Legendary Dive Bar · Poncey-Highland
Clermont Lounge
★ 4.5 (1,847 reviews)
$ — Cheap and proud of it
789 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA
Mon–Sun 5pm–3am (Fri–Sun from 3pm)
Since 1965, the Clermont Lounge has occupied the basement of the Clermont Hotel on Ponce De Leon Avenue — a fact that, in Atlanta bar lore, carries the same weight as the Battle of Atlanta itself. The Lounge is a genuine survivor: it has outlasted gentrification waves, hotel renovations, the rise and fall of Buckhead nightlife, and every trend that has swept through the city's drinking culture in the last six decades. It is impossible to understand Atlanta without it.
The room is what it is: concrete floors, dim red light, a long bar staffed by no-nonsense bartenders who have seen everything. Drinks are strong, cheap, and uncomplicated. A PBR tallboy will cost you very little. The jukebox is excellent. The crowd is a genuine cross-section of Atlanta — artists, construction workers, drag queens, finance bros, out-of-towners, celebrities who are trying very hard not to look like celebrities. Nobody is performing here, which is exactly why it feels so real.
It's worth pairing a Clermont visit with the broader Atlanta hidden gems circuit — this neighbourhood, Poncey-Highland, has a cluster of genuinely interesting bars within walking distance, and the contrast between the Clermont and somewhere like Sound Table tells you more about Atlanta's range than any guidebook ever could.
The canonical Clermont order. Ice-cold, no-nonsense, criminally affordable. It's the drink of the room.
Choose your poison. The bartenders pour honest measures. This is not a cocktail bar — and that's entirely the point.
On ice, neat, or with a splash — kept simple, kept honest. The bar stocks a rotation of working-class American whiskeys.
Ask the bartender what's on tap. Rotating local draft selections appear occasionally alongside the stalwart canned lineup.
The Clermont Lounge is proof that a bar can be an institution without being precious about it. There are no curated drink menus, no seasonal programmes, no brand story printed on the cocktail list. What there is: an unimpeachable sense of place, a staff that has seen enough of the city's changes to be wholly unimpressed by them, and a clientele that self-selects for people who want an actual experience rather than a performative one.
Visiting Atlanta for the first time? This is on the non-negotiable list. Visiting for the fifth time? It's still on the list. The Clermont doesn't change because it has never needed to — it was already true when it opened, and it remains true now. For more of Atlanta's most interesting drinking options, start with the full Atlanta bar guide.
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