logo
Say Hello to the Bay Area's Most Smackable Bars That, Also, Slap

Say Hello to the Bay Area's Most Smackable Bars That, Also, Slap

Eater21-05-2025
View as Map
A few years ago, a wave of bars inspired by the famed Japanese hi-fi style listening lounges started hitting the Bay Area. And while there are still some spots in the region that operate closely to the Japanese model of hi-fi audio in a relaxed social environment that breeds conversation, it's the evolution of this concept that makes for some of the most intriguing and exciting destinations.
Unsurprisingly, the Bay Area has taken the original idea of a listening bar and redefined it. Now, we have a vibrant set of establishments that are dedicated to pristine audio environments and cocktails, but have also found alluring ways to weave in food, diverse layouts, and in some cases, the personalities of owners and vinyl selectors. These are the go-to listening bars and restaurants in the Bay. Read More Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process. If you buy something or book a reservation from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.
The first listening bar in the Bay is the truest to the Tokyo 'jazz kissa' lounge experience, where service to the music comes first, and it brings out the best conversations. Since 2019, Bar Shiru has been both a great jumping off point for a night in the heart of Uptown Oakland's entertainment district, and a singular destination for refined, precise, and comfortable vibes (yet unpretentious enough to order at the bar on weekdays). From Madlib's essential beat conductions to Freddie Hubbard's distinct trumpet tonalities, full albums play over the immaculate analog system (headlined by two LM-812 loudspeakers) that's nothing short of a work of art. Meanwhile, the house's signature Moonglow cocktail — an herbaceous and complex martini riff — nods to owners Daniel Garr and Shirin Raza's new speakeasy down the street at Gold Palm, another portal dedicated to sound.
Next door to three-Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn, you'll find chef Dominique Crenn's more accessible Bar Crenn. A massive wall of Crenn's records looms over the intimate hi-fi lounge, where seasonal cocktails brush up next to seafood-oriented bites like scallop crudo and oysters in an umami-focused drinks and bites experience. You can flip through the records and add some to the evening's queue, and don't be surprised if you end up talking vinyl with Chef Crenn herself, who's often hanging out and chatting with guests. For the ultimate visit, reserve one of ten spots for the Le Comptoir interactive tasting menu, a Michelin-starred offering served at the bartop. Make a reservation via Tock.
The hallmark of a great listening bar is one that's so marvelously conducive to conversation that time just disappears. Moongate Lounge (above Chinatown scion Mister Jiu's) is one of those places. Sitting in red velvet booths, or underneath the glorious color-changing moongate skylight, tunes from Slum Village to Hiatus Kaiyote come thru cleanly, complementing a jujubee infused negroni or the 'Clear and Bright' cocktail with duck fat-washed rye and lapsang tea. Bar honcho Garrett Marks scours Chinatown markets and tea shops for ingredients that he and the excellent staff of mostly female bartenders mix up. Don't sleep on memorable snacks like a crab rangoon dip, Sichuan smoked olives, and one of the best prawn cocktails in town. Reservations are available via Tock.
Co-owner Will Herrera used to run the Barbary Coast trail institution Old Ship Saloon, so he knows a thing or two about honoring downtown San Francisco's bar culture. 'We're here for an intentionally social environment, not a nightclub vibe,' he says of the nearly three-year-old Harlan Records, tucked down a cheeky alley. Open most days at 2 p.m. and closing late every day, it's hard to leave Harlan once you're sitting in a leather-bound chair, booth, or bar stool. A classic McIntosh receiver powers part of the system that Herrera says is still evolving. The striking cocktail list and loaded 'Duets' (shot and beer combo) offering are fun to explore in the afternoon, or while hearing curated records from prime local selectors at night.
A custom record coffin greets you at Yokai's host station, playing records over a digital and analog system. Chef Marc Zimmerman's listening bar incorporates his signature live fire cooking with top-notch raw seafood, all sourced from NorCal and Japan. Jazz reigns supreme in a hip room very well-designed for masterful sound that fosters conversation (note the Godzilla painting on the far wall). The series of Roku gin and Haku vodka martinis is fantastic, and Yokai just might have the most comprehensive selection of Japanese whiskeys in the city.
