Highball hides on the second floor of a 1930s building at 7th Avenue and McDowell, reached by a single staircase that keeps the room small and the crowd in on the secret.
The bar sits on the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and McDowell Road in midtown Phoenix, with the entrance on 7th Avenue and no elevator, so the climb is part of the welcome. Founders Libby Lingua and Mitch Lyons opened it in October 2020, at the height of the pandemic, and the room reads casual without being careless: low light, a handful of tables, and a bar that does the talking.
The menu is the draw and it is organized with intent. Drinks run from light to full-bodied across the list, with a set of clarified cocktails alongside stirred-and-boozy classics, and many of the recipes lean on housemade ingredients rather than off-the-shelf mixers. The smart order is whatever sits at the lighter end if you are starting the night and a stirred pour if you are closing it; the staff will steer the table if asked.
Highball earned its reputation fast. Phoenix New Times named it Best New Bar in 2021, Phoenix Magazine has tagged it among the city's best for cocktails, and it now appears on the World's 50 Best Bars Discovery list, which is the kind of corroboration a neighbourhood room rarely collects in its first few years.
The room rewards a small group. It is built for two-to-four-person conversations rather than a large party, and the upstairs perch keeps the street noise out. On a weekend the staircase can mean a short wait once the seats fill, so an early arrival is the move.
Pricing sits at the upper-midrange for Phoenix, fair for drinks built to spec with house ingredients and a bartender who paces the table. This is a place to spend a couple of hours on three considered cocktails, not a fast round before something else.
Best time to go is a weeknight, when the bar has room to talk through the menu and the clarified drinks get the attention they need. Who it is for: a date that wants a quiet, well-made night, an industry nightcap, and anyone who reads a cocktail list top to bottom. Who should skip it: a big group after a loud room, since the appeal here is the intimacy and the precision.
The building itself is part of the draw. The 1930s structure gives the upstairs room old bones, exposed and worn in the right places, and the single staircase doubles as a filter that keeps the floor from overcrowding. Bartender.com featured the lounge in February 2026, calling out the housemade work behind the menu, which is the detail that separates Highball from the corner bars below it on 7th Avenue. The result is a room that feels found rather than designed.
For more in the category, see our guide to the best cocktail bars in Phoenix, browse the full Phoenix bar guide, or place it against our citywide cocktail bars roundup. It pairs well with the other midtown and downtown lounges for a short, walkable crawl.
