Honolulu nightlife
Nineteen rooms are open in these listings as of this check, across Chinatown, downtown and the near-downtown edge of Kalihi. Three of them make the case on their own: Black Shamrock Tavern is a neighborhood Irish pub that also sells pizza, Smith's Union Bar is a 1935 dive that still takes cash only, and Anura Hawaii is an afterhours warehouse in Kalihi whose listing runs until 6 AM. None of the three was built for a visitor, and that is the reason to come. What follows is the walk, the reservations, the parking, the covers, the age rules and the closures — the things a card in the full Oʻahu nightlife directory cannot tell you. For the same blocks in daylight, markets and lei shops and First Friday, read the daytime Chinatown guide.
Sort them by what you want the night to do. Six write up DJs, drag or live acts: Bar 35, NextDoor, Red Bar Hawaii, Scarlet Honolulu, The Dragon Upstairs, and Proof Social Club, which is filed here under its old name, Proof Public House. Anura writes up none of those words and tags house, techno, electronic and afterhours instead, which is why it sits with them below rather than with the cocktail bars. The Manifest carries live-music and dj-set tags too; its listing calls it a coffee shop by day, a craft cocktail bar by night and a club on weekends, and it sits with the drink rooms below. The other eleven are bars first: two dives, five cocktail rooms and a tiki bar, a brewpub, an Irish pub and a pizza bar. Most of this neighborhood is not a dancefloor. For rooms booked around the music rather than the bar, the Honolulu live music page is the better list; for the brewery-and-warehouse side of town, Kakaʻako after dark.
Three practical things before you go. Reservations: four rooms require or recommend one, Pigeonhole refuses them outright, Scarlet Honolulu says none is needed though tables book up, and the other thirteen listings do not mention a reservation either way. Hours: every one of the nineteen rows carries an hours line, and on their latest night thirteen of them close at midnight or 2 AM. Anura is listed until 6 AM on event nights, the only close later than 2 AM anywhere in these listings. Rows can disagree with themselves: Smith's Union Bar's write-up says it opens at 6 AM while its hours line says 8 AM, Scarlet Honolulu's hours line adds select Tuesday-to-Thursday nights that the structured hours on the same row mark closed, and The Walk In's hours line holds only a lunch window and sends you to OpenTable for the evening. Cover: eight rooms list a figure, the seven in the music section below plus The Manifest, running from free to $30, and the other eleven list none. Read any cover figure here as the shape of the thing and not tonight's door price. Everything quoted on this page is the directory's listing text rather than a visit from us, and hours, covers and lineups drift faster than any directory can track them — a room can close before a directory catches up — so read the roster and every window here as what our listings held on the day they were checked, then confirm with the venue.
Twelve of the nineteen have an address on one of two streets. Hotel Street holds six: Smith's Union Bar, The Manifest, Bar 35, The Walk In, NextDoor, which its listing puts right next to Bar 35, and Skull & Crown Trading Co. Bar 35 is one of three rooms our directory files under Downtown, and its write-up calls it Chinatown's home bar anyway. Nuʻuanu Avenue holds the other six: Black Shamrock Tavern; Hank's Café, and The Dragon Upstairs at the same address above it; Red Bar Hawaii at 1111; EP Bar, whose listing says to enter on Pauahi Street; and Pigeonhole. The other seven are on other streets: J. Dolan's on Bethel Street, Proof Social Club on Fort Street Mall, Bar Leather Apron on the mezzanine of the Topa Financial Center on Fort Street, Scarlet Honolulu on South Pauahi Street, PEWA by Pono Potions on Smith Street, Olohana Brewpub on King Street, and Anura Hawaii on Colburn Street in Kalihi. PEWA is another room filed under Downtown whose write-up calls it Chinatown's newest cocktail lounge. The practical argument for the neighborhood survives all of that: you can change your mind about the night on foot. Sixteen rows carry a parking note, and fourteen of those point at street parking on the room's own street. The lots named are the two on Black Shamrock's row, spelled there as the 888 Nuuanu Ave lot and the Hawaii National Guard lot; metered lots near Proof; the Topa Financial Center garage that Bar Leather Apron's listing says it validates; and Anura's on-site parking. Anura is the one that needs a car.
