Burritt Room

Downtown / Financial District, San Francisco –

Tucked above the lobby of the boutique Mystic Hotel, Burritt Room has only been part of Union Square’s nightlife since 2010 – but given that the building went up a hundred years prior, this watering hole has an old-time feel far beyond its years.

Named after the adjoining alleyway – the site of a murder in the Humphrey Bogart classic, The Maltese Falcon – the small space was originally the hotel’s lobby, but now serves as a hideaway for hip young professionals and fashionable ladies seeking classic cocktails.

Faded wainscoting and well-worn exposed brick line the room, with vintage chandeliers and candles casting a dim light over the dapper hotel guests that often join the early post-work crowd.

Drinks are intricate and change seasonally, so the black-vested bartenders often rely on California’s wealth of citrus to enhance top-shelf bourbons and whiskeys, but are also quick to whip up original, fruit-free concoctions based on a patron’s specifications.

Near the bar, a vintage white piano is helmed on Wednesdays by a performer playing Metallica or Gnarls Barkley covers, while jazz acts or hip-hop DJs are known to entice occasional couples out onto the white-tiled floor.

Not known as a dance space, Burritt Room attracts a trendy clientele content to listen, sip, and lounge the evening away on red velvet sofas – just like Bogart would have done.