Best Cocktail & whisky Bars in Los Angeles
As this is where I live, I drink here the most often and there maybe a disproportionate amount of bars in Los Angeles that I recommend. But I adore Los Angles because it has one of the finest bar scenes in America.
#1 - Mirate
With the best agave spirits lists in LA right now they also serve some very good cocktails. It gets extremely busy so if you want a seat at that bar come early. The cocktails are delicious. The sprints are wonderful. Hard to have a bad time here.
#2 - Redbird
One of the best cocktail list in LA right now. The menu is well balanced with a variety of different styles so please anyone. Tobin Shea has been running the program here for years and has created a team of skilled bartenders. You can comfortably order anything from anyone and will likely be pleased with the results. Something damn near impossible at most bars.
Location: 114 E 2nd St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
#3 - Daisy
From the bar team of Mirate we have the excellent Daisy! A wonderful cocktail menu of mostly original cocktails. While not everything is great most of it is wonderful. I adore this bar. I would avoid all the cocktail on the classic cocktail part of the menu as most of those taste bad. But that is a small section of their supremely delicious bar program.
#4 - Vandell
The cocktail scene in Los Angels has slowly been recovering after the nose dive in quality after Covid. Vandell is perhaps the most ambitious new bar post Covid. It amazing delivers. A gorgeous space that invites you to have a drink. Friendly professional staff. Yael Vengroff created a wonderful cocktail menu. It provides a wide variety of interesting and delicious cocktails so everyone will find a cocktail for their tastes. As I write this, it doesn't sound that ambitious. It sounds like what every bar should be doing, but that simply is not the case. I really hope they keep it up. Bravo.
#5 - Good Neighbor Bar
Yup. All the way in Altadena. Run by Jesus Gomez, one of the best bartenders in Los Angeles, this bar has become a hub for the people of Altadena after the fire engulfed much of the city. This is a neighborhood bar. It frankly doesn’t have to be excellent, but it is. The staff is sweet and provides warm hospitality. The menu is filled with mostly classics you know and obscure classics you almost certainly don’t; with a few originals. I do with there were more originals as I know what the staff is capable of. An absolutely wonderful place to have a cocktail.
https://www.goodneighborbar.com/
Location: 2311 Lincoln Ave, Altadena, CA 91001
#6 - Accomplice
Inventive, delicious cocktails. Perhaps the most representative of what LA cocktails are and should be. Located inside Little Fatty restaurant the bar appears to be at the heart of the space. The cocktail list has a nice balance of styles to have something for everyone. Flavors bounce around from Japan to Mexico to India. The bar is really trying to do something interesting and it largely succeeds. It is well worth your time to stop by and have a round or two.
#7 - Dante Beverly Hills
The only NYC bar that has successfully opened an LA outpost. Other bars have done it but frankly none of them have done it well. What they have created is marvelous. An expansive menu that I absolutely adore. Most of the menu is a carry over from their NYC location with a few items only in LA; which is the way it should be. Love drinking here. They use to have a bartender from New York to maintain quality. Since they is no longer the case quality has dropped a bit.
https://www.dantebeverlyhills.com/
Location: 225 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
#8 - Not No Bar
A delightful cocktail menu that does not have a bad cocktail on the list.
Location: 2424 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405
#9 - Old Lightning
The best selection of spirits in LA by far. The only question is what you are willing to pay for as the prices here are also probably the highest in the city. That said there are hundreds of pours here you cannot get anywhere not just in LA, but California. That is certainly justifies some of the premium. There are several classic cocktails as well, priced quite steeply.
Location: 2905 Washington Blvd., Venice, CA 90292
#10 - Corner Door
The new cocktail menu right now is quite good! I love the staff here.
#11 - Neat
There are place with bigger sections perhaps, but this is one of the best curated and best priced. It is a place where I genuinely enjoy drinking spirits. The staff is wonderful, but unfortunately I do not enjoy the cocktail here. Come to have a pour of something.
Location: 11780 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064
#12 - Real Charmer
This is indeed a charming bar. The staff in particular are just lovely. The cocktails are very uneven. A couple are very good, most are fine, but there are a handful that are really not good. I really want to love this place. They do not even have to do much. If they just remove the bad cocktails from the list I think that would be enough.
https://www.instagram.com/realcharmer.la/
Location: 864 Virgil Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029
#13 - Darling
A very hit or miss cocktail list. When it misses, it doesn’t miss by much.
#14 - Tiki-Ti
A tiki style bar that has been a staple of Los Angeles for years. It is a tiny space that is lots of fun. I quite like the Ray's Mistake.
Location: 4427 West Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
#15 - Providence
A fabulous restaurant that tries very had with its cocktails. It mostly works. The biggest issue is the cocktail menu. It is so short and basic that it feels like they are actively pushing you away from having a cocktail.
Location: 5955 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA
#16 - Hatchet Hall
Solid cocktail program.
Other bars
These are other bars I visited, but do not recommend. Some I would visit only under specific circumstances such as going with a large number of people, or if I were in the area. But most are simply not worth visiting or a bad experience.
