Best Cocktail Bars in Richmond
Richmond, Virginia — updated August 21, 2026
Eight Richmond bars where the drinks are the point, from a $8 daily happy hour on West Cary to a Church Hill dining room that has been pouring for years. Ordered by how settled their reputations are.
Listings verified
Richmond's cocktail bars keep a consistent schedule: nearly every room on this list unlocks at 5 p.m., and several of them run a happy hour in the two hours after that. The geography is spread out, with Church Hill, the Fan, the Broad Street corridor near Scott's Addition and the far West End each holding a bar worth the drive. Below, the places are ordered by how well they answer the question and how much review evidence sits behind the rating.
1. The Jasper
The clearest cocktail-first bar on the list, and the one with the most settled record: 4.6 across 726 reviews. The Jasper sits at 3113 W Cary St in the Fan and opens at 5 p.m. every night, running until midnight Sunday through Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Happy hour runs 5 to 7 p.m. seven days a week, with $8 classic cocktails plus beer and shot combos. That daily window is the reason to come early, since the classics list is where the bar makes its case. The room is billed as cocktails nightly rather than a dinner destination.
2. The Roosevelt
The highest-rated place here with a large sample behind it: 4.7 from 882 reviews. The Roosevelt is a Church Hill restaurant at 623 N 25th St serving an untraditional take on Southern food, with a bar program that runs alongside it. Dinner is 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 5 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, so plan around the kitchen's hours rather than a late-night drop-in. It is a restaurant first, which means a seat at the bar is the move if you want drinks without committing to a full table.
3. Grandstaff & Stein
A 4.5 rating across 835 reviews puts this among the most-reviewed drinking rooms in Richmond, which makes the score hard to argue with. The address is 2113 E Main St, at the Shockoe end of downtown. Hours are 4 to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, giving it one of the earlier openings in this group and the latest weekend close outside of Scott's Addition. Reservations are taken through the website, which is worth doing on a weekend night given the volume of traffic the review count implies.
4. Harry's at Hofheimer
Harry's runs a genuine late-night bar service, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, which few places on this list match. It sits at 2818 W Broad St and holds a 4.6 rating from 249 reviews, a smaller but reasonably established sample. Dinner hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 3 to 10 p.m. Saturday, with brunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The pitch is happy hour, dinner or brunch in an intimate room, so the late window is the one to target if drinks are the priority.
5. The Emerald Lounge
A neighborhood bar at 2416 Jefferson Ave in Church Hill with a 4.5 rating from 185 reviews, enough to call the score reliable if not yet proven. Doors open at 5 p.m. and it runs to 11 p.m., with a happy hour that starts as soon as the doors do. Mondays carry a happy hour until 7 p.m., which is a rare thing to find at the start of the week. The space also hosts private events, so a quiet Tuesday and a booked-out Saturday can look like two different bars.
6. The Verdant Lady
The best rating on the list, 4.8, but from 88 reviews, so treat it as promising rather than settled. It is the only entry in the far West End, at 1310 Gaskins Rd, which makes it the practical choice if you are not driving into the city. Hours are 5 to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday, closed Sunday. Monday nights bring $9 signature cocktails all night, and the menu changes with the season. The bar's own site leads with a customer line calling it a favorite cocktail spot.
7. Black Lodge
The latest close in this group: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, plus 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday. Black Lodge is at 3200 Rockbridge St and runs happy hour every day from 5 to 7 p.m. No reservations are taken, which suits the walk-in, late-shift crowd it draws. The 4.4 rating comes from 81 reviews, the thinnest evidence base here alongside Fanboy, so the number could move either way as more people weigh in. Note it is not open early in the week.
8. Fanboy
Included with a caveat: 4.1 from 41 reviews is the weakest and least settled record on this list, and the bar leans toward a funky wine selection alongside its drinks. What earns it a spot is the late-night structure. Fanboy is at 2713 W Broad St, open 5 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, closed Mondays. A rotating dinner menu runs from 5 p.m. and a separate late-night menu takes over at 10 p.m., which makes it useful after other kitchens have shut.
What we left off
Two places from the earlier version did not fit the premise. Afterglow Coffee Cooperative is a worker-owned coffee roaster and cafe on Summit Avenue, open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, and does not belong in a cocktail guide. Penny's Wine Shop on Brook Road is a bottle shop and wine bar, with a food menu Wednesday through Saturday from 5 p.m.; both are worth knowing about, neither is a cocktail bar. No chains or closed businesses were removed.