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While after-work drink plans are lower-stakes than dinner plans (far less commitment, no reservations required, and usually a lot more budget-friendly), they still merit some real consideration.
There are a few key elements that add up to a truly great happy hour haunt:
- First, it needs to offer some irresistible food and drink specials during the post-work period.
- Second, it should have a vibe that works equally well if you’re flying solo or sipping with colleagues.
- Finally, proximity — a short walk from your workspace is an ideal location for grabbing regular post-work drinks.
I’ve taken the time to test-run a few Philly happy hour destinations to see which ones offer the best vibes, deals, drink selections, and snack options. You can thank me later.
The Best After-Work Drink Spots (At a Glance)
Here’s the TL;DR if you’re reading this at 4:58 and need to lock down a destination quick:
- Best for Interaction: Barcade
- Best Beer Garden: Independence Beer Garden
- Best Cocktail Bar: Post Haste
- Best Gastropub: The Dandelion
- Best for Vegan Options: Tattooed Mom
- Best Rooftop Bar: Bok Bar
To learn why these picks rose to the top, let’s dig a little deeper.
1. Best for Games and Social Interaction: Barcade
1326 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19107
Happy Hour: open – 6:00 PM weekdays
Don’t settle for any imitators: Barcade is the original arcade bar. If you want to wind down with coworkers after a long week or celebrate a project well done, Barcade lets you do a lot more than just sit at a table. After you order your bevvie, take a stroll around the space and check out their gaming collection. Barcade doesn’t mess around with modern emulators. Each and every classic arcade and pinball machine on the floor has been meticulously sourced and maintained, so the nostalgia factor is 100% authentic. You can shake off the work week with some solo Stranger Things Pinball, or grab two or three work friends for a couple of laps of Daytona USA.
The Drink Menu
While the games may be vintage, the beers are not. They have an impressive variety of modern American craft beers, as well as creative (and creatively named) cocktails made with specially sourced craft ingredients. My rec? The Age Of Magic, which is made with bourbon, Aperol aperitivo, house-made strawberry puree, and a splash of mint simple syrup. Yum! If you’re craving something a little more tropical, try their tasty Juice That Makes You Explode, which combines white rum, coconut rum, melon liqueur, pineapple juice, and lemon juice.
During happy hour, all beer, wine, and well liquor is $2 off, with special discounts on assorted boilermakers like the Tire Fire (Bold Rock cider with a shot of Fireball).
Work in Fishtown? Check out their second location on Frankford Ave. They don’t offer draft beer, but they do have their own cocktail selection (including some great zero-proof options), tacos, and a fancy hot dog menu.
The Food Menu
The Barcade menu is pretty casual, and big on share plates and handhelds. Alongside the usual fries, wings, and nachos, you can grab Italian egg rolls, crispy cheese curds, and Buffalo chicken rollers (that’s buffalo chicken and cheese, rolled up taquito-style).
The handheld selection has a bit of international flair, and includes jerk chicken bahn mi, falafel, and pulled pork sliders. If you’re looking for something a little heavier, their burger or fat sandwich menus have meat and vegetarian options. Want to end on a sweet note? There’s only one answer here: churros.
Happy hour specials include $5 off select appetizers. On Dollar Fries Monday, you can add an order of fries to your drink order for a buck, and Dollar Wing Tuesdays features $1 wings (minimum order of six).
2. Best Beer Garden: Independence Beer Garden
100 S Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Happy Hour: 3:00 PM – 7:00 PM daily
This downtown Philly institution has a ton of space and seating, so it’s a great option for drinks with a couple of your work besties or hanging out with the whole office. Located just opposite Independence National Historical Park, it’s a popular hangout spot for both locals and tourists.
The Drink Menu
Independence Beer Garden wears its Pennsylvania pride on its sleeve, and it shows in the beer selection. Keystone State breweries are well represented on the draft menu, from the Yuengling Traditional Lager to the Victory Brotherly Love Hazy IPA. The cans menu includes beer from the Love City Brewing Company and Neshaminy Creek Brewing, along with some vodka-based beverages.
If you’re looking for a refreshing post-work cocktail, I recommend the Mainline Margarita, made with tequila, triple sec, and a lovely hibiscus cordial. Zero-proof options include Liquid Death, non-alcoholic beer, and a couple of juice and ginger beer-based mocktails.
