Bar at Hotel Kabuki

An excellent bar attached to the hotel Kabuki (you DO NOT have to be staying at the hotel to enjoy the bar), staffed by the kind of bartenders that are natural mixologists and able to just sort of innovate their way to an excellent drink on the spot based on vague descriptions. A great collection of Japanese inspired cocktails (try the umeboshi!), using some solid spirits you might not have tried before Note that these cocktails are not Instagram material, they're all flavor with subdued visuals, which honestly is the best kind Don't sleep on the mocktails either, they know how to make a great one of those too.

It’s a nice lobby bar located inside of the recently renovated Hotel Kabuki at Japan Town SF. They focus on whisky and serve well known Japanese whiskies if you are interested while you are in Japan Town. If you are staying around you should check it out or even if you are a SF locale.

It was a nice spot to sit down, but we got four different drinks and did not particularly like any of them.

Great atmosphere here. Fun cocktails and cool environment. Highly recommend

Hip hotel in the heart of San Francisco's Japantown. The room I booked was spacious, with a great view of the Peace Pagoda. The bar area is bustling. Numerous restaurants and shops are within an easy walk right outside. There gym facility is well-cared for and adequately equipped. Great place to stay in the city.

Didn't eat there, but bartender was on point with her mixology! Place is also gorgeous!

The worst service ever! I got there for happy hour and has asked about menu. The bartender gave me regular menus, denying they have any happy hour. Why would they have advertise happy hour when?

An elegant bar with mid-century & modern vibes. Love the interior details including the comfy sofas, vintage type-writer, wide range of art books, & turn-table. Their cocktail menu offers japanese whiskey classics, highballs, & special drinks such as the Matcha Moscow Mule. Will be back soon for HH.

I came here last week for a friend's birthday. I really enjoyed the ambiance and it was a great place to get to sit down and have a conversation with other people. I tried their Paper Crane drink which was sweet. It was really unique since it had sesame oil in it. The Suppai drink is really good too! Highly recommend coming here if you would like a more intimate setting where you can sit down and be able to chat with the company you're with. They also have a free coffee machine at hand as well.

I am a big fan of this place. The ambiance is wonderful in the most comfortable way. The service and drinks are great. This is a great place to catch up with an old friend or get to know a new one.

Apparently they do not have happy hour anymore. :( Nice, small selection of draft beers and non alcoholic selections. However, a Calicraft ipa was $13.57 on 5/17/24! That seems a bit much even by SF standards. Bartender was pleasant.

Came here for a bday. Good spot to catch up and chat with friends. The lychee cocktail was my favorite so I ended up getting 2 of them. Wish it came with an actual lychee though. The supai drink was my second favorite since I'm a fan of egg whites and the drink was also well balanced. I tried the paper crane drink and thought it was ok (the sesame oil smelled good, but I would prefer not to have that in the drink). Drinks are pricey here though, probably since it's a hotel bar.

Amazing lychee cocktail from our wonderful bartender Cici! Such a wonderful place to enjoy great drinks while celebrating a birthday!

This was a nice classy bar in Japantown to grab a drink at. I loved the decor, it was a mix of eastern and modern with unique details throughout the lobby. There was a lot of seating including tables by the bar and comfy couches. The drinks were a little pricey ($16-20 for a cocktail) but they were pretty tasty and strong!

Love the space because it is such quality Japanese craftsmanship and furnishings. Our bartender, Porsche was timely, friendly and knowledgeable as we approached the moment she opened. We'll be back soon. Thanks

Drinks are amazing here despite being in a hotel. The lobby has a few seating spaces that's good for groups for happy hour. Get the lychee drink!

Another place I have been frequenting for many decades and I was enjoyed. It hasn't changed it's just gotten better. It's classic and it's timeless.

The staff here is fantastic. The first evening we stopped by it was a bit slow. That allowed time for some tastings here and there, particularly as I built a vodka negroni with just the right ingredients. So delicious! We were there early on New Year's Eve. Talking about drinks, I mentioned a Butterfinger, which is vodka, Baileys, Kahlua and butterscotch schnapps. Of course they didn't have the schnapps, so we decided to substitute grenadine and created a Chocolate Covered Cherry. It quite literally tasted like a chocolate covered cherry. It was goooood. She made several small glasses and shared them around to bar to other customers. Everyone agreed it was quite tasty. On our third night we each had two drinks and they offered a round on the house, which was extremely kind. They will be open one more night before closing Monday and Tuesday. We will stop by again to have a drink and say goodbye to our new bartending frineds.

