Bars & Clubs >>

• Best Bar Bar
  Babe's Tavern and Garden
  Never judge a bar from its street view. From the outside, Babe's Tavern and Garden doesn't look much different from its south-city-tavern brethren. Step inside and it's a different world. Refinished hardwood, cushioned seats, a cozy fireplace in the back corner. At the bar the usual cheap beer... More >>
• Best Bloody Mary
  Bloody Mary Brunch Buffet
  A truly great bloody mary is a little bit magic, to be honest. Not the sort of magic you see the bartenders in high-toned clubs performing, with their twirling and tossing and mixing on the fly. No, the magic of the mary is much smaller and quieter, the magic of a big heaping helping of the good... More >>
• Best Martini (1 Comment)
  The Famous Bar
  With all due respect to the mangotinis, appletinis, guavatinis, melontinis and white-chocolate-double-truffle-cherrytinis out there, when it comes to the art of the martini, less is more. All the fancy ingredient lists and oddly colored gourmet liquors have failed to improve upon the classic... More >>
• Best Margarita
  Lily's Mexican Restaurant
  Don't let the whirring of the milkshake machine worry you, there was no miscommunication: Salvador Esparza got your order right. You're not getting some slushy kiddie drink. Lily's Special Margarita on the rocks is on its way — hand delivered by Esparza himself. Lily's Mexican... More >>
• Best Drink Special
  Atomic Cowboy
  With the coming workweek weighing heavy on your mind, Sunday night can be a downer. Perhaps an ice-cold can of Stag beer would brighten your mood? What if it only cost 50 cents? What if it were served at one of the most idiosyncratic watering holes in town? (Admit it: We had you at "50 cents.")... More >>
• Best Drink Menu
  Taste by Niche
  "Is peach OK?" asks Ted Kilgore, mixologist extraordinaire at Taste by Niche. The woman who has ordered the "Nectar of the Gods" — tequila, agave, lime and seasonal fruit (the peach) — nods. Kilgore takes half a peach from a bowl on the bar directly in front of the patron and... More >>
• Best Bartender (3 Comments)
  Nhat Nguyen
  No one denies that Ted Kilgore, formerly of Monarch, can make magic with spirits and a shaker. But if Kilgore is a great mixologist, Nhat Nguyen of Urban on South Grand is a great bartender. A great bartender must display as much facility with customers as with cocktails, and Nguyen fits the... More >>
• Best Beer Selection in a Bar
  International Tap House
  International Tap House has more than 500 beers in stock, with 40 on tap. If that's not a big enough selection, you might want to look into your treatment options. Aside from a few wines, beer's all they do at iTAP. The selection is rife with imports and American craft brews of every ilk that... More >>
• Best Jukebox (1 Comment)
  The Bleeding Deacon
  The ubiquity of the search — via cell phones, online directories and the far-too-trusted Wikipedia — has overshadowed what we all used to do when we sought something special: browse. But if you take the power of search and integrate it into something that was made for browsing, you... More >>
• Best Karaoke
  Keeton's Double Play
  Most locals who enjoy performing karaoke know a few places to head out for an evening of cocktails and sour notes. Unfortunately, some places are so packed on certain nights that if you want to do some serious singing you have to search for somewhere new. Talayna's on Hampton (see Best 3 a.m.... More >>
• Best Fire Pit
  The Royale
  Many a pale and frozen St. Louisan will cower from Old Man Winter by hiding indoors. Others will head to the Royale to warm those chilled toes and fingers 'round the brick fire pit out back. Bundled up on wooden benches, complete strangers often get to chatting and growing jolly. It doesn't hurt... More >>
• Best New Bar
  Sasha's on Shaw
  Sasha's new location on Shaw Boulevard opened last November and has steadily grown in popularity ever since. It is the perfect complement to the already thriving location in Clayton. The vibe manages to be upscale without coming off as pretentious or stuffy; there's plenty of comfortable seating... More >>
• Best Place to Play Table Shuffleboard (1 Comment)
  Hi-Way Bar
  Rare is the local watering hole that maintains a shuffleboard table. But a mere few blocks from the brewery, the Hi-Way Bar, named for its proximity to I-55 just across 13th Street and now in its 40th year of divey glory, still has one. Plunk in 50 cents, watch the old scoreboard light up and... More >>
• Best Place to Play Darts
  Black Derby Saloon
  A good tavern should possess a certain time-warp quality. Trends come and go — infused vodkas, cavity-inducing martinis, digital jukeboxes — but a good bar should provide stability and continuity. That's why you won't find any of those electronic dartboards at the Black Derby Saloon.... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pool (1 Comment)
  Cue & Cushion
  Shooting pool in a bar with a pool table is good fun, but where do you go when you just want to rack and shoot? The Cue & Cushion is that rarity — a genuine pool hall attached to a billiard- and pool-table dealership. ("Dealership" because these pieces of furniture are as streamlined... More >>
• Best Place to Play Pinball (3 Comments)
  Apop Records
  Why, hello, gray cat. I see you there out of the corner of my eye, perched atop the broken pinball machine at Apop Records on Cherokee. Your feline eyes dart back and forth, following the flippers of High Speed, Apop's other, working pinball machine. It's a shame you don't know there's a glass... More >>
