The World's Top 100 Cocktail Bars
Updated May 17, 2026
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Rank 1. Kumiko
Julia Momosé's dining bar pairs an exceptional Japanese spirits collection with sharp-uniformed servers who radiate genuine warmth across a room designed for lingering. The kitchen matches that precision—butter cabbage with ramp miso and katsuobushi, grilled Arctic char in shio koji beurre blanc—each plate calibrated as carefully as the cocktails beside it.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 3 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Winner · World's Best Bar
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
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Rank 2. Handshake Speakeasy
Behind an unmarked door in Juárez, bartenders orchestrate drinks with precision and restraint, letting high-quality spirits and technique speak for themselves. The space feels like a deliberate counterpoint to louder nightlife—intimate, focused, built on the principle that a cocktail properly made needs no fanfare.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #2 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · Rémy Martin Legend of the List Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 2 Pins
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Rank 3. Tlecān
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #23 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2025 · Eli Martínez Bello · Bartenders' Bartender Award
- 2026 · #5 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 3. minibar by José Andrés
A single door opens onto José Andrés's culinary laboratory, where guests perch at a curved counter to watch small plates arrive as puzzles—chicharron masquerading as something else, cauliflower studded with caviar. Whimsy and surprise drive each course toward a finale of fried ice cream donuts, the kind of playful confidence that makes dinner feel like collaborative theater.
- AAA
- 2026 · Five Diamonds
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 2 Stars
- Washingtonian
- 2025 · #44 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
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Rank 3. Allegory
A converted townhouse on K Street houses a bar where the drinks are as deliberately conceived as the decor—each cocktail a small argument about flavor and technique, each room a chapter in a larger story about who belongs here. The bartenders work with purpose and wit, mixing drinks that taste like they were made by people who read philosophy before bed. This is a speakeasy that takes its role as civic mirror seriously, which somehow makes it more fun.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2026 · Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · World’s Best Cocktail Menu
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Rank 6. Origin Bar
A hotel bar in the lobby that treats its mandate—comfort and conviviality—as seriously as craft. The drinks arrive with a sense of play, and the room itself, all warm surfaces and attentive staff, feels less like a transit lounge than a living room where strangers quickly become acquaintances.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – APAC
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC *
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Rank 6. Bar Pompette
A Parisian café has materialized on College Street, all marble counter and bentwood chairs, where the cocktail program pairs French precision with flavors that shouldn't work but do—curry leaf with rum, masala chai with cognac and cinnamon. The bar team executes these unlikely combinations with such clarity and restraint that even the most baroque drinks slide down easy. Jazz on Sundays, garden patio in season, service that remembers you.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Art of Hospitality Award
- 2025 · #55 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #8 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 6. Sip & Guzzle
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #39 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #1 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · The 10 Top Bars in the US
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Rank 6. Kaito del Valle
An all-women operation drawing from Japanese izakayas and kawaii aesthetics, this cocktail bar channels playful irreverence through its drinks and design—a space where whimsy collides with technique, mixing equal parts charm and unflinching craft.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 6. True Laurel
A narrow bar on Alabama Street where the bartender treats each drink as a small architectural problem: how to build something balanced and bright from what the Bay Area's farms are currently offering. The cocktails arrive spare and considered, built around produce that changes with the season rather than the spec sheet. A place that takes seriously the idea that a drink is a dish.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #64 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #14 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 6. Schmuck
A narrow corner bar on the Lower East Side where the bartenders move with unhurried precision, building drinks that taste like they've been thought through for months. The space itself feels lived-in—wood, dim light, the kind of place where regulars and newcomers drink shoulder to shoulder without fanfare. Schmuck trades in quiet confidence over flash.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · Three Cents Best New Opening Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- 2025 · #59 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #4 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 6. Superbueno
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #12 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #9 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- VinePair
- 2023 · Bar Program of the Year · The Next Wave Awards
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Rank 6. Thunderbolt
Inside a converted warehouse on West Temple, bartenders conduct rigorous experiments with syrups and infusions, then pour the results into drinks that taste effortless. The precision doesn't announce itself—it arrives in a coupe glass alongside conversation, as if technique and ease were the same thing.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Sustainable Bar Award
- 2026 · #92 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 6. BEKEB
