The Best Bars in Downtown & around

1. Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America

The rolling ladders are not decorative. They reach a full twelve feet to access shelves of over 1,500 bottles lining the bare brick walls of this former piano-store stockroom, and the bartenders use them. A thick bound menu catalogs everything by region and spirit type, library-style, because the name is sincere. It's a serious whiskey bar that takes the bit all the way, and the room is dramatic enough that even non-whiskey people tend to stay longer than planned.

1. Difford's Guide 4.5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. Spirited Awards 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · World’s Best Spirits Selection

1. Esquire Imperial Jade · The Best Martinis in America

The zinc-topped bar inside the Ace Hotel is where Jeffrey Morgenthaler built his reputation, and Portland's cocktail crowd hasn't forgotten it. Clyde Common is technically a big, open dining hall, but the bar runs the show here, with vintage stools filling up fast under a double-height ceiling loud with conversation. The food is genuinely good, but nobody's coming just for dinner.

1. Difford's Guide 5 stars · Difford's Guide

A long sloping entry leads you up into a warm, modern room where communal high tables split the space between a serious bar and proper wood-fired pizza. Ryan Magarian's cocktail program is the draw here, pairing classics and house originals with Italian street food from the kitchen. The design reads clean rather than cozy, which suits the crowd that comes as much for the drinks as anything coming out of that oven.

1. Difford's Guide 5 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Eater Best New Bar
2. Eater The 38 Best Restaurants and Food Carts in Portland

Bar Diane is a wine bar in Northwest Portland where the hand-painted walls look like the rings left behind by a thousand glasses of rosé on a tablecloth. You can perch at the marble bar and get into the weeds on Oregon pinot, or grab a bistro table for a cocktail and a lobster roll. Pours run from affordable table wine to splurgy champagne, so nobody has to pretend to be a sommelier or a billionaire.

1. Portland Monthly The Best Bars in Portland

Family portraits of the bartender's Cuban relatives line the upstairs walls, which tells you something about what kind of cocktail bar this is. Ricky Gomez, who came up through New Orleans institutions like Cure and Teardrop Lounge, channels his Miami-meets-NOLA-meets-Havana upbringing into a tropical menu where blenders run loud and the hospitality runs warmer than the drinks.

1. Spirited Awards 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
2. Spirited Awards 2025 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Restaurant Bar
3. Portland Monthly The Best Bars in Portland

The name lies a little: Teardrop is a square room with painted concrete walls, and the curve comes from the island bar itself, which bends the whole space into something warmer than the bones suggest. It's a serious cocktail lounge, the kind where the menu moves between classics, originals, and borrowed recipes from people who've thought hard about this stuff. Classic films flicker overhead, the lighting is kind, and a quiet Monday still feels like somewhere worth being.

1. Difford's Guide 4.5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. Portland Monthly The Best Bars in Portland
3. The 50 The 50 Discovery

Redwood paneling climbs to a vaulted ceiling lit by stained glass skylights, and a sign on the wall politely warns guests to watch their language. Huber's is a bar that has been around forever, and it shows in the best possible way, with tableside Flaming Spanish Coffees set ablaze by bartenders who have clearly done this before. Old Portland money and curious newcomers share the room, and nobody seems to check their phone.

1. Difford's Guide 4.5 stars · Difford's Guide

The 65-foot marble bar is the first thing you clock, backed by a wall of taps that looks like it was built for a congregation. Jackknife is a high-volume neighborhood bar attached to the Sentinel Hotel, heavy rock on the speakers and a toasted-oak floor that leans more saloon than cocktail lounge. The short cocktail list skews toward house drinks. Come for draft beer and a loud night out, not a quiet first-date conversation.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

From the street it reads like a shop, and inside it's barely bigger than one, with around thirty seats tucked under warm light and a hefty oak bar. Kask is a cocktail bar with a leather-bound list organized by spirit, leaning hard on amaro, sherry, and vermouth. The drinks skew classical without being stiff about it. Small rooms either feel intimate or claustrophobic, and this one lands on the right side.

1. Difford's Guide 4 stars · Difford's Guide

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide