Recently yoinked back from the cliffs of extinction by Sunset Tavern owner Max Genereaux, the Smoke Shop is a precious diner/dive combo that really exemplifies the grotty blue-collar spirit of Old Seattle. Genereaux gave the dining room a fresh paint job, some new booths and pinball machines, and a menu update — including a Jucy Lucy! — but the ‘30s-era bar has pretty much stayed its crusty old self. (The giant king crab is still on the wall, mercifully.) The late-night menu runs until midnight on weeknights and 1 a.m. on weekends, and they’ve got Evan on well. 

Hattie’s is like your cozy but stylish vintage sweater that somehow goes with everything. You can sidle up to the gorgeous mahogany bar and sip Bill Murray cocktails with a date you wanna impress or grab one of the wooden antique booths on the restaurant side and have a casual diner meal with your friends. It’s open for breakfast at 9 a.m. on weekends, so you can nurse a hangover here just as easily as you acquired it. And the crowd spans generations, like all the best bars’ crowds do.

This Fremont institution does a remarkable job of simulating a no-nonsense, working-class English pub, anchored by a sturdy mahogany bar with a dozen or so beers on tap. For soccer-loving lads and lasses, this is Seattle’s best sports bar.

It’s not seedy enough to qualify as a full-fledged dive, but there’s something admirably durable and dive-like about Linda’s. It’s the wise, seen-it-all matron of Capitol Hill bars, decked out in country-western attire. Dogs are also welcomed. Check out Linda’s sister bar, King’s Hardware in Ballard, for a similar vibe and menu.

Can a bar be sophisticated and cozy at the same time? James Beard nominee Rob Roy achieves that rare equilibrium with artfully placed gentle lighting, elegant yet comfortable leather stools (with, let’s celebrate this, back support!) a den-like sofa area, and an ace lineup of impeccably composed drinks. A venerable figure in the rise of Seattle’s craft cocktail community, it’s been open since 2009 and hasn’t stagnated one bit. The special move here is porting contemporary techniques and ingredients into classic cocktails: Sherry and a river stone tincture give their martini alluring minerality, while pandan and aged rum fat-washed with coffee-infused butter boost the Jungle Bird right into the stratosphere. There’s also an equally great selection of signature newer-school drinks, and an intriguing menu of no-alcohol cocktails. 

The Rendezvous opened in 1927 as an exclusive restaurant, speakeasy, and screening room catering to the movie industry in Belltown’s Film Row, and then deteriorated into a seedy dive bar in the ’70s after the film industry moved on. Refurbished in 2001, it’s spent the past two decades as a main hub of Seattle’s fringe nightlife and features a menu of high-quality craft cocktails. It’s an effective middle ground between its previous identities: red carpet and chandelier atmosphere with a dive-bar heart.

Since 1990, this historic grunge bar/cafe has been luring customers in with its wise, winking neon eye gazing out upon First Avenue. Half diner and half dive, Cyclops is where the industry folks and old-guard Sub Poppers would hang out after shows at the nearby Croc or practice at Black Dog Forge around the corner — and where some still do. The food’s solid, the Rainier’s cold, the lamps are lava, the paintings are velvet, the dress code is hoodies and flannels. Get the crispy polenta fries.

Zig Zag Cafe alum Erik Hakkinen opened Roquette in 2019, but it feels like it’s been here forever. The striking Marseille-blue storefront sets the classique tone, while tastefully plush seating, just-right lighting, and a prominent mural of a tropical vista establishes the interior atmosphere. The impeccably crafted cocktails often incorporate ingredients like Amontillado or Armagnac, and the affable bartenders are apt to eavesdrop and then pour you a sample of something you’ve expressed curiosity about. Just like the caviar-and-Bugles appetizer it offers on the snack menu, Roquette is fancy and approachable at the same time.

You can’t know Seattle’s craft cocktail scene without knowing The Zig Zag. Famous for bartender Murray Stenson’s tenure, during which he reintroduced the world to the Last Word cocktail, it remains a top-notch bar even though Stenson has long moved on. Cocktails are detailed and composed, the staff is warmly hospitable, and the atmosphere combines moodily lit coziness with buzzy destination elegance.

Built in 1914 to host a social club for Arctic explorers, the Arctic Club Hotel is a Beaux-Arts masterwork and an architectural fave of locals and travelers alike — thanks in no small part to the iconic terracotta walruses on the facade. To boot, inside the expansive lobby is the snazzy blue-lit Polar Bar, definitely one of Seattle’s most beautiful bars. Longtime bar manager Mike has got all the dad jokes and specializes in the Smoke & Mirrors — basically a barbecued old-fashioned, made using the nifty little cocktail smoker and a bell jar. A lovely way to have some birthday drinks, kick off a sexy date, or just celebrate a personal victory.

Few things are as Seattle as a divey Chinese restaurant that’s also a bar (or is it a bar that’s also a restaurant?), and The Orient Express might be the most Seattle of ’em all. Housed in a series of train cars — one of which was ridden by FDR during his 1944 reelection campaign — with a half-century legacy as the local institution Andy’s Diner, The Orient Express’s setting has as much history as it has novelty. Drinks are simple and stiff, there’s karaoke on Thursdays, and if we’re lucky, someday the pre-pandemic disco dance nights will return. 

This scrappy Georgetown roadhouse dates back to 1950, when Fourth Avenue South was part of Highway 99, but it can get overlooked these days. This is wrong to do, because the extra-crunchy Broasted™ chicken and jojos at Marco Polo are arguably the best in the whole entire Northwest — they’ve got that OG chicken-bucket pressure fryer with the big crank on top. (By the way, did you know that jojos are from the PNW? Well, they are!) The bar itself, meaning like the physical bar, is super charming too, all curved and swooshy and 1950s-ey. Fun spot for trivia and bingo. But yeah, it’s the fried chicken. Get that.