This is the perfect place to grab drinks while you wait for a table in Japantown. I've been meaning to go to this bar ever since I found out about it on Eater. The bartender was super friendly and the decor is a wonderful blend of Japanese chic mixed with Western cool. After you order your drinks you can sit anywhere in the cozy lounge. My date really liked the place and it really helped enhance the mood. My only caveat is the cocktails are a bit pricey but what do you expect in SF and a place like this? I would definitely come here in the future!

Really cute and modern bar at the lobby of Hotel Kabuki. My coworkers and I came here to get a drink while we were waiting for a table at Daeho across the street and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the ambiance was here; love the ample couch space and interior design. The cocktails are very unique and Japanese-inspired! We tried: Forget-Me-Not - suntory tiki, lemon juice, butterfly pea tea syrup, egg white Violet - beefeater 24 gun, lemon juice, crème de violet, yuzuri yuzu liqueur Chrysanthemum - goji berry washed st. george botanivore, alessio bianco vermouth, chrysanthemum & honey, suze I loved the Forget-Me-Not and Violet was good too, but everyone thought the Chrysanthemum was undrinkable. The drinks were $13 each; typical SF priciness. Would recommend if you're in the area!

For the area and as for hotel bars go in general, this is a pretty solid one. Drank here on a few different nights and the drinks were always consistent and well made. If you're thirsty, you should come here.

The newness vibe is pretty good here, so go if you're into the latest bar trends. Their nice decor and atmosphere prevents it from feeling like a dowdy hotel bar (tbh all hotel bars are pretty nice to me). That newness also means the sparkle and shine has a while before fading. I prefer my drinking and eating spots to be clean for the most part. Add these up and it's my type of swanky bar. We tried a few cocktails and they were ok, not bad. The truth is this spot was deep into a barcrawl that started during day time. The drinks judgement requires a revisit to be fair. Speaking of, I must return to try the bar's food menu as it looked pretty good.

3.5 STARS Before heading to our usual end of the night spot, my group of four decided to check out The Bar at Hotel Kabuki. We stopped by on Saturday, March 31st around 8pm. I believe there were a few patrons at the bar, but we decided to sit around one of the tables in the lobby area. *Shojo's New Fashioned: redbreast 12 irish whiskey, casa magdalena rum, banana liqueur, demerara syrup, black walnut + angostura ($14) ×2 *Tsuchi: maitake-washed suntory toki, lemon, black pepper syrup, shisho, yuzu liqueur ($18) *Taketsuru: nikka taketsuru pure malt, giffard creme de cassis, bamboo ash sea salt ($18) I decided to get the new fashioned without really reading the description. Surprisingly, it had banana in it which I wasn't expecting, but I didn't mind. (For some reason, bananas were following me around that day. They popped up in a bunch of things I ordered.) The drink was balanced, but for me, it was a touch too sweet. I tried the other two cocktails and I liked the taketsuru over the tsuchi. I adored the decor in the lobby. A lot of cool art. Even the coffee table we were sitting around was actually a display filled with art. There were random coffee table books strewn around for browsing if you felt like flipping through. The couches and chairs were comfy. Definitely a cozy area to enjoy a drink while catching up with some friends. I believe this bar is relatively new, so fun checking out for one round as drinks are a bit pricey. Make sure to look around and check out all the cool art pieces.

Lovely lobby and great food. Nice part of th neighborhood. I'll be back. Thanks to the nice staff.

Pretty cool drinking spot because of the neat decor. Too bad the bar is severely understaffed...aka one bartender. We came here pretty late for the last round of bar hopping but the bar was still packed, probably with hotel guests. They had a lot of Japanese alcohol available and thus, fun cocktails. Too bad the bartender didn't take our drink orders right away even though we were clearly waiting to order (everyone else was seated and already had drinks) so by the time he acknowledged us, I settled for a quick drink to speed up the process. Left a bad taste in my mouth. No offense to my gin and tonic. But anyway, given the cool bar and hotel, I must admit I still enjoyed drinking here. I would most definitely be back, hopefully to be greeted by an attentive bartender.