Melrose Umbrella Co.
Easy going and warm staff are there to help you have a great time. The cocktail program is a showdown of what it use to be. The Frozen Pina Colada here is constantly wonderful.
http://www.melroseumbrellaco.com
Location: 7465 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036
Blue Collar
They try, but sadly I have never had a cocktail I liked here.
Location: 361 S Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Major Domo
Since Davey, the prior bar manger left the once amazing cocktails program has diminished in quality.
Location: 1725 Naud St. Los Angeles, CA, 90012
Scopa Italian Roots
When you look at the wall of booze you know they have an amazing selection of spirits to enjoy. Particularly of American whiskey and tequila/mezcal. The cocktails are okay.
http://www.scopaitalianroots.com
Location: 2905 Washington Blvd., Venice, CA 90292
Chestnut Club
The sister establishment to Scopa it has a much higher volume particularly on the weekends. I generally don't order cocktails here, it's the great spirits selection here I'm after much like Scopa.
http://www.thechestnutclubsm.com
Location: 1348 14th St., Santa Monica, CA 90404
Republique
Hit or miss cocktail menu that mostly misses, but not by too much.
Location: 624 South La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Gwen
This wonderful art deco interior houses a middling cocktail program.
Location: 6600 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028
Seven Grand
This whiskey bar use to be my favorite bar in the city. I used to come 3-5 times a week. No longer. The decor it is in many ways what I think of when I think "bar.” The mint julep here is still pretty good.
https://www.marcusfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/7grand.jpg
Location: 515 West 7th St. #2, Los Angeles, CA
Spago
Since Adam Fournier left the quality of the bar program has gone down. Still wonderful service.
https://wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/spago-beverly-hills/
Location: 176 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Everson Royce Bar
The cocktails are not very good. If you order whisky or mezcal order a middle to low priced one. For the expensive ones they make the giant mistake or using argon/wine preserving gas in their expensive bottles of whisky. This actually destroys the esters deteriorates whisky more than almost anything.
Location: 1936 E 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90021
Big Bar
I love the space. I adore the staff. But I hate the cocktails. They haven't been good for years and years.
http://www.alcovecafe.com/bigbar
Location: 1929 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Bestia
This perpetually packed restaurant lost all of their bartending talent.
Location: 2121 7th Place Los Angeles CA, 90021
Wolves
A stunning bar that just drips style. Have a beer here because the cocktails are pretty terrible.
Location: 519 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Normandie Club
The staff is nice, the space is relaxed, but I just do not like any of the cocktails.
http://www.thenormandieclub.com
Location: 3612 W 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90020
Messhall
They used to have a pretty solid cocktail program. They are still trying, but doesn’t succeed much anymore.
Spare Room
Like most bar programs the quality has declined significantly over the years.
http://www.spareroomhollywood.com/
Location: 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA
1886 at the Raymond
I used to love this bar, but not too long after the new owners took over the bar program slowly took a nosedive. Still a beautiful space.
Location: 1250 South Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena, CA
Black Market
Like most bar programs the quality has declined significantly over the years.
Daily Pint
I used to love this place, but since the new owners took over the scotch selection has gone way downhill. Even the beer isn’t any good anymore.
Location: 2310 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405
Eat Your Drink
He used to be my favorite bartender in the world. But now he isn’t into cocktails anymore and his work is pretty bad now. Really such a shame.
https://www.matthewbiancaniello.com
Location: Los Angeles, CA
La Descarga
Pretty fun bar. Cocktails are pretty bad now. Have a rum and coke.
Night on Earth
I surpassing like the cocktails slightly more than Thunderbolt, but I still no not like the cocktails there. The lighting is horrible. The staff is nice enough, but did not enjoy my time here. I would be surprised if you do.
Pour Vous
One of the prettiest bars in the city. This french parlor styled bar has almost exclusively french spirits. It is just such a beautiful space. The skip the cocktails. Maybe a glass of sparkling.
Location: 5574 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA
Death and Co LA
I have tried every cocktail on their very large cocktail menu twice over and in the end I think I liked one. Most of them I hated. Some are just not very good. What a tragic representation of what was once an amazing bar in NYC.
https://www.deathandcompany.com/location/dtla/
Location: 818 E 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Thunderbolt
Terrible cocktails. Bad service. Uncomfortable bar. What is there to like? My guess is if you ever had a good time here it was because of people you knew here or the people you were with.
Location: 1263 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Bourbon Steak
Not well done cocktails, but not terrible.
http://www.michaelmina.net/restaurants/southern-california/bourbon-steak-los-angeles/
Location: 237 S Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 91210
Love and Salt
When it open it had wonderful cocktails, but now it just is not very good anymore.
Location: 317 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
Library Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel
This once fabled bar program is terrible now.
http://www.thompsonhotels.com/hotels/la/hollywood-roosevelt/drink/library-bar
Location: 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA
Updated: 2026-04-02