2610 Best Bars in USA

Diagonally across the street from Wrigley Field stands the Cubby Bear, a Chicago institution since 1953. It's the place where Cubs fans come to drown their sorrows in beer or lift one to celebrate. There are plenty of TVs for game watching, plus live music and a menu featuring burgers and other bar food.

Though this spot is popular for lunch and dinner, it's even more popular later at night. The younger, trendier set comes late to party, mingle, and dance into the wee hours.

The Cuff Complex is one of the city's oldest LGTBQ+ bars and also one of the broadest, with four bars, billiards, darts, and all sorts of events. It strives to be a manly leather bar but attracts all shapes, sizes, and styles. The loud, crowded dance floor is tucked away downstairs; the main-floor bar, with its patio, is the place to be on warm nights.

No stranger to national accolades, including the coveted James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Bar Program, this pioneer of the revitalized Freret Corridor adds a touch of urban chic to an historic neighborhood. Cure was one of the city's first modern cocktail bars and they have the space to match: a converted fire station boasts 20-foot ceilings and a lovely patio. Knowledgeable bartenders use a breathtaking arsenal of liquor to push the boundaries of what a drink can be, paired with delicious small plates.

Curtain Club and Liquid Lounge are two distinct clubs inside a shared building. Live musical acts, including acoustic, rock, and country, play here Thursday through Sunday.

This August agriculture-oriented event, one of the largest in Ohio, has all the usual fair fare—games, rides, exhibits, and more. It's held in Berea, southwest of downtown Cleveland.

A separate concept from The Dabney restaurant, the Cellar is hidden down a set of stone steps in the restaurant's basement. The dim lighting and small size make you feel as if you stumbled on a D.C. speakeasy, but the bar itself shares a lot of the same open, earthy tones of the larger restaurant. The Cellar riffs off classic cocktails for its specialty list and has a large selection of wines, cider, and beer. If you feel peckish, try some of the specialty bar snacks, written on the blackboard nightly. You can't go wrong with the raw bar or the carefully selected cheeses and charcuterie.

Set off by a three-story mural of Elizabeth Taylor, Dacha has become the go-to outdoor drinking venue in midtown D.C., with lines of people (and their dogs) waiting to get in most evenings any time of year whenever the weather isn’t bitterly cold or inclement. (A windscreen wall and heaters help keep patrons toasty during the winter.) The beer garden serves drafts of craft beers from Germany, Belgium, and the United States as well as Bavarian-inspired nosh, while the adjoining café serves hot coffee and bagels and sandwiches during the day.

If frozen DayGlo concoctions spinning around in washing machine–like mechanisms are your thing, this place should certainly be on your list. If not, this is still a good go-to weekend watering hole across the street from Madeira Beach. In addition to selections like the Grape Ape and the Voodoo Loveshake, there's a respectable selection of beer on tap and a full bar. Entertainment includes some excellent funk and rock bands Thursday through Sunday. The food menu highlights seafood, of course (oysters are a winner), and the late-night menu is served until 1:30 am.

The Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant is one of the best jazz bars in the Midwest, with some of the Twin Cities' finest performers.

Step through the curtained entrance and back in time to 1970s Korea at Dan Sung Sa, which gained wider popularity after Anthony Bourdain paid a visit. At this quirky time-capsule bar, wood-block menus feature roughly 100 small eats. You’ll see much that looks familiar, but fortune favors the bold. Take a chance on corn cheese, or try the makgeolli: a boozy Korean rice drink you sip from a bowl. It pairs perfectly with good conversation and snacking all night long.

Or mingle at the Dancing Bear Pub, which has a good selection of domestic and imported beers, as well as hearty fare like pizza, nachos, and burritos.

An admirable beer selection, good pub grub, and a pool table are all on tap at this casual local hangout.

