You are not allowed into Chapel Bar. A firm but polite hostess will tell you, smiling, that you may not have a table this evening at the members-only bar located in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. Perhaps you can try nearby New York restaurants Gramercy Tavern or Union Square Cafe, she might suggest, warmly, while showing you toward the exit. In fact, that’s exactly what happened to the lovely couple that walked through the imposing carved wood doors just before me. Chapel Bar has a strict members-only rule, but this evening I’ve somehow managed to weasel myself and a friend in for drinks.
Private bars and restaurants like Chapel Bar, for which members pay up to $2,500 in yearly dues and fees, are on the rise across the country. They purport to offer members a more elevated, luxurious hospitality experience. They also afford guests something infinitely more valuable if not intangible: the feeling of exclusivity. At a cost, of course.
Members-only restaurants like ZZ’s (rumored to cost members $50,000 per year) in Miami, or The Britely (which costs $2,900 annually) in Los Angeles, offer patrons bespoke, high-end dining experiences, often at a steep price, and usually after interviews and referrals. Other membership concepts like The Britely, NeueHouse (priced at $3,200 per year) and Spring Place (which runs members up to $6,000 a year) combine coworking spaces with private dining benefits. The Ned (for which applicants must submit a photo, complete an interview, be nominated by existing members, and pay $5,000 yearly) offers private dining and lounges. The Aman’s Jazz Club (reportedly $15,000 per year after a $200,000 initiation fee) features a members-only bar and music venue. Aspiring members of Sho Club, opening in 2023 in San Francisco, can expect to spend up to $300,000 to gain entrance to the NFT-based club (whatever that means). Whether members join to network, to enjoy exclusive menus or events, or just to impress a date, one thing is for sure—they’ll be forking over thousands per year for the privilege of accessing these elite spaces.
But the ubiquity of these members-only clubs doesn’t answer a question that I find critical: Are they worth the eye-watering membership fees and the drawn-out application process? Is there any level of luxury that could be worth begrudgingly asking two friends for recommendations, only to be asked in an interview why you deserve to join? I hoped to find some answers as I visited a number of private clubs and restaurants around New York City, after needling, nudging, and calling in favors throughout my extended network to find someone with enough capital (and kindness) to bring me along.
My journey into the members-only belly of the beast began in the lobby of Casa Cipriani ($3,900 yearly fee), a private club on the lower tip of Manhattan, where I waited for a friend of a friend who had agreed to sneak me in for a glimpse behind the velvet rope.
An elevator shot us smoothly upward to the fifth floor as my companion nonchalantly told me about her membership. She talked of the club’s as-of-yet incomplete rooftop pool, the jazz lounge, and the spectacular views of the East River. She didn’t come here very often because, in her words, it gets filled with “wealthy housewives in for the night from Long Island wearing gowns and tiaras.” She found some of the crowd ostentatious and obnoxious, but she maintained her membership because it was a nice place to get some work done during the club’s less hectic daytime hours, or bring clients for a drink once in a while. Within the private restaurant experience, I would learn, it’s important to be chill about one’s wealth.
The elevator doors opened onto an expanse of richly lacquered mahogany, and rounding the corner after leaving the elevator bank, I found myself in a nearly empty Casa Cipriani, glazed in the last rays of sunlight that glided in through floor-to-ceiling windows. “It’s like a cross between the Titanic and The Sopranos,” my companion murmured to me as she led me through the bar area, where the polished floor featured an old-school inlaid shuffleboard court.