Love this new space! Very modern and very spacious. Good place to meet friends for a casual or more upscale drink, also a great place to do work if you're there during the day (they have outlets on some tables). In addition, they have a wonderful outdoor area. Drinks are really great too! I got a custom made nonalcoholic beverage which I really enjoyed. I also tried my friends cocktail and it was delicious. Really recommend!

The Bar at Hotel Kabuki is just the kind of bar I like - a place for adults to drink. The music isn't too loud, nor is the crowd. The bar definitely goes for the complicated "mixology" that's chic these days; while my friend adored her Sakura cocktail so much she had to have two (and likely would've had more if she didn't have to drive back over the bay that night), I thought my $17 Tsuchi cocktail - made with Suntory Toki whisky washed in maitake (hen-of-the-woods) mushrooms, yuzu liqueur, shiso, and black pepper syrup - seemed to be less than the sum of its parts, and I shifted to draft Kirins after that. The food menu has a fun take on Japanese izakaya cuisine - the avocado crema is the perfect accompaniment for roasted shishito peppers topped with pink Himalayan salt - and there is a lot of comfortable seating in the large lounge that spreads across the lobby area. The bar itself is actually quite small - just about seven seats - and there only seemed to be one server taking care of the entire large floor area for most of the night. The two bartenders seemed to have some tension between them, too, with one of them being neither very friendly nor very productive, leaving the more talkative, personable one to crank out the drinks for the growing crowd. Having a taciturn bartender like that makes the difference between wanting to stay for hours - and splash out another hundred bucks - or head off somewhere else. Eventually, we opted for the latter since the guy standing right in front of us for over an hour only spoke to us once. Oh, yeah - the prices are on the high side. But then, it's a hotel bar, so that's to be expected. (However, those draft Kirins were just $6.) But if one wants a nice place to rest one's heels after a day of touristing on Fillmore Street or Japantown (or both), the Bar at Hotel Kabuki is worth a splurge. The room has a cool, modern living room feel, a nice classic rock soundtrack played at a volume that allows a conversation, and a fun menu of food and drink. This is a hotel bar where even locals would want to hang out.

9/21/19 It's a nice hotel bar. Trendy. 95% seats taken at 8pm on a Sat. Cocktails start around $15 which ain't bad. Light hip music playing... Everyone is about 30-45, and everyone is good looking. Business types. 3/5 #hotelbar #sanfrancisco

Very hip bar, with phenomenal drinks. The bartenders are very knowledgeable on the different flavor profiles and will be able to recommend one of your liking. Great some cocktail connoisseurs and novice drinkers alike. Peep photo! Photo credit : 2girls1cocktail

Nice, modern space with yummy cocktails. Service has always been great. Just find a place to sit (any of the comfy sofas and chairs) and a hostess will come by with a menu and bring your drinks to you. If you'd like to sit outside near the fountain/patio area, you can order directly at the bar or with the waitress and then carry your drinks outside. The outside area is very peaceful. This is a great place to get a drink and wait for a table at Daeho - which is right across the street. While the menu has changed, when I previously had their bar/snack food - I thought it was pretty good (but I was also drunk so that might have amplified the taste).

This bar is A-OK. It's beautifully appointed, a very tasteful mix of old technology and postmodernist Japanese aesthetic with a good mixture of somewhat traditional bar seating and comfy hotel lobby couches and padded chairs. There's a high tech self serve coffee machine (with irritatingly incorrect step by step instructions) that dishes out $5 lattes significantly better than the Verve coffee shop in the Nia Autograph hotel. The bar has an exquisite choice of the best Japanese whiskeys and beers at reasonable prices for a sophisticated hotel bar. Don't try to order away from this set of options I gave as a stingy glass of chilled white wine will cost more than the bottle ($20) and this popular bar is understaffed. So here's the negative, and I'm not sure what they can do about it but because of the location the bar and lobby area are over run by visitors to the adjacent Japantown mall where there aren't adequate restroom facilities. It's not a peaceful place to sip a drink and contemplate. The bar is really understaffed so there's no Japanese style bar service. Your empty sake cup is going to stay empty if you don't get back up to the bar and make your case for a refill. And if you're middle aged you're just going to be depressed when some loud mother tries to explain the mid-20th century technology that's the decor of the place i.e. "Don't touch that honey, it's called a typewriter it's how they used to print news," "put that back Braden, that's a radio (Braden had grabbed a 1950s era film camera)," "Don't touch that bear Braden (well that wasn't an antique there's an incongruous stuffed bear)."