Like many places south of Gough Street, Phonobar is hard to find if you're not looking for it. There's a diverse range of seating in the low-slung ceiling front room highlighted by a greenhouse windowed alcove. Sipping cocktails and eating vegan bites from Om Sabor, you might not feel like you're in a listening bar until you settle into the cavernous, leather banquette-lined back room, where seating faces a raised DJ booth in the crown jewel atmosphere of the entire space. Here, vinyl selectors (like Rebirth Jazz every third Wednesday) dig into their crates for tunes 'til midnight over premium audio.
Sign up for our newsletter.
SF's newest addition to the listening bar circuit takes the concept to new heights, fully incorporating the element of food. Chef Parker Brown's Midwest-comfort menu includes a decadent burger with bone marrow and Tomales Farmstead Creamery goat cheese that nods to a pro move order at Chicago's storied Au Cheval, as well as a perfectly fried chicken cutlet with chickories, hazelnut, and zesty honey mustard that's delightfully bitter and sweet; both have many dashing pairings on La Ciccia's Paul Chung-curated wine list. Meanwhile, Brown's partner and co-owner, Caroline, helms the music component led by the first-ever Tub's Audio speakers installed in a U.S. restaurant. Suffice it to say, Side A sounds impeccable, both in the evening when Caroline (DJ Music Please) and illustrious selectors (King Most! Mophono!) are on the decks, as well as in late Mission mornings where house-made donuts and the Coffee Movement's drinks paint a convivial portrait of this spectacular space. Reservations are available on Resy.
This San Jose lounge checks in with multiple McIntosh amps powering a sound system led by a sleek hi-fi wall of sound behind the DJ booth. A lively small space that's an oasis amidst clubbier First Street bars, Still O.G. has all of its cocktails on draft — at a reasonable $14 a pop at that! — that's so the noise from shakers doesn't disrupt the function. There's also Asian-leaning bites like chicken tsukune and king trumpet mushroom skewers, crab noodles, and even a smash burger. Peep behind the soundproof velvet curtain in the back to uncover the Alter Ego cocktail and bites speakeasy, a choice destination that recently hosted a bar pop-up night with SF's True Laurel. Reservations for Alter Ego can be found at OpenTable.
© 2025 Vox Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Link copied to the clipboard.
The first listening bar in the Bay is the truest to the Tokyo 'jazz kissa' lounge experience, where service to the music comes first, and it brings out the best conversations. Since 2019, Bar Shiru has been both a great jumping off point for a night in the heart of Uptown Oakland's entertainment district, and a singular destination for refined, precise, and comfortable vibes (yet unpretentious enough to order at the bar on weekdays). From Madlib's essential beat conductions to Freddie Hubbard's distinct trumpet tonalities, full albums play over the immaculate analog system (headlined by two LM-812 loudspeakers) that's nothing short of a work of art. Meanwhile, the house's signature Moonglow cocktail — an herbaceous and complex martini riff — nods to owners Daniel Garr and Shirin Raza's new speakeasy down the street at Gold Palm, another portal dedicated to sound. Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
Next door to three-Michelin-starred Atelier Crenn, you'll find chef Dominique Crenn's more accessible Bar Crenn. A massive wall of Crenn's records looms over the intimate hi-fi lounge, where seasonal cocktails brush up next to seafood-oriented bites like scallop crudo and oysters in an umami-focused drinks and bites experience. You can flip through the records and add some to the evening's queue, and don't be surprised if you end up talking vinyl with Chef Crenn herself, who's often hanging out and chatting with guests. For the ultimate visit, reserve one of ten spots for the Le Comptoir interactive tasting menu, a Michelin-starred offering served at the bartop. Make a reservation via Tock. Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
