Each year, we ask Avenue readers to vote for their favourite restaurants in Calgary in our Best Restaurants readers’ choice ballot. These are some of their favourite places in the city.
Winner
True Wild Distilling
With a historic location inside one of Calgary’s first electric substations, an on-site distillery and an excellent restaurant, True Wild Distilling is a Calgary gem. From the build-your-own martinis using True Wild’s Breaker Box gin and vodka to the classic cocktails on offer, all the little details add up to create an excellent cocktail bar experience. Plus, the kitchen has crafted one of the city’s best burgers, along with some other excellent plates cooked over live fire, that will add to your night.
3115 11 St. S.E., 403-245-8269, truewilddistilling.com, @truewildresto
Runners-up
Prohibition Lounge
Prohibition Lounge takes you back in time by nodding to the prohibition era. Decorated in a vintage style with book-lined shelves and plush leather banquettes, Prohibition has a menu of prohibition-era classics like the Last Word, Penicillin and Paper Plane cocktails, as well as specialty cocktails themed around stories of the 1920s (which you can learn more about on the bar’s website). And if you like an old fashioned, Prohibition offers eight different varieties to keep things fresh.
720 17 Ave. S.W., 825-734-1920, prohibitionloungeyyc.com, @prohibitionbaryyc
Proof
Proof was awarded 16th place on Canada’s 50 Best Bars list in 2025, and for good reason. The team takes the bar’s drinks seriously, with a hugely varied list of classic and contemporary cocktails expertly crafted by Proof’s mixologists with premium spirits, house-made syrups and infusions. The menu is sorted by type of spirit and each drink is listed with tasting notes so you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. You can also get snacks and larger plates ranging from baos to tomatoes and burrata to accompany your drink.
1302 1 St. S.W., 403-246-2414, proofyyc.com, @proofyyc
Missy’s This That
Located above the Happy Together convenience store in the Beltline, this cocktail bar has a large list of house and classic cocktails, beers, an excellent wine list and a massive selection of premium spirits. Missy’s also hosts plenty of pop-ups and collabs that are well worth checking out. The combination of its casual, minimalist atmosphere and beverage excellence helped earn Missy’s the 8th spot on Canada’s 50 Best Bars list in 2025.
348A 14 Ave. S.W., missysthisthat.com, @missysthisthat
Blue Rock Swim Club
Located below South Block Barbecue & Brewing Co., Blue Rock Swim Club is a cocktail bar by Block Hospitality with a West Coast-inspired vibe, plush seating and plant-filled space. The cocktail menu shines with takes on classic cocktail combinations, as well as more creative options like the Peaches en Regalia with blue cheese fat-washed Raicilla, peach liqueur and habanero. The food here is more significant than your typical cocktail bar, too — pair your drink with dishes like short rib ragu rigatoni and grilled ribeye with cafe de Paris butter.
500 25 Ave. S.W., bluerockswimclub.com, @bluerockswimclub
Sweet Loretta Bar
This Concorde Group cocktail bar is built with the legacy of Calgary’s best music venues in mind, and bills itself as “part disco, snack bar, and lounge.” The drinks here are alcohol forward, and the specialty “Disco Classics” are named after classic songs, including the Sexy Thing (based on the song by 1970s soul band Hot Chocolate) and Strawberry Fields Forever (from the 1967 song by The Beatles). True to its roots as a music-forward cocktail bar, Sweet Loretta hosts live music and DJs on the main floor, in the basement and the lounge every week.
715 11 Ave. S.W., 587-576-4046, sweetlorettabar.ca, @sweetlorettabar
Fleetwood Lounge
Part of Vintage Group’s restaurant collection at the base of The Oliver apartment buildings, Fleetwood Lounge is a cocktail lounge with a modern-vintage atmosphere modelled after the 1933 Cadillac Fleetwood on display in the lobby. The cocktail list includes some extravagant ones from the “For the ‘Gram” menu section, as well as a unique absinthe service served the classic French way — finished with chilled water dripped over a sugar cube.
524 10 Ave. S.W., 587-418-3323, fleetwoodlounge.com, @fleetwoodlounge