Bar and Grill/Pub Restaurants in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico
Albuquerque - Downtown
Brixens
Sun-Thu 11am-midnight
Fri-Sat 11am-1am (hours can change without notice)
With everything all shiny and new, you may feel overwhelmed on entry but allow the friendly staff guide you to your table and own little slice of heaven. While the menu is on the concise side, all the dishes here are executed to perfection. While you wait, watch the game or play a game—a board game, that is! With all the hubbub happening at night Downtown, this is a perfectly chill place to escape for a drink or two.
Read more: Taco Tuesday Is For Weaklings (9/12/2019)
Read more: Craft Cocktail Week (7/11/2019)
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Full review: Brixens makes fine drinks and casual fare for out-of-towners ()
 | | | |  | 4 rating (5 votes) |
The Kosmos Restaurant
$$ • Vegetarian Available • Full Bar • Craft Beer • Wine • Take Out / To-Go • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet • Lounge
Located in the Factory on 5th art space, this tour de force of creative art and food tickles palates with farm-fresh Kosmic Burgers, fish and chips, house-made veggie burgers, mac and cheese, ribeye steak or pork tenderloin and a nice selection of local craft beers served from a steampunk tap system. There are no TVs here, but there’s always plenty to look at.
Full review: New arts-forward restaurant serves local brews and tasty burgers ()
| | | | | 5 rating (1 vote) |
The Library Bar & Grill
Mon-Sat: 11am-2am
Sun: noon-midnight (hours can change without notice)
Happy Hour!: every Friday 3:00:00 pm - 8:00:00 pmHappy Hour!: 4:00:00 pm - 7:00:00 pm
Located in the heart of downtown Albuquerque, this is a perfect place to enjoy dancing, brews, pub food, televised sports and get served by their world-famous “librarians.” Study sessions in the stacks have never been so fun.
| | | | | 3.13 rating (52 votes) |
Sister
$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Craft Beer • Wine • Cider • Bar snacks • Take Out / To-Go • Live Music • DJ • Dancing • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet
The cavernous, ground-floor counterpart to Anodyne, Sister is a space that’s tailor-made for happenings. This is a perfect spot to enjoy a dip into the vast draft beer selection with comrades after work or boogie to a multitude of live bands that occupy its stage nearly every night. Foodies must try the kimchi fries and the divine brisket tacos.
Read more: Taco Tuesday Is For Weaklings (9/12/2019)
Read more: Weekly Specials: Happy Hour (7/11/2019)
Full review: Next level bar food at Sister ()
Read more: Gastronomic Love Letters (11/1/2018)
| | | | | 3.8 rating (51 votes) |
Albuquerque - Fairgrounds
Sunset Grill & Bar
Cuisine: Bar and Grill/Pub
This establishment does not yet have a description. Would you like to contribute one? Use the 'Any other notes' blank.
| | | | | 3.03 rating (30 votes) |
Albuquerque - Far Northeast Heights
The Barley Room
Mon-Sat: 11am-2am
Sun: 11am-midnight (hours can change without notice)
$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Wine Bar • Catering • Take Out / To-Go • Live Music • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet
The Barley Room is a watering hole in the far Northeast Heights that fills patrons up with live music, lots of libations and a surprisingly ample menu. Snack on bar-friendly fried things (say yes to the sweet potato fries!), or have a proper meal with burgers, salads, pasta, New Mexican dishes, and a few grilled meat and fish entrées. There’s a palpable sports bar feel to the place, but a diverse clientele keeps this bar/grill comfortable for just about everyone. The kitchen stays open until midnight every night; go ahead and linger.
Full review: Barley Room has a cure for the hangry ()
| | | | | 4.36 rating (137 votes) |
Gecko’s Bar & Tapas
Sun-Thrs: 11am-11pm
Fri-Sat: 11am- midnight
Bar hours: Mon-Sun: 11am- midnight (hours can change without notice)
$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Wine • Live Music • Karaoke • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet • Dog-Friendly
Gecko’s expanded with a popular Northeast Heights location that’s housed in a building that looks like a jukebox, for some reason. Even though it’s clear across town, you’ll still probably bump into folks you know as you’re sipping a wicked Bloody Mary and enjoying tidbits from the affordably priced tapas menu.
| | | | | 3.11 rating (79 votes) |
Pelican’s Restaurant
Mon-Thurs: 4pm-10pm
Fri-Sat: 4pm-11pm
Sun: 11am-10pm (hours can change without notice)
Meals Served: Dinner
Rough-hewn wood planks lead you into this nautically-themed steak and seafood restaurant, which doesn’t start seating for dinner until 5pm. Luckily, happy hour begins at 4pm. Have a Lady Godiva hot cocktail and a baker's dozen of topless oysters in the bar while you wait. Then dive into creamy clam chowder, butter-sweet Australian lobster tail and Ranchero center-cut top sirloin. There's plenty of key lime pie in the icebox and Phil Collins on the speakers.