In a spare room lit by candlelight, a woman-led team mixes cocktails rooted in Mexican plant knowledge with the precision of a contemporary kitchen—each drink a small study in bitter, floral, and aromatic balance. The service moves quietly, the drinks arrive at exactly the right temperature, and there is nothing decorative about any of it.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #24 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 15. Licorería Limantour
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Legend of the List Award
- 2025 · #51 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #20 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 15. Library Bar
Dark wood and jewel tones frame this Deco sanctuary tucked off the Fairmont Royal York's lobby, where martinis have been poured tableside for decades beneath a portrait of Toronto's early chief librarian. James Grant's cocktails—like the Belly of the Beast, a layered journey of rum, whisky, brandy and spiced fruit—draw from Michael Ondaatje's Toronto-set novel, wedding literary geography to exacting technique.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #19 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
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Rank 15. Prophecy
A basement bar with serious pedigree: the Hotel Georgia's storied cellar reimagined as a sleek cocktail lounge where beverage director Jeff Savage applies months of research to seemingly spare drinks—a Cosmo riff with strawberry and rhubarb, whisky washed in hay and beeswax. The mood-coded menu, digital art bleeding across walls, and Afro House soundtrack create an atmosphere both confident and sensual.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #32 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 15. Bar Mauro
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #54 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #2 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 15. Line Athens
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 3 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Europe *
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Rank 15. Clemente Bar
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Best New Opening Award
- 2026 · #15 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire
- 2024 · Martini of the Year: Clemente Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 15. UnderTow
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Bar Team
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Rank 22. The Realm of the 52 Remedies
A cocktail bar swathed in theatrical design and Asian aesthetics, where drinks draw from traditional ingredients, rituals, and folklore rather than canonical formulas. The bartenders move with purpose through a space that feels less like a room than a portal, each cocktail arriving as a small ceremony of flavor and intention.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #93 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 22. Cure
A converted firehouse on Freret Street serves as home to a bar that has spent a decade and a half perfecting the craft cocktail, its bartenders moving with the precision of engineers behind drinks built on technique and restraint rather than novelty.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #21 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · #1 · The 10 Top Bars in the US
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
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Rank 22. Silver Lyan
In a historic vault at the Riggs, Silver Lyan crafts cocktails that unfold like narratives, each drink a small act of cultural translation. The bar's precision is evident in every pour and balance, its menu structured around concepts rather than spirit categories. What emerges is hospitality as intellectual curiosity—bartenders as storytellers, guests as willing participants in something more deliberate than mere refreshment.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #55 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire
- 2023 · Silver Service Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 22. Lyaness
The dining room overlooks the Thames from a brutalist perch, all concrete and river light. Each plate arrives as a small narrative—ingredients chosen for their provenance and personality, handled with the kind of technical precision that never announces itself. Service moves with the grace of genuine attentiveness, the sort that comes from staff who understand hospitality as something felt rather than performed.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 3 Pins
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Rank 22. La Factoría
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #26 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 22. CORE Kitchen & Wine Bar
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide
- 4 Stars
- Tucson Foodie
- Where I Eat in Tucson
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Rank 22. Aria
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Hospitality
- Wine Enthusiast
- 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
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Rank 22. Salmon Guru
Salmon Guru occupies a maximalist fever dream of a space where every surface conspires to disorient and delight. The cocktails are engineered with exacting precision—each drink a narrative device, each pour a carefully calibrated gesture toward the surreal. What emerges is less a bar than a theatrical event, one that treats the act of drinking as an excuse for controlled chaos.
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Middle East & Africa
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Middle East & Africa *
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
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Rank 22. El Gallo Altanero
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #10 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- MexBest
- 2025 · Mejor Bartender: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Freddy Anderson
- 2025 · Best of the Best: Nominados · Premios MexBest
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Rank 22. Mecenas
In a Guadalajara neighborhood far from the tourist sweep, Mecenas assembles its cocktails with the precision of someone who learned the craft abroad and returned home determined. The drinks move beyond salt-rimmed reflexes—each one a small argument about balance and restraint. This is where the city's serious drinkers come to think.
