75 Best Bars in Pennsylvania, USA

The brews on Evil Genius's menu are as delicious as they are uniquely named. With options like Purple Monkey Dishwasher (a chocolate–peanut butter porter) and Ma! The Meatloaf (a Belgian white ale), the beers stick out, and for good reason. Within the Front Street brewpub, the beers are brewed and moved just a few steps to the often-busy bar. Guests can order flights, pints, and a selection of easy-to-eat food like grilled-cheese sandwiches, tacos, and dips. Brewery tours are available.

A classic and classy Old City watering hole, Sassafras is a stately stop for a well-made cocktail; it's a cozy hideaway for grown-ups among the neighborhood’s more boisterous and youthful hangouts. Known for its sophisticated ambience and great service, it also offers light lunch and small bites. In addition to drinks and dinner, it hosts live jazz musicians Sunday to Thursday.

In the heart of downtown, this multilevel club presents a wide variety of live music, including Celtic, bluegrass, and alt-rock. Jam sessions bring out local folks with their guitars, banjos, and fiddles. There are also bingo nights and Tuesday trivia, as well as DJ nights.

Regulars abound at 12 Steps Down, where people shoot pool, sing karaoke every Tuesday, and belly up to the bar for local and domestic beers, pours of bourbon, and plenty of classic bar snacks. During Phillies games, dollar hot dogs are served to pair with drinks and cheering on the home team.

Atop the old-school bar Sassafras, the speakeasy-style 48 Record Bar is all about vinyl and vibes. This cozy lounge was built for sound and the DJ spins music from the bar's extensive collection of vintage LPs. Sip a few handcrafted cocktails (with alcohol-free options available) while enjoying the fabulous music.  A long, narrow flight of stairs is the only way to reach this bar. 

Attached to the AKA hotel and its restaurant, a.kitchen, a.bar boasts one of the most enviable views in the city, looking right out onto Rittenhouse Square. The food and drink, with its emphases on fresh seafood and cutting-edge cocktails, will encourage return visits.

Besides serving excellent beer, Attic Brewing hosts great music ranging from funk and soul to rock and roll. A sizable outdoor area regularly hosts food trucks, and families (and dogs) are welcome.

Some time at this welcoming part-industrial, part pub-cozy bar and restaurant may indeed produce the sense of comfortable well-being implied by the name, especially for those who try its clever cocktails or the creative craft beers (like a lemon meringue IPA) producted on-site by Brewery Techne. Also notable are many nonalcoholic drinks, including a popular list of mocktails. Oysters, fries, meat and vegetarian boards, burgers, and sandwiches fill out the menu, and brunch is available weekends. 

A multifloor space, down a side alley, the Bike Stop caters specifically to those seeking leather-clad adventures.

This handsome pub is just off Rittenhouse Square, in a refurbished town house with a fireplace on the main floor and a quiet dining space on the upper level. Beer lovers can choose from a solid selection of draft, bottled, and canned beers; the food, including U.K.-style entrées like shepherd's pie and bangers and mash, is straightforward and satisfying.

One of the pianos that graced the original Odette's, the long-closed cabaret that was a New Hope institution, now resides at this casual, quintessential river tavern (think cozy rooms with dark wood tables and booths) halfway between New Hope and Washington's Crossing. The bar area's six-nights-a-week entertainment, with music from standards to jazz to country, is popular and gay-friendly.  Its hearty American fare has a strong following, too, for lunch and dinner.

Brillo Box is a bar with good food that showcases independent rock.

Within an old fire station, Carbon Copy provides an excellent selection of in-house brews accompanied by tasty wood-fired pizzas. The owners/beermakers have come from creating beer in numerous celebrated craft breweries from San Diego (Modern Times) to the Philly area (Tired Hands), and their beers are often defined by richness and depth of flavor.

An intimate hangout off the Avenue of the Arts (aka Broad Street), Chris' showcases top talent Tuesday through Saturday. The jazz club stays accessible by doing the simple things right—friendly service, fair prices, great performers. The lunch and dinner menus feature some light New Orleans–style touches.

Sleek but cozy, Club Cafe showcases music ranging from jazz to acoustic to rock.

Anything goes during Comedy Sportz's nights of improvisational comedy, formatted as a high-energy competitive sport. The troupe hosts two shows every Saturday at the Adrienne Theater, while a minor-league troupe performs on Sunday. Audience participation is essential to the experience.