Full review: Lips Ahoy! ()
| | | | | 4.03 rating (76 votes) |
Spectators
11:30-1:00-Mon-Sat, 12:00-11:00 (hours can change without notice)
Cuisine: Bar and Grill/Pub
Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Wine • Delivery • Catering • Karaoke • Outdoor Patio • Smoking Permitted • Wireless Internet
Happy Hour!: 4:00 pm - 7:00 pmThis establishment does not yet have a description. Would you like to contribute one? Use the 'Any other notes' blank.
Read more: Burque Burger Week: All the Best Burgers in Albuquerque (5/23/2019)
| | | | | 3.09 rating (47 votes) |
Stone Face Tavern
Cuisine: Bar and Grill/Pub
Happy Hour!: 4:00pm - 7:00pmThis establishment does not yet have a description. Would you like to contribute one? Use the 'Any other notes' blank.
| | | | | 3.85 rating (61 votes) |
Vintage Four Twenty-Three Wine Bar
This establishment does not yet have a description. Would you like to contribute one? Use the 'Any other notes' blank.
Full review: A Vintage repast ()
| | | | | 2.83 rating (35 votes) |
Albuquerque - I-25 Corridor
Craft Republic
$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Craft Beer • Wine • Take Out / To-Go • Pool Tables • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet
Formerly known as The Fox and Hound, Craft Republic remains true to typical sports bars: hip-hop music blasting, TVs blaring and pretty waitresses bustling. But one glance at the extensive menu is all it takes to clue you in that it is a fine restaurant, as well. There’s no shame here, fill your comfort food needs with everything from BBQ chipotle burgers to “The Dilemma:” a hand-battered crispy chicken sandwich with bacon, maple miso butter and a sunny-side up fried egg.
Full review: When you’re hunting for good bar food ()
| | | | | 3.23 rating (35 votes) |
Nexus Brewery
Mon-Thu: 11am-9:30pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-10pm
Sun: 11am-8:30pm (hours can change without notice)
$$ • Booze Served • Wine Bar • Craft Beer • Growler refills • Take Out / To-Go • Live Music • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet • Dog-Friendly
This brewery has quite a following, both for the beer and as a “New Mexican soul food” gastropub. The menu offers specialties like New Orleans-style gumbo and the delicious marriage of chicken and waffles. It’s just the place to take your corn-bread-and-Frito-pie-craving friends while still getting your craft beer fix.
Read more: ABQ Beer Geek: Tractor taps Nob Hill, Nexus makes neighbors near I-25 (9/8/2011)
Read more: On the Hunt for Chicken and Waffles (2/20/2014)
| | | | | 4.08 rating (103 votes) |
Albuquerque - Nob Hill
Gecko’s Bar & Tapas
Mon-Fri: 11:30-2am
Sat-Sun: noon-2am (hours can change without notice)
$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Craft Beer • Wine • Catering • Karaoke • Outdoor Patio • Wireless Internet • Dog-Friendly
Gecko’s killer patio sits on a Nob Hill corner that’s simply perfect for people-watching. Set directly between La Montañita Co-op and Scalo, you’re sure to bump into folks you know as you sip a cocktail and enjoy tidbits from the affordably priced tapas menu. On Mondays, the wings are 50 cents each, and on Wednesdays after 6pm, you can get a cheeseburger for $5.50. Watch some sports, eat a burger and enjoy a seasonal ale.
