Bar and pub

Lake Effect

Live-music-forward cocktail bar with a polished downtown night-out feel.

City

Salt Lake City, Utah

Category

Bar and pub

Website

cityweekly.net

Ask Ave: Tell me about Lake EffectAll places

City Weekly Best of Utah

• Runner-up · 2022Best Nachos

  Pub & Grille Nachos, like pizza, are hard to screw up completely—but with a little extra effort, they can become a work of culinary art. The venerable…

• Winner · 2022Best Liquor Selection

  A deep pantry is essential in any chef's arsenal. The same goes for a mixologist's backbar. No matter if you're looking for the perfect classic cocktail, a…

• Runner-up · 2022Best Bar in Downtown

  Gracie's It's a bar, it's a gastropub, it's a meeting place, it's a calm spot to watch dusk settle on downtown from the spacious upstairs deck or get your…

• Winner · 2022Best Bathroom

  Bathrooms are not always a go-to place to feel glam when out in public, but at Lake Effect, the elegant and slightly surreal aura of the craft cocktail bar…

• Runner-up · 2021Best Liquor Selection

  Holding steady in the top position, Whiskey Street is where the liquor is. When you have a wall lined with more than one hundred whiskeys from around the world…

• Winner · 2021Best Bar Ambiance

  Immaculately curated cocktails and food prepped with intention is just what you'll find at the stylish Lake Effect. We were happily surprised to find they…

• Runner-up · 2020Best Liquor Selection

  Aptly named, Whiskey Street's stockpile of imported bourbons; ryes; and American, Irish and Scotch whiskeys is well in the hundreds. The bottles are shelved…

• Runner-up · 2020Best Craft Cocktails

  When Water Witch first opened a scant three years ago, it was touted as some kind of stylish "NYC-style bar," whatever that means. Since then, though, it's…

• Winner · 2019Best Bars to Actually Listen to Jazz, or Ignore it (Quietly) for Booze

  Upon journeying down the steps to Lake Effect's basement bar, Rabbit Hole, for the first time, I called out to my bartender friend DuJuan Mitchell, who quickly…

• Runner-up · 2019Best Craft Cocktails

  Hip, minimalist, retro and innovative. All apt words to describe the neighborhood bar Water Witch, operated by barmen Matthew Pfohl, Scott Gardner and Sean…

• Runner-up · 2019Best Liquor Selection

  Before its name was changed to Main Street in 1906, a stretch of downtown—housing distilleries, bars and brothels—was called Whiskey Street by none other than…

• Winner · 2018Best Place To Feel Like You're in the Big City

  You've heard it before: Salt Lake City? More like Small Lake City, am I right? But, damn it, SLC is growing and there are places to experience the big-city…

In City Weekly

• City Weekly’s annual guide to Utah brewing, bartender tips, can’t-miss beers and more.

  News · August 19, 2026

• City Guide 2026 - Part II

  Guides · May 15, 2026

• Sundance Film Festival 2026: Day 7 capsules

  Film · January 29, 2026

• BEST of UTAH 2025 - Dishes

  Best And Of And Utah · November 25, 2025

• BEST of UTAH 2025 - Libations

  Best And Of And Utah · November 21, 2025

• BEST of UTAH 2025 - Restaurants & Nightlife

  Best And Of And Utah · November 20, 2025

• Local bands share craziest things that happened at live shows

  Music · October 29, 2025

• Prepare for a season of adventure around Utah with City Weekly's annual guide to summer concerts, festivals, markets and more.

  Guides · May 14, 2025