Two dives anchor the neighborhood, and they are the only two rooms here whose best night is filed as any night rather than a weekend. Smith's Union Bar on Hotel Street has been open since 1935, and its listing calls it the oldest operating bar in Honolulu; 1935 is also the earliest year anything on this page records, though most of the nineteen rows record no year at all. Its write-up says 6 AM to 2 AM, seven days a week, while the hours line on the same row opens it at 8 AM. Cash only, a jukebox, no cover, and a crowd its listing describes as running from dock workers to artists. Hank's Café sits on Nuʻuanu below The Dragon Upstairs, the jazz lounge further down this page. Hank's is listed from 7 AM: dark, cheap, another jukebox, no cover, not dressed up. Two dives that open in the morning is the plainest difference between this neighborhood and a hotel bar.
Six rooms where the drink is the reason to sit down: five of the six drink rooms counted in the intro, plus The Manifest, which does it at night. The sixth, PEWA by Pono Potions, sits below with the all-ages rooms. Bar Leather Apron is twenty seats on the Topa Financial Center mezzanine — a James Beard Award semifinalist and a Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award winner, built on Japanese whisky bars, with seasonally rotating cocktails and a reservation listed as required. EP Bar is highballs and vinyl on Nuʻuanu, entered from Pauahi Street, reservations recommended. The Walk In is through the back of a Hotel Street restaurant behind a hidden entrance, reservation recommended via OpenTable. Skull & Crown Trading Co. on Hotel Street is the Resy-or-courtyard decision: the indoor tiki room takes Resy bookings, the courtyard takes walk-ins, and the rum program, its listing says, goes deep into the Caribbean and Pacific, in a room of flickering amber light, skulls and one life-sized mermaid. Pigeonhole takes no reservations at all; its listing points at the li hing margarita and the matcha colada. Those five list no cover. The Manifest is coffee in the morning, a whiskey-heavy cocktail bar at night and a club on weekends — its listing says the room shifts after 10pm — and it is the only room in this group that lists a cover, free to $10 as listed.
Friday and Saturday are the listed nights for all seven. Two add a Thursday: Red Bar Hawaii for DJ Haskel's deep-house residency, and The Dragon Upstairs for the McJazz Band's open jazz jam. All seven list a cover, and they are seven of the eight covers on this page. Bar 35 has the big beer list, a patio its listing calls the move early on Fridays, before the inside gets loud, and local DJs; its listing claims the happiest happy hour downtown and records no hours for it, and its cover is listed free to $15. NextDoor is the low-ceilinged room right beside it, dark by design, with a rotating bill of local and visiting DJs and live acts that changes week to week; the tags run from punk to goth to drum and bass, the lineup lives on Instagram, and the cover is listed $10 to $30 depending on the event. Red Bar Hawaii is house, hip-hop and R&B at 1111 Nuʻuanu, free to $10, with ladies free before 10 PM on select nights. The Dragon Upstairs is the jazz room, up the stairs from Hank's Café at 1038 Nuʻuanu: live jazz and open jazz jams from a rotating roster of local players, plus DJ nights and karaoke, and a First Friday crowd its listing describes as art-walkers and regulars; listed 21+, free to $10. Scarlet Honolulu is the drag room: the Pineapple Stage, two rooms with the back one going harder than the front, go-go dancers, $20 at the door, no reservation needed though its listing notes tables book up. Its age field is empty while its listing text says 21+. Proof Social Club, filed here as Proof Public House, sits at the Fort Street Mall edge of downtown: female-owned, LGBTQ+ friendly, DJs and live acts at night, drag brunch monthly, happy hour listed 4 to 7 daily, cover listed free to $10, at an address its listing says has carried a bar for more than a century. And Anura Hawaii is the two-story warehouse on Colburn Street in Kalihi, just outside downtown, with on-site parking; its listing calls it Hawaii's only 2-story afterhours warehouse. It tags house, techno, electronic and afterhours rather than DJs, it is listed on Resident Advisor, and it is the home base for the afterhours series run by CENTERED Hawaii. Listed 21+, $15 to $30, open until 6 AM. What any of these rooms is actually running on a given night sits in the Hawaiʻi events calendar.
