Bars & Clubs >>

• Best Place for a Midday Drink
  Café Mensé
  Three cups o' joe and sixteen ounces of Gatorade into Thursday morning, and the hangover still ain't abating. Of all the days the boss could be yammering, "I want that report!" it had to be this one? Alas, there's but one potion -- short of magic -- that can correct this injustice. Here's how to... More >>
• Best New Bar
  Lucas Park Grille
  A new bar is like a puppy. It's all fresh and cuddly and clean, reckless and cute. In a puppy, as in a new bar, lies hope. Hope that it will be a devoted companion, that it will provide respite from the drudgery. And that it will be a chick magnet. Men with dogs are handsome, like Sam Malone on... More >>
• Best Happy Hour
  Stratford Bar & Grill
  Remember the South Park episode where the boys open the Super Awesome Talent Agency? Like Cartman says upon ushering in a prospective client, "As you can see, we are quite a successful company. Did you notice the fountain? Pretty nice, hmm?" Blue-collar haven Stratford Bar & Grill seems to have... More >>
• Best Place to Time-Travel to the Prohibition Era
  The "speakeasy" at Brennan's Wine, Food & Tobacco
  Sure, we all just want to put on our glad rags and sip some giggle water. But it's like this, doll: The wrong person sees you slipping into a juice joint, and you're gonna get pinched. Play it nice and easy by going to Brennan's in the Central West End. Stroll in like you own the place, like... More >>
• Best Bouncer
  Phil "Uncle Bill" Green
  At first glance Uncle Bill may be the least intimidating bouncer in the world. A pale and haggard sexagenarian with shoulder-length hair, Santa Claus beard and exhausted eyes, the old hippie diagnoses his condition as doorman's disease. "It's when everyone passing through the door begins to look... More >>
• Best Bartender
  Jake Hafner
  Can a person who doesn't mix drinks -- who owns a bar that doesn't even stock spirits -- be considered St. Louis' "Best Bartender"? Is a wine bar a bar? Yes. Is there a physical "bar" with stools in this wine bar? Yes. Does the man behind it actually "tend" it? Yes. OK then. Jake Hafner, owner... More >>
• Best Place for Cocktails
  Pepper Lounge
  You don't realize it, but ever since French class you've been preparing to drink Chambord, the black raspberry French liqueur of royalty, bottled in the Loire Valley for more than 300 years (and now arriving to you by way of a gaudy vessel only royalty could love). Because you know how to speak... More >>
• Best Martini
  The Chocolate Bar Signature Martini
  Is it possible to have sex in a glass? Not for us: Our neck's too thick, our arms entirely too long (that sound you hear is our mood ring scraping the floor) -- plus, all that parking-lot tai chi notwithstanding, we just ain't limber enough. Baileys' Chocolate Bar's Signature Martini provides a... More >>
• Best Mojito
  Mirasol
  There are many ways to make a mojito -- some cheapskates use rail rum, some idiots use dark rum instead of light, some heretics even (gasp!) employ cr¸me de menthe instead of fresh mint leaves, or sour mix instead of fresh limes -- but only one right way: Start by muddling mint leaves, a few... More >>
• Best Margarita
  Tejas Grill & Cantina
  A bad margarita is a crime against nature, a spit in God's eye. Millions of years of evolutionary good fortune/intelligent design and human ingenuity have conspired to create this perfect cocktail, this potion, this margarita. The lime pushed through earth, trunk, branch and bud to get here; the... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Sub Zero
  Little can fill a hungry tummy and quench a hankerin' for booze like a bloody mary. And none run quite as red as they do at Sub Zero. Sure, it's a swanky place on its face, but this Central West End watering hole excels at one of the earthiest drinks around, thanks to a very homegrown approach.... More >>
• Best Beer Selection in a Bar
  The Tin Can Tavern & Grille
  The typical Best Beer Selection in a Bar nod goes toward the obscurely international (Sprunt, Latvia's finest lager) or the most micro of microbrews (Professor Turgle's Olde Tyme Chunky Browne Ale). At the Tin Can, you don't learn about new beers so much as realize how many brews are already in... More >>
• Best Beer Bargain
  Saleem's
  A white-linen Lebanese kitchen run by a dude named Juan that prides itself on its generous slatherings of garlic is maybe the 100th place out of 100 you'd expect to find dollar bottles of Pabst every Wednesday and Thursday night. Saleem's ain't the only place in town that runs this special... More >>
• Best Punk Venue
  The Creepy Crawl
  Once upon a 7 p.m. dreary While I pondered, weak and weary Of Hot Topic's popularity at the mall. Presently I slowed my ride And turned my head onto its side And to those gathered near I gave this call Gave them this call and that is all: "Good black-clad persons, would you know Where... More >>