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #18 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- MexBest
- 2025 · Bartender Promesa: Ganador · Premios MexBest · Arturo Santos
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Rank 22. Milady’s
The old dive bar survives in the bones of this Prince Street room, now a cocktail destination where craft and nostalgia coexist without pretense. Drinks honor classic technique; the space hums with the ease of a place that knows what it is. History matters here, lightly worn.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Julie Reiner · Industry Icon Award
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- Esquire
- 2023 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 22. Press Club Bar Of Record
A wood-paneled room evokes the '70s while the bar operates with laboratory precision: syrups macerate under cryovac, bourbon receives yogurt washing, cacao gets pressure-infused into amontillado. Each shift tastes and adjusts batches to accommodate seasonal variance—strawberries in June behave differently than in October—treating consistency as a living pursuit rather than a fixed formula.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #34 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Top 10 U.S. Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 22. Double Chicken Please
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #41 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #35 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 22. Zapote Bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- MexBest
- 2024 · Best of the Best: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- 2024 · Mejor Bartender: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Joshua Monaghan
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Rank 22. The Keefer Bar
Behind backlit anatomical charts, a Chinatown bar channels traditional Chinese medicine into cocktails—durian and baijiu meet rum in a Colada; turkey tail mushroom deepens a Daiquiri. Crystal-clear house ice, funky DJ sets, and dim sum from neighboring dumpling shops complete the prescription.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #7 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
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Rank 22. Civil Works
At Civil Works, thematic cocktail menus unfold like curatorial projects—the current program traces Toronto's Garment District through drinks named after its history and served on fabric swatches sourced from nearby mills. The ambition never curdles into pretension; a mad-scientist spirit animates even the Jell-O shots, each one a small experiment in flavor and concept.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Best Cocktail Menu Award
- 2026 · #29 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
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Rank 22. Strong Water
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 2 Pins
- James Beard Awards
- 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
- 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program
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Rank 22. Bastion
Pass through the cocktail bar into a polished dining room in Wedgewood-Houston, where a single tasting menu channels contemporary Southern cooking with playful risk-taking. Yellow peach and tomato arrive with strawberry miso mayo and mozzarella marshmallows; black cod poached in champagne butter sits atop kohlrabi noodles and parsley salad. The kitchen's restraint and precision feel rare in a casual space.
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 1 Star
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Benjamin Goldberg, Max Goldberg, and Josh Habiger - Strategic Hospitality
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Rank 22. Champagne Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 3 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Hotel Bar
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. East
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Rank 22. Ai Fiori
Ai Fiori commands the second floor of the Langham with floor-to-ceiling windows and marble surfaces that catch the Fifth Avenue light. The kitchen works Italian fundamentals—Hiramasa crudo with sunflower seed cream, sagne pasta braised with rabbit and mint—with enough precision to justify the formal room's theatrical sense of occasion. Service glides without fussiness; linens feel substantial; the place knows exactly what it is.
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide
- 4 Stars
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · Selected Restaurant
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Rank 42. Martiny’s
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #75 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #23 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire
- 2024 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 42. Overstory
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #46 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #33 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 42. Vida
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Beverage Service · Jared May
- 2024 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Thomas Melvin
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Rank 42. Standby
Inside a converted warehouse in Detroit's industrial corridor, bartenders work with the precision of surgeons, building drinks that balance intellectual rigor with genuine pleasure. The room itself—exposed brick, purposeful dim lighting—feels less like a showroom and more like the kind of place where craft and community naturally coexist. Standby matters because it treats cocktails as a serious medium without the pretension that usually comes with the territory.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Esquire
- 2024 · Parmesan Leek Galette · The Best Martinis in America
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 42. Civil Liberties
A no-menu speakeasy on Bloor West where bartenders construct custom cocktails from house-made liqueurs—herbal, bright, deliberately unconventional—in a room that swings from nerdy deep-dive to full dance floor depending on the hour. Civil operates like a neighbourhood bar with ambitions beyond the ordinary, unpretentious even when it's intellectually rigorous about what goes in the glass.