Located about 2 miles from Manayunk along the Schuylkill River Path, the back patio caters to bicyclists and people on the trail, so the brewery is the perfect pit stop before heading back to Manayunk. You can also just drive. Try their Type A, an India Pale Ale, and User Friendly, a blonde ale, or seasonal beers like Island in the Sun, a double IPA. 

The Continental Mid-town spreads the cocktail and global small-plates concept across three whimsically appointed floors, including an indoor-outdoor rooftop space. The items on the comprehensive food menu run the gamut from cheesesteak egg rolls to lobster macaroni and cheese.

It's very Kennett Square: a site that was once the Eastern Condensed Milk Company now operates as a year-round community gathering space, with casually rustic indoor and outdoor spaces including a beer garden. The beer list for indoors or outside sipping is long and interesting, and flatbreads and handhelds are typical of the hearty fare. Live music of all kinds is a highlight, and various events keep things hopping. Kids are welcome until 10 pm. There's an ice cream truck on weekends, when the Creamery opens midday.  

Manayunk's best live-music venue features many of the most talented local bands curated for their crowd-pleasing aesthetics and musicianship. Expect excellent sound in a cozy, laid-back, and corner bar setting that's tucked away in a residential area.

Its outside walls decorated with famous Franks throughout history (Frankenstein's monster, FDR, Sinatra, Zappa, etc.), Dirty Frank's is a Philadelphia classic. A glorious mixture of students, artists, journalists, and resident characters crowds around the horseshoe-shaped bar and engages in friendly, beer-soaked mayhem. Cash only.

A constant stream of DJs rolls through the Dolphin every month, with something for everyone, from throwback nights featuring only vinyl to house music or soul. The drinks are dive bar standards: beer, simple cocktails, and plenty of them.

Right next to Franklin Music Hall, Doom is a cocktail and mezcal bar with an epically delicious hot dog and a very good plate of nachos. The name refers to their inspiration from doom metal, but it's more easygoing than that would suggest. 

Fergus "Fergie" Carey is the jovial proprietor of this casual, cozy, and beloved bar, which has been around longer than most establishments of its ilk in Philly. The taproom, which serves solid craft beer and comfort food, hosts regular entertainment, including music, poetry, Quizzo, and even live theater. There are no televisions on the premises, as Carey believes in the lost art of conversation.

Since its opening in 2015, the 25,000-square-foot Fillmore has seen sold-out shows featuring everyone from local musicians to top-40 singers. The venue is the first of its kind in Fishtown, introducing a rock club experience for the 21st century. Three raised balconies provide solid sight lines for as many as 2,500 concertgoers, with a secondary club, the Foundry, holding about 450 for smaller concerts and late-night dance parties.

Pete's, in Queen Village, could easily be mistaken for just another neighborhood watering hole, but the menu is eclectic, featuring a regularly changing lineup of creative food alongside the requisite wings and burgers.

Stephen Starr's big, loud, and lively beer garden brings a bit of Bavaria to Fishtown's nightlife scene. Large groups are welcome, and you and your crew can sit outside at one of the large picnic tables, or hang indoors when it's too cold for the heat lamps. Draft beers, many of them German, come in half or full liters, accompanied by rib-sticking pretzels, wurst, and schnitzel. TVs show major sports games, and yard games are a popular pastime. Reservations are welcome, and a good idea, as space fills up for big games and events.

One of the city's premier bars for cocktail lovers, the sexy Franklin is named after a cover business established by infamous Philly gangster Max "Boo Boo" Hoff. Bartenders whip up potent and elaborate cocktails in a narrow parlor in the back of the Franklin Hotel that often requires a wait; make a reservation to bypass that issue. The location is a little tough to find, but the payoff is worth it.

Hip-hop artists, singer-songwriters, rock bands, and more regularly perform at Franklin Music Hall, formerly known as the Electric Factory. With room for 3,000 guests, the venue offers a not-too-big, not-too-small viewing experience, within a historic venue to boot.

A former supper club that attracted movers and shakers of yesteryear, the updated Franky's is now under the watch of Mark Bee, architect of North 3rd and Silk City. A kitschy dining room decorated with Bee's Technicolor flea market finds gives way to an upstairs performance space used by DJs and live acts. Food is served until 1 am on Wednesday and Thursday, 11 pm on Sunday, and 2 am on Friday and Saturday.