Best Bars for Client Entertainment (The Ones That Actually Close the Deal)
Ten high-end bars where location, service, and design do the heavy lifting. When you need a room that works as hard as you do.
The best bars for client entertainment share something intangible. They have the kind of physical presence that makes conversation feel important. The lighting doesn't interrogate you. The noise floor sits at a level where you can still hear across the table. The staff knows when to vanish and when to reappear.
These are not party bars. They are not loud or anonymous. Instead, they are rooms built on the assumption that money and attention have always coexisted, and that this coexistence requires a particular kind of spatial restraint. We have selected ten bars where the room does most of the work, allowing you to focus on the client in front of you.
Bar 01
The King Cole Bar
St. Regis, Midtown, NYC | $$$$
PowerIconic
The room where the Bloody Mary was invented and where midtown power brokers still conduct unwritten business. The service is unhurried in a way that signals permanence.
Order: The Red Snapper
Bar 02
Connaught Bar
Mayfair, London | $$$$
World's BestFormal
Regularly ranked the world's best bar. The Martini trolley service is a performance your client will describe afterwards. The level of attention here is not replicable anywhere else in London.
Order: The Connaught Martini
Bar 03
Hakkasan Bar
Midtown, NYC | $$$$
Chinese Fine DiningUpscale
A dark, dramatic bar inside one of New York's few genuinely high-end Chinese restaurants. The cocktail list borrows from Asian ingredients intelligently. Impressive without being obvious.
Order: Hakka Sour with chrysanthemum
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Our global cocktail bar guide. Every city's best programmes, categorised by style and ambition.
A small-batch punch bar inside Ian Schrager's Fitzrovia hotel. Maximum 40 covers, beautifully lit, staff who treat every guest as if they're the reason the room exists. Book in advance.
Order: Any of the seasonal house punches
Bar 05
The Bar at the NoMad
Midtown, NYC | $$$
HotelLiterary
The high-ceilinged former hotel bar still sets the standard for mid-century cocktail room design in New York. The food programme reinforces the impression of effort.
Order: The White Noise (cognac, honey, ginger)
Bar 06
The Blue Bar at the Berkeley
Knightsbridge, London | $$$$
ArtPrivate
Designed by David Collins, this boutique hotel bar holds only 40 people and operates with the quiet confidence of somewhere that doesn't need to try hard. The wine list is exceptional.
Order: Ask for the day's recommendation
Bar 07
Bemelmans Bar
Upper East Side, NYC | $$$$
HistoricCivilised
The painted murals by Ludwig Bemelmans cover every wall and the bar has been serving the same classic cocktails since 1947. No place in New York signals old-world hospitality more clearly.
Order: The Piano Bar Martini
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Bar 08
The Beaumont Bar
Mayfair, London | $$$
AmericanTransatlantic
An American-themed bar inside a Mayfair hotel that manages to be neither theme-park nor boring. The cocktail list is honest, the service is quick, and the room suits any client nationality.
Order: The Americano
Bar 09
The Gallery at The Modern
Midtown, NYC | $$$
MuseumSophisticated
The bar attached to Danny Meyer's restaurant inside MoMA. The room overlooks the sculpture garden. The wine list is edited and precise. A bar you go to when you want the meeting to feel like it already went well.
Order: A glass from the curated white wine list
Bar 10
Artesian at The Langham
Marylebone, London | $$$$
Award-WinningGrand
Formerly the world's best bar (four times), the Artesian remains one of London's most technically accomplished cocktail programmes. The room is large enough for a table of six.
Order: The Langham Sling
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Client entertainment is not about the bartender's technique or the rarity of the spirit. It is about being in a room where the client feels like the most important person in it, without anyone explicitly saying so. These ten bars achieve that through different means—some through history, some through smallness, some through sheer architectural authority. The common thread is that all of them understand that a great bar is a place where business happens almost by accident, because the environment makes good conversation inevitable.
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