Best-of list · Occasion Guide
The best bars with food that actually deliver on both fronts — kitchen and cocktails. Our editors' picks across New York, London, Chicago, and beyond.
The short answer
10 ranked rooms follow. How we picked is at the end of this guide.
The best bars with food are a specific category, and they are rarer than they should be. Most bars that offer food treat the kitchen as a revenue stream, not a mission. The result is microwaved wings and chips that exist solely to keep you drinking. The ten bars below operate differently — their kitchens are as considered as their cocktail lists, and the food is worth ordering even if you weren't planning on staying for a second round.
New York has more bar kitchens than any city in the world and more bad ones to match. These three are the ones our editors order from deliberately, not just to line their stomachs.
How we picked
The bars on this list treat food as something that amplifies the drinking experience rather than just providing a reason to linger. That philosophy — that the kitchen and the bar are in service of the same night — is what separates the places worth seeking out from the ones that just have a menu on the back of the drinks list.
If we had to pick one: Hawksmoor Seven Dials for London, Employees Only for New York. Both rooms understand that the best bar food is food you'd eat at a restaurant, served with drinks you'd drive across town to have.
James writes about bars with the conviction of someone who has eaten far too many mediocre bar snacks to accept them anymore. He believes bone marrow should be on every bar menu and is working on convincing the world.
Last reviewed 2026-04-13 · The editors recheck hours and closures against current local coverage.