Their special happy hour menu features Miller Lite ($5), Kenwood Original Light Lager ($6), red, white, or rosé wine ($6), or their Down the Shore cocktail (cherry vodka, raspberry, and lemon juice, $7). It’s a little narrower than some of the other happy hour menus on the list, but the beer garden vibes make up for the smaller selection.
The Food Menu
Since beer is the main attraction, Independence keeps things streamlined when it comes to their vittles. The menu is divided into snacks, salads, sandwiches, and sweets, and the food is light and shareable for the most part.
Happy hour options range from $6 to $8, and include snacky staples like chips and guac, fries, pretzel bites, chicken wings, cheeseburger sliders, and sourdough grilled cheese (my personal fave).
3. Best Cocktail Bar: Post Haste
2519 Frankford Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19125
Happy Hour: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM daily
This East Kensington favorite has a farm-to-glass philosophy that’s big on sustainability and innovation. Everything on their beverage menu, from the wine and spirits to the herbs and citrus, is produced in the Eastern United States, and their food menu also leans on locally sourced items. This is a great spot to bond with your foodie coworkers, discover local wineries and breweries, and try cocktails that you will NEVER see anywhere else.
The Drink Menu
At Post Haste, the cocktail menu is the star of the show. It’s divided into Classics, Covers, Remixes, Experimental Pop, and Free Spirits. The Classics are your usual martini, dark & stormy, or negroni. Covers include drinks like the smoked peach cordial-based Sex on The Peach or the Farmer’s Dirty Martini, which pairs your standard gin and vermouth with cherry tomato brine and a sprig of tarragon.
The Remixes menu features my personal favorite, the Devilish Daisy (agave, ginger syrup, honey, yuzu superjuice, creme de violette, and blackberry liquor). Want to try something totally different? The experimental Satay Away mixes vegan milk punch with peanut butter bourbon, nutmeg liquor, turmeric, fig leaf, pandan, coriander, soy sauce, oat milk, and limequat. Seriously?
On the beer menu, you’ll find Mexican and Munich-style lagers, pilsners, stouts, sours, and IPAs. And in addition to the usual whites and reds, their wine menu features rosé and orange wines from local wineries like Pray Tell and Galen Glen. If you’re a fan of orange wine, you’ll understand my delight.
During happy hour, they offer $10 house wine, $11 experimental cocktails, and 20% off all draft beers.
The Food Menu
Post Haste has a great snack + small plates menu that includes oysters, green popcorn (flavored with celery salt), soft pretzels, pork rinds, deviled eggs, and disco fries with beef and bacon gravy. In addition to their daily menu, they also have special happy hour snacks that switch up from day to day, so you never know what’ll be on offer until you get there.
4. Best Gastropub: The Dandelion
124 S. 18th St., Philadelphia, PA 19103
Happy Hour: 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM weekdays
Known for its classy ambiance and classic British pub fare, this two-floor gastropub has cozy fireplaces, swank vibes, and ample indoor and outdoor seating. It’s a great spot to down a couple of pints when your group happens to be in a more sophisticated mood (or your boss decides to tag along).
The Drink Menu
The beverage menu includes wine, an assortment of different G&Ts, and a cocktail menu peppered with British-themed drinks like the Cherry-O! Sour (japanese whiskey, cherry, malbec, citrus, thyme, and vegan egg white), the King’s Courage (scotch, genever, vermouth, maraschino liquor, bitters, and orange), and the Pimm’s Deluxe (gin, Pimm’s #1, lemon, muddled cucumber).
During happy hour, you can enjoy an $8 glass of house red, white, or sparkling wine, or one of The Dandelion’s special happy hour cocktails (Gin-Gin Mule, English Paloma, or Rose Mimosa). Drafts are available for $7 a pint. Non-drinkers can enjoy a refreshing ginger beer ($6) or The Dandelion’s perfect rose lemonade ($7).
The Food Menu
The Dandelion keeps things simple and streamlined during happy hour. Their $5 nosh menu includes Welsh rarebit on buttermilk toast, deviled eggs with Madras curry and mustard, spiced bar nuts with cayenne and rosemary, and warm olives. Oysters are also available for $2.50 each.