• Best All-Ages Venue
  The Pageant
  A queue starts forming outside the Pageant the afternoon of a good show, hours before the doors open, as hardcore fans geek out over the thought of being able to be close enough to feel the sweat of their favorite band. Inside, the atmosphere is hardly that of the average rock venue. Seats and... More >>
• Best Rock Club
  Pop's
  Rock & roll isn't about trust funds, shaggy haircuts, too-small T-shirts and excessive eyeliner. It's about sleazy riffs, cheap beer and waking up with a hangover so bad that only gobbling White Castle sliders will cure it. That combo's hard to come by in this age of fashioncore and... More >>
• Best Jazz Club
  Spruill's
  When you think St. Louis jazz, you think trumpet: Miles Davis and Clark Terry. But the Mound City has a fine tradition of jazz saxophonists, too. These days that lineage is best expressed in the potent lungs of Willie Akins. Known for his bold, forthright playing, the Webster Groves native plays... More >>
• Best Blues Club
  BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
  There's nothing worse than the sinking feeling that accompanies a letdown of a much-hyped experience. It's a slowly deflating helium balloon. (Your prom night, for example.) Conversely, there's nothing better than a night that's a sure bet. BB's is exactly what a blues club should be: kind of... More >>
• Best Underground Club
  Red Sea
  The Red Sea is so underground that sometimes owner Tesfaye Boru doesn't even know who's scheduled to play. The club features open-mic nights, DJ spins, jazz, reggae, rock and hip-hop -- not that there's usually a calendar of events posted. But rest assured that you'll hear something hot on one... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Club
  Plush
  When the space formerly known as Have a Nice Day Café transformed into Plush, St. Louis lost something boring and corporate and gained something classy and fun. Elegance replaced the room's former gaudiness, thanks to understated furniture, while the sound system is loud and powerful... More >>
• Best Dance Club
  Club Viva
  We absolutely love all the clubs on Washington Avenue -- from Velvet to Europe and every place in between. But this year we can't help but focus our attention on the word "dance" preceding "club" in this category. While dancing takes place at many venues downtown, most of these hotspots aren't... More >>
• Best Place to Slow-Dance
  Two of a Kind
  Two of a Kind is the type of funky, old-school hangout John Shaft might have frequented after a day of bedding babes and busting two-bit hustlers. The place screams 1970s hip, with ragged posters of jazz and blues greats lining the walls and an upstairs lounge that features red plastic chairs so... More >>
• Best Open-Mic Night
  The Hi-Pointe
  If all you know about rap battles comes from a few liberally edited airings of 8 Mile on VH1, well, you need to drop the remote and head for the giant Amoco sign. Since 1998 the Hi-Pointe's Monday nights have been reserved for the weekly Open-Mic MC Battle, where from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Lamar "MC... More >>
• Best Karaoke
  The Ali Baba Show
  Ali Baba has been in the karaoke biz for ten years, and for the last two of them he's carved out a home at River City Pub on Friday and Saturday nights. The modest establishment with haphazardly strewn Christmas lights and outdated beer paraphernalia explodes each time he instructs (in his... More >>
• Best Jukebox
  Krueger's
  Count on this category to get people crying foul. In-the-moment hipsters will praise the box at the Black Thorn, alt-country types might favor Frederick's, and eclectics will opt for Blue Hill's exercise in computerized comprehensiveness. Musical taste being subjective, crowning a Best Jukebox... More >>
• Best Place to Play Darts
  Blueberry Hill
  On his deathbed, Scilurus offered a bundle of darts to each of his 80 sons. He bade them break them. When all refused, the Greek strongman drew out one dart at a time, snapping them between his fingers. The lesson? If his sons held together, they stayed strong; if divided, they were weak. Or at... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pool
  Saratoga Lanes
  Tucked away old-school style on the second floor, Saratoga Lanes is not only one of the coolest places in the city to bowl, it doubles as a dynamite pool hall. You won't find any dinky quarter tables here: We're talking six full-size fields of felt. The joint's swank Art Deco interior provides... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pinball
  Eat Rite Diner