Four rooms carry an all-ages note in these listings, all four put food at the front, and all four list no cover. Black Shamrock Tavern is an Irish pub and pizzeria on Nuʻuanu with a happy hour listed daily from 4 to 6. J. Dolan's does New York-style pizza on Bethel Street and is listed open until midnight — its listing calls it a reliable post-bar food stop. Olohana Brewpub pours Kalihi Beer's organic and sustainable beer on King Street; its write-up calls the window an Everyday Hoppy Hour, 4 to 6 PM, $6 house beers and cocktails, while the happy-hour field on the same row narrows the days to Monday through Friday, so ask. PEWA by Pono Potions opened in March 2026: an espresso bar in the morning, lunch, and gin-forward cocktails on local botanical spirits all day. Twelve of the other rooms are listed 21+ and three carry no age value at all. An all-ages note in a directory is not a license, so call the venue before you bring someone under 21.
Two rooms you may still see recommended for these blocks are shut, so they are not here. The Tchin Tchin! Bar closed in May 2026 after an eleven-year run; Ricardo Smith of The Royal Leaf cigar lounge bought it and announced a September 4 reopening as Tchin Tchin Bar by The Royal Leaf, and Honolulu Magazine reported three days later that storm damage had cancelled that and the owners were looking at other locations. The site under the new name is a coming-soon page, so treat any list that still sends you there as out of date. Ong King Arts Center closed at the end of 2019, and no room in the nineteen carries an open-mic or spoken-word tag.
19 venues · 19 with a write-up
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Chinatown's newest and most-buzzed-about cocktail bar — a curated-yet-comfortable space offering creative cocktails, innovative bar snacks, and warm hospitality in a relaxed, design-forward setting. Walk-in only (no reservations). The li hing margarita and matcha colada are early fan favorites. Wine, beer, and snacks r
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Tucked on the mezzanine level of the Topa Financial Center, Bar Leather Apron is Honolulu's most celebrated cocktail destination — a James Beard Award semifinalist and multiple Tales of the Cocktail honoree. Inspired by Japanese whisky bars, the intimate 20-seat space requires reservations and rewards guests with metic
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A dark, enchanting tiki bar and courtyard rum bar on Hotel Street. Skull & Crown Trading Co. features a life-sized mermaid, flickering amber lights, skulls everywhere, and a rum program that goes deep into the Caribbean and Pacific. The indoor tiki room requires Resy reservations; the outdoor courtyard is walk-in only.
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A Japanese-inspired highball and vinyl bar hidden on Nuuanu Avenue in Chinatown. EP Bar is intimate, reservation-recommended, and focused on a tight menu of perfectly executed highballs and house cocktails. The vinyl soundtrack and warm lighting make it one of the most atmospheric bars in the neighborhood. Enter on Pau
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A Chinatown brewpub from the Kalihi Beer team, serving house-brewed organic and sustainable beers alongside pub menu favorites. Everyday Hoppy Hour (4–6 PM, $6 house beers and cocktails). A newer addition to the Chinatown drinking scene with a focus on local craft beer.
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Hawaii's only two-story afterhours warehouse. Sound by Traction Audio — it hits. This is where Honolulu's underground electronic scene actually happens post-2am. CENTERED Hawaii runs their afterhours series here and the booking is legitimately world-class for a market this size. Not on the tourist radar, not trying to
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A slice of Ireland in Honolulu's Chinatown. Black Shamrock Tavern is a neighborhood Irish pub and pizzeria on Nuuanu Avenue, serving craft beers, pub food, and a welcoming atmosphere. A neighborhood spot for a casual pint away from the Waikiki tourist scene.
