Bars & Clubs >>

• Best Cougar Den
  Mihalis Chophouse
  BREAKING NEWS: MAN ATTACKED BY COUGARS! A young man was mauled by a pack of cougars at Mihalis Chophouse Friday evening. The women, believed to be seven in number and all in their late forties, pounced on the man, 24, only moments after he had ordered a Jack & Coke. He wore a golf shirt,... More >>
• Best Bar Food
  Tip Top Food & Spirits
  To have great bar food, you first need to find a great bar. You're not going to get the munchies if you don't hang around for a drink or four. Tip Top Food & Spirits is a great bar in the old-school St. Louis style: a small, smoky neighborhood joint in a mostly residential area of Soulard.... More >>
• Best Drink Special
  Booze Pitcher
  Leave the pitchers full of beer, margaritas or sangria to the minor leagues — the Booze Pitcher at 100 West is for pros only. Found in a forgettable Ballwin strip mall inside a bar that's had more name changes than Prince, this mega-cocktail will put an extra swagger (and a stumble or two)... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pinball
  CP Pinball
  Just a 30-minute drive from St. Louis, in a little town called South Roxana, next to the Shell Industrial plant, stands pinball heaven. CP Pinball doesn't look like much from the outside. It's in a quiet neighborhood and doesn't sport any big, neon signs. But once you're through the front door,... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Brandt's Café
  First, the sticker shock: You'll have to shell out $9 for initial access to Brandt's bloody mary buffet, available from 9 a.m. till noon Saturday and 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. Sunday. After you pick between premium and rail vodka, you've got the run of Brandt's buffet table, and there are more... More >>
• Best Place to Wake Up and Get Down
  The Grind/Sol Lounge
  Since last we met over the pages of a Best of St. Louis edition, we've all gotten a year older, a bit wiser, but also a smidge more fatigued. Hey, there's no shame in any of that! Remember: Being tired is not a sign of being feeble. It just means you need more coffee to keep you going till the... More >>
• Best Jukebox
  Courtesy Diner
  How many rotten nights out have been redeemed by Courtesy Diner? Too many to count, as the venerable greasy spoon offers early-morning salvation by the plateful to all seeking sanctuary. Strike out at the bar? Shake it off with a stack of pancakes. Looking to sober up? Courtesy's famous slinger... More >>
• Best 3 a.m. Bar
  Jack Patrick's Bar & Grill
  There's a saying among St. Louis barflies: "Nothing good ever happens after 1:30 a.m." — a reference to the closing time of most watering holes on the Missouri side of the river. Evidently these folks haven't been to Jack Patrick's. The downtown establishment (located at Olive and Tenth... More >>
• Best Cocktail Name
  The Buttery Nepal
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• Best Rock Club to Die in the Past 12 Months
  The Ground Floor
  For most residents of St. Louis, trekking across the river into Illinois for entertainment purposes is generally an unfortunate misstep that begins in a hazy moment of weakness at about 2 a.m. and often ends sometime the following morning in Sauget. But for five years the Ground Floor... More >>
• Best Rock Club
  The Bluebird
  Gather 'round, children! Let Old Rock Scenester tell you a story. Once upon a time, I had to go to Chicago, Kansas City or Columbia to see decent shows. (It goes without saying that I walked there, uphill both ways, through the snow, barefoot.) But that was before the Bluebird stormed into town... More >>
• Best Happy Hour
  Terrene
  Small plates are perhaps the ultimate drinking-and-dining experience. Not only do you get to sample a host of different dishes, but eating something with each round just seems more, well, civilized. Hell, in some cities in Spain, where tapas are a way of life, bars are obligated to serve a bite... More >>
• Best Place to Drown Your Sorrows
  The Filling Station
  The Filling Station is dim. The brick-red walls don't reflect light. They absorb it. Walk in past the fellas in jean shorts and "Freedom Isn't Free" tank tops, sit at the bar and ask the lass what she recommends for sorrow-drowning purposes. She's liable to set up a shot of Jack Daniel's and a... More >>
• Best Outdoor Drinking
  The Jade Room
  Drinking outdoors is one of the greatest pleasures of St. Louis summertime. When the warm breeze flows through town and makes you feel all twitterpated, thoughts turn to how you might enjoy two of your favorite pastimes (drinking and shit-talking) concurrently in the out-of-doors. Outside the... More >>
• Best All-Ages Venue
  Fubar
  If you're sixteen and looking for a place for your band to play its first real show outside a garage or basement — and if your musical chops can hold their own against your peers' — Fubar might just be the place for you. Looking to fill out its near-nightly lineup of live music, the... More >>
• Best Beer Selection in a Bar
  The Stable