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #54 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. Spoon and Stable
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurant
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 42. Trick Dog
- Punch
- Industry Icon
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · The 10 Top Bars in the US
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #100 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. The Cloakroom
Behind a menswear shop in a century-old Golden Square Mile building, this twenty-five-seat bar conducts cocktails like bespoke tailoring—precise, invisible in technique, built from a decade's worth of house-made amari, rare aged spirits, and tinctures distilled at low temperature to preserve delicate flavors. No menu; the bartenders read you instead, personalizing classics to fit the moment.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Canada
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
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Rank 42. Attaboy
A narrow storefront on the Lower East Side with no sign and no menu—you walk in and tell the bartenders what spirits you like, and they build something around your taste. The drinks are technically precise, balanced toward subtlety rather than sweetness, and the bartenders move with the focused quiet of people who've done this ten thousand times. It's the kind of place where a cocktail feels less like entertainment and more like a small, deliberate argument about flavor.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #72 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #37 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. East
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Rank 42. Nipperkin
In a Mayfair townhouse, Nipperkin pours cocktails built from foraged botanicals and obscure British spirits, each drink a small argument for terroir in the glass. The bartenders work with the precision of chemists, layering flavors that taste like they've been pulled from a hedgerow or a heritage distillery. It's the kind of place that makes you reconsider what a drink can be.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Europe *
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Rank 42. Shinji’s
Eighteen seats arranged around a polished bar, where the bartender performs intricate cocktail work with the precision of a surgeon and the showmanship of a magician, all within a room of burnished wood and jewel tones that feels less like a cocktail bar than a cabinet of curiosities.
- VinePair
- 2024 · Bar Program of the Year · The Next Wave Awards
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #77 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. Gus' Sip & Dip
A narrow room of dark wood and brass fills with the kind of crowd that knows what it wants: precise pours, spirits aged with intention, ice chosen as carefully as the liquor it cools. Gus' moves at the tempo of craft, each drink built to specification, each ingredient treated as consequential. The bar hums with the confidence of place that has learned to do one thing very well.
- VinePair
- 2025 · Food & Beverage Program of the Year · The Next Wave Awards
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 1 Pin
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #27 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. Panda & Sons
Behind a facade of vintage charm, Panda & Sons channels serious cocktail ambition: drinks that feel inventive rather than merely nostalgic, executed with the precision of someone who has thought through every ingredient. The bar succeeds because it doesn't announce itself as important.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Europe *
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Rank 42. Platform 18 at Century Grand
Century Grand, hidden within a historic building on Indian School Road, transports you to another era through meticulously crafted cocktails and an environment so considered it feels like stepping into a film set. The drinks are technically precise, the room a study in period authenticity, the whole enterprise more concerned with narrative than novelty.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Nicole Giampino
- 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Bar Team
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Rank 42. Scotch Lodge
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
- 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #63 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. Acamaya
A Bywater storefront with pastel tile and dramatic stonework becomes the stage for Chef Ana Castro's seafood-driven cooking, where nixtamalized corn tostadas topped with al pastor hamachi and masa dumplings filled with Higgins crab move between Mexican technique and Gulf Coast ingredient with easy confidence. Even side dishes—sweet potato spiked with peanut mole and turmeric—arrive with surplus energy.
- Condé Nast Traveler
- 2024 · The best new restaurants in the world
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · Arroz Negro · Best Dishes Our Editors Ate This Year
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: South · Ana Castro
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Rank 42. Identidad
A narrow San Juan bar where Puerto Rican ingredients and technique meet contemporary cocktail ambition—think island roots translated through a cosmopolitan lens. Each drink arrives as a considered artifact, layered with local spirits and tropical elements that feel neither nostalgic nor gimmicky. The space itself hums with the confidence of a place that knows exactly what it wants to say.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · Campari One To Watch Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #73 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Winner · Best New Bar
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Rank 42. Café La Trova
In Little Havana, Michelle Bernstein and Julio Cabrera have built a place where live music and layered history—Cuban and Miami-Cuban—animate the room as surely as the food. Lechon with tangerine mojo anchors a menu that swings between tradition and audacious improvisation, each plate landing with purpose.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #82 · World's 50 Best Bars
- 2026 · #42 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 42. Humboldt Bar
A corner banquette in this small bar invites lingering over cocktails that trace the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt's expeditions through flavor—a sotol Old Fashioned with piloncillo and suspended venison, a citrusy Cyanometer named for his sky-measuring instrument. Brant Porter's place weaves the 19th-century explorer into everything from artwork to sharing plates, romantic without artifice.
