21 Best Bars in Rhode Island, USA

On its own private beach, Ballard's has oceanfront tiki bars, VIP cabana rentals, and a barnlike restaurant with a dance floor and live music. It tends to be livelier by day, although you can also arrange for a private beach bonfire at night.

This Asian-style karaoke lounge lets you belt out a tune from a searchable app of more than 30,000 songs (updated each month); if you're shy about public crooning, book a private room for yourself and your friends.

This place sets itself apart from the others by hosting soon-to-be-discovered bands from around the country. It has live music inside and out, a dog-friendly area, frozen cocktails, and a suntanned crowd. Disco Monday has been an island tradition for more than two decades. Sunday Funday afternoon shows are family-friendly.

Renowned blues and jazz performers are on the menu, along with folk, cabaret, and comedy acts. It's your turn to take the mike on Fridays for karaoke from 9 p.m. to midnight. Chan's also serves an extensive line-up of Chinese cuisine. Purchase show tickets and make dining reservations online in advance.

Club Soda is a lively hangout with a 12x8-foot outdoor TV. Shoot pool or tuck into some tasty pub grub at the island's most local bar. Live music, trivia, karaoke, musical Bingo, daily Happy Hour specials, and outdoor movies keep the scene lively.

In a dimly lit space born as a bakery in the 1920s and converted to a social club at the tail end of World War II, this speakeasy also serves tropically inspired and cleverly composed small bites, sandwiches, and a well-regarded chicken sandwich, as well as house-made ice cream and gelato. DJs spin music some nights, and the classic speakeasy vibe is a perfect match for live jazz on Sunday nights; the early show is family-friendly while the later one is adults-only. In classic speakeasy style, there's no sign outside the club, but the address is clearly marked.

The Eddy specializes in classic cocktails like on-draft Negronis, rotating takes on traditional punches, and complex concoctions like the Path to Exile—a stir of rye, St. George ginger pear liqueur, sherry, cinnamon, lemon, and bitters, topped with soda. The less adventurous can pick from draft and bottled beers and a few interesting wines. Add charcuterie, cheese, sliders, seafood, and chocolate mousse, and you have a great night out.

Named for the Fastnet Lighthouse off the coast of Cork, Ireland, this pub hosts Irish jam sessions on Sunday evening, when guest musicians, singers, and dancers familiar with traditional Irish repertoire are invited to participate. Soccer matches bring out raucous crowds that fill the interior as well as the courtyard out back. Irish beers and ciders are on draft, and the food menu includes bangers and beans along with the usual fish-and-chips and burgers.

This chic bar and restaurant, a popular locals hangout, offers specialty cocktails and elevated pub fare amid a smattering of pizzas and Mexican-inspired apps and entrees. 

Marina and skyline views, a waterfront deck, live tunes, beer buckets, frozen concoctions, and the city's best clam cakes and chowder make this indoor-outdoor bar and grill on the Fox Point waterfront an ideal place to unwind or catch a game. The name is a nod to a time when the docks below were the domain of fishermen, not pleasure boaters. 

You may recognize the Hot Club from the opening scenes of the movie Something About Mary. For more than 30 years, this place has been a favorite hangout for young professionals, university professors, and politicians. On summer afternoons until the wee hours of the morning, you'll find the hip set on the outdoor deck overlooking the Providence River. For cheap eats, try local favorites like the Saugy dog (hot dog) or a "stuffie"---a stuffed quahog clam that's a Rhode Island seafood staple.

The band Roomful of Blues was born at "The Knick," and national touring artists still gig at this club near the Westerly train station. The venue hosts R&B, jazz, and alt-country touring acts on its main stage and intimate Tap Room; local bands also perform, and there are occasional open-mike nights and dance lessons, too.

A shack built over the water at Payne's Dock, Mahogany Shoals has a laid-back vibe and live music. The place has expanded, gracefully, with an outdoor bar and an upper-level deck. It remains the best spot on the island to enjoy a quiet drink, peer at beautiful yachts, and catch a breeze on even the hottest of nights.

Housed in a former bank building built in 1892, this café hosts live music, including touring blues acts and tribute bands, plus improv comedy nights. Wallflowers can watch the bands from the second floor, but the real action is on the dance floor in front of the stage.

The Ocean Mist has a beachfront deck where you can watch surfers on the point and catch some rays while enjoying a beer, a burger, or breakfast. Bands, including rock, throwback pop, and reggae acts, perform nightly in summer and on Thursdays and weekends the rest of the year. The music is free on Sunday Funday, but get there early, it's popular. Considered one of Rhode Island's best hangouts, "the Mist," as it's called by locals, is that cool beach bar that every coastal area has—or wishes it had.

An all-ages crowd heads here for eats, drinks, and live music seven days a week, including dueling pianos on Friday and Saturday nights at the Top of Pelham bar upstairs.

On the rooftop of the Providence G residential building, the lively bar is open evenings year-round (it has a retractable glass rooftop and fire pits) for drinks, snacks, dinner, music, and general conviviality. Valet parking is complimentary.

This century-old, five-story theater (operated as Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel until the venue resumed its original name in late 2017), hosts nationally known musical acts: rock, blues, hip-hop, Americana, country, Latin, metal, funk—plus live comedy.

East Side gentrification has not touched this (kind of) riverfront bar on South Main Street. Studiedly unpretentious, the Wild Colonial occupies the brick-lined basement of an old warehouse building; strain your eyes, and you might get a glimpse of the Providence River across the parking lot. Food choices are limited to the likes of cheese plates and hummus, but the bartenders take pride in the beer list and in pouring the best Guinness drafts in the city. If you're looking for a place to duck in for a reasonably priced beer or cocktail on Waterfire nights (or any night, really), this is it.

This venerable beach bar hosts live entertainment on its oceanfront patio six nights a week, late June–mid-September. There's also a function room that hosts weddings and other events. Children are welcome until 10 pm; after that patrons must be 21 or older.

Patrons here amuse themselves with darts, pinball, table tennis, and pool, to the sound of live bands or DJs on many summer nights. By day, order drinks and a big plate of nachos on Los Gatitos Deck overlooking the dunes at the southern end of Crescent Beach.