Might be a good time to start a general thread around cocktail bars in the Bay area. There are so many options that it would be nice to collect everybody’s experiences in one location.
Speak-easy style cocktail bar in a basement with relaxed ambience and dark lighting (as one can see from the quite dark pictures). Overall very well thought out and executed cocktails (even though I was bit surprised to see some bartenders free pour sometimes instead of a jigger which tends to make consistency challenging)
ABV https://www.abvsf.com is one of the more established cocktail bars in San Francisco now in its 11. year in the Mission. Also known for a kitchen that is open until midnight every night with good food. Also cocktails are well crafted and so it is not a surprise that ABV is often very popular that it can be quite tough to get a seat.
The burger at ABV is one of the best in the city, and the soft shell crab tacos slap when they get them in.
Also recommend Tallboy in Oakland.
In SF: Bar 821 for amari, The Morris for green chartreuse slushy, buddy for low abv/wines and good bites, Trick Dog and PCH are staples (Trick Dog prob has some of the best menu design around). I’ve not yet been to Bar Iris but the menu reads beautifully
More or less across ABV is Dalva https://www.dalvasf.com - a longstanding bar in the Mission with more than 20 years and a more recent renovation which “modernized” the interior to a brighter, less dive bar feeling but still keeps it as a great place to sip good cocktails which tend to be more spirit-forward
Does it have to be walking distance or is a (short) Uber ride OK ? And has it to be open late (a number of bars there close surprisingly early (for “normal” bars)
Another cocktail bar we enjoy in San Jose is Paper Plane https://www.paperplanesj.com - the owners are involved in a number of bars and restaurants in San Jose including MiniBoss and Alter Ego.
Paper Plane isn’t really an intimate cocktail bar but has more a large floor plan with several booths and tables but a place at the bar tends to be best option. The quality of cocktails is high and often quite creative. We also like their approach of a cocktail menu map which visually shows you the different types/flavor profiles of cocktails on their extensive menu
Outer Sunset isn’t really a hotspot for cocktails but has a few very good cocktail bars which fly a bit under the radar. One of these places is Lost & Found https://www.lostandfoundbarsf.com on Taraval (which also has the advantage of easy parking). Outer Sunset has quite a number of different Asian restaurants and so it is no surprise that some of their very good cocktails tend to have sometimes an “Asian” spin. Normally Lost & Found had also a good kitchen open late but it was closed on that night
about 5-10 years ago, the play for us in SF was The Morris, Bar Agricole, ABV, Whitechapel, PCH (after always not really liking Anina), Louie’s Gen Gen Room, Trick Dog, or Smuggler’s Cove. and usually some failed attempt in Chinatown. some bartenders in NY and Tokyo told me that one of the most famous bars in Chinatown was an actual opium den hiding in plain sight.
not bars but as far as restaurants, Aziza and Saison had great cocktails.
Not sure if it’s still going on but I sat at the bar at Quince a few months ago during Bar Agricoles residency. Eric Johnson was behind the bar that night with one of the Quince bartenders
Quince did a White Asparagus tasting menu and I snuck in for a few dishes
that was an extremely underrated popup - felt like stealing, the amount of quality you could come away with, without having to pay full fare at quince itself.. but was only a couple of months or so
Propagation https://www.propagationsf.com in Lower Nob Hill is a 5 year old cocktail bar with a garden/plant based theme - lots of plants in the room and cocktails which sometimes tend to have more unusual plant based ingredients. The cocktails were well made and thought out with interesting flavor combination, e.g. the strawberry crusher included salted cream which, once mixed in, really elevated the cocktail to wonderful “shake”. The NA negroni was also a surprising good rendition.
The Mission is home to a number of excellent bars, one of them The Beehive https://www.thebeehivesf.com Opened about 8 years ago, it has laid-back 60s feeling with excellent cocktails and good snacks. The Miami Nice, more or less a boozy slushy, is a current favorite
