The Top 15 Cocktail Bars in Los Angeles
The best cocktail bars in Los Angeles, by the professional record: The Pinnacle Guide, 50 Best, and Punch have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Thunderbolt comes out on top.
Daisy and Bar Next Door hold the next two places. Spirited Awards shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Difford's Guide next.
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Rank 2. Daisy
Mexican
- 50 Best #44 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Punch Best New Bars
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
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- Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America
- Esquire Olive Drive · The Best Martinis in America
- Esquire The Best Bars in America
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- 50 Best #68 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar
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Rank 5. Capri Club
Italian
- Esquire The Best Bars in America
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
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- Punch Real Charmer Daiquiri · Our Favorite Cocktails
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Bar Team – U.S. West
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Rank 7. La Descarga Hollywood
Cuban Cocktail Bar
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Rank 8. Camelia
French Japanese
- Punch Best New Bartenders · Kevin Nguyen
- The New York Times The Restaurant List
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
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Rank 9. Donna's
American Italian
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Top 10 Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Linda Douglas
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar – U.S. West
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- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
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Rank 12. Manuela
Southern
Inside the Hauser & Wirth arts complex in the Arts District, Manuela is a restaurant and bar where conceptual art hangs on the walls and the cooking tilts Southern with a serious commitment to local ingredients, some grown in their own garden. Cocktails use house-made bitters and tonics, and the food is the kind that makes a gallery crowd linger well past closing time.
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Rank 13. Caña
Rum Cocktail Bar
You reach Caña by walking through a parking garage in the base of a historic Petroleum Building until a podium appears, which is the kind entrance policy that filters out the uncommitted. Inside, a corridor lined with rum bottles leads to a wood-panelled room with leather banquettes and a ribbed concrete ceiling. It's a rum cocktail bar that takes the spirit seriously, and the dim lamplight makes everyone look like they have good taste.
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Rank 13. Sassafrass
New Orleans Cocktail Bar
A New Orleans cocktail bar where the inside has been dressed up to look like an outdoor street scene, the way a film studio backlot would imagine the French Quarter. Barrel-aged cocktails are the house move, and the 1920s theme is committed enough that someone looked up the etymology of sassafras before naming the place. The crowd tends toward people who wanted something more atmospheric than a standard Hollywood dive.
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Rank 15. Edison
Cocktail Bar