• Best Gay Bar
  Erney's 32°
  A relative newcomer to the gay-bar-friendly Grove neighborhood, Erney's 32° has quickly established itself front-and-center. The brainchild of owner Mark Erney, the club draws its theme from the ice-cold vodka drinks served at the bar and inside the club's "VodBox." What, you ask, is a... More >>
• Best Lesbian Bar
  Novak's Bar & Grill
  A ladies-lovin' kinda girl looking to frolic ought to head for the Grove. Should she desire a grown-up, cocktail-sipping (and smoke-free) crowd, she might duck into Nancy's Place. If she prefers a younger but relaxed and intimate ambiance, she might try the newly opened Bar 5. But if grinding to... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (City)
  Nadine's Gin Joint
  There are only four types of gin available at Nadine's Gin Joint. Blame the bar's namesake for the misnomer. "I guess Nadine just liked the sound of it," a barkeep once explained. "It's like one of those Prohibition-era places where you'd go to drink and have fun while everyone else was sitting... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (Mid-County)
  Krueger's Bar & Grill
  It's amazing what a municipal border can do for a bar's atmosphere. Take Krueger's: Located in the same University City building since 1936, just a stone's throw across the line from Clayton, the place is everything the snooty establishments just down the street aren't. The bar serves bottles of... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (South County)
  Helen Fitzgerald's Grill & Pub
  For the cheapskates, happy hour at Helen Fitzgerald's really happens from 5 to 6 p.m. every weekday, when the free appetizer buffet is in play. For everyone else it's from 2 to 6 p.m. and all day Sunday. The menu features plenty of standard bar fare, as well as a few surprises (psst: the filet... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (North County)
  African Palace Bar & Grill
  So Mr. and Mrs. John Q. South-City-Hipster, with your ironic bad-beer drinking and your Hee-Haw-meets-Ramones music collection, what do you think passes for culture in north county? Camaros and KSHE classics? Au contraire. Step into African Palace, Kike and Koffo Osun's little restaurant/bar... More >>
• Best Place to Drown Your Sorrows
  Slo Tom's Lounge
  There's Alka-Seltzer for sale at Slo Tom's for the pain in the brokenhearted's gut. Buck-twenty-five cans of Stag help, too. So does a jukebox loaded with the saddest music in the world: Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Hank Williams. Even Dr. Hook, because only the truly miserable need to hear "A... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (West County)
  Larry's Tavern
  Think west-county neighborhood bars and it's hard to not get stuck in Westport, distracted by chains or places that are a bit more cushy than bars in other parts of the metro area. That ain't the case with Larry's Tavern. Located across Manchester Road from a new subdivision advertising houses... More >>
• Best Neighborhood Bar (East Side) (2 Comments)
  Jailhouse Rock
  Trenton, Illinois, barely qualifies for Metro East inclusion, but it's closer than Memphis when you need an Elvis fix. Located in a huge former community center in Trenton's tiny downtown (about fifteen miles west of O'Fallon off Highway 50), Jailhouse Rock provides some of the coldest beer in... More >>
• Best Rock Club
  Off Broadway
  Since coming out way ahead of the curve and making its venue non-smoking a couple of years ago, Off Broadway has consistently improved in pretty much every way a venue can. Sure, the smoke-free nature of the club makes it inviting to folks who don't want to come home smelling like the inside of... More >>
• Best New Rock Club
  The Firebird
  In January, near-downtown music venue the Bluebird closed for a few weeks. Usually such a move signals that a club is in the throes of death, but in this case the pause was for some much-needed remodeling. A few weeks later, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the venue reopened as the... More >>
• Best Hip-Hop Club
  Club Casino
  At Club Casino it's hot, sweaty, crowded, loud and the party don't stop till the break of dawn. Da Beano, as regulars call the east-side nightspot, is one of the longest-lived hip-hop clubs in the St. Louis area. Owner Ced Taylor opened the club as a concert venue for R&B acts in the '70s.... More >>
• Best Dance Club (1 Comment)
  Upstairs Lounge
  Some of us still like our dance clubs to whiff faintly of the underground. It's not that we want a dive or a lounge or, worse, a red-carpet casino circus ring. We don't want to be seen or to see anybody else who wants to be seen. It's not that we're snobs, we're just getting too old (or we're... More >>
• Best Place to Slow Dance
  Hide Away Restaurant & Lounge
  The motivation for visiting a low-lit piano bar can vary widely depending on one's mindset, age and current company. For some it's a very real trip down memory lane or a mellow, anonymous atmosphere to take the edge off of a hectic day. For others it can be a place that somehow induces nostalgia... More >>
• Best All-Ages Venue
  The Billiken Club at Saint Louis University