The hallmark of a great listening bar is one that's so marvelously conducive to conversation that time just disappears. Moongate Lounge (above Chinatown scion Mister Jiu's) is one of those places. Sitting in red velvet booths, or underneath the glorious color-changing moongate skylight, tunes from Slum Village to Hiatus Kaiyote come thru cleanly, complementing a jujubee infused negroni or the 'Clear and Bright' cocktail with duck fat-washed rye and lapsang tea. Bar honcho Garrett Marks scours Chinatown markets and tea shops for ingredients that he and the excellent staff of mostly female bartenders mix up. Don't sleep on memorable snacks like a crab rangoon dip, Sichuan smoked olives, and one of the best prawn cocktails in town. Reservations are available via Tock. Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
Co-owner Will Herrera used to run the Barbary Coast trail institution Old Ship Saloon, so he knows a thing or two about honoring downtown San Francisco's bar culture. 'We're here for an intentionally social environment, not a nightclub vibe,' he says of the nearly three-year-old Harlan Records, tucked down a cheeky alley. Open most days at 2 p.m. and closing late every day, it's hard to leave Harlan once you're sitting in a leather-bound chair, booth, or bar stool. A classic McIntosh receiver powers part of the system that Herrera says is still evolving. The striking cocktail list and loaded 'Duets' (shot and beer combo) offering are fun to explore in the afternoon, or while hearing curated records from prime local selectors at night. Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
A custom record coffin greets you at Yokai's host station, playing records over a digital and analog system. Chef Marc Zimmerman's listening bar incorporates his signature live fire cooking with top-notch raw seafood, all sourced from NorCal and Japan. Jazz reigns supreme in a hip room very well-designed for masterful sound that fosters conversation (note the Godzilla painting on the far wall). The series of Roku gin and Haku vodka martinis is fantastic, and Yokai just might have the most comprehensive selection of Japanese whiskeys in the city. Book with OpenTable
Book with OpenTable Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
Like many places south of Gough Street, Phonobar is hard to find if you're not looking for it. There's a diverse range of seating in the low-slung ceiling front room highlighted by a greenhouse windowed alcove. Sipping cocktails and eating vegan bites from Om Sabor, you might not feel like you're in a listening bar until you settle into the cavernous, leather banquette-lined back room, where seating faces a raised DJ booth in the crown jewel atmosphere of the entire space. Here, vinyl selectors (like Rebirth Jazz every third Wednesday) dig into their crates for tunes 'til midnight over premium audio. Open in Google Maps
Foursquare
SF's newest addition to the listening bar circuit takes the concept to new heights, fully incorporating the element of food. Chef Parker Brown's Midwest-comfort menu includes a decadent burger with bone marrow and Tomales Farmstead Creamery goat cheese that nods to a pro move order at Chicago's storied Au Cheval, as well as a perfectly fried chicken cutlet with chickories, hazelnut, and zesty honey mustard that's delightfully bitter and sweet; both have many dashing pairings on La Ciccia's Paul Chung-curated wine list. Meanwhile, Brown's partner and co-owner, Caroline, helms the music component led by the first-ever Tub's Audio speakers installed in a U.S. restaurant. Suffice it to say, Side A sounds impeccable, both in the evening when Caroline (DJ Music Please) and illustrious selectors (King Most! Mophono!) are on the decks, as well as in late Mission mornings where house-made donuts and the Coffee Movement's drinks paint a convivial portrait of this spectacular space. Reservations are available on Resy.
This San Jose lounge checks in with multiple McIntosh amps powering a sound system led by a sleek hi-fi wall of sound behind the DJ booth. A lively small space that's an oasis amidst clubbier First Street bars, Still O.G. has all of its cocktails on draft — at a reasonable $14 a pop at that! — that's so the noise from shakers doesn't disrupt the function. There's also Asian-leaning bites like chicken tsukune and king trumpet mushroom skewers, crab noodles, and even a smash burger. Peep behind the soundproof velvet curtain in the back to uncover the Alter Ego cocktail and bites speakeasy, a choice destination that recently hosted a bar pop-up night with SF's True Laurel. Reservations for Alter Ego can be found at OpenTable.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

