Berkeley’s restaurants have long been heralded for spearheading now-iconic culinary movements like farm-to-table seasonality and what’s sometimes referred to as New American cuisine, but few would describe the city as a nightlife destination. Bar owner and consultant Dylan O’Brien calls Berkeley “an interesting place. It’s a college town, yes, but it’s also so much more than a college town.” Beyond the downtown watering holes favored by undergraduates, you’ll find welcoming neighborhood bars with breezy patios and expert cocktail programs, juice bars from esteemed chefs, and pizzerias with destination wine lists—if you know where to look. Leading the charge is Bar Panisse, a newly opened cocktail-centric offshoot of Alice Waters’ legendary Chez Panisse restaurant. “The ethos of the bar flows directly from Chez Panisse, which a lot of people appreciate,” says O’Brien, who created Bar Panisse’s cocktail program. “There’s this vitality around everything connected to food and drinks in Berkeley.”
Bar Panisse
Since its debut in December 2025, crowds of people line the sidewalk in front of Bar Panisse everyday before doors open at 5 p.m. The walk-in-only bar aims to provide “a more casual, European-style bar and cafe space,” says O’Brien. “It honors a lot of the philosophies and traditions of Chez Panisse—locality, organic produce, focus on quality ingredients—and translates it into classic cocktails.” The warmly lit interior has café tables and an elegant wooden bar serving lemon verbena–infused vodka Martinis, velvety Brandy Sours, Gimlets with Meyer lemon cordial, and seasonal shrubs with ingredients like Rangpur lime and fennel seed.
“We want to use really high-caliber products and ingredients,” says O’Brien. “We’re following classic cocktail recipes and aim to execute them consistently and perfectly, every single time.” The wines by the glass hail from nearby Mendocino and Sonoma Coast as well as Piedmont, Italy and France’s Jura, while draft and canned beers and cider include limited-time options like Death & Taxes Black Lager from Santa Rosa’s Moonlight Brewing.
Broc Cellars
“It’s natural wine, but not funky,” O’Brien says of the range of bottlings from this breezy urban winery.” They’re made in a very traditional method and absolutely delicious.” Established in 2002, Broc releases more than 20 wines each year. All are made from organically grown California grapes with native yeasts, and the range includes sparkling Chenin, Vermentino, orange wine made from a blend of Italian grapes, and a perennially popular Zinfandel, Vine Starr, that was featured in the cult Japanese manga series Drops of God. “They have this beautiful tasting room space where they do lots of pop-ups, and it’s just a really nice place to hang out on the weekend,” O’Brien adds. Still thirsty? “They’re in this area where there are a ton of wineries and breweries, so you can really make a day out of it.”
Cellarmaker Brewing Company
Started in San Francisco in 2013, Cellarmaker now has three locations in the Bay Area, including this welcoming Berkeley taproom in “a nice, big, warehouse-y space,” O’Brien says. It hosts movie screenings with family-friendly picks every other Friday, and Wednesdays are slice and pint nights, serving Detroit-style cheese and pepperoni pizzas. There’s also a full kitchen with shareable fare like mushroom tostadas, marinated olives, avocado and mandarin salads, and house-made pork and beef meatballs. The tap list is long and varied, spanning Czech-style amber lagers, pilsners, coffee porters, West Coast IPAs, and more. “I think their hoppy beers are the best in Northern California,” O’Brien says. Cans and bottles include expertly made sours from The Rare Barrel, a renowned Berkeley label that Cellarmaker took over in 2022.
Donkey & Goat
Natural wine lovers and the people who drink with them flock to this airy tasting room in West Berkeley for crisp orange wines, peppy pét-nats, and crunchy chilled reds made with grapes from organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards in Mendocino County, Napa, and Sierra Nevada. The space also hosts events including low-intervention wine conferences, Sapphic speed dating, pop ups from local chefs, and more.