  With just two pinball machines, the Eat Rite might not have the best selection in town, but those two babies are classics. Eight Ball, based on the television show Happy Days, was the first digital pinball machine to include ball-to-ball memory and went on to become one of the best-selling games... More >>
• Best Gay Bar
  The Loading Zone
  The Loading Zone toes the line between gay bar and gay club -- think the kind of place that would make both Will Truman and Jack McFarland happy. There's room to chill out, chat and enjoy reasonably priced drinks, but there's also a bumpin' sound system, a video screen and knowledgeable VJs who... More >>
• Best Lesbian Bar
  Absolutli Goosed
  At Absolutli Goosed, one drink becomes three becomes five. Happy hour turns into happy, happy hours; conversations spark between strangers; first-time patrons become regulars in the time it takes to drain a Godiva chocolate martini. The owners and bartenders are lesbians, as are many of the... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (City)
  The Royale
  The Royale, which is quickly becoming one of the hippest bars in St. Louis, is the brainchild of fedora-wearing man about town Steve Smith. Smith purchased the watering hole (formerly known as the Real Bar) in April and quickly dispensed with the adornments that had made the place popular among... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (East Side)
  Curley's Tavern
  Proprietors might argue otherwise, but operating a good neighborhood bar is really quite simple. Keep the beer cold and cheap, the crowd relaxed, the television set or jukebox at a less-than-obnoxious volume and show up every once in a while to let "em know you you give a shit. Curley's, a... More >>
• <*p(0,0,0,15,0,0.72,g,"U.S. English")>Best Neighborhood Bar (South County)
  Dulany's Grille & Pub
  What makes SoCo neighborhood bars such a big deal is that there are a few huge high schools in the area -- which all but guarantees you'll run into a long-lost someone whenever you go out for a drink. Plus, if you were raised in south county, the odds strongly suggest that your folks are still... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (North County)
  Charlack Pub
  If there was a word that meant "the opposite of metrosexual," that word would describe the Charlack Pub. It's a smoky, unpretentious joint where you can play pool and listen to REO Speedwagon, the kind of place you can show up at by yourself and make friends. Best of all, they open at 6 a.m. on... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (Mid-County)
  Trainwreck Saloon
  OK, so the Trainwreck Saloon has taken on the role of a chain restaurant in recent years, spilling its freight in West Port Plaza and Laclede's Landing with glittery, neon knockoffs of the Rock Hill original. (A neighborhood bar with a Web site?) That said, there's no denying the mid-county... More >>
• Best 3 a.m. Bar
  Sandrina's
  There's something thrilling about hanging out in a bar where you don't belong. As if the French Minister of Culture is going to bust in at any time, cuff your hands behind your back and drag you to impostor's prison. You do not belong at Sandrina's, not unless you're a shifty-eyed, chain-smoking... More >>
• Best Lounge
  Nectar
  Nectar, which hosted some of the summer's hottest parties in advance of the club's official opening, rose like a budding flower from the Rocket Bar's remains. Unfortunately, the new hotspot had to do a mini repeat performance after a small fire in late August, but things are OK now (Nectar only... More >>
• Best Blast From the Past
  Hideaway Restaurant & Lounge
  "The place is 50 years old," owner Al Coco says of his south-city institution, the Hideaway. "Nobody's ever changed the name, and it's always been a piano bar. And that's the way it's going to stay." Darn tootin'. Coco, the Hideaway's fifth owner, bought the joint in 1999, attracted by its... More >>
• Best Place to Drown Your Sorrows
  Pop's
  You missed out on a key promotion at work, or maybe your boyfriend's just dumped you. Even worse, perhaps you've booked a tropical vacation only to find that you've mismanaged your finances to the point where you're forced to dust off the ramen in the back of that cupboard you need a footstool... More >>
• Best Cigarette Butt
  Pop's Blue Moon
  The St. Louis County Council recently failed to enact a smoking ban. And y'know why? 'Cause we here in St. Louis are independent thinkers! We're not the type to hop on any coastal bandwagon, no sir! What better way to celebrate said independence than with a complimentary Camel? Go to Pop's Blue... More >>
• Best Club to Die in the Past 12 Months
  Rocket Bar
  It's 1:01 a.m. in St. Louis, and so begins the mass exodus to the Rocket Bar. Or, sadly, so began. If you weren't there already, it was always the next place to go until it was the only place to go. But as of December 31, 2004, it was no longer a place to go. There are plenty of tales about why... More >>