Presenting the 50 Best Bars in Canada 2020
For Canada’s bar community, the journey back to what they do best—and making a living at it—is just beginning. For now, we would like to raise a virtual toast to everyone who worked so tirelessly to create an industry that only exists to provide good times for others. These rankings are based on a poll of 51 national judges, who submitted a list of their top five bar experiences in 2019.
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View the 50 Best Bars by region.
LISTINGS BY RANK
1. Bar Raval
You don’t go to Bar Raval just for a drink. You go to escape ordinary…
2. The Keefer Bar
When it opened 10 years ago, with burlesque dancers strutting across the bar top and…
3. Atwater Cocktail Club
Deke into a narrow graffiti-coated alley located between two cheque-cashing joints, slip through a red-lit…
4. El Pequeño
With its narrow cobblestone streets, centuries-old buildings and (until a few months ago) horse-drawn calèches,…
5. Proof
If a good back bar contains one or two rows of top-shelf spirits, then Proof’s…
6. Botanist
Even in Vancouver, a magical mushroom drink raises eyebrows—especially when Candy Cap Magic, a cocktail…
7. Cloakroom Bar
An evening at this neo-speakeasy, hidden in the faded grandeur of Montreal’s Golden Square Mile,…
8. Civil Liberties
“This Must Be The Place” reads the sign above the door. Really? To a first-time…
9. Gift Shop
Jess Mili had big stilettos to fill when replacing the charmingly irreverent, proudly kinky bar…
10. PrettyUgly
Dark, warm and quirky, this chill Parkdale local, currently in legal limbo, offers an adventurous…
11. The Coldroom
For a place too unconventional for a street address, the underground Coldroom sure has a…
12. Paris Paris
At Paris Paris it’s always vino o’clock. This all-day bar from the Superpoint crew boasts…
13. Milky Way
Best New Bar
14. Bar Piquette
Fizzy, low-ABV and affordable. That’s what “piquette”—a humble grape-pomace wine— and this buzzy Queen West…
15. The Bar at Alo
Reminiscent of a swanky London hotel bar, the elegant Bar at Alo is one of…
16. Mother Cocktail Bar
It’s a bar name that’s doubly comforting. A “mother” gives life to all the fresh…
17. Le Royal
This sexy, subterranean lounge next to sister wine bar Rouge Gorge takes its craft cocktails…
18. Supernova Ballroom
Canadian bar star Kelsey Ramage— who made her mark at Dandelyan in London, and then…
19. Pablo
With a photo from the halcyon days of Studio 54 as its home page, and…
20. Stillife
The owners of Cloakroom Bar have put a starkly elegant spin on the neo-hippie, no-waste…
21. Lot Six
Located in one of Halifax’s oldest buildings, Lot Six delivers a modern drinking experience and…
22. Clementine
Clementine’s bartenders work with challenging bitter, botanical and smoky flavours so adeptly, one cocktail calls…
23. Clockwork
With its recent facelift (finally) complete, the Fairmont Royal York now has a lobby bar…
24. Noble
Whisper the password at Middle Spoon dessert bar, then descend a narrow staircase to one…
25. Le Majestique
Eclectic and casual, with mounted deer heads hung on wood-panelled walls and vintage swivel stools…
26. BarChef
Co-owner and head mixologist Frankie Solarik—part magician, part scientist—has been tickling all senses with his…
27. Baijiu & Little Hong Kong
Sip cocktails kissed with exotic flavours, from umeshu to chrysanthemum tea, at an Asian-inspired canteen…
28. Coffee Oysters Champagne / À Toi
Albeit flash, the pearly pink oyster bar is merely a front for a lavishly embellished…
29. Honō Izakaya
The yakitori is great, but sake, umeshu and whisky are the real stars at Quebec…
30. Black Dice Cafe
Although Black Dice bills itself as a “Japanese Rockabilly Bar,” it’s also what you’d call…
31. Nacarat
This modern gem in Montreal’s Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth Hotel eliminates class divisions among cocktails…
32. Bar at Forth
Don’t neglect to visit the basement bar— not to mention the rooftop in summer—of this…
33. Burdock Brewery
A brewpub run by winos, with a music hall on the side. Rocking the non-binary…
34. Patent 5 Distillery
There are some big coupes to fill when your distillery bar is furnished with artifacts…
35. Bar Bricco
Feel fab at a vibrant spuntini bar, smack in a prairie downtown, from folks (the…
36. Thirteen Pies Pizza + Bar
With killer tiki-style drinks and playful pizzas that riff on horror movie titles, this place…
37. Hawthorn
A smart focus on Alberta’s seasonal and sustainable products raises the bar on what you…
38. The Diamond
Gazing out the tall Italianate windows overlooking Gastown’s cobblestoned streets, one can almost feel the…
39. Lobby Lounge
South Beach meets Coal Harbour at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. The ground floor’s shiny expanse…
40. Upstairs at Campagnolo
Look for local bottlings from B.C.’s Odd Society, Arbutus and Sheringham craft distilleries in stirred-up…
41. El Rey
This Oaxacan boite is a great place for a dose of liquid smoke from a…
42. Key Party
It’s the swinging ’70s at this naughty speakeasy tucked behind the faux facade of Zottenberg…
43. The Shameful Tiki Room
Worship legends like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic here, through a wormhole to tiki’s…
44. Bar Volo
It’s in a new location (not far from the original), but it still brings 30…
45. The Boxcar
A hipster dive bar with history, East Van’s three-metre-wide “vibe corridor” once housed saloon stables.…
46. Q Bar
Now ubiquitous, the butterfly pea flower cocktail trend started right here at the funkily refurbished…
47. VinVinVin
This chic-retro natural wine bar organizes its menu by style. Order soif (thirst quenchers), joufflu…
48. Guilt & Co.
In this far-from-touristy quarter of Vancouver’s Gastown, it still feels a bit illicit to descend…
49. Langside Grocery
Toronto bar vet Casey Bee puts the taste of Manitoba in this hip West Broadway…
50. Untitled Champagne Lounge
Untitled does for sparkling wine what its sibling tavern, The Derrick, does for gin, pouring…
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