She made a promise to her dying husband. Now, Chizuko Kimura is the first female sushi chef to earn a Michelin star.
She made a promise to her dying husband. Now, Chizuko Kimura is the first female sushi chef to earn a Michelin star.

Business Insider

time5 hours ago

  • Business Insider

She made a promise to her dying husband. Now, Chizuko Kimura is the first female sushi chef to earn a Michelin star.

Before he died, sushi chef Shunei Kimura had one last wish for his wife. Sushi Shunei, his namesake Paris restaurant, had just earned a Michelin star three months prior. He wanted its legacy to live on. Chizuko Kimura had only begun cooking a year before, helping her husband in the kitchen as he underwent cancer treatment. But she honored his dying wish. Three years later, Kimura became the first woman to receive a Michelin star as a sushi chef. Kimura told Business Insider she "couldn't believe it" when she first heard the news. Now, she's sharing her story in the hopes it will show women that anything is possible. Love with a side of sushi Kimura grew up in Odawara, about an hour from Tokyo. The ocean was nearby, so fresh seafood was always on her family's dinner table. "I still remember the smell of soy sauce that always filled the kitchen, so familiar and comforting," Kimura said. "I wasn't cooking yet, but those memories stayed with me — in my nose and on my tongue." "I grew up in an environment where food had an important place," she added. "Even though I never imagined I would work in that field one day." Kimura moved to Paris to begin working as a travel agent. One fateful day in 2004, she went to a sushi restaurant and met her future husband, who was working at the counter. A year later, they were married. Shunei Kimura spent three decades working at sushi restaurants before he decided to open his own at the age of 63. "He ended up fulfilling his two dreams: to open an edomae sushi restaurant under his name in Paris, and to earn a Michelin star," Kimura said about her husband. A new career Sushi Shunei was scheduled to open in 2020, but was delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kimura had been a tour guide but lost her job when much of the world went into lockdown, so she helped her husband open the restaurant. "He never said to me, 'Learn how to make sushi,'" Kimura recalled. "But he showed me everything, and I observed everything. I learned to prepare the fish, to cook the rice, to follow every detail." It was a crash course for a craft that typically takes a decade or more to perfect. But Kimura's husband had been diagnosed with liver cancer in 2015 and was getting sicker. "Normally, it takes many years to become a sushi chef, but I had to do it because Shunei couldn't use his hands sometimes," Kimura said. "Every day by his side was a learning experience. Even while sick, he never stopped teaching." Sushi Shunei opened on June 9, 2021, on Montmartre's hill in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. Nine months later, the traditional sushiya received its first Michelin star in the 2022 Michelin Guide. "He never complained, and no customer ever knew he was sick," Kimura said. "He received that star at the age of 65, three months before his passing." One last promise Kimura told BI that before her husband died, he asked her to keep his legacy alive with the restaurant. "He said to me, 'Could you keep this restaurant forever?'" Kimura recalled. "I have to continue. It's my duty." She even kept the restaurant open on the day he died. "I continued, because I knew that's what he wanted," Kimura said. "It wasn't a matter of strength. It was for him." However, it wasn't an easy transition, and Sushi Shunei lost its Michelin star in 2023. "It was a shock. I felt as if I had lost Shunei a second time," Kimura said. "I thought there might be no chance of getting the star back, but I didn't give up." "I turned that pain into obsession," she added. "I had to get it back. Not for me — for him." A star is born Kimura hired sushi chef Takeshi Morooka to help as she continued to hone her skills, even training at Michelin-starred restaurants in Japan. "Every morning, I got up to work. I continued day after day, without pause, I never stopped," Kimura said. "I told myself, 'I must give it my all. I must go all the way.' There was no alternative." "The customers were a great support," she added. "Some came several times just to encourage me. They told me they believed in me. Those words gave me courage." All that hard work paid off. When the 2025 Michelin Guide came out in March, the star was next to Sushi Shunei's name once again. Kimura was now not only a Michelin-starred chef but also the first female sushi chef in the world to earn such a distinction. "I thought of him, of Shunei," Kimura said. "I felt, deep inside, that I had not betrayed his memory. For me, this is not a new star — it's Shunei's star that I managed to win back. I only continued what we had started together." Kimura is committed to keeping that star next to Sushi Shunei's name. She hopes it will inspire women and anyone who has been told "that it was too late, or impossible." "Talent has no gender — only work and courage," Kimura said. "Maybe it seemed unthinkable that at age 50, I would begin a career as a sushi chef without ever having cooked before. But what Shunei passed on to me is faith in work and in determination." "If you hold on, if you believe in what you're doing, anything becomes possible," she added. "That is the greatest lesson."

