13-05-2025
How The World's 50 Best Bars In North America Keep Guests Hooked
What makes a World's 5o Best bar? From San Francisco's Pacific Cocktail Haven to Mexico City's Kaito del Valle to Grand Cayman's Library By The Sea to Jewel of the South in New Orleans and even Vancouver's The Keefer Bar there are quite a few contributing factors to consider. Of course the quality, complexity and consistency of the drinks is tantamount. Add in other components like overall concept, bar design and location and the checklist for what makes a bar the best may seem strikingly different. That is, however, until you talk to someone who runs one. 'When you go to a bar or a restaurant, you don't remember the drink you had or the dish.' Kevin Diedrich co-founder of Pacific Cocktail Haven, or PCH, explains. 'You remember how you felt when you leave the place.'
Kevin Diedrich Co-Founder of Pacific Cocktail Haven in San Francisco
Which means that each location ultimately succeeds by tapping into an authentic form of guest interaction that respects the inherent relationship between bartender and guest. The recently revealed North America's 50 Best Bars of 2025 may span the continent but they all have one thing in common, their clientele. With rising food and beverage costs and stiff competition, guests have become more discerning than ever. Which means that bars have never had more opportunity to create the ultimate guest experience with locals, regulars and one-off visitors alike. 'We've pretty well always said that the pretentious bartender thing is dead.' Says Amber Bruce, beverage director for The Keefer Bar an institution that has been going strong for 15 years in Vancouver's Chinatown. 'Check your ego at the door. Welcome people like it's your own living room. We have an amazing crew who've been with us for years. Your section becomes your own bar basically.'
Library by the Sea from Grand Cayman
Library by the Sea, located on 7-mile beach in Grand Cayman, is a cocktail destination within a vacation destination and head bartender Max Wolff notes that even their elevated and integrated story-themed drinks sometimes come second to their unique relationship to the guests. 'We find that we might not have regulars every day of the year but we have them for their stay. We get to know them much more intimately than you'd get to know them in a bar in the neighborhood. We see them at breakfast, meet the kids. Sneak the kids some gelato and get them to go play in the pool while the parents have cocktails with us.'
The team from The Keefer Bar in Vancouver
Different establishments lean into different approaches to hospitality but for Diedrich's PCH, his own experience and attention to detail has paid off. 'When we first opened we were just supposed to be a neighborhood cocktail bar and now we're this high end destination bar.' Diedrich, who implemented a monogrammed coaster program for regulars, explains. 'We jokingly say that the hardest thing to learn isn't the drinks it's knowing all 200 regulars and their initials and their partner's initials.'
Jewel of the South in New Orleans
'I pride myself on the concierge style of helping the guests along with their stay.' Says Chris Hannah, bartender and co-owner of Jewel of the South, who keeps it old school in his approach to guest experience based on his own background at NOLA classic, Arnaud's. 'We make sure that they go see some of our friends because our competition is a healthy competition in New Orleans. We want to make sure that while they're there they are going to someplace where we know that our friends are going to take care of them as well.'
Kaito del Valle from Mexico City is a Mexican and Japanese-based Izakaya that focuses on sake-based cocktails but with Mexican ingredients. While the cocktails are complex, the path to great hospitality of any best bar is simple. 'We opened nine years ago and it's a full female staffed bar.' Clauda Cabrero says of what she calls the super nerdy, funky and relaxed spot. 'It just sort of happened. I didn't plan it like that. I thought it was going to be fun. It's really fun.'
