Lustre Rooftop Garden sits on the third-floor terrace of the Kimpton Hotel Palomar at CityScape in downtown Phoenix, the rooftop arm of the hotel's Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails. By day it doubles as the hotel pool deck; in the evening it turns into a garden bar serving cocktails, small plates and craft beer over the downtown core.
Who would love it: a downtown drinker who wants a relaxed rooftop with greenery, a pool-deck setting and a hotel-bar cocktail program behind it. Who would not: anyone after a high-rise observation deck, since Lustre sits only a few floors up and trades elevation for an intimate garden feel.
The terrace is planted and softly lit, with cabana-style seating around the pool and views toward the CityScape towers. Arizona Foothills Magazine has run Lustre as one of the city's go-to rooftop settings, and the connection to Blue Hound downstairs means the kitchen and bar are run by an established team rather than a pop-up. The vibe is lounge rather than club.
The drinks come from the Blue Hound program, with seasonal cocktails, wine and craft beer alongside a short list of small plates. The order is a seasonal cocktail with a few shared bites at sunset, with happy hour the value play. The IHG listing notes the rooftop's small-plates-and-cocktails format, so this is a grazing-and-drinking stop rather than a full dinner.
The garden setting is the citable hook. Most downtown Phoenix rooftops sit on hotel towers; Lustre's low, planted terrace gives it a softer, more residential feel that reviewers single out. The CityScape location also puts it steps from the arena and the convention center.
The crowd is downtown professionals, hotel guests and pre-event groups, with happy hour pulling the after-work set. It runs busiest on weekend evenings and before events nearby, and the pool-deck layout keeps it feeling relaxed even when full. Service is hotel-bar standard.
What guests flag, across Google Maps and Tripadvisor, is consistent: the garden setting and the cocktails draw the most praise, the happy hour gets named as the value window, and the main note is that the space is smaller than the tower rooftops nearby. Arriving for happy hour or early evening is the move.
The CityScape location puts Lustre steps from the downtown arena, the convention center and the light-rail line, which makes it a practical pre-event stop in the core of the city. The pool-deck layout and the connection to Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails downstairs give it more range than a standalone rooftop, since a night can move from cocktails on the terrace to a full kitchen one floor below. The planted, low-rise setting trades the height of the tower rooftops nearby for a softer garden feel that reviewers single out. It works best as a relaxed early-evening opener rather than a late-night room, and the happy-hour window is the value play.
Best time to go: weekday happy hour for the value, or a weekend sunset for the garden at its best. Lustre rewards a drinker who wants a relaxed rooftop rather than a height-driven view. See where it sits among the best rooftop bars in Phoenix, and read our wider guide to rooftop bars by city for the national picture.
Pair this bar with
For a higher downtown rooftop, compare Floor 13 Rooftop Bar Phoenix. For a resort-scale terrace, try Orange Sky Rooftop Phoenix, and for a Scottsdale rooftop steak option Dominick's Steakhouse Bar Scottsdale makes the natural next stop.
Sources
Kimpton: Lustre Rooftop Bar (official) · Arizona Foothills Magazine: Lustre · Planet Rooftop: Lustre · Google Maps and Tripadvisor reviews (accessed 2026-06)
Reviewed by Marcus Webb, barsforKings. Published Jan 9, 2026.
