How to Get a Reservation at The Nines NYC (2026 Guide)

The Nines doesn't feel like a restaurant you could actually book. It's a dim, plush piano bar on Great Jones Street in NoHo, upstairs from its sister spot Acme, with a grand piano in the middle of the room, caviar on the menu, and martinis that come out cold enough to hurt. It has been one of downtown's most-wanted tables since it opened in January 2022.

Getting The Nines reservations you want comes down to a midnight Resy drop and about five minutes. Miss that, and your options are a walk-in room with a real wait, or a cancellation. Here's how each one works, and how I'd play it.

The Nines Reservations: How the Booking System Works

The Nines books regular tables through Resy. Large parties go by email (below).

The rules that matter:

• Tables drop about two weeks out, at midnight. The Nines' director of service told Resy in 2022 that reservations open "two weeks out" at exactly midnight, and that seats are booked within about five minutes. Current trackers still report 14 days. When we checked Resy's calendar in April 2026, the furthest bookable date was 13 days ahead. Check both. If 14 days shows nothing at midnight, the window is 13.
• Party size. As of October 2026, the Resy listing seats dinner parties of up to seven in the main room. For eight to twelve, email [email protected].
• The Parlor stops taking bookings at 6:30 PM. The front room, the Parlor, can be booked early in the evening, but not after 6:30. From then on it's held for walk-ins.
• Cancellation fee: $100 per person inside 48 hours. That's steep, so only book what you'll use.
• Ensemble nights cost extra. Per the Resy listing, ensembles play 7 PM and 9 PM sets Sunday through Wednesday, and those reservations carry a $45 per person non-refundable cover that doesn't count toward your bill. Solo pianists play Thursday through Saturday.
• 21+ and a dress code. No baseball caps, flip-flops, shorts, tank tops, or athleisure.

Hours vary by night, and sources don't agree. The room generally opens at 5 PM and runs late, past 1 AM and later on weekends. Check Resy for the night you want.

How to Get a Table at The Nines, Ordered by Reliability

1. Win the midnight drop

This is the main way in. Count back 13 and 14 days from the date you want, and be on Resy at 11:59 PM the night before each, logged in, with your party size set and payment details saved.

When midnight hits, refresh and take the first acceptable time. Don't hold out for 8:30 on a Saturday. A 6 PM or 10:30 PM table at The Nines is still The Nines, and the room gets better as the night goes on. Parties of two have the most options. Groups of five or more should expect very few tables.

2. Catch a cancellation

That $100 fee for cancelling inside 48 hours shapes when tables come back. People who can't make it tend to cancel before the fee kicks in, which means openings show up well ahead of the date, not just on the day.

Quenelle's monitors bear that out. Of the 73 Nines dates our members have watched, about 4 in 10 saw a table come back. When they did, it was usually around a week and a half before the date, a few days after the drop, as people sorted out their plans. Same-day openings are less common here than at restaurants with no fee.

A Quenelle watch checks The Nines' Resy inventory around the clock and texts you when a real table appears for your date and party size. Resy's Notify is worth setting too, but it alerts many people at once, and a prime-time table for two doesn't wait for the slowest reader.

3. Walk in for the Parlor

The Nines keeps the Parlor, the front lounge, for walk-ins in the evening, plus some bar seats in the main room. That's the only no-reservation way in, and it does work. But it's a commitment.

• Go early. Arriving close to the 5 PM opening gives you the best odds.
• Expect a wait at prime time. The Nines told Resy that walk-in waits could run close to two hours, and one recent account describes waits of over two hours on busy nights.
• Keep it small. One or two people get seated far faster than a group.
• Dress the part. The dress code applies to walk-ins too.

The Parlor is a little more casual than the main room, but you're still in the building, with the music, and you can order a martini and the caviar.

4. Ask about large-party bookings early

If you're planning for eight to twelve people, email [email protected] as soon as you have a date. Don't count on the Resy drop for a group that size.

What The Nines Actually Is

The Nines is from Golden Age Hospitality, Jon Neidich's group, which also runs Acme downstairs. It replaced the original Acme space and opened in January 2022, modeled on classic European hotel bars like Bar Hemingway at the Ritz Paris and Dukes in London. The room seats about 70: roughly 55 in the main dining room around the piano, and 15 in the Parlor.

The food is supper-club classics, built around caviar. The signature is a potato with Osetra caviar and crème fraîche. Shrimp cocktail, oysters, tuna tartare, and a club sandwich round out the menu. Third-party menus put caviar service in the $100 to $200-plus range, but they aren't dated, so check current prices. The martini is the drink people come back for, and the house version has been made with a touch of dill aquavit.

Budget accordingly. With caviar, a couple of rounds, and a cover on ensemble nights, dinner for two can easily pass $300.

Is The Nines Worth It?

For the right night, yes. The Nines isn't a destination for the food. You go for the room, the live piano, the cocktails, and a sense of occasion that most new places try for and miss. As a pre-theater dinner it's wrong. As the main event of a birthday or a date night, it's hard to beat downtown.

The tradeoffs are real. It's loud when full, it's expensive for what's on the plate, and the cancellation fee punishes changes of plan. If you want a serious dinner, book a restaurant. If you want an evening, book The Nines.

When to Skip The Nines and Book Somewhere Else

If the midnight alarm sounds like too much, or your night is locked in and The Nines is full, these give you live music and a sense of occasion without the drop:

• Bemelmans Bar, at The Carlyle on the Upper East Side, is the classic New York piano bar, with live music most nights and a cover charge once the music starts.
• Monkey Bar, in Midtown, has a similar old-New York glamour with a full dinner menu.
• Marie's Crisis, in the West Village, is the opposite: a cash-only, sing-along piano bar where you just walk in and join the crowd.

The Nines: What I'd Do to Get a Table Tonight

For tonight, I'd skip Resy and walk in. I'd be on Great Jones Street at 5 PM, dressed for dinner, and ask for the Parlor for two. If there's a wait, I'd put my name down and stay close.

For a night I actually care about, I'd count back 13 and 14 days, set alarms for 11:55 PM, and be on Resy with my party size set before midnight. If I missed it, I'd set a Quenelle watch right away. Nines cancellations tend to come back about a week and a half out, before the 48-hour fee kicks in. And I'd have a backup at Bemelmans, because a piano and a martini can still save the night.