Tanuki on the bar. Need I say more? I suppose so. Excellent cocktails and some good snacks. Very nice atmosphere. A wide variety of offerings will keep you interested and satisfied. Good selection of Japanese whiskies.

Late post: First time checking out this hotel bar since we have time to spare while waiting for our table at Daeho. Cute set up. Very cozy and comfortable. Service is great...Especially at the hotel front desk. Love the sake in a cup. That's pretty cool. Haven't seen it anywhere yet. Not bad too. Oh...they also sell tapa foods. Definitely a great place to relax, chat and grab some cool drinks.

Loved my experience here!!! The waitress was super helpful in providing advice on Japanese whiskey's. They have a whiskey Wednesday where they teach you about different Japanese whiskeys. The flight of whiskey I got was super adorable in really nice glasses and on a cute platform. The decor was very peaceful and rustic!

Fun little spot in japantown, one of the only cocktail bars in the area. Drinks cover a wide variety and are very tasty, and the food is comforting! the place is stylish and relaxing to be in, and the staff is very friendly :)

I really hate leaving negative reviews, but it's the best way to let people know about the recent change to the bar. The bar menu has changed about a year ago, around the time the new restaurant in the hotel opened, so the old pictures and reviews for drinks are defunct. The cocktail menu is 6 drinks, and they are all $15 highballs, which are all pretty simple and at the level of a drink made at home. Of course, if you don't have an issue with that, no big deal! I just wanted to let people know looking for something really creative or artisanal drink-wise in SF, this isn't the place anymore. But I still gave 2 stars anyways, because the bar is a nice, spaceous area, and the bartenders were all very polite.

Ordered the short rib wraps, ichigo, sakura, and tsuchi. Ribs were good, but it was deconstructed with the ingredients to make yuor own. The drinks were different here and decent. DIdn't really find one I liked though. We had good service from the bartender and space here feels like you're out in nature instead of a city.

The drinks are good. The people... a little douchey, but it's SF tech so what would you expect! ‍ The chocolate was no good. No good. Tastes like off label herseys. I have heard that the rest of the food is lovely.

I've gone twice to this bar and the atmosphere is relaxing and fun. It seems a great place to have a cocktail, visit friends and grab a bite. I really wanted to like it! Both times were uncomfortable solely because of the behavior of the bar tenders working. On both occasions the bar tenders were not pleasant. The cocktail staff on the other hand is helpful, courteous and gracious. I ordered food and it came cold because there is no way for the kitchen to communicate with the bar staff? The staff is just supposed to guess when the food is ready. The hiring of unpleasant bartenders and the lack of communication between the kitchen and the bar are both problems which the management should be addressing. Until then, I won't be returning.

Perfect balance of comfortable and swanky with great cocktails. The drinks are fabulous and different - they have so much more than just sake and the usual cocktails. Service was great and the room was so relaxing. We had a pre-dinner cocktail, but it would be a great place to end the night as well. The lounge is the entire lobby so there are lots of places to sit with your group without being at the actual bar. At the same time, you don't feel at all like you are in a hotel lobby.

Came here to meet a friend who's visiting and happened to stay at the hotel. This bars ambiance first of all is beautiful. There is a garden that you have a clear view of right next to you. The cocktail program here is simple yet delightful. I can't drink too much but each cocktail was so yummy, my friend and I had 3 each! Left the full, happy and buzzed :) Will be back to try the rest! Thanks jeff ;)

Such a nice relaxed environment. I loved the decor and it's not too crowded. The drinks were good and well priced.

A very solid bar! They offer Japanese drinks that I don't see else where. And the staff was so nice to explain the different kinds of drinks to us. It was a great experience staying at Kabuki Hotel!

This is our new favorite bar in SF! Great ambiance, clean, and relaxed. Bartender Michael is friendly and very attentive. We will definitely come here more often.

Cool atmosphere, drinks are a bit expensive for the quality. Definitely a solid place to meet for a drink, but I would be much happier if they upped the cocktail game.

great ambiance, no tvs, a place to come and social, drinks were priced well and the bartenders were very attentive.