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #53 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 42. The American Bar
In a corner of Gleneagles devoted to the Jazz Age, cocktails arrive alongside an ethos of resourcefulness: the bartenders work with scraps and surplus from the hotel's kitchens, turning what might be waste into garnish and infusion. The heather-toned room feels intimate and period-precise, a small space where efficiency and elegance converge.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Europe
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Rank 42. Pacific Cocktail Haven
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #41 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Nominee · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Kevin Diedrich
- 2024 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 42. The Manor Bar
A beachside hotel bar where cocktails arrive dressed in playful theatricality and nostalgic charm, the kind of place that treats each drink as a small, memorable scene rather than a transaction. The Rosewood property's sophisticated pedigree filters down not as pretension but as craft—balanced spirits, precise technique—in service of drinks that actually taste like something worth remembering.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Industry Excellence Awards
- Best Cocktail Program
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 42. Service Bar
The bartenders here work with the precision of chemists and the ease of old friends, mixing drinks that taste deliberate without announcing themselves. Dark wood and dim light create the kind of room where strangers become conversational by the second round, and the staff remembers what you drank last time. Service Bar trades polish for warmth, technique for approachability—which is precisely what makes it work.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #39 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Christine Kim
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Rank 65. COTE
A neon corridor thrums with bass as you enter this Korean steakhouse, where aged beef gleams in a display room like precious inventory. Simon Kim's team moves through the room with practiced ease, seasoning each dish with precision and guiding diners through cuts of marbled beef, stews, and a kimchi Wagyu paella that justifies the ceremony.
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 1 Star
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Simon Kim - Gracious Hospitality Management
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Restaurateur · Simon Kim - Gracious Hospitality
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Rank 65. Public Parking
- Bon Appétit
- 2025 · America's Best New Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Punch
- 2024 · Best New Bars
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Rank 65. Bar Raval
The mahogany cocoon wraps around communal tables where diners lose hours over house-cured jamón and pintxos, the room itself as essential as what arrives on the plate. Smith's kitchen and Figueiredo's drinks program—vermouth-forward cocktails, a deep sherry list—keep the place vital across its second decade.
- Canada's 100 Best
- 2026 · #10 · Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- 2025 · Top 10 International Nominees · Best International Restaurant Bar
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Rank 65. VIRTÙ
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – APAC
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC *
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Rank 65. Bar Snack
The narrow storefront glows with the warmth of a lived-in dive, all exposed brick and low ceilings where regulars drift between tables like the place exists outside time. Drinks arrive unmarked and unadorned—a spirit-forward cocktail balanced with the kind of restraint that comes from knowing what you're doing. A funky, unpretentious room where the bartender's instincts matter more than the menu.
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #3 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
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Rank 65. Bungalow
Vikas Khanna's dining room—pale pink walls, carved bar panels, perpetual crowd—sets a convivial stage for contemporary Indian cuisine that moves fluidly across the country's regional traditions. Turmeric cocktails and dishes like yogurt kebabs in kataifi with mango coulis suggest a kitchen thinking beyond the expected.
- Condé Nast Traveler
- 2024 · The best new restaurants in the world
- The New York Times
- 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Esquire
- 2025 · The Best New Restaurants in America
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Rank 65. Bar Cham
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – APAC
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC *
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Rank 65. Isidore
In the Pearl District, Isidore channels midcentury modernism through a live-fire kitchen devoted to Texas ingredients and regional traditions, with Native American elements woven into even the bread. Popcorn chicken arrives crispy with aioli and velouté; a dry-aged pork chop carries a complex spice crust. The menu sprawls across snacks and shareables, anchored by local beef and a wine list that knows its terroir.