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At the edge of Downtown-Chinatown on Fort Street Mall, Proof Social Club (formerly Proof Public House) is a female-owned, LGBTQ+-friendly neighborhood bar with a century-long history on Chaplain Lane. By day a casual cocktail spot; by night a rotating cast of DJs, live music acts, and monthly drag brunches. Happy hour
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New York-style pizza and a full bar on Bethel Street in Chinatown. J. Dolan's is a late-night staple — open until midnight daily, serving hand-tossed pies and hand-poured drinks to a mix of locals, creatives, and bar-hoppers. The Kaimuki location (4210 Waialae Ave) serves the east side. A reliable post-bar food stop.
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A speakeasy hidden in the back of a Chinatown restaurant on Hotel Street. The Walk In is a reservation-recommended cocktail bar with a hidden entrance, intimate seating, and a focused cocktail menu. One of Chinatown's best-kept secrets.
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A Chinatown DJ bar and lounge at 1111 Nuuanu Ave. Red Bar Hawaii hosts regular DJ nights with house music, hip-hop, and R&B. Thursday nights feature DJ Haskel spinning deep house all night. Ladies' nights with free entry before 10 PM on select nights. A newer addition to the Chinatown scene with a loyal local following
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Chinatown's underground music venue, tucked next to Bar 35 on Hotel Street. NextDoor hosts a rotating lineup of local and visiting DJs and live acts in a dark, low-ceilinged space that feels like a proper underground club. Events vary week to week — check Instagram for the latest lineup. A staple of Honolulu's independ
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The oldest operating bar in Honolulu — open since 1935. Smith's Union Bar (Smitty's) is a no-frills dive on Hotel Street that opens at 6 AM and closes at 2 AM, seven days a week. Cold cheap beer, a jukebox, and a clientele that spans dock workers, artists, and everyone in between. A true local institution and a piece o
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Chinatown's late-night entertainment lounge, perched above Hank's Café on Nuuanu Ave. The Dragon Upstairs hosts live jazz, open jazz jams, DJ nights, and karaoke in an intimate upstairs setting. A rotating roster of local jazz musicians, including the McJazz Band's weekly open jams, makes this the go-to for live jazz i
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A classic Chinatown dive bar on Nuuanu Avenue, directly below The Dragon Upstairs jazz lounge. Hank's Café opens at 7 AM and serves cold cheap beer to a neighborhood crowd of regulars. No frills, no pretense — just a dark bar, a jukebox, and Chinatown's full cast of characters.
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Hawaii's #1 rated drag palace, home to the World Famous Pineapple Stage. Two rooms — front is pop/dance, back goes harder. Go-go dancers, drag shows, full bars. The front of house is chaos in the best way. $20 at the door, no reservation needed, but tables book up. 21+. If you want to see Honolulu's queer nightlife at
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Chinatown's home bar. Huge beer selection, patio seating, and the happiest happy hour downtown. Fills up fast on Fridays — the patio is the move early, then it gets loud inside. Local DJs, occasional live acts, and a crowd that's actually from Honolulu. Clean, comfortable, and consistently good. Drewbyrd live on April
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Chinatown's newest cocktail lounge, opened March 2026 by the Pono Potions team. PEWA features an espresso bar in the morning, lunch service, and hand-crafted cocktails all day — many incorporating Pono Potions' local botanical spirits. A gin-forward menu with local ingredients. One of the most exciting new openings in
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Coffee shop by day, craft cocktail bar by night, and a proper club on weekends. One of the best whiskey selections in Chinatown. The vibe shifts completely after 10pm — the lights go low, the music gets louder, and the crowd gets interesting. Located in the heart of the Chinatown Arts District. Not the loudest room in