The encyclopedic menu has pages upon pages of classic mixed drinks and original ones with intricate involvements like smokes, syrups, rinses, and/or Cap’n Crunch-infused ice cream floating on top. Everything is served in whimsical vessels like light bulbs, Russian nesting dolls, glass hearts you wear around your neck, or IV bags that drip into your glass. All these theatrics are what make Canon an incredible bar. Just prepare to spend a significant amount of money.

Between the phenomenal cocktails, friendly bartenders, and palpable big-night-out energy, we’ve never met a bar that we wanted to make “our bar” more than Daphnes in Edmonds. For a spot that seats around 15 people, there’s always something exciting happening here. On a Friday evening, it’s a cramped sardine tin party, with “Volare” blasting while couples who can’t fit inside drink negronis and dance on the sidewalk patio.

You could come to this Greenwood spot just to eat outstanding Korean snacks, but there’s also some nifty sh*t happening behind the bar. Cocktails are booze-forward, often blending multiple spirits together, though there’s a wonderful balance between alcohol and not-alcohol. Use it for a low-stakes date or friend catch-up when you want the drinks (and Beecher's pimento cheese with a kimchi kick) to do most of the impressing.

While everyone at Phở Bắc’s newest Downtown location is slurping phở under stark fluorescent lighting, there’s a speakeasy upstairs where you should head post-soup. Phởcific Standard Time serves phenomenal cocktails with Vietnamese twists at a small four-sided counter. We love every last one of these drinks, from the Dua Dừa featuring rum, absinthe, coconut milk, lime, and basil seed to our current favorite cocktail in Seattle: the Cà Phê Tini, an iced coffee-inspired martini.

Left Bank is the best place to drink natural wine in Seattle. The space feels like your super chill friend’s basement that’s filled with sofa cushions, dangling lightbulbs, a record player, and a ton of reasonably-priced wine bottles hanging on the wall for sale. Anything they pour is funky, interesting, and comes with a fun description from the friendly owner. If you want to sit back with a glass of something unfiltered, orange, or both, make this your new home.

If Left Bank is your mellow friend’s basement project, Bottlehouse is your most sophisticated acquaintance’s elegant garden party. It’s a wine bar in a retrofitted home in Madrona, complete with a porch and a backyard patio where you’ll find us permanently stationed in the summer. Everyone should be able to find something to drink here—from some Bolivian syrah to grenache blanc made in Walla Walla.

If Unicorn on Cap Hill took a chill pill and grew up a little bit, the result would be The Velvet Elk—a two-story neighborhood spot in Mount Baker. This place is perfect for a low-key weeknight hang with colorful black-lit wall art, excellent cocktails, comfortable living room furniture, and cans of Pringles and boxes of Cracker Jacks for snacking. They even have some decks of cards if you want to challenge your friends to a game of Egyptian Rat Screw.

If you’re looking for a serotonin rush without having to snuggle a puppy, just spend some hours out on Dreamland Bar & Diner’s balcony patio, a.k.a. Carnelian Bay. The whimsical space-galaxy-jungle-grotto surroundings make this bar feel like a hazy movie mashup of Jurassic Park, Alien, and Xanadu in the best way possible. There are $99 large-batch margaritas served in disco balls alongside salty pucker powder-rimmed glasses, frozen grasshopper slushies, and Jell-O shots.

Between personalized off-menu drinks, servers who remember exactly what you had last time, and cocktails with ingredients like szechuan buzz buttons, feeling like a VIP is inevitable here. You’ll enter through a dark curtain that opens up onto a dimly-lit cobalt room. Come here for those nights on the town when you can put that new outfit (and haircut) to good use.

For solid vegan food and great music, there's always this honkey-tonk-looking joint, where a party's going on nearly every night. You might catch a dose of Americana (The Dusty 45s are regulars), while the next afternoon the local School Of Rock outfit could show up. Or, you can just chill during one of bar's trivia nights. There's no one way to enjoy Tim's, but when the weather's nice, be sure to seek out to the cool back patio where you can order margaritas and nachos.

