Clifton's Republic is not a bar so much as an event. The 1935 building on Broadway has been transformed into a five-floor entertainment complex that manages to be simultaneously overwhelming and genuinely impressive. There is a great hall with mounted animals and cathedral ceilings, a tiki bar on the fourth floor, a Gothic cocktail lounge two floors up, and a rooftop terrace that looks out across the Broadway corridor.
The drinks are solid rather than exceptional. The cocktail list runs through approachable classics and house originals in the $12 to $16 range, and the beer and spirit selection is broad enough to keep most people happy. The food is better than it needs to be given the scale of the place. What Clifton's does brilliantly is atmosphere. No other bar in Los Angeles offers this kind of architectural theatre. It fits naturally into the wider Downtown LA after-work scene, where groups wanting somewhere that can absorb ten people without a reservation tend to end up.
For groups, it is essentially perfect. For solo drinkers wanting a quiet cocktail, it is considerably less so. Understand what you are getting and it delivers. Come on a Friday when the bands are playing the Gothic Room and the energy on the lower floors is properly electric. The hidden bars of Downtown LA are better for serious drinkers, but Clifton's is better for everyone else.