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 1 Star
- Esquire
- 2025 · Miracle of the Well · The Best Martinis in America
- The New York Times
- 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 65. Meteor
A century-old bar on North Second Street where the wood glows amber under low light and the bartenders move with the unhurried confidence of people tending to something that matters. The drinks are classical—gin, whiskey, bitters—executed without pretense, and the room itself feels less like a destination than a place that was always here, waiting for you to find it.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- James Beard Awards
- 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central *
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Rank 65. Nine Bar
- Bon Appétit
- 2024 · America's Best New Bars
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #76 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire
- 2024 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 65. Bourbon Steak
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- Forbes Travel Guide
- Recommended
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Rank 65. Cariño
Beneath the rumble of the Uptown L, Chef Norman Fenton orchestrates a tasting menu of Mexican cooking that pivots between tradition and invention—huitlacoche ravioli with fried corn silk, lamb tartare tostada styled as al pastor. The counter seats you close enough to watch his small team work, their energy matching the pace of each course.
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 1 Star
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Norman Fenton
- The New York Times
- 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 65. Happy Accidents
A converted warehouse glows with hand-painted murals and salvaged wood where the bartenders distill their own spirits behind the bar. The cocktails pivot between classical templates and house-made infusions—a mezcal riff spiked with in-house liqueur, a gin built from botanicals distilled on premises. The effect is less polished cocktail lounge than artist's workshop, which seems exactly the point.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · The 10 Top Bars in the US
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 65. Tamba
- AAA
- 2026 · Four Diamonds
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Condé Nast Traveler
- The 25 Best Restaurants in Las Vegas
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Rank 65. Mirror Bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Europe
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Europe
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Rank 65. Chandelier Bar
- Esquire
- 2023 · Martini of the Year: Chandelier Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- 2023 · The Best Bars in America
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 65. KOL MEZCALARIA
A basement bar lined in earth tones where mezcal meets British forage: the kitchen sources local ingredients and treats them as raw material for modern Mexican techniques, building cocktails and small plates that feel both grounded in tradition and born of this particular moment in London.
- 50 Best
- 2025 · #49 · The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
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Rank 65. Exímia Bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Latin America & Caribbean
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
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Rank 65. Caretaker's Cottage
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – APAC
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC *
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Rank 65. Bandista
Behind an unmarked door in a converted Houston warehouse, Bandista hides a dim, wood-lined room where classic cocktails arrive with the precision of a heist film. The bartenders move with economical grace, mixing old-fashioned drinks and stirred martinis that taste like they've been perfected over decades. It's the kind of place that rewards patience and a willingness to sit in the dark.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 1 Pin
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #47 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 65. Bad Idea
A converted church sanctuary in East Nashville holds a 100-bottle wine program and a sprawling bar built for conviviality. The kitchen moves easily between playful appetizers—whipped pimento cheese, reimagined chicken nuggets—and more substantial plates of grilled steak and spinach-stuffed quail. The result is a place that takes wine seriously but doesn't take itself too seriously.
- Food & Wine
- 2025 · Colby Rasavong · Best New Chefs
- The New York Times
- 2024 · The Restaurant List
- Wine Enthusiast
- 2024 · Forward 50 Restaurants
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Rank 65. Mezcaleria Alma
Chef Johnny Curiel channels Mexico City's restless creativity into a narrow mezcal bar where herbaceous ceviches and slow-cooked duck meet dill and mandarin in a single, surprising breath. The agave cocktails are inventive enough to match the food's ambition.
