2610 Best Bars in USA

The oldest bar in the Jacksonville area (it's been around since 1933) is notable for having the cheapest drinks, cheapest pool tables, and most colorful clientele. It's also cash only, so come prepared. Pete's has been written about by authors such as John Grisham and James W. Hall, in part, perhaps, because it's practically across the street from The BookMark, a great independent bookstore where writers love to give readings.

A historic landmark (where O. Henry was a loyal customer), this is one of the bars that claims—with its 1864 date—to be the oldest continuously operating watering hole in the city. Pete's has charm to spare, with its long wooden bar and cozy booths, where locals crowd in for a beer or a fantastic burger. When the weather warms up, sidewalk tables with red-and-white-checkered tablecloths on scenic Irving Place are a neighborhood favorite.

House-made beers, 18 HDTVs, a decent pub menu, and a pet-friendly patio ensure lively crowds at this craft brewery in back of the Portola Hotel & Spa.

In a century-old brick building, this noted brewpub has shuffleboard and billiards in an upstairs hall. There's great pub grub, plus hop-infused desserts.

This LGBTQ+ lounge bills itself as a "Leather/Levi Neighborhood Alternative Bar," and that's a pretty apt description. The downstairs bar is a popular Marigny nightspot, with a calendar of special events and themed parties, including the International Mr. Leather Contest. The upstairs bar, called The Eagle, is notorious for its "anything goes" atmosphere.

The owners call it a "Viet tree house" and the speakeasy-style cocktail bar certainly nailed its hideaway vibe. Look for Phở Bắc (the fourth location for the popular Seattle restaurant opened in 2022) and a sandwich sign pointing you to "PST," then head upstairs. Inventive cocktails at the cozy, plant-filled bar feature Vietnamese ingredients and flavors, like an egg coffee or a pickled leek martini, as well nibbles such as crab dip and a phở cup of noodles.

With two venues for live music and DJs—the Showroom downstairs and the Upstairs Lounge—as well as a full bar that serves food downstairs, there's something for everyone at this neighborhood staple. Weekends and late nights are especially happening.

A lot of people ask, \"Where do Las Vegas entertainers hang out and perform for one another?\" One of the best and most consistent answers is found in this appealing and easily accessed lounge at The Tuscany (an attractive, convention-oriented hotel that is otherwise unremarkable). Kenny Davidson's Celebrity Piano Bar is a Friday-night fixture for local performers, and other nights feature a rotating roster of singers as early as 7 or 7:30 pm, making it a true low-key alternative to the dance clubs.

During ski season, this multistory club has live music on Friday and Saturday. After 8, the crowd moves downstairs for dancing, sometimes to big-name bands.

Pickles Pub overflows with Orioles and Ravens fans whenever there's a home game. It's the quintessential Baltimore sports bar for over 25 years, so don't come in expecting white tablecloths and linen napkins. The scene is loud and often raucous: fans banter about sports trivia, dispute scores, commiserate over scandals, and celebrate hard-fought victories with a clink of their pint glasses. All's fair in love and sports.

Unique in presentation and scope, this cabaret, martini bar, restaurant, and comedy club brings magic, flair, and entertainment with style to the Gateway neighborhood. Dinner-show packages are available, which include an intimate magic show, fine cuisine, and preferred seating at Hilarities 4th Street Theatre, located within the establishment. In the basement, Kevin's Martini Bar hosts happy hours 5–7 pm Tuesday–Friday and stocks an impressive selection of fine liquors in an airy, modern atmosphere. Velvety soft decor hushes the bar, despite large crowds. Valet parking is available and recommended.

The party begins at the Beach Bar, with live entertainment daily to celebrate sunset on the beach, and then moves to the Chart Room. It's small and odd, but there are free hot dogs and peanuts, and its history is intriguing.

True to its location, you might find more tourists than locals at the Pike Brewing Company, though it is popular with the Downtown after-work crowd. The cavernous bar and restaurant, operated by the brewers of the Pike Place Pale Ale, also houses the Seattle Microbrewery Museum and an excellent shop with home-brewing supplies. Pints of beer are cold and satisfying—the pale ale and the Kilt Lifter Scottish ale have been local favorites for decades.

Casual and comfortable—yet still hip and cruise-y—this is the type of neighborhood joint you quickly claim as your own. Kick back with a pint on the fantastic year-round patio and enjoy eye candy of the thirtysomething variety (ranging from conservative yuppie guys to Mission emo boys). The Pilsner is technically a sports bar, which means it has a pool table and TVs tuned to local games.

