Bar Smith holds the corner of 130 East Washington Street in downtown Phoenix, a bi-level bar and club whose rooftop deck is the draw. The street floor runs hip-hop and Afrobeats, and the open-air level upstairs leans house, so the building is really two rooms stacked on one address.
The Downtown Phoenix tourism guide lists Bar Smith among the handful of rooftop bars that give the district its skyline drinking, and Phoenix New Times keeps a standing listing for it as a downtown nightlife fixture. Discotech and The Rooftop Guide both describe the same split layout, which is the detail that decides whether a given night suits a group or not.
This is the bar for a drinker who wants a rooftop view and a dance floor in the same building rather than a quiet seated cocktail. The roof opens up over Washington Street with skyline sightlines, and the energy upstairs runs to a DJ set rather than conversation. Skip it on a slow weeknight, because the room is built for weekend volume and reads flat when the floor is empty.
The rooftop is the seat to angle for, and it fills first on a Friday or Saturday, so arriving near open buys a rail spot before the line forms downstairs. The main floor is the louder, busier room and the one most reviews picture, with the rooftop reading as the calmer of the two only by comparison.
Order to match a crowded bar rather than a cocktail den. Bar Smith pours well drinks, bottle service and the canned and draft options a club bar carries, so a vodka soda or a beer moves faster through a busy room than anything built to spec. Bottle service is the upgrade groups reach for on a packed night, and it buys the table and the wait the rooftop rail does not.
The crowd is a downtown weekend mix, skewing younger and dressed for a night out rather than a quiet drink. It runs busiest late on Friday and Saturday, when both floors fill and the line reaches the sidewalk, so an earlier arrival is the difference between a rooftop spot and a queue.
The split personality is the thing to plan around. The ground floor and the roof run different sounds and often different crowds, so a group that wants to dance and a group that wants a skyline drink can both be satisfied without leaving the address, but only if they pick the right level. The Rooftop Guide frames the upstairs deck as the reason to come for the view, while the main floor is the engine of the night, and most reviews that complain do so on a slow weeknight rather than a busy weekend. Treat it as a going-out venue, not a quiet stop, and it delivers what it promises.
Who it is for: a rooftop view with a dance floor attached, a group night out downtown, and anyone who wants house music under an open sky. Best time to go is early on a weekend night for the roof, or later if the main-floor DJ is the point. A practical note: the rooftop and dress lean toward a going-out night, so plan the visit for a weekend rather than a midweek wind-down.
For the wider field, our guide to the best rooftop bars in Phoenix sets this deck against the city's hotel terraces, and the Phoenix bar guide maps where to drink across downtown. Anyone planning a skyline night should also browse our pillar on the best rooftop bars worldwide.
Sources: Downtown Phoenix (dtphx.org) rooftop guide; Phoenix New Times venue listing; The Rooftop Guide, Bar Smith; Discotech venue details (2026).
