Platform 18 at Century Grand
Cocktail bar · Camelback East ·
Craft cocktails & booze-infused ice cream on a themed train ride
Craft cocktails & booze-infused ice cream on a themed train ride
"Hidden within the plain façade of a strip mall, this high-end concept bar includes a faux train station, from which guests board and disembark a replica of a 1927 Pullman train car with a luxe Art Deco interior. The experience is akin to a Disney ride with craft cocktails, down to the sensation of the car rumbling as it seems to pull away on the tracks, and the scenery that rolls by the digital screen “windows.” Most recently, a montage showing glittering footage of Prohibition-era New York City created the view. Drinks subtly reference the era too, like Two Gun Girl, named for a speakeasy hostess and proprietor, made with tequila, grapefruit and tart sea buckthorn. While the bar opened in 2019, it has refreshed every year or so with a new “destination” and a fresh slate of drinks." - Kara Newman
"Set inside a 1927 Pullman-style train car, this period-immersive bar encourages dressed-up, theatrical nights—flappers and mobster-style attire are common—and uses a back-of-menu story to thread cocktails into a larger narrative, including bootlegging-era tales and characters like Madame Emilie. The drink program is encyclopedic and historically playful: try Hot Pants (a bright-pink, 1970s-style tequila, grapefruit, and mint cocktail), house-made boozy ice creams like the Grasshopper, the Single Track South (Ojo de Tigre mezcal, Heirloom Genepy, coconut liqueur, grapefruit liqueur and oil, rimmed with fennel pollen salt), the Gentleman's Heist (an Old-Fashioned–inspired mix of cognac, sherry, passionflower, and elderflower with a lit-rosemary garnish), or the showstopping Madame Emilie's Effects (a $57 theatrical presentation of vintage rum and rhum agricole poured tableside from a smoke-filled wooden chest over a giant ice cube). The bartenders frame each service as storytelling, and reservations, dressing up, and planning for a longer, sit-down experience are recommended." - ByLanee Lee
"A narrow, reservation-only cocktail bar designed with input from Disney Imagineers to resemble a 1920s presidential train car, complete with TV 'windows' showing a passing mountainous landscape; the 90-minute ride pairs theatrical presentation with forward-thinking cocktails that use unusual ingredients and historical techniques — from kefir and lapsang souchong to split-spirit bases and 19th-century–style milk punches." - ByChris Malloy
"This bar is in a long room designed to resemble a luxury railroad cabin from a century ago. Thanks to strategically spaced TVs playing synchronized footage of a passing snowy landscape, you might feel like you’re in motion, actually winding through the Rocky Mountains. The cocktails made on the “train” are among the most progressive and celebrated in Arizona. Tailored to adventurous drinkers with lofty cocktail standards, Century Grand uses all kinds of outlandish ingredients in cocktails, like smoked tea and kefir. One cocktail that conjures flavors of a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich comes with a sleeve of Campari cotton candy. Sip thoughtful punch or dig into boozy ice cream. Bartenders use a wide range of spirits, liqueurs, and fortified wines. Flavors are carefully considered and often balanced on a tightrope." - Chris Malloy
"After dark, Platform 18 in Phoenix is a notable nearby nightlife option—a speakeasy housed inside a 1920s Pullman-style train car that’s become one of the Valley’s cooler hangouts." - Lauren Harano