the bar says it orders from the market daily and doesn’t own a freezer, so the menu moves with the catch.
The Happy Hour
The bar gives its happy hour one line, next to its opening hours: 5–7pm, seven days a week. There’s no item list and no prices. If you want oyster prices, our oyster happy hour guide has them.
The Bar
Upstate bills itself as “freshly simple seafood.” On the menu: crispy squid with smoked chipotle ($15), house-cured salmon ($14), tuna tartare with quail egg ($15), Maryland crab cakes ($15) and escargot ($14), then fettuccine with clams ($19, “the house favorite”), cioppino ($23), squid ink pasta with uni ($23), beer-steamed mussels ($18) and an 8oz NY strip surf and turf ($24). Prices are subject to change, it notes. It takes reservations. The F at 2nd Avenue and the 6 at Astor Place are the closest trains. More nearby in our East Village happy hour guide.
Who Upstate Is For
| Occasion | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| An early dinner | Happy hour 5–7pm every day, from opening |
| Market seafood | The bar says it orders from the market daily and has no freezer |
| A booked table | It takes reservations |