  Want to locate a beer connoisseur in a bar? Look for the guy staring daggers at the same half-dozens taps you find everywhere else in town. Maybe, if he's an optimistic connoisseur, he'll be leaning over the bar, peering deep into the fridge, seeking that one token bottle of something decent.... More >>
• Best Bouncer (2 Comments)
  Darryl Brown
  The parallels between attending a show at Cicero's and playing the first level of Super Mario Bros. are stunning. The primitive video game involves three simple, yet tedious stages (parking, walking to the club, and waiting in line, respectively), ultimately ending in the final stage: an... More >>
• Best Underground Club
  Camp Concentration at Apop Records
  Located in the musty catacombs below Apop Records in the burgeoning Cherokee district, Camp Concentration is, literally, an underground venue. Such an atmosphere is fitting for the types of the genre-bending, under-the-radar acts that tend to play in the low-lit basement. Everything from seminal... More >>
• Best Drink Menu
  Urban
  Halfway through a lemongrass mojito at Urban, we declared it "the perfect summer drink." So refreshing! So subtle! So expertly blended! Then, we ordered a Gin Garden — gin, muddled cucumbers, apple juice. Oh, this, we declared (our short-term memory starting to go), this is the perfect... More >>
• Best Bouncer
  Darryl Brown
  The parallels between attending a show at Cicero's and playing the first level of Super Mario Bros. are stunning. The primitive video game involves three simple, yet tedious stages (parking, walking to the club, and waiting in line, respectively), ultimately ending in the final stage: an... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pool
  Nick's Irish Pub
  Every city needs a place like Nick's Irish Pub: a neighborhood bar with a shamrock-and-shillelagh shtick that serves up tall pints and makes you long for the snug little taverns of Ireland. And while Nick's nails the cozy atmosphere of the quaint public house, there is plenty of room to roam: A... More >>
• Best Place for Cocktails
  Atomic Cowboy
  Any place can make a good cocktail, but Atomic Cowboy is expert at serving up cool cocktails. The surroundings certainly help: This bar's interior and exterior decorating elements — vintage furniture and exposed brick indoors and the Quonset hut and fire pit out back — work together... More >>
• Best Bartender
  Ted Kilgore
  Ted Kilgore doesn't know your name. It's not that Monarch's bar manager is unsociable; his focus just lies elsewhere — namely, on the drink he's about to pour for you. No matter what you decide on, this cocktailophile knows the drink's history, all of its variations and everything else you... More >>
• Best Margarita
  Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant
  The word "margarita" is thrown around far too liberally. In its true form, the margarita is one of the best drinks out there: both refreshing and warming, both easy-drinking and sophisticated. But all too often, the appellation is attached to the Mountain Dew-hued travesties that appear at just... More >>
• Best Open Mic
  The Shanti
  A hirsute fellow clad in an electric-blue tutu leans back against the bar. One of his two sidekicks wears a platinum mullet wig, the other a taupe suit and tie. They're on the board, but we won't know what this act is all about until the end of a set of twelve-string guitar medleys and bland... More >>
• Best Jazz Club
  Jazz at the Bistro
  Outside Jazz at the Bistro, the neon sign that features a stylized saxophone evokes the bygone era when nearby Grand Boulevard was called the "Broadway of St. Louis." Inside the club, it's the local equivalent of yesteryear NYC's 52nd Street, home base for the legends of jazz during the... More >>
• Best Martini
  The Famous Bar
  Ah, the martini. The name alone conjures up an air of old-fashioned sophistication, a stylish civility that ignores fashion. The only problem with such an elegant, effortless drink is the fact that a good one is just so damned hard to find. Thus, in the spirit of improving your life the best way... More >>
• Best Karaoke
  Mangia Italiano
  We know, we know: Mangia Italiano ain't exactly a state secret. They serve great pasta by day and cold beer until 3 a.m. every night, and it is ground zero for hipsterdom on South Grand (a blessing or a curse, depending on your disposition). But hear us out on this one: While most karaoke bars... More >>
• Best Blues Club
  BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups
  With the 21st-century renovations to its 19th-century building pretty much complete, BB's Jazz, Blues and Soups retains its title as St. Louis' blues headquarters, a seven-nights-a-week hub of activity for local music lovers, tourists and musicians alike. BB's continues to offer an impressive... More >>
• Best Place to Slow Dance
  The Hide Away
  The Hide Away isn't all that hidden. It's right on Arsenal just east of Hampton, but the feel of the joint is far different from other bars in the area. It's a place where time stands still. Drink prices are left over from the Great Depression and served up by a busty young babe in Betty Page... More >>