  A lot of older folks like to stick their noses up at the all-ages venues in town and complain how the crowds there make them feel like they're stuck in a casting call for High School Musical 4, but the reality is, if you write off the Billiken Club, you're missing out on some of the best... More >>
• Best Underground Club
  Fred's Six Feet Under
  Let's get one thing straight: Nothing has replaced or ever will replace the twang-punk-open-mic-PBR-and-a-shot glory hole that was Frederick's Music Lounge. Not even the new establishment, operated by celebrity tippler and Stag swiller Fred Friction, a genuinely underground (as in the basement... More >>
• Best Open Mic
  Atomic Cowboy
  Open-mic nights are a gamble, no matter which side of the mic you're on. As a performer you're laying bare your songcraft and hoping the audience applauds; as a listener you have to contend with this songcraft-baring and hope it goes down easy. This tension is nicely dissipated at the Atomic... More >>
• Best Place to Go Cougar Hunting
  The Jive & Wail
  So you say you saw a parade of underdressed, lasciviously lifted, high-heeled, spray-tanned sexpots on the streets of Maplewood? It's Thursday, bro. Cougars are on the p-r-o-w-l. Jive & Wail, a piano bar/bar/hookup factory, has been hosting a two-fer-one Ladies Night for a year or so now,... More >>
• Best Lounge (1 Comment)
  Sol Lounge/Reference
  Some enjoy basking in the waves of social electricity a big, crowded lounge emits. Others prefer a more subtle, intimate lounge. Brian Schmitz's building at 4239 Lindell Boulevard — the only 3 a.m. establishment in the Central West End — offers both. On the top floor sits Reference,... More >>
• Best Jazz Club
  Jazz at the Bistro
  Hailed as one of the best jazz clubs in the nation, Jazz at the Bistro technically isn't a nightclub at all. It's a concert series put on by the not-for profit organization Jazz St. Louis in a restaurant and bar officially known as the Bistro at Grand Center. While this particular form of... More >>
• Best Blues Club
  BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups
  The blues — the music and the state of mind — can be found all over town, but its true home is downtown on Broadway, just a little bit south of Busch Stadium. Operating in a restored nineteenth-century building that's been (among other things) a boarding house, transient hotel and... More >>
• Best Bouncer
  Mike Cracchiolo
  At five-feet-eleven inches tall, Mike Cracchiolo admits he doesn't have what you'd call a bouncer's build. "A good bouncer is not there to win fights. A good bouncer is there to end fights," Cracchiolo says of the art keeping unruly rockers in check. "It's more of a psychological game than a... More >>
• Best Place to Drink Like It's Your Civic Duty
  Cat's Meow
  It's nearing last call on a Friday night and a rowdy group of twentysomethings just stumbled through the front door of the Cat's Meow. Through a thick haze of cigarette smoke, a few grizzled regulars shoot them looks of contempt. The interlopers take seats and send a representative to the bar,... More >>
• Best Trend
  Going non-smoking indoors
  A smoking ban in St. Louis (or St. Louis County, for that matter) isn't yet enacted, but local smokers could be forgiven for feeling that one is already on the books. In the past year, the vast majority of shows at the Pageant and Blueberry Hill's Duck Room have been deemed non-smoking —... More >>
• Best Kept Secret (Bar Division)
  The History of the Naked Lady Painting
  The first thing you notice when you walk into Bossanova is the naked lady behind the bar. It's traditional for saloons to adorn the premises with an ornately framed nude, but this one transcends both tradition and easy interpretation: the huge painting, titled Dawn, lights up the long, cool... More >>
• Best Happy Hour
  Chi
  A typical tab for two at Chi, the chic sake and sushi bar in the Central West End, can easily total $100. Visit the place between 4 and 6 p.m., however, and the same meal can be had for half the cost. While not every item on Chi's menu is discounted during happy hour, there are enough options to... More >>
• Best 3 a.m. Bar (1 Comment)
  Mike Talayna's Juke Box Restaurant
  One of the many splendid effects of alcohol is that it lowers inhibitions. Not only does this ease the nerves when it comes to pickup lines, it also makes singing in public seem like a fantastic idea. After last call at the local 1:30 a.m. watering hole, even the most self-conscious crooner will... More >>
• Best Outdoor Drinking
  Brennan's Wine, Food & Tobacco
  On a warm evening in the Central West End, conversation, smoke, laughter and wine breath will surely be blooming off the sidewalk tables in front of Brennan's. This, we're here to tell you, is the perfect vantage point from which to marvel at the rich parade of humanity — from chic to... More >>
• Best Bar Food
  Mimi's Subway Bar & Grill
  Oh, the Slider. Is there a more perfect bar food? Full of fat and protein, these little morsels mop up a gutful of booze better than any other comestible. At Mimi's Subway Bar & Grill, there's nothing fancy about the slider. Or anything else, but since when is that a bad thing? Classic... More >>
• Best Place for Cocktails
  Moonrise Hotel (rooftop terrace)
  "We like the moon," sang the Spongmonkeys (of the website Rathergood.com and, later, Quiznos ads), "'coz it is close to us." Nowhere closer, in fact, than the Rooftop Terrace that sits atop Joe Edwards' new Moonrise Hotel. Here a giant moon looms above you as it rotates from light to dark to... More >>