The Gist:

• Location: 822 N 6th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85003

• Cross Streets: 7th Ave and Roosevelt

• What: Cocktail bar in a house in the middle of a cute neighborhood

• Vibe: Great place to take a group of friends and have your own little area to chill. It feels like you’re chilling at someone’s cute house.

• LINKS:

  • Garden Bar Website

  • Garden Bar Instagram

  • Garden Bar Menu

My husband and I choose date night destinations for each other. For one it keeps us from going “where do you want to go?”, “I don’t know, where do you want to go?”. An endless cycle that ends up with us just going down the street to the same places we always go. So, it was his turn to choose and he chose VERY wisely.

We pulled up in the middle of a neighborhood in our Uber and stopped. I didn’t get it.

“Are you sure this is where we are going?”

“Yes this is it.”

“But, we are in the middle of a neighborhood.”

“Yep.”

So, we get out and he walks up to this house, which I am now noticing has a small little tent sign and a sign on the wall. Garden Bar is an unassuming house, in the middle of a Downtown Phoenix neighborhood, that’s been converted to the cutest little cocktail bar. Not only that, it’s 110 in Phoenix right now and we could use a little greenery, but inside in the comfort of air-conditioning. When it cools down, though, I imagine the porch or patio areas are a great place to hang out.

THE COCKTAILS

We ordered gimlets and martinis and they did not disappoint. It’s a true mixologist adventure and they can make you anything, but the menu does have some great options. It was gin night at Garden Bar, so we chose to stick with that.

THE FOOD

The food is mostly snack-ish. We chose the grazing board which had a great mix of meat, cheeses, dried fruit and nuts.

THE VIBE

In my opinion, key elements of a cocktail bar is the opportunity to lounge around and talk with your friends. Sitting at a dining table is not conducive to this much of the time. You can chat with the people who are next to you but can hardly reach the people at the end of the table. Not that that was the problem here, since it was just us two. But, still this would be great for a group of people who could take over one of the houses rooms that have been converted to a little lounge area. In fact, you can reserve different areas of the home to suit your group whether you’re just going to chill or meet for a meeting.

Check out one of the other restaurants and tours we love!