• Best Dance Club
  Club Viva
  Viva may lack the glitz of joints like Lush and Pepper Lounge, but the dance moves its patrons flaunt on a nightly basis more than make up for any perceived deficiency in the swank department. The tiny basement club has been a fixture of the Central West End for more than a decade. While the... More >>
• Best Lounge
  Moon Lounge
  While the lesser loungers among us stare forlornly at a poster of a cat grasping at a tree limb (caption: "Hang in there, Baby!") on Mondays, the straight-up partiers make every weekend a three-day one at the Moon Lounge. Located above Lush near Saint Louis University, the Moon regularly crams... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Club
  The Loft Jazz Club
  The Loft doesn't bang as hard as east-side hotspots like Club Casino or have the hipster cachet of the underground nights like Lucas School House's Café Soul. Yet it manages to strike a middle ground between the two. A pioneer in the now-popping midtown club scene, the Loft Jazz Club is a... More >>
• Best Bar Bar
  Rosie's Place
  Rosie's is located in the heart of the Central West End, across the street from glitzy joints Moxy and Chez Leon, but it could easily pass for the bluest-collared watering hole in town. Crammed into a single narrow room, the establishment is, simply put, a drinking person's bar. A place where... More >>
• Best Place to Play Darts
  Eagle's Nest Pub & Grill
  The neon sign says it all: "Bud 'n Darts." Owner Don Withoelter concedes that, yes, the Eagle's Nest Pub & Grill is "primarily a dart bar." That explains why nearly every square inch of the place is covered with plaques, trophies or (steel-tip) dartboards. But even when it comes to pointy... More >>
• Best Gay Bar
  Clementine's
  It ain't easy being a gay bar anymore. They may all soon be in some virtual nexus formed from Second Life, Gay.com and Xtube. Or it might be that gay bars go the way of the Negro Leagues after Jackie Robinson, as the dichotomies between straight and gay clubs melt. But for now gay boys still... More >>
• Best Lesbian Bar (3 Comments)
  Attitudes
  Drag shows. Free darts and pool on Wednesdays, $2 beers all night on Tuesdays. The go-to watering hole for generations of the St. Louis gay/lesbian/transgender community. Despite its longevity, Attitudes ain't no stuffy old museum of queer culture. The old girl still vibrates with hip-hop and a... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (East Side)
  The Stagger Inn...Again
  You walk into the Stagger Inn...Again (the original bar closed for a disco successor) and you try to find a seat at the mahogany bar. The barstool is worn (and sometimes warm) and comfortable, and it sinks down like a cushy bicycle seat. When you're inside a bar that's just around the corner... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (North County)
  Judy's Fireside Lounge
  The fire never goes out at Judy's. While there is in fact a functional fireplace at the ancient Overland watering hole, in the scorching summer months a neon sign burns eternally above the cozy hearth tucked in the corner. Judy, the bar's namesake, died years ago, so the pints are now poured by... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (South County)
  O'Leary's
  In south St. Louis County, O'Leary's fire doesn't refer to Chicago's bovine-ignited inferno of legend, but rather to the one that started unceremoniously in a trash can at O'Leary's, the bar, and eventually consumed the place in September 2006. It reopened six months later, just in time for St.... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (City)
  Riley's
  Choosing the best neighborhood bar in the city is sort of like picking the cutest puppy in a basketful of golden retrievers. Not. Easy. That's because, to the delight of city dwellers and the despair of their livers, there are so many great bars in so many great neighborhoods. Cozy taverns... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (Mid-County)
  Robust
  Webster Groves might have a reputation as a great place to raise a family, but let's be honest: Sometimes you need to get away from the kids. You don't have to go very far, though. Located at the western end of what passes for Webster's downtown, Robust is the ideal place to enjoy being a... More >>
• Best New Bar
  The Gramophone
  What's not to love about the Grove? This stretch of Manchester Avenue continues to blossom with new bars, clubs and restaurants that cater to all kinds of clientele. The Gramophone opened this year with the mission of uniting the disparate strands of this city's music scene, all while serving... More >>
• Best Bartender
  Ted Kilgore
  Ted Kilgore doesn't know your name. It's not that Monarch's bar manager is unsociable; his focus just lies elsewhere — namely, on the drink he's about to pour for you. No matter what you decide on, this cocktailophile knows the drink's history, all of its variations and everything else you... More >>