Read more: Meditative Meals: Burgers and Abrasive Drummers (9/25/2014)
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Full review: Gecko's: where size really doesn't matter ()
| | | | | 3.67 rating (93 votes) |
Hops Brewery
Sun-Thu noon-10pm, Fri-Sat noon-midnight (hours can change without notice)
Head to Nob Hill for one of Head Brewer Ken Wimmer’s tasty brews such as the Tipsy Cow, Dad Joke or An Irish Tan. This joint has 40 local taps and savory pub grub like the Brew Dog with sauerkraut and a Pub-B-Q quesadilla with smoked brisket and melted cheddar jack.
| | | | | No Votes Yet! |
Imbibe
Cuisine: Bar and Grill/Pub
Imbibe is an über-trendy cigar lounge with backlit smoke-tendril art and contemporary seating. There are hordes of annoying knockoff-clad barflies as far as the eye can see, but the humidor is well-stocked and well-attended by knowledgeable staff, and there’s a rooftop deck (if you can make it up there; there’s always a line). Get there early for the best seats.
Full review: Two quickies at the bar ()
| | | | | 3.81 rating (51 votes) |
Kelly’s Brew Pub
Sun-Thu: 8am-10:30pm
Fri-Sat: 8am-midnight (hours can change without notice)
Besides its late-night menu and 20-odd house-brewed beers, Kelly's has an enormous, dog-friendly patio that somehow manages to be packed to the elbows, lively and laidback at the same time. Snag a spot by the rails for some of the best people-watching in Nob Hill. The food is decidedly geared toward the bar crowd (the kitchen stays open until 11pm, but the food isn’t the strength here), with shades of cow, ostrich, turkey, buffalo or veggie on the burger menu. Get one with a side of sweet potato fries.
Read more: Food News (8/25/2016)
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| | | | | 2.56 rating (106 votes) |
Monte Vista Fire Station
Mon-Fri: 3pm-2am
Sat: 11am-2am
Sun: noon-midnight (hours can change without notice)
$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Wine • Take Out / To-Go • Live Music • Outdoor Patio
If you don’t like it loud, it’s best to avoid this place on the weekends. But stop in for a late lunch or weeknight burger and a beer, and you’ll have a whole different experience. The beef here is grass-fed, New Mexico-grown, and steroid- and antibiotic-free, and Monte Vista’s cooks deserve praise for what they do with it. The freshly ground burgers are big and juicy, the chile cheese fries hit the spot, and the beef skewers are tender and one of the best deals on cow in town.
Read more: Meditative Meals: The View from Monte Vista Fire Station (12/4/2014)
| | | | | 3.08 rating (78 votes) |
Nob Hill Bar & Grill
Mon: Closed
Tue-Fri, Sun: 11am-9pm
Sat: 11am-10pm (hours can change without notice)
$$$ • Vegetarian Available • Booze Served • Full Bar • Wine Bar • Craft Beer • Wine • Take Out / To-Go • DJ • Dancing • Outdoor Patio • Lounge
Finally, the Fried Chicken. When talking with someone at the bar the next day, he asked what I should order, and I told him the fried chicken, wherein I described it as “the crispiest, crunchiest skin you’ve ever had, packed full of seasoning, all holding in some of the most moist white chicken you’ve ever had, with the perfect pairing of sides and a hot sauce that doesn’t need to be there, but is so much better for existing for it.” Afterwards, he told me I undersold the dish to him. I cannot begin to tell you how highly I think of this fried chicken. With a buttermilk brine, the mashed potatoes and gravy and that incredible hot sauce, it is so incredibly good I felt shame when I couldn’t finish my second piece.
Full review: Nob Hill Bar & Grill has grown into a local favorite ()
Full review: Gastrobar is best after dinner ()
Read more: Craft Cocktail Week (7/11/2019)
Read more: Burque Burger Week: All the Best Burgers in Albuquerque (5/23/2019)
Read more: Food on the Move: A New Nob Hill (2/20/2020)
Alibi recommends: The fried chicken, the meatloaf, and the barbacoa nachos.
Vibe: High-end-dining featuring American cuisine with a cocktail lounge.
| | | | | 3.89 rating (93 votes) |
Quarter Celtic Brewpub
Everyone’s a little Irish at this friendly place! Bring the kiddies, bring your grandpa—everyone else does (which means it can get a little crowded and noisy, but we love it anyway). The whole joint smells wonderfully like hot cereal and the brewery tanks are visible from the eating area. We recommend the perfect fish and chips paired with a pint o’ the Rye’t Side of Dublin. Sláinte!
Full review: Celtic Fare Is the Name of the Game at Quarter Celtic ()
Alibi recommends: Shepherd’s Pie, Tiramisu
Vibe: Friendly, open spaced Irish pub
| | | | | 3 rating (1 vote) |
