After more than 25 years in Buckhead, Park Bench relocated to Battery Atlanta in 2019 where it remains a popular spot to listen to local and national bands and dueling piano shows. Grab a pizza from the slice bar at Antico nearby, then order drinks at Park Bench and enjoy some music. Open until 2:30 a.m.

This West End neighborhood bar and restaurant features a rotating list of pop-ups serving food here, including Seoul Chikin, Jimmie’s Jerk Chicken, and Heaps ATL hand pies. Look for a lineup of weekly live music shows from local bands and musicians, too. Check Instagram for pop-up menus and live music performances. Be sure to check out breakfast pop-up Ria’s Baby Bird on the weekends.

The dive blues bar Northside Tavern has been an establishment on Howell Mill Road for decades. This iconic Westside haunt hosts bands and blues legends from around the country, and even helped launch of few locals musicians onto the national music scene. Open well into the early morning hours. Be sure to keep an eye out here for celebrity sightings.

The Brazilian coffee house and bar at Grant Park’s Beacon complex is a quiet neighborhood hangout by day, but evenings see Buteco transform into a buzzy bar serving caipirinhas, beer, and wine. Live music and open mic nights are hosted throughout the week on the covered patio out back and include acts ranging from local indie rock bands to samba and acoustic guitar. It’s not unusual to see couples during samba nights spill out onto the sidewalk dancing. In 2022, owner and musician Rafael Pereira transitioned the food menu to mostly street tacos. But the restaurant also serves feijoada (Brazilian bean stew) on special occasions.

This Edgewood Avenue bar is so much more than its name presents. Since opening in February 2020, Our Bar ATL has become an inclusive community hub for drinking, dancing, live music and performances, and social justice events. Expect smash burgers, wings, and fries from the tiny kitchen to pizza rolls and hot pretzels served from one of the automats (hot food vending machines). Open Sunday until 12 a.m.; Monday - Saturday until 2:30 a.m.

This iconic dive bar in Midtown opened in 1994 and has been rocking on Piedmont Avenue into the wee hours ever since. Head in for dinner, drinks, dancing, and live music nearly every night.

City Winery in Old Fourth Ward at the Ponce City Market complex is all about dinner (and wine) and a show, whether that’s in their dining room or for acoustical acts on the patio. Concerts here can range from local musicians and national acts wanting to perform in an intimate setting to throwback shows featuring musicians like Colin Hay from Men at Work and Natalie Merchant from 10,000 Maniacs, and even burlesque. Check the calendar for concert dates and tickets. City Winery offers a full food and drink menu.

Live music from local and national bands and acoustic performers happens nearly every night at this Roswell Tex-Mex joint. There’s even music bingo on Tuesdays, starting at 7:30 p.m. Order wings, tacos, and burritos paired with a mojito or one of the very strong margaritas here.

Billed as Atlanta’s oldest Irish bar, Limerick Junction is the spot for pints of Guinness, Harp, and Smithwick’s on draft in Virginia-Highland. Food leans into comfort favorites like wings, fish and chips, bangers and mash, and fried cheese curds. Try the hot tots tossed in wing sauce and ranch and the onion-battered fried green beans with curry and Guinness barbecue sauce. Expect live music nightly at this Irish pub, too, ranging from Irish and bluegrass to cover bands and DJs.

Folks seeking live blues music will find it at this legendary Virginia-Highland bar. Six nights a week, in fact, Blind Willie’s hosts both local and national blues bands. It’s basically “an eternal Atlanta blues festival,” according to the bar. As for food and drinks, expect everything from jambalaya and red beans and rice to chicken tenders and baskets of saucy wings paired with beer, wine, and cider.

Housed in a former bank on Moreland, and after undergoing a change of ownership and renovation, Star Bar is back open in Little Five Points for cocktails, beer, and live shows and music ranging from funk to punk.

With locations in Buckhead, Dunwoody, and now in Alpharetta, Eclipse di Luna continues to be the choice date night spot for sangria, tapas and paella, and Latin music and dancing any night of the week. There’s even free salsa dancing lessons on Thursday nights at the Buckhead location.

Eddie’s Attic in downtown Decatur is the ultimate spot for dinner, drinks, and musical acts in an intimate setting. The music bar opened in 1991 and has become a staple for catching local and independent musicians from around the world as well as spoken word artists nearly every night of the week. The bar hosts songwriter open mic nights, too. While the kitchen is currently being renovated, the patio bar is open during shows as is the bar in the music room.

Life is a cabaret at this jazz club and restaurant in Alpharetta. Listen to jazz performed by local musicians in an intimate space while dining on everything from flatbread pizzas, pan-seared salmon, and charcuterie boards to steak frites, lump crab cakes, and freshly made desserts by chef and owner Tamara Fuller. There’s even open mic nights at the Velvet Note. Reservations required.

A night out at Stone Mountain Public House Cigar and Piano Bistro is a whole experience. Commit to the bistro feel with an order of the traditional French onion soup and a wedge salad. Then, sip a glass of whiskey or a cocktail while listening to one of the tavern’s two featured pianists. The restaurant includes a humidor filled with top-notch cigars and recently installed five new high-powered ventilators and air purifiers to keep smoke to a minimum.