For something a little more filling, they also offer smoked cod spread on ciabatta crostini, or pickled beetroot, olive tapenade, and goat cheese served with a baguette. If you want to try a British pub staple, grab their famous Chip Butty: triple-cooked french fries, red pepper piccalilli, and a generous helping of garlic mayo, served on a fluffy brioche. Yes, fries on a bun is a real thing and yes… it’s delicious.
5. Best for Vegan Options: Tattooed Mom
530 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19147
Happy Hour: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM daily
If your work crowd is a mix of meat-lovers and vegans, you can’t miss with Tattooed Mom’s great food and immaculate vibes. This Queen Village gem’s high-whimsy, punkish interior is a perfect low-key place for younger or more free-spirited work crews to chill out after their 9-5, and its extremely inclusive menu is a great fit for mixed crowds. Pop by on a Monday, and you can head upstairs to play some free pool.
The Drink Menu
Tattooed Mom caters to adventurous drinkers, but also holds space for more conservative tipplers and teetotallers. The draft menu has a lot of fun and fruity options, including the Axe & Arrow Sex on the Beach Sour, Garage Lime Lager, and Sly Fox Alex’s Raspberry Lemon Ale, alongside local faves like Love City Eraserhood IPA and Mainstay King Laird Weisse.
Their off-the-wall cocktail menu features the Pickletini (Luksusowa potato vodka, pickle juice, and olive juice), Pop Rocket (Stoli Razberi, Pop Rocks candy, raspberry liqueur, and lemon soda), and Mandalorian Punch (mango boba pearls, rum, raspberry liqueur, and peach brandy, with pineapple, cranberry, and lemon juice). Non-alcoholic beers and cocktails are also available.
Happy hour at Tattooed Mom is always easy on the wallet. Draft beers are $4 apiece from 4:00–6:00, with $3 PBR cans on Mondays and Wednesdays, and $3 Tecate cans on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The Food Menu
Tattooed Mom really pulls out all the stops to tempt its customers to come back day after day. Vegetarians and vegans will love Meatless Mondays, which features $7 vegan sandwiches, including the Pickle Fried Chickn Sandwich (my fave) and the Beyond Mom’s Vegan Burger.
On the aforementioned Taco Tuesdays, you can fill up on discounted beef or bean tacos for $1.50 each. Smash Burgers Wednesdays offer meat and vegan smash burgers with housemade banana pepper relish and secret sauce for just $6, while Thursdays pay homage to Philly’s sizable Polish community with 75¢ potato-and-onion pierogi (yup, you guessed it: they’re vegan!).
6. Best Rooftop Bar: Bok Bar
800 Mifflin St, Philadelphia, PA 19148
Happy Hour: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM daily
Caveat: this female-owned, high-rise, open-air bar doesn’t have standard happy hour specials. However, their enormous rooftop patio opens at 5:00 PM sharp and has one of the very best views in the city, so it’s earned a spot on the list. In addition to the frosty drinks and rotating snacky noms on offer, the rooftop bar plays host to a variety of fun events including line-dancing lessons and open-air dance parties featuring local DJs, giving you some more active alternatives to the usual post-work hangs. Head over with your colleagues or go solo for some post-work rooftop yoga.
The Drink Menu
The 5-item cocktail menu is small but mighty. My personal recs? The mezcal-based Time After Thyme, which is rounded out with Lillet Blanc, lime juice, thyme simple syrup, and bitters, and the Cinn City, which pairs Crown Royal and Otto rum with coconut water, pineapple and lime juice, and a splash of cinnamon simple syrup. All cocktails cost $14 or $15 each.
The beer menu includes a few local breweries like Love City, Kenwood, and Two Locals, with prices starting at just $5/glass, and the curated wine menu runs $11/glass or $55/bottle. Zero-proof options include non-alcoholic beers, Liquid Death, yerba mate, and CBD-infused sparkling water.
The Food Menu
Bok Bar regularly teams up with local food partners, so their menus are always temporary and highly intentional. Expect anything from Korean-Mexican fusion to modern Indonesian to French-inspired cafe fare. This makes Bok Bar an amazing place to discover new cuisines, either solo or with foodie coworkers.
Get Out There and Explore!
Philly has an incredible happy hour scene, and this list is just the tip of the iceberg. While I think these six destinations definitely deserve a visit, I encourage you to explore your own work neighborhood and try to uncover its hidden gems. And if you find one with an outstanding vegan shawarma wrap, please drop a comment below and let me know.