The Nook is an impressive cocktail spot that’s disguised as a low-key neighborhood bar. Complete with a mismatched assortment of vintage living room sofas, a fireplace, and extremely friendly bartenders, you’ll find drinks like champagne spritzes, white negronis, and mules topped with torched marshmallows and rosemary.

The popular tavern burger here gets a lot of hype—but don't just grab that beefy smokeshow and run. Pull up a bar stool and stay awhile inside this divey South Park institution. They’ve got plenty of plush booths, TVs permanently turned on, and beers under $5, which is a modern economic miracle in Seattle. Loretta’s makes for a great group hang, particularly in the little-known back patio that rivals some of the city's fanciest outdoor seating.

This tiny sake bar in Fremont serves excellent drinking snacks—we wouldn't expect less from the same team behind Kamonegi next door. Hannyatou features a diverse and wonderful lineup of rice wine flights, as well as extremely knowledgeable servers who can help you brush up on your sake smarts. We can’t say enough about the bar food, though, like tangy kasu-marinated sharp cheddar or homemade smoked pepperoni sticks with shrimp aioli.

French fries are the perfect thing to eat while drinking. So it makes sense that you can get the best french fries in town at one of the best bars in town, too. Bait Shop feels a little bit like a tiki bar and a little bit like a lakeside tackle shop—they have painkiller slushies, board games, a great burger, and they play movies on their massive projector. What’s better than a night out filled with some rounds of Uno, slushie brain freezes, and burning your tongue on triple-fried potatoes?

One of the best places to get a beer in Seattle is at Pacific Inn. The nautical-themed dive in Fremont has comfy booths, old-school diner stools at the counter, a bunch of old photos of Seattle, and a back deck that’s perfect for spreading out during the warmer months. While they always have a solid lineup of beers available, Pacific Inn also makes an excellent margarita. If you’re hungry after all of those beers, you’re in luck—the panko-fried fish and chips here are the best in town.

If speakeasies were part of the Olympics, Needle & Thread would win a gold medal. To get in, you have to make a reservation online, enter through Tavern Law (their sister bar), and pick up a vintage phone in the back corner. After you do that, someone will unlock a door that leads to a rickety staircase, and finally, up to an antique parlor. There’s no menu, but trust the expert bartenders to make you something with the ingredients of your choice.

Weekly comedy shows, Gilmore Girls trivia nights, and Seahawks watch parties with free Jell-O shots for every touchdown—what more could this Beacon Hill spot have to make it even better? Oh wait, they also serve some of the best pizza in the city. Despite all the appeal, it’s never so busy in here that the bartender can’t even look in your direction. And if the babysitter cancels, note that the venue is all-ages until 8pm.

This aperitivo bar and bottle shop is owned by next-door Italian restaurant La Medusa, and while it seems logical to grab a quick drink with your date here while waiting for a table, we encourage you to stick around. Grab a seat and get acquainted with a bitter red spritz from the huge chalkboard selection of amari. Or if you’re not into the bitter herbal stuff, go with a glass of prosecco.

While most arcade bars are a mess, Add-A-Ball won't let you down. Unlike Dave & Busters, there are no children or old deep-fryer-oil smell. Instead, you'll find old school games like Pac Man with beer, cider, and natural wine all reasonably priced. Fremont’s full of bars, but we can guarantee you’ll have the best night in the neighborhood using up your pocket change here.

The Mountaineering Club is a cool rooftop bar at the Graduate Hotel. The space is designed as if an Eagle Scout troop had an interior design merit badge on the line, and the outdoor patio has one of the best skyline views in the city. The camping theme extends into the drinks—our favorite is the Whidbey Island iced tea, spiked with blackberry liqueur. And if you must eat here, get the bacon sandwich.