The clever name is just one reason to visit this beer hall housed in a former funeral home. The churchlike interior is stately, with soaring ceilings, dark woodwork, and custom furniture made from huge Douglas fir timbers found in the basement—they were supposedly used to shelve coffins many years ago. The place is rumored to be haunted, but that doesn't stop a trendy crowd from congregating to sample from 30-plus taps of craft beer and a menu of wood-fired pizza (morgue-rita, anyone?), pickles ("embalmed veggies"), and plenty more.

Friday and Saturday evening June through September, the Pine Creek Cafe serves live music, food, beer, and wine under the stars. The fun starts at 7:30. During winter, the music moves inside. Friday is open-mike night starting at 7:30.

The total beach-bar experience, this eatery and bar is geared to families and tourists—as well as sports fans—and is a hot spot for live music. The signature rum drink, the Pineapple Willy, was the inspiration for its full slate of tropical and frozen drinks and the hangout's tiki attitude. It closes in winter.

The site of the historic Pines Theater, where Dolly Parton played her first paying gig, is now an entertainment-focused bar and restaurant with duckpin bowling lanes, shuffleboard, foosball, and retro video games. The kitchen serves burgers and ramen bowls, and there's also a top-notch sushi and lobster roll joint, Pinchy's, directly across the street. 

This elegant space with ambient pink lighting and suspended bubble lamps serves playfully named but seriously crafted cocktails like the sherry-and-gin-centric Sucker's Luck and the mezcal-driven Quiet Company. The Asian-influenced bar snacks are distinctively delicious—try taro tots with Thai ranch and chili sauce or the oxtail burger. The darkly seductive space makes an inviting milieu before or after a show at nearby Portland Center Stage.

Let loose and have a night of play at this spacious and energetic duckpin bowling bar. With smaller lanes, pins and bowling balls, duckpin games offer a unique challenge, but there are also bocce courts, pinball machines, ping-pong tables, and foosball tables to float between for a full night of activities. Free video games and rounds of giant Jenga are a great way to pass the time while waiting for an open lane. Fruit-forward cocktails, punches, and boozy Slush Puppies are the main draw at the bar, and there's usually a food truck parked outside to provide a late-night bite.

Fredericksburg might not be known for its nightlife, but you wouldn't know that from the inside of Pioneer. This local dive serves decent, well-priced, seasonal cocktails and local wine and features live music and dancing on most nights. It's even open until 2 am on Friday and Saturday.

As far as the locals are concerned, the few green-and-white-vinyl booths at this bar across from the harbor make a fine destination. The Pioneer is vintage Alaska, with pool tables, rough-hewn locals clad in Carhartts and XtraTuf boots, hundreds of pictures of local fishing boats, and occasional live music.

Revelers pack this gorgeous spot every night of the week, and with good reason, given that it's the main gay dance club in town. Each night offers a main-stage drag, acrobatic, or dance performance. Weekends bring ticketed performances from the likes of RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, but weeknights usually have no cover charge. Although the dance floor at Piranha is legendary, find your way through the labyrinth of rooms to the spacious, fireplace-ringed open-air patio out back. 

This Dolly Parton–owned production features a 15-foot-deep water lagoon staged with pirate ships Crimson and Sapphire. Ye families will enjoy a four-course feast while watching swashbuckling fights, pyrotechnics, acrobats, high dives, and mermaids in flight.

It's all fun and games at Play Boston—or at least that's the idea. This 21st-century arcade geared toward adults has loads of redemption games including Willy Crash, Need for Speed, and Pop the Luck. Rack up points and win some prizes. You can order pizzas, burgers, and cocktails while you game, too.

The lone topless club in the convention corridor is smaller than the splashy ones to the west, but it has long benefited from its location: across the street and literally within stumbling distance of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Once notorious as Club Paradise—and in more recent years known as Centerfolds—its new name in the summer of 2025 signaled a twist in the format, to see if two favorite guy things (sports bars and strip clubs) can be combined into one. The dancers have to vie for attention with 10 big-screen TVs and a 20-foot video wall, and plans called for more sports-viewing in the daytime and early evenings before the dancers take center stage.

Four distinct spaces at this popular bar offer something for everyone—everyone who likes a modern, urban vibe, that is. The spacious rooftop deck has a DJ and dancing most nights. Downstairs, the sleek, minimalist bar, with large-screen TVs and happy-hour specials, has occasional live music. Check out the intimate covered rear patio for quieter conversation, or see and be seen on the front patio along Congress Street.