Best Cocktail Bars in Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona — updated August 22, 2026
Seven Scottsdale cocktail bars, ranked by how convincingly the reviews back them up, from a 2,300-review Old Town fixture to a small distillery bar with under 200 ratings.
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Almost every serious cocktail bar in Scottsdale sits inside a few blocks of Old Town, between Main Street, Stetson Drive and Indian School Road, which means a night out here can be done entirely on foot. The exception on this list is up Scottsdale Road in the 85255 stretch. We ranked these by rating weighted against how many reviews stand behind it, so a well-tested 4.6 outranks a thinly-reviewed 4.9.
1. AZ88
The strongest track record of any bar on this list: 4.6 across 2,317 reviews, which is about as settled as a rating gets in Scottsdale. It sits on Scottsdale Mall and opens daily at 11:00 am, with last call for food and drink at midnight, so it works as a mid-afternoon stop as well as a late one. Monday through Friday until 3:30 pm, half of any burger or chicken sandwich with fries or fruit is $12, and half salads are $12 over the same window. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas Day; Christmas Eve and Super Bowl Sunday it runs 11:00 am to 4:00 pm only.
2. The Ends
A 4.6 rating from 745 reviews puts The Ends just behind AZ88 on evidence and level with it on score, which is unusual for a bar this size. It is tucked into a Stetson Drive suite rather than fronting Main Street, so it reads as a destination rather than a walk-in on a bar crawl. The dual restaurant-and-cocktail-bar setup means the room turns over with diners as well as drinkers, and the Stetson Drive block fills up on weekend evenings along with everything else in Old Town. Worth booking ahead if a specific night matters.
3. HULA'S Modern Tiki Scottsdale
The tiki option, and the one with the deepest review pile after AZ88: 4.5 from 2,169 reviews, a figure that has held up across a lot of visitors. It sits on East 1st Avenue, a block off the main Old Town drag, and draws a mixed crowd of groups and couples rather than a bar-crawl rush. Rum-forward drinks and a themed room are the point here, so it is a change of register from the dark-wood cocktail lounges nearby. Good first stop of an evening if the rest of your night is on Main Street.
4. One Handsome Bastard Distillery
The highest rating on this list at 4.9, though it rests on 198 reviews, so treat it as promising rather than proven. It is a distillery on East Indian School Road, meaning the base spirits in your glass are made in-house, which no other bar here can claim. The small review count usually points to a small room, so go early or on a weeknight rather than assuming a group can walk in on a Saturday. For anyone who wants to taste what a local distiller does with its own product, this is the address.
5. The Beverly on Main
Open since 2015 and holding a 4.4 across more than 1,000 reviews, which makes it one of the most tested rooms on Main Street. It runs daily from 4:00 pm to 2:00 am with the kitchen going until 1:30 am, so it is the reliable answer to where to eat after midnight in Old Town. Happy hour is Monday through Friday, 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The Beverly Burger comes on an English muffin with smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato and chipotle mayo, with fries. Note that it is 21 and up after 8:00 pm.
6. 50 Shades of Rosé
A rosé-led bar on East Indian Plaza, just off Scottsdale Road, with a 4.2 rating from 415 reviews. That is a middling score but a reasonably large sample, so the number is trustworthy even if it is not spectacular. The narrow premise is the appeal: this is where to go if the group wants pink wine and lighter drinks rather than a bourbon list. It is a short walk from most of the other bars here, which makes it easy to fold into a longer Old Town evening rather than committing the whole night to it.
7. Tell Your Friends
The only entry outside Old Town, up on North Scottsdale Road in 85255, which makes it the practical choice if you are staying in north Scottsdale and would rather not drive south. Evidence is the thinnest here: 4.1 from 204 reviews, the lowest rating on the list on a modest sample, so expectations should be calibrated accordingly. Reviews at that level usually mean an inconsistent experience rather than a bad one. Go if you are already nearby and want a cocktail without a trip downtown; for a planned night out, the Old Town options above are safer bets.