We Are Drinking So Much Matcha That Supplies Are Running Out
We Are Drinking So Much Matcha That Supplies Are Running Out

Time​ Magazine

timea day ago

  • Time​ Magazine

We Are Drinking So Much Matcha That Supplies Are Running Out

Matcha tea, a powdered Japanese green tea, has become a cultural phenomenon in the West, so much so that its popularity has resulted in a global supply problem. Western consumers have thirsted for the health option in recent years, a trend skyrocketed by social media—especially through Tik Tok. At the same time, Japan has experienced a mass tourism rise in the post-pandemic years—in 2024, Japan welcomed a record-breaking 36.9 million international visitors, surpassing the previous record of 31.9 million in 2019 — leading to many mass tea companies and local vendors to report shortages of supply. Back in October 2024, two well-known matcha companies—Ippodo and Marukyu Koyamaen—limited and/or stopped selling certain kinds of matcha, citing short supplies. 'Dear customers, We have been receiving an unexpected high volume of orders during the past few months. Taking production scale and capacity into consideration, we regrettably announce that availability for all Matcha products, regardless size and packaging type, will be limited from now on,' Marukyu Koyamaen's website still reads. Matcha comes from the same plant that many different teas come from— the camellia sinensis. The camella sinensis leaves can be made into green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. Though matcha originates from China, it has become closely associated and rooted in Japanese culture. Matcha is a type of green tea, but the processing, form and taste differs significantly, and is made specifically from tencha, a shaded green leaf tea. Matcha also only makes up a small amount of Japanese tea production—just 6%—according to the Global Japanese Tea Association. Yet, the demand has skyrocketed. And as a result, prices have also soared. According to Forbes, the matcha market is expected to hit about $5 billion by 2028, an expected growth of more than 10% since 2023. Further, the Japanese agriculture ministry has reported that the 2024 tencha output was over 2.5 times higher than 2014. The question is whether increased demand, small farmers trying to meet this demand, and a crop that is heavily dependent on weather patterns can keep up, even as the spring matcha harvest attempts to make up for the shortages of the past year. This year, though, the Kyoto region of Japan, which accounts for a large percentage of tencha harvest, was hit with a hot and dry harvest season, say farmers in the area. In 2025, Zach Mangan, founder of Kettl Tea, a Brooklyn-based company specializing in high-quality teas imported directly from farms in Japan, called this year's harvest a 'high-quality but lower-yielding harvest' in a blog post in May of this year—the kind of harvest that will boost demand and lower availability, potentially raising prices even further. Read More: The Surprising Reason Your Groceries Are More Expensive According to the Global Japanese Tea Association, the average price for tencha in late April reached 8,235 yen per kilogram, which is 1.7 times higher than last year's average. And according to producers, that can only be expected to continue. 'Over the past year, demand for matcha has grown beyond all expectations,' Ippodo updates customers on July 18. 'Unfortunately, supply constraints are likely to continue.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store