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · 1 Star
- Bon Appétit
- 2025 · America's Best New Restaurants
- The New York Times
- 2025 · The Restaurant List
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Rank 65. Bar Us
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – APAC
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC *
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Rank 65. Little Rituals
A mid-century room stripped of hotel-bar cliché, where the bartenders treat cocktail-making as a discipline demanding precision and restraint. The drinks arrive considered rather than showy, each ingredient audible in the glass. This is cocktail culture as quiet craft.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 1 Pin
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Ross Simon
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 65. Botanical by Alfonse
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Europe *
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Europe
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Rank 65. Simpl Things
Evelyn Chick's cocktails at this pastel Parkdale bar traffic in nostalgic pleasure—Cosmos and caviar-topped Martinis alongside playful riffs like banana daiquiri—with enough polish to satisfy. Chef Cody Wilkes pivots from daytime focaccia sandwiches to evening Asian comfort: creamy udon carbonara threaded with lap cheong and chili crisp.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 1 Pin
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Canada
- Canada's 100 Best
- 2026 · #39 · Best Bars
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Rank 65. SOL Lounge bar
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Middle East & Africa
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Middle East & Africa *
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Rank 65. Satan's Whiskers
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Europe
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Europe *
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Rank 65. Sin+Tax
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Cocktail Bar – Middle East & Africa
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Middle East & Africa *
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Rank 65. Roquette
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #89 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 65. Atwater Cocktail Club
The glitter-and-velvet interior hums with purpose as bartenders work through top-shelf agave and cane spirits with an eye for the unexpected—mezcal meets smoked carrot foam, herbal liqueur finds its footing in smoke and spice. Fried chicken arrives with Gentleman's Relish; a black truffle pasta proves the kitchen takes things seriously without pretense. Ten years in, the warmth here outlasts the gloss.
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Canada *
- 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · Best International Bar Team
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #62 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 65. Clockwork
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- 2024 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Hotel Bar – Canada
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2026 · 1 Pin
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Rank 65. Aruba Day Drink
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Latin America & Caribbean
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #51 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Rank 65. Best Intentions
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #16 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Christopher Marty
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 65. Selva Oaxaca Cocktail Bar
In a colonial building on Calle Macedonio Alcalá, this cocktail bar channels Oaxaca's ecological abundance through drinks built on regional spirits and foraged ingredients, treating the landscape as both muse and pantry.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- MexBest
- 2025 · Mejor Bartender: Nominados · Premios MexBest · Martina Marré
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Rank 65. Bar Kaiju
- Bon Appétit
- 2024 · America's Best New Bars
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #70 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire
- 2024 · The Best Bars in America
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Rank 65. Drastic Measures
- James Beard Awards
- 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- 2024 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
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Rank 65. Lemon
- 50 Best
- 2025 · One to Watch Award
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. Central *
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. Central
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Rank 65. Almanac
- Bon Appétit
- 2025 · America's Best New Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Esquire
- 2025 · Sadōtini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 65. Dante
- 50 Best
- 2026 · #58 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards
- 2023 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- Esquire
- 2023 · Dante Mini Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 65. Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour
A cavernous downtown bar where vintage fixtures and brass fittings frame an ambitious cocktail program rooted in classical technique and seasonal ingredients. The drinks honor tradition without nostalgia, each built with the care of someone who understands that restraint and quality matter more than novelty.
- The Pinnacle Guide
- 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 10 Nominee · Best U.S. Hotel Bar
- 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 65. Funky Monkey Cocktail Bar & Restaurant
- Spirited Awards
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Restaurant Bar – Middle East & Africa
- 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – Middle East & Africa *
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Rank 65. Grey Hen Rx at Century Grand
- The Pinnacle Guide
- Spirited Awards
- 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Bar Team
- Foodist Awards
- 2023 · Winner: Barter & Shake · Outstanding Hospitality Group
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Rank 65. PLONK
In La Condesa, a counter spirals around a tree—the kind of detail that sets the mood before you taste anything. Chef Flor Camorlinga's dishes fuse Mexican and Asian sensibilities: shrimp udon with gochujang and cheddar, bone marrow with kimchi and cotija. The doradito's crisp blue corn and raw fish sing against smoky salsa; natural wines complete the picture.
- MexBest
- 2025 · Mejor Wine Bar: Ganador · Premios MexBest
- 2024 · Mejor Wine Bar: Nominados · Premios MexBest
- Michelin Guide
- 2026 · Bib Gourmand
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Rank 65. Carry On
- 50 Best
- 2025 · Best Bar Design Award
- Spirited Awards
- 2025 · Top 10 U.S. Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
- James Beard Awards
- 2025 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service · Jax Donahue