The Lotus Room is on West 47th Street near Times Square, inside a restaurant whose speakeasy entrance is a restored 1899 antique church confessional. You go in through the confessional door. That's where the bar is.

Owner Josh Kessler built the room around modern Asian cuisine with a cocktail program by mixologist Valenda Richardson. The main dining room has pearl pendant lights, dark wood, and nightly live performances. The speakeasy component operates separately with a more intimate character.

The confessional entrance is theatrical in a way that most bars that describe themselves as theatrical are not. An actual 1899 church confessional that swings open into a cocktail room is a physical object with history and weight, and it earns the dramatic framing that surrounds it. Open Tuesday through Sunday starting at five.