Oakland
You're flying out of Oakland Airport, you have 90 minutes to kill, and you'd like to do better than a Pret. Good news: airport drinking has improved more in the last five years than the previous fifty. Pre-flight drinks at Oakland Airport range from chain reliability to surprisingly polished hotel-style bars in the airport hotels. This is barsforKings's editor-curated guide to drinking better at Oakland's airports.
Uptown · $$$
World's 50 Best Bars regular.
Temescal · $$$
Boutique cocktail bar with a tight rotating menu.
Uptown · $$
Cocktail-and-natural-wine bar with a young engaged crowd.
Temescal · $$
Restaurant-bar with one of Oakland's tightest natural-wine lists and a craft-cocktail menu.
Want a real drink before flying? The fastest play is to get to airport hotels next door — most run polished bars that beat anything post-security. We list them at the bottom. If you've got 60 spare minutes pre-airport, see our shortlist of bars in Oakland proper at the end.
Plays for Oakland Airport: post-security, pre-security, lounges, and the airport-hotel cheat code.
Pre-flight drinks, hotel-bar reviews, and the openings we're watching across 176 cities. Friday mornings, no filler.
Looking beyond Oakland? See our guide to the best airport bars worldwide, or compare airport bars city by city.