East Bay Spice Company
An OG cocktail destination in downtown Berkeley, this bar and restaurant has been serving crunchy chaat, chicken tikka empanadas, and signature drinks like Love and Other Demons (mezcal, green chile-infused vodka, carrot syrup, and lemon) since 2012. It recently relocated to larger digs less than a block away from the original location.
elaichi co.
Named for the Hindu word for cardamom, this chai specialist brings beautifully spiced teas and standout pistachio cake to a sunny corner lot in downtown Berkeley. Ample seating makes it an ideal spot to catch up with friends, settle in with a book, or idly people-watch through the large picture windows. Open since 2024, elaichi recently debuted a second location in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood.
Fava
In a space formerly occupied by longtime Berkeley staple The Juice Collective lies this sunny café and lunch counter opened in 2019 by Chez Panisse alums Sylvie Osborne Calierno and Jeremy Scheiblauer. Located around the corner from Bar Panisse, “it’s such an asset to the neighborhood,” O’Brien says. “Fresh ingredients, nice people, and great food and juices to go.” In addition to fresh-pressed juices, Fava serves Meyer lemon and mango lassis plus an array of spiced and herbal teas, including a crowd-favorite almond milk chai tea latte with turmeric, ginger, cardamom, and cloves.
The takeaway food menu is seasonally driven and might feature pita sandwiches stuffed with tender braised lamb and parsley; escarole salad with asparagus, almonds, kumquats, and feta; spicy chicken flatbread; and angel food cake with whipped cream, lemon curd, and blueberries. “It’s the kind of thing you see a lot in LA but not as much here,” O’Brien says. “It brings a lot of people down to this area of Berkeley at lunchtime.”
Great China
Come for the double skin mung bean noodle salad, stay for the grand cru Montrachet. Burgundy fiends rave about this northern Chinese restaurant, which just so happens to have one of the strongest French-accented wine lists in the Bay Area. Best of all, bottles on the 350-strong list are incredibly priced—just a whisper above retail plus corkage.
Prizefighter
Called “easily the best bar in the area” and “a neighborhood bar that punches way above its weight” by area critics, Prizefighter has been an institution for beers and craft cocktails since 2011. Co-owned by O’Brien and Polly Hancock, it sits in a boxy brick building on an industrial stretch straddling the Berkeley-Emeryville border—“the dividing line is right across our patio,” O’Brien says. The low-lit space has boxing memorabilia on its walls and a breezy patio where people can sip beneath a leafy pergola. The bar serves an impressive craft beer and cider selection plus classic and original cocktails such as Abuela’s Old Fashioned (bourbon, bitters, mole syrup), Prescription Julep (Spanish brandy, rye, mint), and the Negroni-style Reconquista (mezcal, Punt e Mes, Cappelletti). In 2023, O’Brien and Hancock opened Prizefighter Bottle Shop next door, selling glassware and bar tools alongside local and far-flung beers, wines, and spirits.
Rose Pizzeria
“It’s a really high-quality pizza place with a tight wine list in a cute storefront,” O’Brien says. “If you’re going to see a show at The UC Theatre downtown, it’s a perfect place to go first.” Thin-crust pizzas feature classic margheritas as well as red sauce and burrata with garlic confit, or fig jam, leeks, goat horn peppers, and mozzarella on creamy white sauce. In addition to the natural-leaning wine list, which has by-the-glass and bottle options from California, Italy, Oregon, and Georgia, the bar serves aperitivo cocktails like The Spritz (Cappelletti and sparkling wine over crushed ice) as well as zero-proof drinks and craft beers. In 2024, The New York Times named this longstanding Berkeley favorite one of the 22 best pizzerias in the country; co-owners Gerad Gobel and Alexis Rorabaugh just opened an outpost in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond neighborhood this spring.
Teance
Founded in 2002 by Winnie Yu, a trailblazer in artisanal tea culture in the United States, this sleek shop sells teaware and painstakingly sourced teas from the mountains of China, Japan, Taiwan, and beyond. Pop in to look for the perfect whole leaf pu-erh or hojicha powder, or pick up teaware like hand-painted tasting cups and bamboo matcha whisks.
