The Coop at Double Chicken Please

The Coop at Double Chicken Please has become the unicorn of NYC dining reservations. This isn't just another fried chicken spot—it's where World's 50 Best Bars alums GN Chan and Faye Chen serve cocktails that taste like Japanese Cold Noodles and NY Beet Salad alongside arguably the city's most inventive fried chicken sandwiches. When reservations drop at midnight, they vanish faster than a chicken wing at a Super Bowl party.

The Restaurant

Double Chicken Please is actually two concepts sharing one address on Allen Street in the Lower East Side. Step through the door and you'll first encounter FREE RANGE, their playful front section with gamified cocktails. But the real prize lies beyond: The Coop, an intimate mid-century speakeasy where cocktail alchemy meets comfort food perfection.

GN Chan and Faye Chen opened this passion project in 2024 after earning their stripes at some of the world's most acclaimed bars. Their concept? "Hacking design" by deconstructing iconic dishes and rebuilding them as cocktails. The Japanese Cold Noodle drink captures the essence of ramen in liquid form, while the Cold Pizza cocktail somehow makes marinara and mozzarella work in a glass.

The 40-seat space feels like drinking in a stylish friend's living room—if your friend happened to be a James Beard-worthy mixologist. Warm wood tones, vintage furniture, and dim lighting create the perfect atmosphere for both first dates and celebrating your latest promotion. Expect to spend around $80-120 per person for the full experience.

What to Order

The menu reads like a fever dream between a cocktail bar and a gourmet chicken shop, and somehow it all works brilliantly.

Must-Try Cocktails:

• Japanese Cold Noodle - Their signature drink that tastes impossibly like slurping ramen
• Cold Pizza - Marinara and mozzarella flavors in cocktail form (trust the process)
• Key Lime Pie - Dessert in a glass that actually captures the tart-sweet balance
• Mango Sticky Rice - Southeast Asian comfort transformed into liquid gold
• NY Beet Salad - Earthy, surprising, and oddly addictive

The Chicken:

Their Taiwanese-inspired fried chicken sandwiches are the perfect foil to these inventive drinks. The chicken is impossibly juicy with a shatteringly crisp coating, served on house-made buns with creative accompaniments that change seasonally.

The Drop Time

Here's where things get technical. The Coop releases reservations exactly 6 days in advance at midnight Eastern Time. Not 12:01 AM, not 11:59 PM—midnight on the dot.

The restaurant only holds about 20% of their seats for reservations (the rest is walk-in), but those reserved spots book out within minutes for weekend slots, often seconds for Friday and Saturday nights.

What the Internet Says

The reservation game at Double Chicken Please has spawned its own Reddit subculture. User u/cocktailhunter posted in r/FoodNYC: "Set THREE alarms for 11:59:30 PM. Have your Resy app refreshed and ready. I swear I clicked at exactly midnight and still only got a Tuesday 5:30 PM slot."

Another Redditor, u/LESfoodie, shared their strategy: "I've gotten lucky twice by checking Thursday evenings around 6 PM. People cancel last minute and spots randomly appear. Also, the bar seats are walk-in only and honestly just as good."

Twitter user @NYCeats wrote: "Pro tip for @doublechickenplease - their 80% walk-in policy is real. Showed up at 5 PM on a Wednesday, waited 45 mins, totally worth it. The Japanese Cold Noodle drink is witchcraft."

Pro Tips

• Time it perfectly: Refresh Resy at 11:59:55 PM, then spam-click the moment it hits midnight
• Be flexible: Tuesday-Thursday bookings are significantly easier than weekends
• Walk-in strategy: Show up right at 5 PM when they open—you'll have the best shot at bar seats
• Check for cancellations: Thursday evenings seem to be prime cancellation time
• Solo or duo: Parties of 1-2 have better luck than larger groups
• Have backups ready: If The Coop is booked, FREE RANGE (their front section) takes walk-ins and serves some of the same cocktails
• Watch for no-shows: Arrive 10 minutes before your desired time as a walk-in—they only hold reservations for 10 minutes

Red flags to avoid:

• Don't buy reservations from third parties—they won't honor them
• Don't book multiple reservations within 7 days—they track this and will cancel
• Don't bring underage guests after 10 PM

Or Let Mise Handle It

Here's the thing about midnight reservation drops: they require the reflexes of a day trader and the dedication of a superfan. While you're setting multiple alarms and stress-refreshing Resy, Mise's automated system is already locked and loaded.

Our reservation technology monitors drop times down to the millisecond and can secure bookings faster than any human finger can tap. We track The Coop's reservation patterns, know which time slots open up most frequently, and can even snag last-minute cancellations while you're sleeping.

Why lose sleep over reservation drops when you could just wake up to a confirmation text? Mise handles the midnight madness so you can focus on the important stuff—like deciding whether to start with the Japanese Cold Noodle or dive straight into that legendary fried chicken sandwich.