These swanky digs in the Ritz-Carlton are home to their namesake, Jeremy Davenport, an old-school crooner in the mold of Sinatra and Crosby. With a hot trumpet, Davenport plays Wednesday through Saturday and draws a mixed crowd of visitors and locals to the swinging dance floor.

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.

The city's main spot for comedy offers a steady menu of well-known and promising stand-up headliners—recent acts have included Judah Friedlander—and a bevy of funny amateurs. Tickets vary depending on the act. Typically, there's a two-item minimum from a full food and drink menu.

With live music most days of the week, this small two-story rock club with an upper deck hosts fledgling indie bands and the occasional nationally known act. There's a narrow bar on the ground floor, a sizable concert space on the second floor, and an enclosed roof deck on top. DJs take the controls for weekend-night dance parties. Concertgoers can enjoy snacks, sandwiches, and burgers every night and until 1 am on weekends.

The rare Franklin Street nightspot that doesn't feel too student-centric, the Dead Mule has been kickin' it since 1994. The large front patio is especially inviting on a warm day, with weekend live music, a good selection of beer and whisky, plus a barbecue and Sunday brunch menu.

Opened by a former high-school English teacher, the appropriately named Dead Poet is the place to go for a properly poured Guinness, a shot of Irish whiskey, or—if you're looking to tie one on—the namesake cocktail, which manages to taste like grape soda despite being made with seven liquors (and a splash of sour mix). Other cocktails are named for books (Moby Dick, for example) and authors (Hemingway). For conversational inspiration or life contemplation, the mahogany-paneled walls are full of poetic passages, literary quotations, and black-and-white photographs of some authors. There's even a bar library so you can sign out classic literature.

This cocktail parlor invites you inside with its name, the beginning of an imaginary love letter to Irving Place, on which the bar resides. Interiors themed for different eras are chic and refined, and just as at sister property Raines Law Room, there are private sections of tables and couches for intimate conversations. Reservations are recommended (make them online), but you can sometimes get a table if you just show up.

In the historic Flat Iron Building, the Debonair Social Club combines visual arts, music, and late-night dining. Upstairs, curated video installations line the walls surrounding the stage-cum–dance floor; the dimly lighted downstairs has a more clandestine feel.

At this upscale bar and restaurant with a bowling alley, winter rates start at $150 per hour not including shoes.

This dark wood-paneled bar is a much cooler version of your parents’ basement from the ’70s. There’s live country music most nights, including a bluegrass jam every Monday. And when there isn’t a live band, the jukebox keeps the honky-tonk mood alive. It’s worth the trek north of East Nashville for a round of darts, a game of pool, and a few classic cocktails.

Renowned local chef Renee Erickson opened an enchanting nautical-themed speakeasy inside the Amazon spheres. The immersive decor adds to the swanky feel. Aside from the luxurious setting, guests are drawn by the fancy and creative cocktails using ingredients such as fig-infused grappa. The short but sexy food menu includes a high-end version of the cream cheese-garnished Seattle dog and a caviar service.

Be sure to sit at the bar in this Main Street joint and chat up the local bartenders, who serve up opinions on town politics and advice on where to eat, as well as delicious cocktails made from whiskey and gin distilled on-site. Bands liven up Main Street on weekends and throughout the summer, bringing in tourists and plenty of local flavor. The food truck on the patio serves the best fish-and-chips in town.

Both the name and the scale of this one might be familiar to those who visit topless clubs in their home towns. Déjà Vu is part of a national chain, and the single-stage club is small compared to its increasingly grandiose competitors. But this branch reopened in early 2025 after a downtime for some sprucing up. It also stays competitive by charging a lower cover charge than the splashier clubs and is arguably within walking distance of the Strip—at least from the Fashion Show mall. The place is absolutely packed on Tuesday, when all drinks are $2.

From the palm-studded rooftop deck (heated in winter, breezy in summer) to the ground-floor lounge and down to the basement venue where DJs and rock bands hold court, the multifaceted Delancey, at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge, is a versatile spot for thirsty lounge lizards.